Bringing a More Positive Discussion
- Thread starter ArcherSPS
- Start date
It's so disappointing to ride by State Theatre and see is being closed. Such great potential and would be a great music venue for Starkville. I just can't for the life of me see how that place in that location cannot make it. I guess just consistently bad management or owners who are greedy.
What was the reason State Theater closed down? Did people stop going there after the first year? I can't remember any good bands ever playing there; but my 8a.m. engineering classes did keep me from going to weekday concerts, so what would I know.
Someone with a little bit of capital, insight, and experience to re-open State Theatre would be a wonderful start.
For one, it's already there and set up for the most part, wouldn't take a whole lot of renovation. I think it wouldn't hurt to do some remodeling from where the bar is/was back towards the entrance. There is alot of wasted space in the front, it seems. People can wait to get in outside like most other establishments. Just seems like you could push the bar and tables and lounge area back towards the front some to open up the floor and stage area.
I was a huge fan of State Theatre under the 1st "new" owner when it re-opened in 2006 or 2007, whenever it was. There were several decent concerts and the layout is absolutely unique with the balcony outside as well as the theatre balcony. For whatever reason, when the ownership changed again, or whatever happened, they couldn't keep business. At the time, I just don't think Starkville could support so many growing establishments in the Cotton District as well as larger, more traditional ones downtown.
Since graduation, when we go back for games, I've been fairly surprised and saddened by the fact no one seems to want to "go downtown" anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love(d) the Cotton District, but I don't understand why folks would rather jam-pack into tiny patio bars and stand in the streets outside. I mean, I get it, it's where everyone else is and that's the happening place, but a solid social scene needs venues that offer real live music and are a more traditional setup much like the downtown bars.... not just patio bars with two guys on guitars in a courtyard.
State Theatre absolutely could be a scaled down version of the Lyric in Oxford, which in itself has been very successful.
Think that was part of it
Near the end of its time, they had Thursday 'all you can drink' (or some special similar special) and stuff like that trying to get people to come. It was only full occasionally on those nights. It would always be packed when Greeks had parties there, as that's where the Alphas used to have parties and the Sigmas had Black Reign. Rick's was more attractive on weekends when there was nothing special happening because they charged the same admission but Rick's had Dollar Night.
I also believe I heard State Theatre was tied up in a lot of overhead and stuff. I think it'd do well now; people miss it.
Near the end of its time, they had Thursday 'all you can drink' (or some special similar special) and stuff like that trying to get people to come. It was only full occasionally on those nights. It would always be packed when Greeks had parties there, as that's where the Alphas used to have parties and the Sigmas had Black Reign. Rick's was more attractive on weekends when there was nothing special happening because they charged the same admission but Rick's had Dollar Night.
I also believe I heard State Theatre was tied up in a lot of overhead and stuff. I think it'd do well now; people miss it.
I've seen plenty of good bands play at the "Bistro"
That was when Dave owned it though. Derek Trucks was the number one show that comes to mind. It was always packed when he owned it.
If you want a good music venue you're going to need a big investor who's willing to spend money and promote. Not to mention someone who actually has a good grasp on what decent music actually sounds like. I bartended at a 450 capacity venue in Colorado where the owner, who was richer than god, would really concentrate on getting bands there before they actually hit it big. Not to mention some other sick acts that were made an even better experience due to the intimacy of the venue.
Edward Sharpe, Brett Dennen, Esperanza Spalding all played there before they had anything close to a hit on the radio.. Then he would go for low hanging fruit that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg for all the locals like Buckethead, Karl Densons Tiny Universe, Stephen Marley...hell even John Prine and The Flaming Lips didn't cost a lot per ticket.
What I learned from working at that place is that the artist LOVED coming back because the sound was so legit. If you've got a venue that has great sound then artist will really love it.
My two cents...
Here's the venue..
http://www.bellyupaspen.com
That was when Dave owned it though. Derek Trucks was the number one show that comes to mind. It was always packed when he owned it.
If you want a good music venue you're going to need a big investor who's willing to spend money and promote. Not to mention someone who actually has a good grasp on what decent music actually sounds like. I bartended at a 450 capacity venue in Colorado where the owner, who was richer than god, would really concentrate on getting bands there before they actually hit it big. Not to mention some other sick acts that were made an even better experience due to the intimacy of the venue.
