From the City paper

Recent talks of the suspected death of the Slow Bar have proved accurate, as owner Mike Grimes announced Monday he soon will close the popular East Nashville watering hole and music venue.

Grimes said the Slow Bar’s last night of operation is set for either Aug. 31 or Sept. 1.

Grimes declined to speak in detail as to why he decided to close, but noted lease considerations and the inability to find a business partner for the venue were factors. As for the future, he said he will consider reopening the Slow Bar in a different location.

“I would like to open another Slow Bar where the overhead is lower and where the bar can be profitable,” he said. “After I close, I’m going to relax and think about my new move.”

Grimes said he will now focus his energies on Grimey’s, his Berry Hill record store, and booking/playing live music.

Bill McCormick, the owner of the property that houses the Slow Bar, could not be reached for comment.

Grimes said he plans to lay his bar to rest with a final bang of quality live music. For example, for the next three weeks, the Slow Bar will welcome The Alcohol Stuntband, The Bisquits, Josh Rouse, T Model Ford, The Dirtbombs and a Friday/Saturday double dose of Guilty Pleasures on Aug. 29-30.

Christy Perkins, owner of East Nashville vintage clothing store Nitwit, said the Slow Bar symbolized the area’s renaissance.

“I know it’s not like Mike Grimes [jumpstarted East Nashville] single-handedly, but he was the first to validate the area with non-East Nashvillians,” Perkins said.

Perkins is coordinating an effort to create a merchants association for the Five Points area. She said the merchants will meet later this month and will discuss the topic of area landlords and the rents and leases they are offering.

“Some landlords are trying to get rents that might be more appropriate three to four years from now,” Perkins said. “Some are being unreasonable.”

Lindsay Fairbanks, a neighborhood activist and former real estate sales official, said Grimes “set the tone” for Five Points.

“It is going to have an impact on the other businesses that the Slow Bar helped drive,” Fairbanks said of the closing.

Fairbanks said the Slow Bar space, which anchors the southwest corner of Five Points, is a prime spot.

“I don’t think the building will sit empty,” she said.

In November 2000, Grimes opened Slow Bar with former business partner David Gehrke. Originally, the bar featured a jukebox, no live music and a tight space. Later, Gehrke and Grimes would expand the space so as to accommodate a music stage and larger crowds.

Bands of note that played the Slow Bar during its near three-year run included, among others, The Detroit Cobras, Mikey Dread, Ryan Adams, Alex Chilton, Patty Griffin, Beulah and The Shins, The Legendary Shackshakers, Los Straightjackets, Gary Louris and Badly Drawn Boy.

Grimes will close with employees Brian Bequette and Niko Gehrke, both of whom have been with the Slow Bar from its beginning.

In my mind, the Slow Bar is singlehandedly responsible for jump-starting the East Nashville revolution, at least for people in our age bracket. I can name several people who've moved to East Nashville who never would've considered moving there if shows at the Slow Bar hadn't drawn them over there to see the area. Before the Slow Bar, people from this side of the river just didn't hang out in East Nashville. They just didn't. But as significant as the Slow Bar has been, I think that that part of town has taken off so much that it can continue to grow without the Slow Bar.

Still, though, I'm very saddened by this news. And very shocked. I thought that the place was doing well. I just heard last week that they were going to start serving food and liquor. There must be something truly wrong with the system if a place as successful as the Slow Bar is not profitable. Anyway, we're losing a great venue.

I hope Grimey can get it going somewhere else.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 9:44 am on Aug. 14, 2003)

this is not good......where are the shins going to play when their new album is released?

oh yeah, probably atlanta, and nowhere in tennessee

(Edited by ray davies at 11:03 am on Aug. 14, 2003)

son of a bitch. my last memories of slow bar will be fond ones...

There could be a silver lining in this, however. I was discussing with grimey the possibility of moving the bar to a new location, and then we started discussing the need to move the record store to a new location, and I said "why don't you just combine the two into one bigger location?"

A concert venue/bar/record store under one roof. I mean that's how Grimey's was supposed to be in the first place, people come in...hang out...buy a record...have a beer. They still have "beer thirty" at the store. So if you combine all this, a la the Red Rose, it could make for one happening spot. Mike actually seemed a bit excited by this prospect, but of course it doesn't take much to get him excited.

I'm sure all of you are thinking "well the Red Rose isn't all that successful" but their problem is, simply put, their clientele is poor college kids, where as Mike and Doyle have a network of friends who are willing to spend money. Plus its in Nashville with a much bigger customer base and more resources than the Boro. So if you like this idea, please email the slow bar or grimey's website and tell them so!

i only love this idea if it could be an all ages venue.. like the red rose of nashville. that would be so great.

All ages = no beer. It's called Rocketown.

mmmm...beer

i call it the place people tell me i can go to but dont realize no one i want to see ever plays there. but thats a bit lengthy.

red rose serves beer, does it not? dancin in the district does, too.

(Edited by rachel at 5:21 pm on Aug. 14, 2003)

I have had many a beer, including my first with Token, while at Red Rose. It's a lot harder to serve liquor in all-ages venues. Most people keep them out for two reasons-- 1) to keep from getting in trouble with the law for selling booze to people under 21 and 2) people often want the party to be for older people. Both are debatable, but I won't get into that.

This sucks about Slowbar.

well, if this does happen i hope that its at most 18+ so that a fake id could do the trick.

So if Grimey opens a bar/record store/venue, no one under 21 could even go in to buy records? Wouldn't that sorta put a dent into the customers that he has at Grimey's already? The idea of making a really good record store 21+ just so they can serve beer is a lame idea to me, unless it's done like Red Rose.

Well, Ode to Slowbar for being such a cool place to go and, most of all, for getting me to go out to East Nash. more than usual during the last year or so. I have found that I really love the area. One of my best friends is about to close on a house there, and I can't help thinking I would like to do the same with YDDD in a year or two.

Hopefully, wherever Grimey will open his next place (be it bar, record store, music venue, or whatever), it will have equal success. With the recent total death (bulldozing) of 328, it would be super cool to have a new, viable place open up.

indeed...

From Grimey:

slow bar is very sad to say that we will be not be renewing our lease at our
current location and will cease operations there on sept 1, 2003.

that said we have the most incredible month of shows that we have ever had so we would love for all to please join us as much as possible in
august!!!!!! (upcoming shows include the legendary shack shakers, jook joint monday, josh rouse, guilty pleasures, t model ford, the alcohol stuntband, tim keegan from departure lounge, bobby bare jr., forget cassettes, and the lone official. see activities page for dates and times.) the support we have gotten from friends, family, and community over the last (almost) three years has been nothing short of astounding. thank you all. our only hope is that the slow bar in its current location brought a little happiness to those who have come through our doors. god knows we have had fun. after september we will take a break for a few weeks and consider opening a new location. in the meantime, we are here!!!!!!

sincerely.

grimey, niko, and brian