Sad News in Big D

The last several years that I lived in Dallas, the area on the east side of downtown called Deep Ellum was my second home. I was Marketing Director for the area for a while, then took a job doing club promotions which meant more time there. And after that, I hung out there all the time, because by then I'd made so many friends and it was a great place to go. The area has a great history, from the early 1900's, then it was abandoned for a long time until a group of artists and musicians - including a few friends of mine - started living there, booking bands, opening clubs, etc. In the 1980's it was still an edgy, dangerous place to go, but it was the beginning of a beautiful thing - THE place in North Texas to go see the best local bands, and where many touring 'baby bands' would play before going on to great success. In the 90's it really thrived, with a bunch of live music venues, art galleries, tattoo parlors, boutique shops, and restaurants, all in about an 8-square block area. Park and walk, day and night. Mark Cuban, now owner of the Dallas Mavericks, started Broadcast.com there, which he later sold to Yahoo for about a squillion dollars. (I knew several people who were cursing themselves for not investing with him in the early days when Cuban approached them.) I had too many great times to count, and made so many friends, most of whom I still keep in touch with. I was just there in November over the Thanksgiving holiday, and it was great to go back and say hi.

So you can say Deep Ellum has a special place in my heart.

In recent years, Deep Ellum has been going through a rough patch - businesses closing, some crime, but from what I'm told by locals, no worse than any other part of town. But it got bad press locally because it's a high-profile area, and that hurt business, drove people away, and attracted some unsavory characters.

Today I read that two of the longest-in-operation live music venues - clubs that were the anchor for the scene - are closing. Club Dada closed a couple of weeks ago, and Trees will close on Jan. 2. Both had been open 15+ years, which is nothing short of a small miracle in the club world. Their importance to the area, and the impact they have had, cannot be understated. So it's with a heavy heart that I learned this shocking news today. I knew D.E. was having a bad time, but this is disastrous, for the area in general and most especially for the music scene. I have often said that "Austin gets the juice, but Dallas is the shit" when it comes to local music. So much talent. So many great acts I saw there. As a matter of fact, I just finished creating a couple of mix CDs for New Year's Eve, which include several Dallas bands - Burden Brothers, Jibe, Old 97s, pop poppins.

I once had optimism that things would bounce back eventually, but now....

I hope the remaining key venues there - Gypsy Tea Room, Curtain Club, and Club Clearview, can keep things rolling and that new venues open and things take a turn for the better. I hope my friends at Dada and Trees find new gigs soon. I hope my friends at the other remaining venues, friends who have other businesses in the area, and my bud Frank who just opened an art gallery there (and part of the aforementioned 1980's era contingent), keep up the good fight and hang in there.

Fingers crossed.