Longtime music venue to fall silent BY KEVIN KINDER Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008
A longtime live music venue that has hosted a lengthy list of nationally respected artists will close in October, its owner says.
The Music Hall, located on North College Avenue in Fayetteville, will close on Oct. 5, says its owner, Jeremey Brown. The venue celebrated its 10 th anniversary in January.
The rectangular, windowless building tucked into a shopping center was originally called Clunk Music Hall. It has hosted concerts by indie and underground music acts such as The Mars Volta, UnderOath, The All-American Rejects, Les Savy Fav and Modest Mouse.
Brown, who has owned the venue for about five years, said that fading attendance at concerts and having few bands to play are responsible for the closure.
The economy is a main factor in the closure, Brown said. As allowances for the teenagers that often fill the club are cut, fewer can make the shows. Faced with the decision between movies or going to a concert, Brown reasons, “ The first thing to go in the entertainment business is music. ”
Attendance this summer for national touring acts is half what it has been in previous years, Brown said.
Brown said he plans to continue music at a venue in Rogers and will book national touring acts again at a new location beginning in 2009.
“ If I’m going to lose money, I’m going to lose it on something big, ” he said.
He could sublease the building, and it is possible someone could restore live music to the venue. If not, the building’s owner has a suitor who would turn the space into a storage facility, Brown said.
Brown said he’s been considering the move since last year, but the fading revenues during the summer season forced his decision. Until the end, it will remain an important place for music fans to gather, one where fans can enjoy the thing that brought everyone there in the first place: music.
“ Even though it’s a building that’s about to fall apart, they [music fans ] didn’t care, ” he said. “ They just believed. ”
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