Edward Sharpe, Brett Dennen, Esperanza Spalding all played there before they had anything close to a hit on the radio.. Then he would go for low hanging fruit that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg for all the locals like Buckethead, Karl Densons Tiny Universe, Stephen Marley...hell even John Prine and The Flaming Lips didn't cost a lot per ticket.
What I learned from working at that place is that the artist LOVED coming back because the sound was so legit. If you've got a venue that has great sound then artist will really love it.
My two cents...
Here's the venue..
http://www.bellyupaspen.com
The State Theater had a bit of a hay-day back when I was in school 2002-04ish. Derrick Trucks, Stockholm Syndrome just to name a few. And when there wasn't a good concert they had a huge projector screen they'd show away basketball games or football games.
Like you said, theres no good reason Starkville shouldn't have a good theatre.
Like you said, theres no good reason Starkville shouldn't have a good theatre.
Not sure you can show old movies. Don't think you can just buy the movie; I think copyright law requires that you buy a certain license. But they did do this some back when it was owned by Dave. It was stuff the bartenders picked out though and the movies tended to be awful, so we could watch ironically I guess.
That FLorida game
in '04 that they showed on the bigscreen, where we just dismantled their zone and kicked their *** in Florida, was awesome.
in '04 that they showed on the bigscreen, where we just dismantled their zone and kicked their *** in Florida, was awesome.
The guys who own Mugshots opened a music hall/beer joint called Brewsky's here in Hattiesburg a little over a year ago. Last night, Jason Isbell and Cary Hudson played a packed show there. Willie Nelson was here just after it opened. It's been a hit with the USM student crowd. I don't see why something like that wouldn't hit in Starkville.
ETA- Yep, I screwed up the reply location. My bad.
ETA- Yep, I screwed up the reply location. My bad.
I went a couple times the last time it was open ('10 or '11), and the reason it went out of business is they were doing things like going around to fraternities and telling their members they could bring a card they handed out that would allow them to get in for $5 on all-you-can-drink [insert mid-week day]. They went to the biggest drinkers on campus and advertised by far the cheapest drink special in town. I easily drank $40 worth of drinks each time.
On top of that they tried to make it a restaurant during the day, some kind of wings or something. It just didn't work.
The WORST part about it was they had the same DJ 4 days a week and he was just pulling songs up on YouTube. They had twitter blown up on a projector behind him and each one said something like "this place blows" "give me my money back" "this guy is a hack."
State Theater could be a gold mine if done correctly. Stop the food, bring great indie shows that college kids want to see (Rick's tried to get Futurebirds and only like 10 people showed up..... and the Futurebirds are awesome.... but Rick's was the wrong venue. I saw Young Buffalo at a house party in Starkville and it was packed, A HOUSE PARTY!!!! They've sold out shows elsewhere around the south........ and they were at a HOUSE party in Starkville), rent the upstairs to sororities/fraternities, and allow 18 year olds in for a cover. It would put Rick's and Cowbell's out of business.
ETA: Zorba's is perfect. Take that and move it to State Theater, minus the food, plus live music.
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The thing is, I believe that in Mississippi you are required to sell some sort of food in order to sell alcohol by the bottle. I could be completely pulling that out of thin air, but for some reason I want to believe I've heard that somewhere.
I don't think selling food is the issue. It's more of a management thing. And most importantly.... have diversity in your music. Indie bands aren't everyones gig (as I'm sure you know), just like jam bands or hip hop aren't for everyone. When it closed in like 2009, it had gone to simply having a DJ and playing house music or rap every night of the week. You eventually start alienating different factions of your customer base and before you know it no one is coming.
Have some diversity in the music and also some creativity..... have some classic cover bands, sprinkle in some DJ's, have a current upcoming popular indie act, etc etc.
Generally you have to get a certain percentage of your revenue from food in order to be 18+, as opposed to 21 and over. Not sure if that's a state law or a local thing. I think a lot of places in college towns use some creative accounting to get around that.
I'm not sure if the diversity of music thing is doable or not. On the one hand, Starkville is pretty much too small to have a venue that large and keep it afloat on just indie bands (or whatever type). But on the other hand, bars tend to get labeled as far as the crowd that goes there, so I'm not sure it's easy to really mix it up and get different crowds on different nights. You can easily mix it up between types of music (17th floor and U.S. were draws for party bands when I was in school), but if you're trying to get higher quality acts, I don't think you can do anything more than a few concerts a year. Just don't think people in Starkville will drop money to see good bands weekend after weekend (or even once a month).