http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/news_scalawag.html

Last call for the Echo Lounge

BY MICHAEL WALL

Janet Ridgeway opened the Echo Lounge in East Atlanta on Oct. 31, 1998 -- but it wasn't until Jan. 8 that she finally took the club's stage.

Shortly before the genre-bending band Kingsized started its encore of Elvis covers in commemoration of the King's birthday, Ridgeway grabbed the mic and told the sold-out crowd they were watching an even more monumental rock event: the Echo Lounge's last live performance.

The crowd responded with loud boos, even though Ridgeway announced that drinks for the rest of the night would be free.

In fact, it was the right to sell alcohol that has caused problems for Ridgeway and the Echo Lounge. In July, the Echo was raided by Atlanta police officers who discovered Ridgeway had been serving booze under a restaurant liquor license for six years -- even though the club has never been a full-service restaurant.

The club's liquor license was immediately revoked, and concerts scheduled for the days after the July raid were either canceled or hastily shifted to other venues.

Nine days later, at a city of Atlanta License Review Board meeting, Ridgeway was called to the carpet for having the wrong kind of liquor license. At that meeting, she began the application process for obtaining a nightclub liquor license rather than a restaurant one. "I should have done it a couple of years earlier," Ridgeway says. "I just didn't think it was that big a deal."

But as she navigated the complex layers of red tape to get the club's license back, Ridgeway encountered obstacles that she says proved insurmountable.

"I don't want to go through this another year," she says. "They just seemed so determined to shut me down."

"They" are the seven members of the city's License Review Board, the committee that, over the past 10 months, has revoked the liquor licenses for the gay nightclubs Backstreet and Metro, as well as Buckhead hotspots Chaos and Fluid. All but Fluid had been scenes of violent crime or drug busts.

Attempts to reach License Review Board Chairman Barney Simms were unsuccessful. Still, the board's behavior is hardly surprising given Ridgeway's liquor license snafu.

Meanwhile, Ridgeway says she'll likely sell her 15-year lease on the building that used to house the Echo Lounge.

So it is that Atlanta begins 2005 by losing one of its last remaining mid-sized rock venues, a stage that saw the likes of popular indie-rock acts such as the White Stripes, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Drive-By Truckers. The Masquerade is also scheduled to close later this year, and last year saw the closing of the Cotton Club and the 9 Lives Saloon.

"What a shame," says 99X DJ and music director Jay Harren, when told about the Echo Lounge closing. "There are other venues out there, but the Echo Lounge was sought out by bands of a certain caliber that won't want to play other venues where you don't have the East Atlanta vibe."

However, three new live music venues -- two smaller than the 450-seat Echo and one larger -- could be opening in East Atlanta in the coming year.

After four years of effort, the 680-seat, 70-year-old Madison Theater on Flat Shoals Avenue may finally be restored as a blues and jazz club to be named -- oddly enough -- "Wiggles," according to Scott Jeffries, who works for DuBose Companies, the firm hired to manage the property. A piano bar called Black Note is planned for the space across the street from the Madison that used to be occupied by Panacea Salon. And construction has begun on the Graveyard Tavern, just a couple of doors down from the Gravity Pub on Glenwood Avenue.

Yep. It's really sad, but hopefully better things are on the way.

They had good shows, but it was wierdly managed and set up.

Hearing about the Masquerade saddens me too. I met my husband there at a Fugazi show in 90.

The Masquerade has mostly sucked for the past 4 or 5 years aside from the occasional Mastodon show.

Holy shit! Probably the club I've been to most since coming down here. That sucks.

Steve

That is some serious fucking bullshit. First they close the Point the week I finally turn 18, now I have hardly anywhere to go and hang when I come home. The EARL is ok, but I've been going to the Echo since it opened.

I had some great times in that place.

Best Shows at the Echo:
Spoon/Crooked Fingers-April '03
Broadcast/Sea And Cake-Nov '00

Heard about this a couple weeks ago, but have since heard that the club will be reopening under new name, management etc.

