SPRING
BREAK
MONEY?
WE MAKE FAST
CASH LOANS ON:
★ TVs -$100
★ VCRs-$50
★ CDs-$2
iCASH
AMERICA
M PAWN
3807 S. Texas Ave. in Bryan
846-3228
The Battalion
Classified Advertising
• Easy* Affordable • Effective
For information, call
845-0569
n
TEXAS
EKQll
\ rOfollWpTull
vr sef
& NETWORKING
SERVICES, INC.
...have teamed up to offer you
the best in computer training.
Our classes are small, so you
will receive individualized 1
attention. Our staff is well
trained and brings years of computer training experience to the
classroom. Call or come by MSC University PLUS for more
information and to register.
Classes are on Tuesday & Thursday evenings from 7-8:30pm
March 18-27
April 1-10
April 15-24
April 29-May 8
May 13-22
Intro to Microsoft Windows95
Intro to Microsoft Word 7.0
Intro to Microsoft Excel 7.0
Intro to MicrosoftWindows95
Intro to Microsoft Word 7.0
$40/student $45/non-student
Course manual available for only $7—a $20 value
http://uplus.tamu.edu 409/845-1631 upius@msc.tamu.edu
SNUFFER'S
RESTAGRANT & BAR
" AFTER 18 YEARS IN DALLAS
IT'S TIME I WENT TO COLLEGE"
1037 S. TEXAS AVE. • COLLEGE STATION
Serving our Leg
endary Food
7 days 'til 2:00 am
693-3148
All day Happy Hour
Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed
From Opening
'til last call
IIITPiTBAlR9REIlAllKlP8EffliiNlVllMNlllcllll8EIlVII]iSFlM HlSlIEIIIi PRIVATE PARIS
HiVERS MAR!McCORMACK -IIAMAS fiSDAHEIRR MOM KEISAMPEES .BROWARDSTERN
IrMIE. "MRIliiyillfllTAIfll 'TITMAN ■‘BBETTITRRMAS m
HRMlotsiiTaaliiiiiumi *t niKiisnam SBIMIMIUlBMIWM CIPIMMIMIIIS WWW.private-portS.COm [UPARAMDflNlPlClWS A1IBSH1SWSRVID .-rTr.
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;