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The Battalion
Page 3 • Thursday, June 24, 2004
An alternative Northgate
Bryan aims to revamp downtown as its clubs gain word-of-mouth popularity
By Teresa Weaver
THE BATTALION
Keith Gentry, a graduate geology student, cannot stand the
Crowds around Northgate. When Revolution Cafe and Bar opened
pear his house in Bryan, Gentry said he found exactly what he was
poking for in a bar.
“At Northgate, it always seems like a meat market,” Gentry said.
There are too many people with no interaction. At Revolution,
pmplete strangers can come up to each other and strike up conver-
ations.”
Revolution Cafe and Bar is a coffee shop and bar that specializes
n alternative music styles, such as jazz and funk. Gentry came to
Revolution one night to hear Wish Found Nation, a local reggae
hand, play on the patio.
“I like the outside stage,” Gentry said. “People walk around
barefoot on the gravel; it’s such a laid-back, open place.”
Although Northgate may always be the first place most students
pink of when they want to go out at night, many are choosing to
penture past Bottle Cap Alley and explore new clubs at the other end
bf town, in the historic downtown Bryan district.
Halo Video Bar and Revolution Cafe and Bar are two new clubs
pat have caught the attention of college students in the past semes-
er. Both venues have become popular among students looking for
in alternative to the country and western theme found in the area.
Halo is located at the corner of North Main Street and William J.
Bryan Parkway. One block south is Revolution, with the entrance at
Carnegie Alley near the railroad tracks.
Situated quietly behind South Main Street in Bryan, Revolution
haters to a different crowd of college students.
“The bar has a conversational atmosphere where people can sit
iown and talk with their friends. I'm trying to bring a more cultured,
Bohemian atmosphere to the area,” said owner Rola Cerone, a for-
per student of A&M herself.
Revolution is not a large club, and most of the seating is outside
« wooden park benches, with a few circular tables located inside. A
pormal night at Revolution could include anything from playing a
hame of chess to dancing with the hula-hoops found against the
hack wall.
Michael Cheyney, a senior sports management major, just
Itarted coming to Revolution.
“There really isn’t another place like this in the area, and
I've been here for five years. There’s definitely a different type
ibf music here.”
Revolution is not the only kind of alternative entertainment
in the area. Halo Video Bar, run by Jeff Harmon and Scott
uhIig, opened last July. Students say that Halo is an open enyi-
onment that has become an important hangout for the gay and
lesbian community in the area.
“We create an environment where anyone can come and feel
like they’re in a big city club,” Harmon said. “It’s the only place
people can come and not feel any kind of discrimination in a
lOO-mile radius.”
Bryan’s historic downtown, where both clubs are located, is
Brian Wills • THE BATTALION
Revolution Cafe and Bar owner Rola Cerone ‘02, above. Revolution is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 to 2 a.m. with Wednesday nights as singer/song
writer nights with an open mike. Halo is open Thursday to Saturday from 9:30 to 2 a.m.
currently experiencing a period of renewed growth, thanks to a 10-
year restoration plan implemented by the City of Bryan.
John Hendry is the executive director of the downtown Bryan
project. “We want to bring back the downtown area,” said Hendry.
“Phase one was to fix up the streets, landscape and buildings. Next
we plan to rebuild Bryan Street in the same way.”
Besides Revolution and Halo, the new downtown district also
includes the club Third Floor Cantina and a new restaurant,
Madden’s Casual Gourmet. The Charles and Bryan Hotels are also
being renovated to create loft apartments in the area.
“A&M is such an important part of the community, but most
students don't even know this-■ area exists^” Hendry said.
“College students are very important, and we will continue to
appeal to them.”
Halo has two floors: A downstairs area that has a calm, lounge
feel to it, and an upstairs dance floor. Harmon said Halo incorpo
rates advanced lighting and smoke effects with the most cutting-
edge dance music to create a club atmosphere typically reserved for
clubs in areas like Houston or Austin.
Jennifer Langum, a senior elementary education major, said
she was tired of the dance music at other clubs so she decided to try
out Halo.
“I come to Halo and feel like I’m at a club in Dallas,” Langum
said. “The DJ is amazing here and the atmosphere is really safe. I
don’t have guys constantly coming up to bother me.”
Harmon said Halo did not do any advertising when the club
opened, and the news of its existence spread solely by word of
mouth.
“People show up because we are an open environment,”
Harmon said. “They bring their friends who may not be gay, but are
open-minded and word travels like that.”
