After days and days of hearsay it's official we've lost yet another unique Richmond venue. Although I represent 2 other venues in town and should be happy another one has bitten the dust, I'm not. How could I be? This stupid city is too small to loose 4 venues in one year.
As of late the villain seems to be CAPS, but unfortunately I can't say I completely agree. So here's who we've lost:
Nara Sushi - Hosted the best Metal/Punk shows. City Dogs has bought the shell that was Nara and we've heard they will be hosting events. Unfortunately it's looking like they're anti punk and metal. I'd venture to say you'll be at a lot of house shows if you dig the Nara scene created over the past 2 years.
Toads Place - Hosted some good events. I can't really comment I had only been there once. Seems to me that whomever is currently interested in the spot needs to figure out parking. I've always wondered if Toads Place could share that parking deck with Black Finn?
The Artist Underground - Owned by an amazing matronly woman who proudly let you sample all of her homemade food before you settled on something you liked. She started hosting early shows in the tiny basement of a venue to supplement her income. CAPS raided her one miserable night and she never completely recovered. A little less than 3 months after the incident her doors shut for good. I heard that someone was turning it into a natural food restaurant but that's yet to be seen.
The Bagel Czar - God why did you have to go in and ruin the capacity? Having a bagel shop that was that big right around the corner from a restaurant that people already liked to sit and relax at didn't seem like the best idea. That and I don't think they made their bagels in house so the enormous kitchen didn't make much sense. I don't know it was exciting that someone finally stepped up to the plate and tried their hand at the infamous 929 but it was more of a let down than anything else.
Can't wait till our only options are CenterStage and The Landmark...blah. Lets stop grieving the losses and celebrating what we do still have. Get out of your house, support local music and local small business's!
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Someone is working on reopening the 929 spot, from the ABC application it looks like it is to be called Strange Matter.
ReplyDeleteI know, we were bidding for that location. I think those guys are going to do an awesome job. I heard vegan/vegetarian options galore and tappas? Should be great!
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