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blog post Today on Lanarama: The Vanishing Venue

posted by Lana Gay on Jun 04, 2009

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Today's Guests: Tom Lucier, owner of Phog Lounge, Melissa James & Kate Kroll, filmmakers of "No Fun City"

I'll never forget the first time I heard Vancouver referred to as "No Fun City". I had just moved here 7 hours earlier.

I was crashing on my friend Jeff's couch, with half of my life in a moving van somewhere across the prairies. As he had to work that night, I said "Don't worry, I can find my own fun." To which he replied, "You just moved to No Fun City...good luck!". Though my heart sank, I was hell-bent on having fun that night.

I saw a poster for a Los Furios show somewhere near Gastown. The most direct way to get there was to go down Hastings. Little did I know that I would be chased by a one eyed hunchback with tweezers (this is not a joke) and end up in the worst area in Canada. The next day when my friend asked me where the bar was I said "at the corner of dirty syringe and urine stench."

Why on earth would a band play there? His answer - there are not enough venues left in Vancouver. With condos, redevelopment and sky high rent, they were all closing. It was really hard for a band to find a place to play.

We all have memories of fantastic old venues, WHAT ONE DO YOU MISS THE MOST? What is the situation like in your city, are venues staying open or closing down? Do you see things turning around?

Post your comments on the blog or email feedback@cbcradio3.com

posted by Lana Gay on Jun 04, 2009

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#1 posted by
WildWorks
on Jun 04, 2009

I miss Barrymore's Music Hall in Ottawa since they don't bring in live acts now. The last one I went was for The Acorn in time of agony because of the transit strike in December. Was lucky to make it there. :)
Argh, gotta restart my laptop and watch CBC News: Ottawa at Six.

#2 posted by
Silvorgold
on Jun 04, 2009

rdickie will prove to you that Van City is "no fun city". If he's around today

#3 posted by
Silvorgold
on Jun 04, 2009

In Brandon, there used to be a small CD store next to a bonanza restaurant (anyone remember that buffet place? I loved that place, it's gone from Brandon too). They had an amazing stock of CDs, new and used. Every album I was looking for, they had it! They even had a decent indie selection (this was the year 2000), but it closed down not long later.

Closed venues on the other hand.. I haven't had much experience with. The West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg was closed for over a year, I know many people missed that place

#4 posted by
Silvorgold
on Jun 04, 2009

but now it's re-opened after renovations!

#5 posted by
AlexOfAnders
on Jun 04, 2009

I'm not sure I was around as we lost most of our Venues. I moved here about 6 or 7 years ago now but I would have only noticed the ones that closed around 2 years ago at the earliest. I heard we had some great venues that were lost. The Biltmore opening up was more then welcome, I love that place.

Has anyone seen those ads for "Venue"? Is it a condo development or a real venue opening up? I can't figure it out, find it online or get any info off the poster as it just says venue, summer 2009.

#6 posted by
Lana Gay
on Jun 04, 2009

I heard someone mention that venue is going to be the name of the old Plaza Club that is currently under renovation.... but I'm not positive about it.

#7 posted by
nsgal
on Jun 04, 2009

I also miss Barrymore's here in Ottawa. It was such a great venue for live shows, not a bad view in the place. Plus, the old-theatre charm was pretty neat. Now it has new owners and it a top 40/retro nights/cover band kind of place :(

Also, I haven't been back since it re-opened under a new name, but I'm sure I'm not alone in missing the Marquee in Halifax.

#8 posted by
Silvorgold
on Jun 04, 2009

In Brandon, there are approximately half a dozen "venues" that cater specifically for music events, including small pubs. The folk festival committee in the town bought an abandonded movie theatre and has plans to turn it into a venue/multi purpose building (ie meetings and whatnot), but I don't know how thats going, it certainly isn't going to be opening in time for the WCMAs in the fall, and I hear that they may not make it into a music hall anymore... which is sad because downtown Brandon needs something like that to bring rejuvination, there are too many empty abandonded buildings that could have been used for something better

#9 posted by
AlexOfAnders
on Jun 04, 2009

Ah, maybe that's it. I'm surprised I can't find any info online about it although I do admit I had no idea the Plaza was closed for renovations.

Maybe if we're really lucky the Plaza Club will reopen as such and Venue will be an entirely new venue. The more venues the better!

