When I think of “music in a church,” I envision something along the lines of Prince’s video for “When Doves Cry”—grandiose double doors, dozens of birds, bubble baths and synthesizers. Maybe my fantasies are just too demanding. Could you imagine trying to clear that sort of order with a venue like the First Street Church?
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A praise chorus: First Street Church owner Tom Shadyac listens in as Carleigh Nesbit performs in the church sanctuary in 2008. |
As it happens, maybe my visions aren’t too bold. While the mission of the First Street Church Project hasn’t changed, a group of locals is currently working on a proposal to transform the sanctuary of the planned day shelter and community center into an occasional music venue, a listening room that Mayor Dave Norris said could potentially “serve as a revenue generator for the rest of the building.”
Norris, who first brought the building to the attention of its current owner, filmmaker Tom “Almighty” Shadyac, told C-VILLE that his role is “simply providing advice and some guidance” to the group. “Tom Shadyac has agreed to lease the building to the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless [TJACH] for use as a community center,” he explained. “TJACH, in turn, would essentially contract management of the sanctuary space to this non-profit group, assuming everything goes well.”
While sources did not disclose the identities of members of the group, Brad Savage, program director for 106.1FM The Corner, confirmed that he was “peripherally involved,” and that a few local musicians have offered to help where they can. And while Norris specified that a music venue in the church would not function as “a nightclub, per se—we’re not talking about a ‘dance hall’ type venue with a bar,” he seemed optimistic about the room’s rock potential.
“It’s going to be fully renovated with a new stage, new soundsystem, new lighting,” said Norris. “It’s a large, open, airy space; big, stained glass windows.” Can u my darlings, can u picture this?
Southern comforts?
News from the other side of First Street: The Artist Formerly Known as Gravity Lounge has a new name and a few shows booked for mid-September.
“Technically, it’ll be ‘The Southern Café and Music Hall,’” said co-manager Andy Gems in a phone interview with C-VILLE. “A.K.A., ‘The Southern.’”
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Lauren McRaven and Andy Gems, co-managers of “The Southern,” announce the first few gigs at the former Gravity Lounge space for September. |
That’s how the club is named in a press release from Starr Hill Presents, the booking agency that lined up the earliest trio of shows on the venue’s schedule—concerts by James “Son of Lonesome Dove” McMurtry, Ingrid Michaelson and Jolie Holland on September 18, 19 and 20, respectively. Tickets for each gig are now available online at starrhill.musictoday.com for between $12 and $15.
More on those gigs as they approach. (Same goes for the return of The Fiery Furnaces, another Starr Hill Presents gig announced for August 26 at Fry’s Spring Beach Club.) Meanwhile, it’s been some time since a local has christened a new music venue. What’s with “The Southern”?
There are plenty of great songs about railroads; The Southern just happens to be a venue named for one—the Southern Railway Company, which became the Norfolk Southern Corporation in 1982 following a merger with Norfolk & Western Railway. “It was the north-south route through here,” according to Gems. “The C&O was the east-west route.”
The Southern goes before the Planning Commission on Tuesday, July 14, for a hearing on the site’s dance hall permit request. More from the boxcars as Feedback hears it.
Satch you later
Before Feedback turns the dial off this week, he wants to congratulate Satch Huizenga, Live Arts’ Productions and Operations Director, on his recent appointment as the local theater’s new artistic director. Huizenga has been as much a fixture of Live Arts’ stage and backstage as the theater’s office, directing plays like Our Lady of 121st Street and performing in plays including The Pillowman. Live Arts will continue to search for an executive director, with the hope of finding a candidate by November—two months before the departure of managing director John Gibson.
