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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Music New owner, new vision for Downtown Music

Posted by Lindsey Millar on Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 3:16 PM

Samantha Allen, 28, long a presence in local music promotion, has purchased Downtown Music, 211 W. Capitol, from founding owner Alan Wells, who’ll continue booking shows in the venue through June. On July 2, Allen celebrates the changeover with music from Fallen Empire, Iron Tongue, A Darkened Era and Microcosm.

Allen brings a wealth of experience in booking. She started at Vino’s as a teen, working for the street team before graduating to become the venue’s chief booking agent, which she kept up for four years. For the last year, she’s helped manage The Village.

Allen says that she plans on keeping Downtown a “heavy” venue, but also appeal to a broader audience by booking everything from “country to death metal.” Her main adjustment, she says, will be to expand the club’s hours. Initially, she plans to open 5 p.m. until close Wednesday through Saturday, with occasional Sunday, Monday or Tuesday shows. By opening earlier in the evening, she says she hopes to cultivate a bar crowd. And by mid-July or August, she plans to operate as restaurant, serving soups, gumbos, sandwiches and salads from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The club will remain all ages and Cool Shoes, long one of its most popular nights, will continue.

I haven't been able to get a comment from Wells, but Allen said that she and he had been friends for years and that he approached her about purchasing the club and thought she had a vision consonant with his original idea for Downtown.

On June 26, Wells' band Shitfire celebrates the release of a new album and Wells last night as owner. The show poster includes this promise, attributed to Wells: "We're gonna get wasted and I ain't leavin' until someone cleans my puke up for once."

The Downtown website includes this note:

And to celebrate the near decade long run of completely getting wasted, booking the best bands in town, having the best sound quality, building up the little rock scene, and bringing everyone together..... We will be doing dirt cheap drink specials all nite. Please come out and support the club and show respect as we close the first chapter of Downtown Music and begin the next. If you love Downtown Music...We expect to see everyone there this nite. Sat June 26th.

Tags: Samantha Allen, Alan Wells, Shitfire

        
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my only hope is that she does a better job of keeping their calendar updated than the previous owner.

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Posted by sammy on June 15, 2010 at 6:03 PM

She will do a great job!! I love you Sam very much and I'm very happy for you... I know you will do a great job and folks be come in by the dozens I will see you soon... Love Aunt Sharon........

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Posted by smiles63a on June 15, 2010 at 10:57 PM

I hope her idea of metal isn't only hardcore and screamo

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Posted by JRWalters on June 16, 2010 at 10:22 AM

I have no idea what the person who commented first is talking about. I always knew when the shows were @ downtown... I never felt as if that were a problem... I guess that guy is just in some crappy band that got all pissy when his crap show wasn't listed on the website as soon as it was confirmed. I will agree that downtown didn't always meet everyone's expectations of what a venue should be (w/ food offered consistently, servers, etc.) that's why it's called the home of the underground... DON'T lose focus of what downtown originally started out as, a place to buy some music and (most importantly) see some shows... It's all about the music, people! Everyone should thank Alan for starting a venue for bands to play at when other venues (i.e. Vino's) wanted to act like elitist pricks and not book metal bands... Alan and the rest of the downtown crew has helped keep the local scene alive, and for that I thank them. I wish Sam the best, and I know that she will do the best to keep the downtown vision alive. I have been a loyal customer of dt since it opened it's doors, and that will NOT change! SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC!

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Posted by Aleister on June 16, 2010 at 10:55 AM

Very imaginative name Mr. Cokestraw. Downtown often only posted one months worth of shows, failed to update shows within that month booked AFTER the shows were posted, and would usually not post the next month's shows until halfway through the month (after half of the shows happened). My guess would be that they figured it was just the same people coming to Downtown over and over again and they could keep up with the shows at the actual venue. I have been to many a show at Downtown, but am not a regular, so I missed out on a couple of touring bands that I would have loved to see due to bad promotion.

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Posted by sammy on June 16, 2010 at 4:15 PM

Imaginative? It's actually a family name... Did you ever check the Myspace page??? It was always updated at least a month or two in advance. And yes, there was always a show calendar at Downtown for several months in advance. But once again, I guess I just went the extra mile and checked the website, the myspace, and the actual show calendar at the venue. Oh yeah, and you could see the shows in night flying, sync, the arkansas times, and the free press (when it was still circulated in a tangible form.) Which is what I do at EVERY venue in town. I don't see how the promotion at downtown was any different than any other venue in central arkansas... I also remember times when there were shows that happened in the span of a few hours. A regional touring band would have a show canceled in another city, and the band would contact dt about playing. I have gotten several bulletins from dt on myspace about last minute shows... maybe that's what you're talking about? But whatever... I guess you just have to look to find what it is you're looking for...

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Posted by Aleister on June 17, 2010 at 12:29 PM

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