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  • From: grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: Another Club to Close
  • Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:32:30 -0500

Don't forget Slim's, and the Downtown Event Center (aka the Raleigh Music Hall), plus that evangelical church that moved into the old Jillian's building & is apparently having shows of the alt/emo variety (apparently not just overtly christian bands, either, though I wonder if one would be able to attend a show there without getting churched in some way . . . thankfully the bands they're booking don't really interest me, so I won't be obligated to find out).

Plus the Berkeley, which is where a lot of the Hideaway shows are being moved to. Also Volume 11 for all your metal needs.

As far as the Brewery is concerned, a glance at their schedule (http://www.brewerync.com/main/e107_plugins/calendar_menu/event.php), which is packed with names I don't recognize, but which sound like the sorts of names that hardrock/"punk"/emo/altrock bands might select for themselves, suggests that they're marketing to a demographic that wants to go out & drink & hear loud rock bands once or twice a week. Plus it's walking distance from NCSU. Relevant? Not to you, nor apparently to me, but then I don't go out often enough to support a venue all by myself either.

Compare that to the Hideaway, which booked a pretty narrow range of genres . . . unfortunately a range (roots to bluegrass to alt.country) that tends to appeal to a slightly older audience, one that might only go out to shows once a month. Plus a lot of those performers are older & have been around a bit longer, and thus are more likely to come with [higher] guarantees.

If you're gonna book shows that appeal to people who might only go to 1 or 2 shows a month, you need to book a wider *range* of music, so that the combination of the different 2-shows-a-month demographics still translates into a semi-full house every time you open.

Either that or make more money on food.

It's a pity about the Hideaway, but based on the bands they were booking, combined with the mixed reviews of their food, I've been assuming they'd go under for a while now. Which is too bad, because the basic idea of a multi-income venue should be a better business model than the old single-purpose smelly-black-box rockclub. Unfortunately, the details of the implementation still count for a lot.

Ross

Hoopla wrote:
I'm sorry to read this. We were there on Monday night and it was a
CRAZY night. I thought for sure that Rick's incredible version of
"Meximelt" is what fried all the electricity in that portion of the
building.

I went to bed on Mon night wondering about the irrelevant Brewery, in
fact. How can Raleigh sustain 4 small live music venues? (Brewery,
Pour House, Lincoln, and Hideaway). Well, I'm sorry to hear this news,
though.

Dana



On Jan 2, 5:03 pm, local... AT gmail.com wrote:
"It was," Palmer concludes with a sigh, "quite a learning experience."
I was just having this conversation with someone last week - one of
the reasons clubs often close is that it's a huge learning curve
(which booking agent's to trust, what local band's draw, etc.) that
most venue's can't sustain that pace very long...glenn

From David Menconi's blog:

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/beat/index.php?title=hideaway_soon_to_h...

Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Hideaway soon to hide away

Just before midnight Monday, as Southern Culture on the Skids played
for a packed house at Raleigh's Hideaway Music Hall, the electricity
cut off for about 45 minutes. Power was eventually restored and new
year's eve festivities continued. But maybe that was an omen, because
word has come down that Hideaway is closing. The Hideaway restaurant
is already shut down, with the live-music operation soon to follow
after a few more weeks of shows.

"When I started this place, I used to joke that I was tired of going
to music venues that were dirty boxes," says owner Palmer Stacy. "Now
I realize why that is, so that the overhead is not as high as mine
ended up being. But we had a good run and we'll try to keep it going a
few more weeks with the music. From the beginning, it was a mismatch
between the cost of running the place and the amount of people coming.
We had some great shows and some good crowds, just not enough to
support a building of that size and expense.

"It was," Palmer concludes with a sigh, "quite a learning experience."

Hideaway opened on Capitol Boulevard in October 2006 amid high hopes,
a barbecue joint that did country and twangy roots rock shows. Wayne
"The Train" Hancock (scheduled to return on Jan. 25), Bottlerockets,
Blue Mountain, and Billy Joe Shaver were among the acts to play there.
But Hideaway struggled to break even and rumors swirled around it for
the past year. When booker Marianne Taylor left for South by Southwest
last March, Palmer told her that Hideaway might not be open when she
returned. Still, she had hopes the club could hang in there.

"It's upsetting," Taylor says. "The first four months or so, there was
no soul to the place. Then last January, the vibe got good and it
started to feel like home. I'm still holding out for a miracle of
someone stepping up so my music can stay at Hideaway."

Taylor guesses Hideaway will be open the next three weekends. Beyond
that, she'll move Hideaway shows to other clubs in the area. Upcoming
Hideaway shows that might be in search of new venues include Don Dixon
on Jan. 26; Asylum Street Spankers on Jan. 29; Malcolm Holcombe on
Jan. 31; Unknown Hinson on Feb. 2; Jason Ringenberg/Farmer Jason on
Feb. 8-9; Jesse Dayton on Feb. 16; and NRBQ pianist Terry Adams on
March 15.

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