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5/26/2006
An open letter to Jeff Clarke, The Star Bar, Slim Chance, and
other former Star Bar regulars:
There are three annual events I will dearly miss when I finally move out of
Atlanta (I’m going away to Spain when I get my money saved. Gonna start
tomorrow.) Drive Invasion, Cordogorama, and Bubbapalooza.
The Star Bar has hosted Bubba for some 15 years now. Over that time the bar has
changed a bit. In the early 90’s it was the headquarters of The Redneck
Underground, a simultaneous celebration and ironic satire of all things white
trash, with a heck of a soundtrack. I stumbled onto this scene just after
Bubbapalooza’s founder, Gregory Dean Smalley, had passed away. I saw the
movement’s prophet, Deacon Lunchbox, a single time for about 30 seconds a few
weeks before a car crash took his life.
Soon after, The Star Bar became one of my frequent watering holes. I could tell
I had just missed something extremely important, something that had a powerful,
lingering presence. Eventually I’d find Deacon’s writings in a book and Gregory
Dean’s music on CD, but at the time I just enjoyed the place for what was
happening then. The swing revival was at its height so the bar attracted more
than it’s hardcore regulars there to catch rockabilly acts from all over the
world. A lot of folks like me got hooked on the place. There weren’t many other
venues where you could find twangy music of any sort in the capitol of the New
South. I fondly remember my first Bubba, 1996, where I was shocked to learn I
liked country music. The rootsy, honest sounds of Slim Chance were nothing like
the pop country I had despised in my youth and groups like Blacktop Rockets
would get half the crowd dancing and twirling like mad while the other half
backed up to give them room. The place would be packed with sweaty people
sucking down PBR and tapping their toes.
But the swing fad passed about the time The Star Bar changed hands. The new guys
couldn’t rely on the hardcore regulars to pay the bills. They had become
increasingly irregular as they moved to the burbs, got married, had kids, etc.,
And without the steady flow of trend-surfing people who’d just dropped in for
the swing fad, things had to change.
The bar began booking acts that clashed with the retro ideals of the regulars –
from the heavy, hard stuff to light, pop fluff. Bubbapalooza limped along a few
years as the former regulars would return for one weekend but they weren’t
enough to pack the house like the years before. Even Bubba had to change.
This upset the regulars, both bands and fans. It didn’t help that the new
management could be a bit gruff. Some people got their feelings hurt. Some
critics even insulted the bar and the owners in print. The bar responded with
it’s own insults and it’s gotten to the point where I won’t read Stomp and
Stammer any more and I have to tune out the snide remarks from Star Bar
management about the situation. Both sides are being childish.
C’mon, folks, rise above it.
So the bar had to change to stay afloat? Hey, find somewhere else with the music
you like. Or better yet, expand your damn horizons and see something new. But
whatever you do, don’t bitch and moan about what the bar does to do to stay
afloat. In the time the Star Bar has been around, the Point crashed,
9 Lives rose and fell, Echo Lounge came and went, even Underground’s Alley Cat
recently shut it’s doors, but the Star Bar is still there so someone is doing
something right.
Sure, it could be more to your liking – if you supported it more often.
Demand dictates supply and if you’re not there supporting the music you like why
would they keep bringing it back? It’s like bitching about the government but
not voting.
Yeah, the management has changed. I miss the old guy too. Yeah, the new guys can
be assholes. I bet they’d admit it freely. But I’d like to see you stand behind
that bar night after night and deal with other drunken assholes and not come
away a bit jaded. More importantly, how often do you have to socialize with the
management? Get in the door, order your drink, and move on to your own clique.
It’s ok if there are people in the world you don’t like – even if they run a bar
you DO like.
And Jeff Clark - what the fuck?!? I can tell you pride yourself on being an
asshole and giving harsh reviews but the more you call attention to the place
the more you sound like a twat and the more I’m interested in going to the bar
to see what has your panties in a wad. I have found that if you don’
t like something, I probably do, especially if you bother to call attention to
it. Personal differences in taste aside, it’s hypocritical at best to have a
column called “support our troops” and run a magazine that supposedly supports
the scene while simultaneously trying to tear down a portion of it.
Sure, I’ll give a band, a venue, or an event a harsh review when they deserve it
but I won’t point them out and heckle them every opportunity I get. Stop being
such a shit and MOVE ON, man.
The joint is one of the best bars in town – decent sound, cheap drinks, intimate
size, a wide variety of live music, even a couple of DJ nights – something for
everyone. I spent all evening there last night for the first night of
Bubbapalooza 15. I saw some goddamn fantastic music – some old favorites, some
new favorites – FIVE bands for TEN bucks. I drank five PBR’s and my tab came to
ten bucks. Tonight it’s SEVEN bands for ten bucks.
Saturday it’s eight bands and free barbecue for a mere fifteen bucks.
You can ask for a better show at a cheaper price – but you won’t get it.
Frederick Noble
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