Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I thought I had some daytime pictures of this place, but in the event I can't find them. The nighttime shots are suboptimal because of a big streetlight in the wrong place, but they'll have to do as a placeholder.

The New Brookland Tavern has been in this spot seemingly forever, with very few changes over the years. I Believe the last time I was there was to see The Explorers Club, which whould have probably been August 2011. At the time I recall thinking that the place was pretty ragged, and judging by the stories about the place moving, it doesn't sound like it has gotten any less so.

The building has been sold recently, and the Tavern's lease expires at the end of the year, so they plan to have the final shows in December, and hopefully find a new home in the new year.

You can check out upcoming shows for the final season here.

The story has featured several times in local media. You can read The State stories here & here, and the Free Times story here.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 2 October 2023: Added a (still not great) daytime shot.

Read the rest of this entry »

Apprently this move took place sometime around June of 2020, but I never noticed it until quite recently. Rice Music House moved from their old Devine Street location to near the traffic circle at Sandhill in 2012, and have now moved an additional block or so to 486 Town Center Place, Suite 1.

As you can see above, as of yet there is nothing in the storefront they vacated.

I don't believe I was ever in Pecknel Music in Five Points, but I was certainly aware that it was there for most of my life.

The State had the story a while before they moved. It was basically a changing market, the lease being up, and certain physical issues:

For instance, the present store’s repair shop is on the second floor, with no elevator.

“You get tired of carrying tubas up the stairs,” Morgan said.

The new location is 930 N Lake Drive in Lexington, which seems to be the Food Lion/Books-A-Million plaza.

And let me refer back to this converstation between commenters Terry & Dennis for some ancient Pecknel Five Points history:

I thought John Futch worked in a music store in 5 Points back around 1970. They had this high powered amp with a huge metal horn mounted on a base with a dolly called The Mother Dude that they kept by the front door. I'm thinking this place was on Harden near the location of the original Backpacker.

Terry

Terry -- wow! I saw the Mother Dude! I heard it in action once in the middle of Five Points and the police showed up immediately. This was at Pecknel's right after they had moved to their current building. For years before that they were across the street where Sid & Nancy's is now.

Dennis

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 5 April 2020 -- Here are a few pictures I just found of Pecknel from 1 February 2015:

Conumdrum opened in the space formerly occupied by Bloomin' Idiots garden center, and based on the name, I reported it as a drumming studio when I did the closing for that business.

In reality, though I never got to check it out personally, it seems to have been a nice little eclectic music venue, and a five year run is not bad for a site neither in The Vista nor Five Points.

Star Music in the Seven Oaks Shopping Center has closed their storefront and moved in with adjacent Hannah Piano. According to their sign, they are looking for another Irmo location, and remain open on Two Notch & Assembly Street.

There's already been a good bit of discussion on this in Have Your Say but Utopia Food & Spirits, a local music venue and restaurant across from Cross Hill Market, has closed after suffering extensive electrical damage on 20 June.

Although I posted about their move from Rosewood to this location, I'm afraid the place was not really on my radar, but they seem to have been doing good work providing a showcase for local bands. Unfortunately repairing all the damage was just too expensive given the current economy.

The Free Times has the story here.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

Falling, falling, falling..

It may seem strange to the under 50 crowd at this remove, but it's pretty much impossible to overstate what an incredible influence Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album had when I was in the last years of high school. Almost every track was on the radio at one time or another, and everybody had a copy. I would have had one, but I was dead broke at the time, so I somehow convinced my sister to spring for it. I taped her copy to cassette and it was in constant rotation with my Beach Boys albums in my jury rigged car player (which would reverse the tape and start playing the other "side" every time we hit a bump).

Rumours was the followup to the also very successful eponymous album Fleetwood Mac which established the band's "classic lineup". It was also the lead-in to the rather experimental Tusk which no doubt confused their legions of fans.

Over the years the band went through a lot of acrimony and romantic imbroglioes, with the fact that it was coed giving even more scope for feuding than even the Beach Boys "enjoyed".

Still, after all the dust settled, and after a sixteen year absence for Christine McVie, the classic lineup is back together and making music again.

I took the opportunity to see them in Charlotte, and everybody was in fine form, and looking and sounding pretty good for a bunch of 60 and 70 year olds. They played everything you would expect, and added a few new songs that, if not instant classics, were pretty good. As you can tell from the video and pix, I was *way* up in the nosebleed section, something I did not appreciate in the least while inching towards my seat like an action movie hero sidling along a window ledge over a twenty story drop. It was somewhat better once I actually had a seat, though as you can hear in the video, I fell in with a bunch of Chatty Cathys..

Anyway, it was a great show, and you should definitely catch them if you can.

As just a few random observations: It's amazing how bad a shape I-77 is in. It seemed like I was dodging huge ruts all the way to Charlotte. I don't remember that from my last trip in June, but it can't have gotten that bad that quick. Also, the parking garage at EpiCenter is the worst I've ever been in, like the old text based computer game "You are in a maze of twisty little passage all alike": It was amazingly hard to find the level changes rather than just driving by the same packed spaces again and again. Maybe I was "Over My Head"...

Read the rest of this entry »

*Something* is going on..

UPATE 22 March 2014: RIP Rock 93.5!

WMFX And WARQ Morph Into Columbia's Rock Station, Fox 102.3, OM/PD Dave Stewart Resigns.

After 22 Years WARQ Columbia (93.5) Leaves Rock/Alternative

But I got mine yesterday!

Since I reviewed their 50th Anniversary Tour show in Atlanta, I've been waiting for the accompanying album That's Why God Made the Radio.

I am happy to report that it is a "real" Beach Boy's album, much moreso than 1992's lackluster and Brian-less Summer in Paradise which heretofore had been the group's swan-song. The songs are all new, and Brian is fully involved. Is every one a gem? No, but that's never been the case even on Pet Sounds.

If you don't want to risk the whole album, splurge $0.99 for the incredibly catchy Isn't It Time or The Private Life Of Bill And Sue.