#10 posted by
WildWorks
on Jun 04, 2009

Almost taking the "Manny being Manny" quote. :)
I guess venues in Ottawa are still status-quo. No change per se. Unless I am definitely wrong on it.
I haven't gone to a live show in several weeks.

#11 posted by
Russe
on Jun 04, 2009

I know in the town that I live around we've had more good places open up. We got the old opera/movie theatre reopened after years of renovations and now The Capital Theatre is one sweet venue for bands. There's also the youth centre and Kelly's that have bands come around from month to month. Go Norfolk County hahaha

The closest city I go to is Brantford for the Ford Plant but that's all that's really there. Good thing it's fun : )

#12 posted by
Rabbie K
on Jun 04, 2009

I got two.....

In Vancouver its gotta be the Buffalo Club. I believe it was closed when the city purchased the building for a senior or low income housing project.... right in the supposed ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT!!!

In Calgary it is definately the Republic. I saw so many amazing bands there... The Smalls, Caddilac Tramps, Monster Voodoo Machine, Furnaceface to name a few. The rumour was that the owner just waited till he got the biggest offer. He then open what is now called Mint which as cool as it was, there were no live bands.... booooooooo

#13 posted by
Bio Spice
on Jun 04, 2009

Yes, I remember that Bonanza!!! The particular memory is our jazz choir trip to Brandon (from Winnipeg!), and that was one of our special dinners. My sister and I were ALL OVER the all you can eat steak-shrimp-icecream deal. Good times in 1992. Don't remember that CD store in particular though. All I saw was Bonanza and its all you can eat steak.

#14 posted by
AlexOfAnders
on Jun 04, 2009

I don't really understand how Vancouver's "Entertainment district" is just where there seems to be a collection of top 40 clubs and now one fully operating Venue. I mean, the Vogue has the odd show but basically there's nothing operating full time as a venue except the Commodore. Seriously, a weak entertainment district, I like to think Vancouver has something better to offer than mash-ups of 90s music and top 40 hits.

#15 posted by
Colin Medley
on Jun 04, 2009

Without a doubt, the venue I miss most is The Velvet Elvis in Oshawa. It was such an important place for me when I lived there. I was there one or twice a week and it's where I saw a lot of my favourite bands for the first time (Julie Doiron, Ohbijou, The Wooden Sky, Evening Hymns, The D'Urbervilles, Forest City Lovers, Shotgun & Jaybird, The Magic, Bocce, The Barmnitzvah Brothers, The Burning Hell, The Rural Alberta Advantage, the list goes on an on!). I met a lot of good friends there and it's where I cut my teeth doing videos and interviews. Geez, if that place hadn't been around, my life would be very different right now. It closed down around a year and a half ago, but it certainly went out with a bang. Oshawa has been hurting a lot since then, so hopefully another decent venue pops up. It doesn't seem to be turning around, but hopefully it does soon.

#16 posted by
nsgal
on Jun 04, 2009

Don't forget, Ottawa is known as "the city that fun forgot"!

It seems pretty apt sometimes, especially when you see the downtown core empty out a 5:00pm on Friday with no signs of life until 8:00am Monday. But we are working on it. We're not that lame, really.

#17 posted by
boyforpele
on Jun 04, 2009

One of the first live venues I went to in Vancouver was The Starfish Room. It was in Yaletown and some overpriced condo high rise sits on its grave these days.

The artist playing that night was Chantal Kreviazuk, playing alone on the piano to a room of 150 people.
It was so small after she was done she just had a drink and sat amongst the crowd like she had been sitting in the audience the whole time.

Unfortunately Vancouver is all about developing and gentrifying hip areas so the music lovers and artists have to leave as they cannot afford $500,000 condos.

No Fun City is a real problem here in Vancouver despite the fact local politicians call it "The Best Place on Earth".
Best Place for the rich who don't care for the lower classes is more like it.

#18 posted by
Justin Beach
on Jun 04, 2009

Toronto is great, I don't think anything is closing down and new ones are popping up - places that didn't used to have live music are getting it and people are improvising like mad - having shows in auto body shops, garages, sheds, bookstores, living rooms, galleries, basements .... ) : At least 40 good, regular venues and dozens of irregular ones.