Harmon said the majority of the club’s clientele is college stu r
dents, with about 40 percent being heterosexual.
Sergio Martinez, a sophomore political science major, has been
coming to Halo since February.
“I want to have fun with all my friends,” Martinez said. “I know
everyone out here will support me, and it’s so great to be yourself
and have fun.”
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Clinton book breaks records
on first day of sales
I NEW YORK (AP) - He’s no Harry Potter, but Bill
Clinton is still a record breaker.
[ Clinton's “My Life” sold more than 400,000
1 copies in the United States on in its first day of
I release, the most ever for a nonfiction book and dou-
| ble the believed previous record holder, Sen. Hillary
■ Rodham Clinton’s “Living History.”
Bill Clinton's publisher, Alfred A. Knopf,
I announced an additional printing of 725,000
1 copies, bringing the total to 2.25 million. More print-
| ings are likely.
“We are seeing exceedingly strong sales for ‘My
I Life’ not only across the country but around the
1 world,” Knopf president Sonny Mehta said in a state-
i ment Wednesday.
Clinton’s book has topped the Amazon.com best
1 seller list in the United States, England, France and
1 Japan. The audio book, an abridged version read by
1 Clinton, sold 35,000 copies in the United States,
I also a first-day record.
Still, the unchallenged king of book premieres
remains “Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix,” which sold an estimated 5 million copies
on its opening day last year.
The 957-page “My Life” was published Tuesday,
with thousands lining up in New York alone to
receive an autographed copy from the former presi
dent, who appeared at bookstores in Harlem and
Rockefeller Center.
Most reviewers think his book is a bore, but
Clinton will almost certainly earn back his reported
$10 million advance, and the print run for “My
Life” already approaches that of “Living History,”
which came out last year. Sen. Clinton’s book has
2.3 million copies in print, according to her pub
lisher, Simon & Schuster.
“My Life” is actually helping sales of “Living
History,” which on Tuesday reached the top 10 on
Amazon.com.
The large print edition of “My Life” has a first print
ing of 100,000, more than the regular print run for
most books.
Queen Elizabeth II sits for
holographic 3-D portrait
LONDON (AP)— Queen Elizabeth II has posed for
many artists in her time, but she stepped up the
technology ladder for her latest portrait.
The 3-D laser-light hologram, titled “Equanimity,”
was commissioned by the Jersey Heritage Trust.
Designer Chris Levine’s blue monochrome portrait
shows the monarch wearing a crown, pearls and
ermine cape.
Levine, who has previously designed high-tech laser
representations for rock stars such as Liam Gallagher
of Oasis, took more than 10,000 images of the queen.
“She took to it very well,” he said of the photo shoot.
“We were able to chat about how far technology had
moved on. She was surprisingly well informed.”
The process of hologram design is complex and
time-consuming with a high resolution and 3-D com
puter scanner used to capture the figure.
Levine said the queen had to stay perfectly still for
eight seconds to get a usable image.
“It was quite nerve-racking,” he said recently. “She
was really obliging given that a strange man was
telling her what to do.”
Eric Clapton to auction guitars
to benefit drug recovery center
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua (AP) — Eric Clapton will auction
off 56 of his guitars in New York on Thursday to raise
money for a new drug treatment center in Antigua
and Barbuda, a manager of his center said.
Proceeds from the auction at Christie’s will go
toward the recently completed 16-bed Bevon House,
a center for recovering patients that is an expansion
of Clapton’s Crossroads Center, said Kim Martin,
the center's marketing manager.
More than $500,000 is need to finance the con
struction, and money raised through the auction
also will go toward paying for patients who can’t
afford the program, Martin said.
Clapton, who overcame his own heroin addiction
years ago, underwrote the Crossroads Center, which
opened in 1998 in the Caribbean country where the
guitarist has a home.
www.3rdFloorCantina.com
LIVE MUSIC
EVERY NIGHT
TONIGHT:
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& the Barefoot Cowboy Band
FRIDAY:
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w/Aaron Holt
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(Coastal & Western Music)
Located in Downtown Bryan
above Mr G's Pizza and next to
LaSalle Hotel - (979)779-1548
SU-K
f^tockiruy/
Sun.: $ 2.00 Wells
Mon.: $ 2.00 16oz. Drafts
Tues.: $ 2.00 Domestic Longnecks
Wed.: $ 2.00 Wells
Thurs.: $ 2.00 16oz. Drafts
2 for 1
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with
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Mon. - Sun. 5pm-2am
(979) 690-1478
4075 S Highway 6 - take Rock Prairie Road exit