The Senators & Crescent Ballroom
HARK!
I hear … a homecoming…
Even as the dread Delta variant spreads through HARK Valley and, for that matter, the world, local venues are gaining traction in reopening plans.
The Crescent Ballroom, definitely on the HARK Valley Top 5 list, is rising from a COVID-induced slumber.
https://www.facebook.com/CrescentPHX
The venue notes it is “3 things- a mid-size room for national touring artists, a 21+ Lounge featuring live music, full bar and kitchen.”
A few months before COVID-19 started its deadly world tour, I allowed myself to be half-dragged to see Aurora at the Crescent.
It was a pretty fantastic experience, with the Norwegian singer emotionally belting out -- and even acting -- her poetic lyrics. "Next-generation Bjork" is one way to describe her...
She’s as romantic and instantly nostalgic -- even for a world unknown -- as her Facebook page describes:
“AURORA is a Norwegian artist, raised among the fjords and mountains of Bergen in Norway.” https://www.facebook.com/iamAURORA
Now, after the depths of COVID darkened the Crescent, the mid-sized, old-school-feeling venue is yawning from an enforced hibernation.
It’s a bit of a homecoming Aug. 27: Phoenix-based folk band The Senators recently left the desert to go to the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, according to the band’s website.
“Music brought us together in Arizona, and we gave life to melodies that had been in my head for years,” as Jesse Teer puts it. “ We were high-school band geeks, we spun our parents Beatles vinyl as loud as we could get away with, we started crappy punk bands from our garage.”
No more of that “crappy punk”! (Not that there’s anything wrong with that…)
Though it rings echoes of Northwest indie folk bands like the Fleet Foxes and the Shins, or could even be mistaken for a North Carolina -- no matter where they drop anchor, the Senators will be a HARK Valley band.
Witness the season-perfect song, “Monsoon”:
“Let’s go dance that flooded street”
On the band’s Fb site https://www.facebook.com/Senatorsmusic,
“As we head into the triple digits here in Phoenix soon, this song seems like the right one for this moment. We don't really have distinct seasons here in the desert to act as benchmarks in the year, as mileposts in our chronology. Maybe that's why I associate a lot of important things coming or going with the summer rains. The monsoon season is such a reprieve from the relentlessness of the heat that's coming --and that's where this song came from.”
Amen!
For other local bands -- good luck getting a Crescent gig! It’s pretty tough to crack the lineup at the Crescent, which hosts touring acts like the Slackers, Lost Dog Street Band, Dinosaur Jr. (!) and Godspeed You! Black Emperor ....
Recent/upcoming events include:
PHOENIX FUNKEROS
First Friday Funk
Fri Aug 06 at 9:00 PM
FAMILY REUNION
Sat Aug 07 at 8:00 PM
TEDDY OSO
Late Night Patio DJ
Sat Aug 07 at 10:00 PM
21+
PI'ERRE BOURNE
Mon Aug 09 at 8:00 PM
MOVEMENTS
Wed Aug 11 at 8:00 PM
RICO NASTY VS. FLO MILLI: A FEMME FIRST DANCE PART...
Fri Aug 13 at 10:00 PM
LOST DOG STREET BAND
Stateside Presents, Emporium Presents
Fri Aug 20 at 8:00 PM
THE WRECKS
Sat Aug 21 at 8:00 PM
THE SLACKERS 30TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
Thu Aug 26 at 8:00 PM
THE SENATORS
Fri Aug 27 at 8:00 PM
The Crescent Ballroom is casually cool, with a touch of downtown history:
“The F.L. Hart Garage is a 1910s single-story, brick building with a wood truss roof system, indicative of early 20th Century commercial buildings in Phoenix, Arizona. Constructed in 1917, the building is located in the historic Hatch Addition and dates to a time when Phoenix rapidly transformed itself from a small, farming-based community to an urban center with paved streets, automobiles and a budding reputation as a tourist destination.
“The F.L. Hart Garage is significant in the history of transportation in Phoenix as it sits along the original Dixie Overland Highway, more commonly known as US Highway 80. As a member of the inaugural class of US highways commissioned in 1926, US 80 was the first all-weather coast-to-coast route available to auto travelers. The Dixie Overland Highway, which ran through Phoenix along Van Buren Street, was often referred to as the “Broadway of America,” and was once dotted with motor lodges and automobile garages , catering to tourists.
“The building itself was home to several auto-related businesses from 1917-1940, including the Albert E. Gladney Garage, Independent Garage, Ahlberg Bearing Co., Foggy CB Tires, Gruhn Auto Repair, Stehr Piston Rings, and Spaulding Auto Electric Co., before it became the headquarters of the Arizona Awning Company in 1945.”