Jack Straw's Is Pulling The Plug On Live Music

The Charlotte Observer, 9-26-1997

 

By Kenneth Johnson

Pop Music Writer

 

For live shows, it's too small. The "stage" is 3 inches high (not cool when a 6-foot-3 dude stands in front of you), and the bar needs to be about 50 feet longer.

 

But when it comes to offering a high-quality, diverse lineup of live music, few in Charlotte can touch Jack Straw's.

 

So it's particularly disheartening to hear that the popular Seventh Street restaurant-bar will stop hosting bands.

 

Booker-promoter Steve Thompson has grown weary of the music business. A combination of factors - lack of support and respect for Jack Straw's as a music venue and twice-dashed plans to open a sister facility - fueled his decision to move on.

 

Following that, the club decided to abandon live music entirely.

 

The decision really hit home for me Saturday night as I stood in Jack's digging Belizbeha, a thoroughly awesome jazz/funk/hip-hop act that probably would have never played in town if not for Thompson taking a chance and booking the unknown Vermont group in 1995 for its first Charlotte show.

 

Over the past three years, the club has hosted Queen City debuts by a slew of great out-of-town acts, including Big Ass Truck, The Honeydogs, 6 String Drag, The Gladhands, Moe, The Derailers ... the list goes on.

 

And it always supported local groups.

 

The mix of styles offered - funk, alternative rock, pop, country-rock, bluegrass, blues, reggae, ska, hippie jammers - was glorious. And the diversity of musicians who graced its stage - black, white, Latino, male, female, young, old - was an added bonus.

 

6 String Drag plays tonight, and Charlotte's Aqualads appear Saturday.

 

A "Last Waltz" farewell party with Other People is set for Wednesday.