Inside the Planetarium, Richmond’s New All-Ages DIY Venue Where Anything Goes

As a small crowd gathered in an industrial complex in Richmond on Friday night, a puppeteer dressed as a molting bird gave birth to a human doll baby, followed by a brief magic show. A ska band ripped through a short set, a sideshow performer swallowed two swords and stuck fishhooks in her eyelids, and another local band named after a kids’ portal to chaos closed out the night.

Just your average evening at Richmond’s newest DIY, all-ages, substance-free venue, The Planetarium.

A former karaoke lounge situated inside a maze of practice spaces, The Planetarium serves a city not exactly known for providing opportunities to its younger creative residents. After being open for only a few weeks, it’s already gaining a following.

Finding your people

At Friday’s Cosmik Debris variety show, one person came for the puppets at the recommendation of someone on their local music Signal chat; another, from Berkeley, wanted to recapture the feeling they had as a teen punk in San Diego. Someone else saw a flyer while helping a friend during their KALX DJ set, and another couple was invited for a friend’s birthday.

“I knew we were doing good when I had some guy come to his second show, when we’d only had four,” said Alex Botkin, one of The Planetarium’s co-founders, who grew up half a mile down the road in El Cerrito.

The project of three longtime DIYers who met at the long-running Berkeley punk club 924 Gilman, The Planetarium has hosted half a dozen events since its grand opening on Jan. 2. Currently scheduled are 32 additional shows, mostly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, through May. Booking as Ragtag Productions, the trio caters to smaller, younger bands, touring acts, and transgressive performance art — all communities in which the founders have been involved.

“I spent a lot of time traveling between weird performance art worlds in the East Bay in search of community,” said Plantearium co-founder Kirk Pearson, a New York native who moved to the Bay about 10 years ago. “I found all of these groups of people, several of which were incredibly good performers, but with absolutely no venue that was suited for them to perform. So that’s at least part of my excitement [with The Plantarium].”

Tickets to a Planetarium show will hover between $10 and $15 to encourage artistic discovery without a hefty price tag. “By having that openness to variety and all the bands that are having a great time, you’ll probably have a good time,” Alex said.

Roots in DIY

Community begets community, and The Planetarium is proof of the East Bay’s deep DIY and punk roots. Pearson is a composer and sound designer who founded Dogbotic and previously did sound at Gilman. Botkin, a musician with the band awakebutstillinbed (who also played with Friday’s ska band, Sad Snack), books shows and ran a record label in addition to years of volunteer work at Gilman. His partner Lexi Botkin grew up going to shows and volunteering at Gilman, in addition to playing bass and selling merch for bands.

“I was just a show rat. I was at everything and talking to everybody, and helping out however I could,” said Lexi, a Berkeley educator who grew up in Pleasanton and San Jose. “Ever since I was a kid, my dream was to have a business where I could help foster art communities and creativity.”

With a good deal on rent from their friends in Middle-Aged Queers — who purchased the building with the intention of opening a venue but lacked the time — and a lot of help from their community, The Planetarium was born. The room that would become the venue was in decent shape, with cool lighting in place and some supplies to spruce things up. It was already permitted for noise with the city of Richmond.

“We’ve gotten tremendous deals from friends and stuff from former venues, or [from] touring bands,” Alex said, pointing to the venue’s soundboard. “Once you’re involved in [DIY spaces] enough and know enough people, it’s not hard to find community support in that way.”

Everyone is a star

The Planetarium has already started to see a “karmic return” in the form of community interest. When asked how they’re connecting with bands and artists, Lexi was quick to note, “We’re not finding them. They’re finding us.”

“There’s a lot of venues closing right now, and every venue that opens doesn’t really fix it. It just sort of fills part of the deficit. The amount of inquiries we got puts us into almost summer with some of our shows,” Alex added. “Bands are desperate for places that they can play.”

The Planetarium could be seen as a new generation’s Burnt Ramen, the Richmond DIY space that closed in 2016, and adds to popular DIY venues such as Gilman in Berkeley and Oakland’s Stay Gold Deli and Tamarack. The venue will decidedly not host any punishing “elder bar rock.” Adds Pearson: “If you are a band of 17-year-olds or 18-year-olds, you can play here.”

There’s still plenty of work to do at The Planetarium, from building a proper stage and soundbooth to fixing some busted flooring. The co-founders aren’t worried; “perfect is the enemy of good,” as Pearson noted.

And, befitting a place that puts punk bands alongside puppet shows, it’s about more than the music. Lexi said she hopes to host events like clothing swaps and drives, DIY clothing repairs, and “study shares” where attendees tutor each other. Regardless of what may get booked at The Planetarium, all events will share a common perspective.

“There’s no attitude in this space. There’s a bunch of fun, colorful lights; there’s already aliens on the wall. This is goofy and silly, and you have to be open to that,” Alex said. “Everyone’s just here and it’s all a level playing field. Nobody is the top dog.”

Find details and information about upcoming shows at the Planetarium on Instagram or at Ragtag Productions’ website.