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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1997)
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IVIARCH 7 IN THEATRES EVERYWHERE 4 The Battalion m T Tl T T T1 r%. If If 1 tL JL1 T t. Pagi Thursday • March 6,15! Bennett aims to keep scene vitalize N By Michael Schaub The Battalion C lub manager Willie Bennett is thrilled to turn on the ra dio and hear bands he has brought to 3rd Floor Cantina and Dixie Theatre. “They’re playing one of our bands right now,” Bennett said as a Pushmonkey song began to blare on the stereo. “I love that.” The clubs have featured Texan and national acts since they were established, although the birth of Bennett’s first downtown Bryan club was anything but smooth. “When we opened up the 3rd Floor Cantina on Halloween night of 1992, the only thing miss ing was tumbleweeds,” Bennett said. “It was deserted.” Bennett has been a partner in and manager of 3rd Floor Canti na since it opened almost five years ago, in what used to be a furniture store attic. “When we bought this, there were 40 years of old couches and TVs up here,” Bennett said. But the third floor of the Mil- ton Franklin Furniture Store on Bryan Street was no ordinary at tic. Behind the couches and tele vision sets were a bar and stage. “From 1940 to 1952, this was a speakeasy,” Bennett said. “It sold bootleg whiskey and whiskey by the drink. Maggie Parker owned it and sold it to Milton Franklin in 1952.” Although the owners had to update the wiring and plumbing in the attic, they kept a good part of Parker’s speakeasy intact. “That is Maggie Parker’s origi nal bar,” Bennett said, gesturing toward the repainted counter. “In the ’40s, she had live music, and we kept part of her stage to use as the soundman’s booth and for the ice machine.” 3rd Floor Cantina is now well- lit and painted in bright pastels. Tapestries and a Texas flag give the club a Lone Star feel. Bennett and partner-owner John Williams had a similar chance to update history when they opened Dixie Theatre. They bought the Main Street building after Stafford Opera House lost its lease a little more than a year ago. “Dixie Theatre is what it’s been called since 1909,” Bennett said. “The only time it was called something else was the three years it was called Stafford.” Williams and Bennett decided on the name because all the lo cals knew the location as “the old Dixie Theatre,” he said. “The first Dixie Theatre was built Robert McKay, Thk Bahai Willie Bennett displays a copy of Deep Blue Something's gold disc. in 1909 for live vaudeville,” Bennett said. “When silent films came out, they had to add a screen.” After buying the theater, the owners added a new bar, rebuilt the stage and wired a new sound system. Colom nother t< Hpid some They p What I try to do is book the best bands I can get my hands on, national, re gional or local. 33 Willie Bennett 3rd Floor Cantina and Dixie Theatre co-owner-manager Bennett said he does not book the same type of bands that Stafford Opera House did. “We don’t bring in as much grunge,” he said. “We bring in bands on the cutting edge, bands that are fixin’ to break.” The walls of 3rd Floor Cantina and Dixie Theatre are covered with autographed pictures of bands that have played at the venues. “We’ve had Robert Earl Keen, Deep Blue Something, Gravity Kills,” Bennett said. "Some of my favorites: Cowboy Mouth, Sto- ryville and Sister 7.” In the early ’80s, Bennett booked a young guitar-playing English teacher named Lyle Lovett for $20 at one of his clubs. “I liked working with Texas musicians,” Bennett said. “There’s a wealth of entertain ment here. But we also do as many road shows.” 3rd Floor Cantina features photographs of such Texas musi- LOUIS' it its high ie Ohio urns up uisville lotion di itil next Tower i Intucky' which It ' long the lerable tc ;oing aw; we me to te lome,”' s; railed in H ng her tr ^Btoint, 30 i But th ;odown, latitsw; lie town beople \a cians as Kelly Willis, Joe Elya used to’ Augie Meyers. Inside the manager’s ofi behind the bar, a framedgolarrywhe record from Deep Blue Son-aTV, V thing hangs opposite a prim Our Lady of Guadalupe. “We booked Deep BlueSomionkitche thing when only 30 peo|i room sin showed up,” Bennett said, "hoi standing them, ‘Look, guys, if you sih ivonderei with me, I’ll stick with you. Bennett’s instincts paid off. 11 band became one of many nadi ally-known veterans of3rd Cantina and Dixie Theatre. Artists like Deep Blue Some! and Robert Earl Keen now crowds too large for Dixie Theatre! hold, but Bennett hopes to chi that when he and Williams oi Queen Theatre “The Queen will hold twice many people as the Dixie,” Be nett said. The theater, located nextdoi to Dixie Theatre, will open soon as possible, Bennett said “All three places will havetln different types of crowds,”Be nett said. “There’ll be cliffere breeds of cats at each place.” The opening of Queen Tlie at re will give nationally-know acts a venue to play, said. He has already sche4\ile(t| Cake for either 3rd Floor Cafls or Rudder Auditorium. “What 11 ry to do is book the bands I can get my hands on, natii al, regional or local,” Bennett said Bennett has been crediti with vitalizing the Bryan-Co Station music scene, which calls the largest local scene in years, and with bringing claimed musicians to the area. “I’m proud,” Bennett said, work hard at what I do.” Come JoiN us...CruIse wixh Acct 327 Part 1 Mon Mar 17 7pm-9pm Part 11 Tue Mar 18 7pm-9pm Part III Wed Mar 19 7pm-9pm Part IV Thu Mar 20 7pm-9pm Bana 30S Part I Mon Mar 17 7pm-9pm Part II 'Hie Mar 18 7pm-9pm Part III Wed Mar 19 7pm-9pm Part IV Thu Mar 20 7pm-9pm Biol 114 Part 1 Mon Mar 17 8pm-11 pm Part 11 Tue Mar 18 Hpm-llpm Part III Wed Mar 19 8pm-l 1pm Math 142 Part I Sun Mar 16 llpm-lam Part II Mon Mar 17 llpm-lam Part III Tue Mar 18 llpm-lam Part IV Wed Mar 19 llpm-lam Math 151 Part 1 Sun Mar 16 7pm-9pm Part 11 Mon Mar 17 5pm-7pm Part III Tue Mar IS 5pm-7pm Part IV Wed Mar 19 5pm-7pm Math 152 Part I Sun Mar 16 9pm-llpm Part II Mon Mar ’7 9pm-l 1 pm Part III lae Mar 18 9pm-llpm Part IV Wed Mar 19 9pm-llpm Econ 202 Allen Part I Wed Mar 19 6pm-9pm Part II Thu Mar 20 6pm-9pm < | r ' * Econ 203 Edwardson Brown Part I Mon Mar 17 6pm-9pm Part II Tue Mar 18 6pm-9pm \ri : . •• di 'M • Tlr.k»>te Go .on sale Sunday at S:0Q n.m. Tickets go on sale at 5:00 p.m. Sun day, March 16. All voyages begin at 4.0 & Go, next to Sidepockets and Blockbuster. Last Mondays answer. The stimulator tip is used to clean teeth. It is the pointy rubber thing at the end of your toothbrush. p3°/c etter OR MIS eludes Ami 'd famous PRING OR Ml! Mng styles M-Her, Jar 5AL Aren OR Ml! snleys, tun 'omen’s, ot !5°/< Areef OR PE om Sag H len-look j£ !5 0 / NIT DI OR WC tom Clio, k oic tops ai inn 846-TUTOR (88861 www.4,0andGo.com ids on M< Look for our ads londays and Thursdays Tbrrtnt IXteik* 5°/< ONG-S OR Ml itioose fror om famou! 55°/ PRINC OR Ml lectured c 'd tunic p;
