I blew off a city council meeting on Tuesday night to go and see We Were Promised Jetpacks at Neumos with the missus. Don’t tell my boss.

It was awesome. The young Scottish rockers were in fine form, and the place was packed and in good spirits. If you haven’t heard of them, you should really check them out.

As I write this I can hear nothing but a steady ringing in my ears (yes, I know, that’s hearing damage) but I don’t mind too much because I love going to see good bands – there is something about live music that uplifts you like nothing else.

The old-school folk around the city are probably thinking – “well, you really should have gone to the council meeting…” Personally, I find it important to skip one every now and then. You start going to those things every week and I think you lose a bit of perspective on what is really happening in the city. The forest for the trees idea. You can get so close to the nuts and bolts of budgets and planning documents and machinations that you lose site of what is really important, what people really care about around here, what families are doing and young people are doing and everyone else who makes the place tick.

I see it all the time in people, caught up and wound up and spending huge chunks of their lives arguing about yards and inches, and I wonder if they aren’t maybe worrying about the wrong stuff.

From four rows back on Tuesday night, I started thinking about all the shows I’ve been to over the course of my life. You know, I think seeing Fugazi or Anthony and the Johnsons or Will Oldham or the Wu Tang doing their thing did more to build and inspire me as a young adult than CNN ever did. And I consider myself to be a fairly involved, active and educated fella. But there is something that the riotous and disorderly and passionate expression of music, and art too for that matter, contributes that just can’t be replicated.

Which is why I am always stoked to see young musicians in Issaquah and Sammamish plying their wares – forming bands and making a racket in their parent’s garage. This week I came across one young Sammamish band which, after being dreamed up in an old portable classroom at Pine Lake Middle School, is on the verge of turning their aspirations into a career. After being inspired by the many bands that have gone before them, Ashley, Paul, Will and Ryan of Great Waves are now adding their own unique piece to the great artistic legacy that is music. Good for them.

Down the hill at Issaquah High School, students are borrowing whatever amps and microphones they can get, enlisting help to put together a stage, and harnessing the goodness that is rock for a benefit to raise money for Haiti relief efforts. A bunch of bands from all over the school district, guitars and drums, keyboards and rappers, will put on a showcase on March 11 that will not only raise some bucks, but more importantly demonstrate how crucial it is that there are creative outlets like this in our city.

It is something that both Sammamish and Issaquah should be addressing as they think about what they want their communities to look like in the future.

The lack of places for young bands to play, to practice, in Sammamish is well documented. In Issaquah, there are a few places – Pogacha, Grimaldis – but still not anywhere that a young, original band could get their first big break.

Parents complain, kids complain, but apart from the great efforts of people like Scott and Troy Moore at Moore Brothers Music, there is still nothing on the Plateau to encourage young ‘uns to get together and rock out. Aspiring bands either have to convince their parents to drive them to Tacoma and Seattle most weekends, or they just put down their instruments and leave those rock dreams behind.

It may sound like a frivolous complaint, but the lack of music, and art, venues in Sammamish and Issaquah is about more than just gigs and groupies, it is about social capital – giving young people somewhere to channel their boundless energy. Former Sammamish councilor Jack Barry used to always talk about “the things that make great cities great.” This is what he meant. Vibrancy, a community, a place to come together, to celebrate, to take your first steps, to take a bow.

Providing venues for music and art is something your councilors can’t really do much about – really it is an issue for the businesspeople. Hopefully, as we further explore development and redevelopment in our cities, a few brave and caring landlords and entrepreneurs will decide that an investment in the young and bold is a great investment for the community.