“This is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon long ago”
Box of Rain, The Grateful Dead, American Beauty, 1970
On a rainy November afternoon, I sat down at S.P.A.C.E. with Dave Specter, the blues guitarist and one of the owners of the club and Jake Samuels, the general manager and talent buyer. We sat at one of the black tables in the empty club and talked about “their dream.” It made me think about that line from the “American Beauty.”
Dave Specter's next show: January 13
S.P.A.C.E. or the The Society for the Preservation of Arts and Culture in Evanston, opened in April of 2008. Specter and Stuart Rosenberg, musician and radio host had a notion to build a club run by musicians. They joined forces with real estate developer Craig Golden (owner of the Lake Shore Theater) and Steve Schwartz (owner of Campagnola) to create S.P.A.C.E. along with Union Pizzeria which shares the building. They created a 9,500-square-foot cool and accessible destination, which rivals any venue in the city or suburbs.
S.P.A.C.E. is about treating the artists and the audience with respect.
S.P.A.C.E. offers the most eclectic mix of roots music in the area. On stage you will experience local, regional and national touring acts. You can see and hear singer-songwriters, blues guitarists, Celtic music, country, off-beat tribute bands, modern dance, string quartets, comedy, progressive rock and straight ahead jazz. They also have a dynamite holiday line-up.
(Team Ageless are big Coltrane fans and we have tickets for December 10, when The Brian Gephart Group plays A Love Supreme, a recreation of the John Coltrane classic.)
Ralph Covert & The Bad Examples
The setting is intimate without being claustrophobic. The sound system and lighting are first rate. The room can be configured with tables for cabaret, chairs for theater, or in some cases standing room only depending on the act. Tables can be usually be reserved in advance, as can general admission. But don’t stress about all that – there is not a bad seat in the house. You can bring in some food from Union Pizzeria, have a drink at their full bar (there are no drink minimums), and enjoy a quality performance. It’s an all-ages kind of place.
For the artists there is a very comfortable green room that looks more like a living room in a loft somewhere than the typical backstage closet. There is good food and drink. And when it’s showtime, the audience is engaged and involved. S.P.A.C.E. isn’t a bar. It’s a 250 person venue with a 24′ x 8′ stage. Not just a riser and a mic. The artists’ music is not background noise for cocktail chatter. The term “listening room” gets thrown around a lot these days, but at S.P.A.C.E. it’s the real deal. And this treatment has created a buzz in the artistic community.
Backstage@SPACE
To further support musicians, S.P.A.C.E. has created The League of Creative Musicians. This members-only club offers an on-site recording studio that combines state of the art technology with a down-home comfortable feel. There may even be a record label in the future.
How to get SPACED?
Subscribe to their newsletter. They don’t have a box office, so your best bet is to order tickets on line. Click here for the link. You can also show up at the door, but check their web site for ticket availability. And check out their Flickr photostream
Here is our video of the “Space Experience.”