The venue I miss most though was in California, on the edge of the Desert in an abandoned gas station/diner/convenience store on a derilect section of highway - someone brought in a generator and people would bring coolers with cheap beer and BBQs - the walls were decorated with graffiti and there was no plumbing. According to legend (before my time) the Sex Pistols played there. I didn't see that but I saw alot of great bands there.

#19 posted by
boders
on Jun 04, 2009

I concur; what is the deal with 'entertainment district' really meaning 'club district'? I didn't post anything yesterday about hometown bands I am proud of as I can't really think of any from my hometown but living in Vancouver now there are certainly lots of bands I am proud to say are from here. Where's all the venues to showcase our great talents?

#20 posted by
CDNz1
on Jun 04, 2009

Believe it or not, the Detroit area has a handful of great venues that cater to Indie artists, many of them Canadian. A few have been around since my college days and some are newer, so it appears that live music is still a draw in Detroit Rock City. There's also a little place just across the border in Windsor called the Phog Lounge, but I'll let Tom talk about that.
I write a bit a couple of times a month for NxEW.ca called 'Go NORTH to Detroit, SOUTH to Windsor' that highlights Canadian Indie artists playing the Windsor/Detroit area. I hope that someone tells two friends and so on and so on. We need our small clubs to thrive and keep the music coming.

#21 posted by
AlexOfAnders
on Jun 04, 2009

I almost think the big wigs of Vancouver have decreed that they'll allow some drunkness and partying inside those few blocks because I guess it's the most economically viable or something, then shun those outside it. Hassle them about licenses and bylaws, hoping to be rid of them in lieu of condos.

I still don't understand who is buying all these super expensive condos? I've been told a great deal of Vancouver is employeed in the service industry. I mean, I have a pretty well paying job I'd like to think and I'd have to save for a decade to buy one of those condos. Redunculous!

#22 posted by
Silvorgold
on Jun 04, 2009

That's pretty awesome! Bonanza closed down around 5 years ago. Pretty sad, I loved their burgers, they grilled their burgers/steak amazingly. I also miss the unlimited ice cream/soda.. that was heaven.

Was the jazz choir trip at the university? I know every year there was an annual jazz fest there

#23 posted by
124th Street Beat
on Jun 04, 2009

I moved to Vancouver just when the infamous Town Pump closed, during my time there one after another great place was shut down, but the one that broke my heart the most was the Starfish Room. I heard Richards on Richards is still alive though... is this true? When I was in Vancouver in May there was a redevelopment sign on the lot next to it......

Edmonton lost one of its better venues not long after I moved here as well (am I cursed?) - the Powerplant at the U of A. The students' union ran it into bankruptcy. On the other hand, there are still a number of good venues that are going strong - the Starlite Room, Pawn Shop, Black Dog, New City, Blues on Whyte, the Yardbird Suite..... but it is also seriously lacking a good mid-sized venue (i.e. Commodore-sized) that has a dancefloor (i.e. not a theatre).

#24 posted by
Justin Beach
on Jun 04, 2009

From what I understand it's gone. I'd have a hard time finding it again anyway it involved going down a seldom used highway, turning on a gravel road, turning again on a dirt road, then you'd come out on a section of highway that the state had shut down in the 1960s and it was a few miles up the road.

From what I was told the state decided they did want a highway there after all - which meant the end. (It was completely illegal and no one was ever asked for ID, it was also falling apart.) So the owner (who always brought the generator) sold the land to a developer after the state re-opened the highway.

#25 posted by
Bio Spice
on Jun 04, 2009

yes, it was at the university... the annual jazz festival? don't recall the name of the headliner/clinician, but recall that he was a clarinetist with white hair. and i recall that my sister was wearing a purple suede mini skirt at the gala concert, with a floral silk blouse to match. oh, 1992. would you have been there participating? watching?

#26 posted by
Justin Beach
on Jun 04, 2009

It was also in the desert - renowned for it's "bush" parties (in quotes cause no bushes). Having a roof was just kindof a novelty. I'm sure the whole party just moved elsewhere (generator and all).

#27 posted by
phogtom
on Jun 04, 2009

Please call...I was five minutes late for your call LANA!!

#28 posted by
phogtom
on Jun 04, 2009

Trying to call you, but not having any luck...
Don't know the number for the studio...