Pretty nice venue. (loud). But I really like East Atlanta and have been excited about the prosppect of more stuff coming there since I lived in the area a few years ago.

The Mill (um Masquerade) is a hole; I cant recall the last good show I saw there; Maybe Fugazi or The Dead Milkmen. Actually It was that god-awful Les Claypool side-project in about '94 or '95. I went there a million times, but I always had the fear that I would certainly die if there was a fire. And the floor felt like it was going to collapse when people jumped up and down. And they were mean. And skinheads.

Rot in hell, I'll keep my good memories.

Yeah, I had heard it'd gone downhill. They called it the Mill? That's weird, because before it was the Masquerade, it was called Excelsior Mill (late 70s/early 80s).

Yeah, the floor was scary, but it was fun! There's a venue here in Portland called the Crystal Ballroom. The floor actually flexes too, but it's adequately supported. Maybe the Masquerade's floor was set up the same way. Saw a lot of fun shows there in the early 90s. Yeah, it was a sketchy neighborhood with sketchy characters, but that was part of the rush, in my opinion!

Have never been to the Earl before. I guess Smith's Olde Bar and Eddie's Attic are still around, but they're much smaller venues.

Thats what i was referring to; I just couldnt figure out how to spell "Excelsior"

The building was indeed a mill before it was a club.

Dana, do you remember the Metroplex? If so enlighten us campers with a tale or two. (I remember it vividly but never got to go to a show there---I believe it closed in about '89?)

Yup, it's actually funny because the first show I ever went to there was in 89 while at Tech for freshman orientation. I went to see 7 Seconds. Pretty much a hole, but what else do you expect for a punk club? Saw some other bands play there in the really early 90s, but no one you'd know probably (there was a band called After Words-- unfortunately, I dated their guitarist... what a narcissist!)

I know there were a lot of shows there in the late 80s (Sonic Youth, GBH, etc.), but I didn't get over there until I had moved downtown to live for college.

There were a couple of other venues in the same neighborhood (PJ Nest rings a bell and another place I can't remember now) that hosted the same types of shows.

I think every kid that I rode bikes or skated with went to see 7 Seconds at the 'Plex or the Wreck Room (im sure you remember that joint) at some point

Additionally my friend Emanuel told me a hilarious story about his band Altered State playing there that included my first reckoning of "punk groupie chicks"

Shit, I think I joined a band the next week.

THAT'S the one I couldn't remember! Yeah, saw some shows at the Wreck Room too. Marietta Street was a scary place... I assume it still is.

Wait, who's in Altered State? Emanuel who? Any chance you know Andre Kross?

Is the Star Bar still around?

sure, I think Andre was in Boy Scouts with my brother and probably a bunch of other derelicts that you know.

Emanuel Elinas was in that band probably when you were still around. For sure.

Its still around but they changed ownership/management and it can't hold the jock of the old deal.

But they still have the Elvis shrine.

Altered States, great movie. From IMDB: In the basement of a university medical school Dr . Jessup floats naked in total darkness. The most terrifying experiment in the history of science is out of control... and the subject is himself. Plot: A Harvard scientist (William Hurt) conducts experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug and an isolation chamber that may be causing him to regress genetically.

Ah, different Emanuel then. The guy I knew graduated in 1986. Andre was a year older than me, so he was class of 87. I think he had a band at one time called Neon Kross or something equally ridiculous. He had a younger brother too (name escapes me) who was more of a little punk-ass troublemaker than Andre ever was. I think Andre works as a chef now. I also heard he still ives in PTC with wife and kids. My God, things have changed!

This does indeed blow. I've only lived in Atlanta (w/ a physical residence) for a couple of years but I saw some damn good shows there. For me, when I want to see a show I go to their website first to see who's playing.

Best shows I saw there:

Walkmen w/ French Kicks
New Pornographers


This is a big blow to the East Atl landscape. I hope they can get it together. I'd like to see a couple more decent restaurants pop up over there. Def. the most bohemian area of Atlanta.

Yeah, I was hoping they'd be able to keep the swell going, as it seemed East Atlanta was poised to be a great area of town to live in.