By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Clazel is getting ready to rock.
The 95-year-old venue in downtown Bowling Green is going back to hosting live shows.
On Saturday, Feb. 26, seven alt-pop and rap acts will take the stage for an event that the club’s management hopes signals a rebirth of the Clazel as home for live music.
“That’s something that very much from the beginning I have wanted to do with the space,” said Alex Kuhman, who bought the business last spring and reopened it May 1.
But with COVID still lingering and “everyone hunkering down because of the cold” he was reluctant to bring in bands.
Now “it’s a time when people are starting to feel a little stir crazy,” said Sarah LaMountain, who is working with Kuhman to promote the music. “Winter is almost over. People are ready to get out and interact with others socially. I think everyone is burnt out because of two years of COVID and a brutal winter.”
She tapped into her connections with the Toledo music scene to book the acts, including two from Chicago.
“We went with the theme ‘Just One Night to Live’ just to get people in a good head space, wanting to move, wanting to dance, wanting to burn off some of that pent up energy but in a healthy and fun and light way after everything that’s happened.”
The headliners will be Pachuco (Travisio Barrera) and IVMSIN (Duane Cross), both from Toledo.
LaMountain learned of the two Chicago artists, Kid Alexxander (Michael A. Boyer) and ACF Slick (Enrique Rivera) through one of the Toledo performers. They will share a split set to give them more stage time.
Also, performing will be KVSEY (Kasey Webb), DLewis (Darien Lewis) and Martellas Lee (Owen Katlarczyk).
A DJ will be on hand to keep the show flowing until closing time.
The doors will open at 9 p.m., and the music will start an hour or so later, and run until about 1 a.m.
Tickets will be sold at the door. The 18+ show is $10 for 21 and older and $15 for 18-20.
“The artists are really excited about the venue,” LaMountain said. A couple performers visited the Clazel to check out the stage. “That’s the coolest venue” was their assessment.
“This is such a cool space,” LaMountain said. “There’s a lot of potential. It’s one of the only midsize music venues in Northwest Ohio … that can pull in those midsize acts. This is a way to get more music in the area.”
Back 10 years ago when LaMountain was in her late teens and 20s, there were “a lot of ways to see local music or smaller bands that were up and coming. … I remember how much that meant to me. It was important to me to have that safe space, that outlet to fall in love with those memories. Everybody should be able to experience that.”
Over the years those places changed hands or just closed down.
“I would like this to become a kind of safe space for people to go, so they can both perform music as an artist, and this venue can be a stepping stone in their career,” LaMountain said.
Shows will target local audiences. Most recently when KISS-FM promoted shows at the club, they brought in listeners from throughout the region, from as far as Detroit.
“I would like more local shows,” LaMountain said. “When we see how that goes, maybe we’ll pull in some bigger artists. We’ll see what genres the community likes. We’ll be playing with that a little bit.”
That may lead to bringing in “more national artists that are up and coming, and you can say ‘I saw them back when.’ That’s what’s fun.”
Since spring the Clazel has hosted a few events. It now has regular karaoke and a once-a-month drag show on the third Wednesday of each month.
It has been quieter than Kuhman had hoped for nine months ago.
Still “the reaction has been good. Everyone I’ve talked to seems to appreciate that the space has opened back up,” he said. “It’s definitely been picking up and response has been very positive. We’re certainly excited about that.”
The venue has drawn mostly the college age crowd. “We’ve had a good number of people from the community as well,” Kuhman said.
He’s stocking higher end liquors and is able to provide a “proper” Old Fashion or martini as well as other cocktails.
The Clazel’s hours are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday, 9 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., and Wednesdays when the drag shows are on stage.
