Everyone’s been there. You’re at the bar tossing back a few, and some local band comes on stage and catches your ear. Unfortunately, you don’t catch their name and you can’t pick up their CD because you spent your last 10 bucks buying a round for your new friends at table 12. By the next morning, you realize you have as much chance of finding the band’s CD as you do of calling the number you found on the bar napkin in your pocket.

It’s a familiar—and unfortunate—story, and Doug Kaspar wants to do something about it. As the sound engineer at Dinkytown’s Library Bar & Grill, Kaspar has heard more than his share of talented but largely unknown local bands. As an audio salesman at Mars Music, one of the state’s largest music equipment retailers, he hopes to help change the latter half of that equation by making the store a prime destination for fans and musicians interested in exploring the Twin Cities music scene. Kaspar’s plan, soon to be implemented at the store’s Roseville branch, is to focus the store’s CD sales exclusively on local music and feature in-store performances from a wide variety of eclectic Minneapolis bands.

“We have this awesome venue,” Kaspar says, “and Mars is really into the whole philosophy of not just taking business but also helping to grow the musical community.”

Kaspar conceived his plan after hearing plenty of underexposed bands at his night job; he hopes to help both musicians and fans by bringing them to his day job as well. For fans, a store dedicated to local music can help open ears to new sounds; for bands, Kaspar plans to take things one step farther.

“I want to have biographies for all the bands,” he says. “Who recorded [their album], who helped produce it. It’s a way for bands to check out what other bands are doing—we’re trying to create a network of local musicians.”

As a nationwide chain, Mars is a somewhat unlikely successor to local scene-setting shops like the Oar Folkjokeopus of the mid-1980s. However, the store is already a frequent destination for band and DJ gear and, as Kaspar points out, “All the people who work in these stores are musicians.” It may not be entirely homegrown, but the seeds of a community are definitely present.

The store’s national connections may also prove beneficial. Virtually every Mars Music store in the nation is equipped with in-store performance space, and, according to Kaspar, their open-door performance policy could provide wide-ranging exposure for local musicians.

“Any band that wants to come in and play on our stages is welcome,” he says. “It’s a really neat opportunity for musicians that want to get out around the country.”

All things considered, Kaspar feels that Minneapolis musicians have the right mindset to create a mutually beneficial network no matter where it starts.

“Minnesota people in general have a home-y attitude,” he says. “Musicians here are open to hang out with other musicians and to help each other out.”

To illustrate that attitude, Kaspar says that Mars isn’t attempting to compete with other national chains or local music stores. The music he’s set on carrying doesn’t reflect the Billboard charts or the “Total Request Live” countdown, and most account executives would cringe at largely unproven bands. But, as Kaspar points out, it’s a worthwhile investment for bands and fans alike.

“We’re not gonna make tons of money off this. My intention for this is to create an education for the public about the local stuff that’s out.”

The education is pretty simple; for local bands interested in getting your music out, contact Kaspar via e-mail at dkaspar@prodigy.net or simply bring your CDs to the Mars Music Superstor in the Har Mar Mall, 2100 N. Snelling Ave. For those of you simply interested in hearing great local music, just head to Mars and support the Twin Cities music scene!