Emerging venues

As of today, November 15 2006, it's been exactly six months since Crowbar closed. I still remember the sting I felt at the news, especially my outrage at the bogus rationale.

They cited "influences from other, larger venues within Crowbar’s market area" as the reason for their close.

Well, it's November, and almost half a year later these new venues haven't really showed up. If you're not going to a big BJC show, your options are kept pretty small and local. As much as I enjoy and appreciate the shows put on at Dragon Chasers, the Tall Shiva Hookah Lounge and other locations, they do not have the capacity to draw bigger acts that Crowbar did. I don't think one hundred kids hitting the occasional all-ages Roustabout! was really siphoning off that much revenue from a venue that could book Hawthorne Heights.

But analyzing the incompetence at Crowbar will not do. It's gone, and that's that. The Cell Block, so far, has put more emphasis on the club aspect of the venue. From talking to people who've seen the Erie and Williamsport locations, I understand this is probably not going to change much.

This is unfortunate. It's in a great location, has the right capacity and would still have a lot of the fanbase that was familiar with going to Crowbar shows. It would be nice to see them give booking more shows a try (preferably someone who didn't peak in the 80's,) but there's no use holding your breath.

There are two up-and-coming venues on the horizon to watch though. The first is Lulu's Nightstop (renamed from Club Love, which evidently was a bit too masculine.) They had Shooter Jennings last night, the Drive-By Truckers earlier in the year, and State Radio is coming up with locals Cloverleaf as openers. It's not a lot of shows to judge them by, but it's a step in the right direction.

I think the shows are 21+, which is a huge downfall that really hurts. Eddie Money at the Cell Block was 21+ and packed the house, but I think that can be written off by realizing that most people who wanted to go either listened to Money in his prime, or had to be drunk enough to forget the guy on stage had aged about 20 years since he'd been on the radio.

Making a show 21+ cuts off over half of the potential student audience and is just a lame move for reasons detailed in a previous blog. Scroll down and read the archives!

The other one is the long-awaited State Theatre. The Grand Opening is set for Dec. 14. So far, the most interesting announced shows are Marah and Sean Lennon. While the Theatre will not primarily focus on rock music, or even music, the location and size make it a great place to host some mid-level acts.

But even a couple of shows would be a welcome addition to the scene here. Bringing in bands would, I think, draw a great crowd. I don't want to speculate on the kind of acts that could show up, but the crowd for indie and lesser-known bands here is tremendous.

My hope, I guess, is that these potential new venues will take the chance to try bringing in some good bands regularly, and learn from the mistakes of the Crowbar. There is a huge gap in the potential to see live bands, and the new venues have the ability to remedy this situation. Here's hoping that this time next year, we've got more options.