For whom the bell tolls

Arizona Daily Wildcat

It was the loss of a loved one; the Airport Lounge had, in its short life span, become a favorite live music club, most of the shows featuring a diverse array of local bands.

"We always had good crowds," said Jeff Grubbs, who booked shows for the Lounge.

But when the Plaza Pub upstairs had to shut its door, the individually successful Airport Lounge went down with the ship.

"Everyone's kind of in shock," said Susan Chase, the manager of the downtown club.

"There's a lot more bands out there than places to play," said Sharon Cruce, owner of Double Zero, another downtown bar, located on Congress Street. "There's a lot of talent in Tucson, definitely, and there's nothing better than a live show.

"That's what works- local music, good venue; the more the merrier. The more venues, the better," said Chase.

But Mia Gable, director of events at the legendary Club Congress, disagrees. She said the main reason why Club Congress, which was the big-deal live concert venue for quite some time, has been doing more disc jockey dance nights as opposed to live shows lately is that there isn't much of a response to local bands.

"We just didn't have a turnout that made it worthwhile," she said, "we were seeing how poorly live music does, even on Fridays. [When you have] local bands, and 150 people show up, it's kind of depressing.

"There's a big pool of musicians in town and you can't really rely on them (to come to the shows)," Gable added.

While talking to Chase, the subject of downtown itself came up: "Maybe they just don't get it," she mused, in reference to the recently proposed new "downtown entertainment district," which is plans for movie theaters and big-name chain enterprises to spring up in the area; no one seems to be focusing on the live entertainment area.

"The energy's maybe going in the wrong direction," Chase said.

The Airport Lounge closed due to the failure of the restaurant upstairs, which was trying to cater to the midday business crowd, according to Chase. But the success of the lounge itself showed that the real market is the night crowd.

Yet, even with one less space where local music may be seen and heard, things are still going on, events are happening, people are doing things. The key is knowing about it - and then going. Yes, you. A whole world of music is about to hit the stages in town, as it becomes the season when the temperature is only bearable by night.

Just check out this week's extended calendar section for some ideas.

The message? Get out of your dorm room, apartment, duplex, cubicle, casa, trailer, whatever, and head downtown. It's spring break and Tucson is, in fact, hopping.