#29 posted by
Justin Beach
on Jun 04, 2009

But for the benefit of anyone who is actually talking to city council - I've talked to a number of people in the last 4-5 years who've been to Van. (some to visit, some to live and came back, and some still there for work purposes) and the things that have been pretty universal are that (toward people from Toronto anyway) Vancouverites are smug about being greener and safer even though neither is true anymore and that there is nothing to do in the evenings (lots of great hikes, beaches etc., during the day but once the sun goes down you might as well go to bed.)

There are alot of awesome people in Vancouver, so I don't really want to be critical - this isn't even first hand info. I've never, ever been to Van. but give that speech to the city council (esp. with the Olympics coming) and maybe it will help.

#30 posted by
AlexOfAnders
on Jun 04, 2009

I've been hearing about the lose of Richard's on Richards coming for a long time. Maybe it'll just never happen? That'd be awesome, it's going to suck losing them. Are these venues having trouble funding themselves or are they on lease? Is it like a developer buys the leaser out, then they don't resign the venue to a lease?

It always sounds like venues go down for condos here, but doesn't the owner have to decide to sell it?

#31 posted by
124th Street Beat
on Jun 04, 2009

I think that most people are leasing or renting their venues, so when the owner decides to sell that is it.

As for Richards on Richards, I don't know if this is true, but apparently the reason it survived for so long is that an old lady owned a property(s?) beside the venue and refused to sell. However, she has passed on - and when I walked by the bar last time I was in town there was a redevelopment proposal on the property next to it... so perhaps this is finally the end? If it is I think an old fashioned Clayoquot Sound style protest may be in order.

#32 posted by
tb3
on Jun 04, 2009

in London…
I miss The Embassy. Though it had gone done hill and I hadn't been in years it was the site of a lot of my music going 90's. I saw some amazing shows there and spent a lot of time there. So when it suspiciously burned down a few weeks back, ahead of it being torn down for gentrification, and as I drove by the gaping hole and see directly into the bar, I felt a bit sad to see that icon go.

in Windsor…
Changez by Nite. I am not even sure if it closed or is still going. Hell I moved away. But that bar in the 90's in Windsor was like nothing else in Windsor. They hosted cool nights where they had a video screen going with bizarre stuff and then crazy ass industrial dance stuff. I could always count on feeling like I was in another, cutting edge world when I was there

#33 posted by
Justin Beach
on Jun 04, 2009

They're so awesome. Looking forward to the 20th - who all is playing the R3 showcase Lana?

#34 posted by
Lana Gay
on Jun 04, 2009

9pm Woodpigeon
10pm DD/MM/YYYY
11pm Ruby Coast
12am Jason Collett
1am Hot Panda
2am Lovely Feathers

#35 posted by
Justin Beach
on Jun 04, 2009

At some point in the next couple of weeks I'm having a meeting about doing a music meets art series at a Toronto gallery - if you know me you know you'll hear alllll about it when / if it happens but another non-venue that's looking to become a venue, at least sometimes.

Oh and when I say art I don't mean painting or sculpture necessarily - short film, multimedia, installations, performance art, graffiti ...

#36 posted by
Justin Beach
on Jun 04, 2009

Cool, thanks!!!!

Grant originally said Woodhands thanks for clarifying. It's cool though - Woodhands are at the drake on the 17th so I'll get to see them AND Woodpigeon who I've never seen.

#37 posted by
KFresh
on Jun 04, 2009

@nsgal

Though I am from Vancouver, and have been back for 5 or 6 years, I lived in Halifax during my formative college years. The Marquee was was my every weekend & weekday hangout. So many great shows and memories at that place. Is it fully shut down now?

I'll be back for the first time in July and would love to hit it up again, for nostalgia's sake.

#38 posted by
sexysadie
on Jun 04, 2009

I would say London has been hit the hardest when it comes to venues shutting down. In a year we lost The Salt Lounge, The Wick, The Embassy and last... but not least.. in fact, i would say MOSt, the Alex P Keaton.

Where to play? Well, of course.. call the office. Except... unless you can sell 400 tickets, there's not much point playing there.

It's pretty brutal. Though... we just have to get creative. Bars sort of suck to play anyway... theatres, churches, libraries, laundromats... in the face of adversity, we just get more creative. All is not lost. In fact... the growing popularity of house shows is heartening!

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