The 35th Street Bridge goes over several railroad tracks and 1st Avenue North, providing a view to the west of the city’s past, present and potential. The view is almost as powerful as looking up at Vulcan from its base. The area around this bridge is fast becoming one where people are looking to help shape that future.
I’ve posted before about the popularity of MySpace as a communications tool for organizations and groups. The revolution is continuing as new performance venues in this area and throughout the city have turned to MySpace in recent months to get the word out among friends and browsers about their efforts. Both of these venues just happen to be located at the foot of or within striking distance of that bridge.
Both The Bottletree Café and The Railyard are also located close to the ever popular Avondale community. Both provide excellent eclectic spaces that fill the need for additional performance spaces in the area. They are working towards bringing national and regional acts. These venues have used their MySpace pages quite differently to this point. Bottletree uses their blog space to write previews and thank-you notes to their friends. It also allows them to post upcoming events. The Railyard’s page is more for informational purposes; hopefully they will add more information in the future.
Both of these venues are made their presence felt last night with shows that many feel were not previously possible in the Magic City. The Bottletree had comedian Todd Barry performing at the space, located at 3719 3rd Avenue, South, formerly home to Misconceptions. Barry is most likely recognized from his Comedy Central and HBO specials. However he has made appearances on television series such as Sex in the City, Spin City, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist and The Larry Sanders Show and performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. The blog on the profile said it was a great crowd and as I drove by in the damaged Ramblingsmobile, it looked like there was still a large crowd in the parking lot and at the entrance.Bottletree also hopes to start serving food soon.
The Railyard held a “Benefit for the Future Home of the Railyard.” A $5 donation got you the chance to see regional acts like Space Camp, The Bridges and Beyond Me. Their actual website shows digital images of what the finished space would look like. While unable to attend the Bottletree show, I did make my way over to the Railyard and watched the first three sets, taking some not so good photos, including this first one, available on the Smugmug site.
And while I didn’t introduce myself to them, I did see two fellow members of the Combloggerator at the event, Pretty Helmet and EchoBoomer. Though the crowd was extremely small in the beginning, it was continuing to grow as I left around 10:45 p.m. If anyone hit the Bottletree show, I’d love to know how it went. Another great start to an expanding entertainment scene in town. If any of you know any more, let me know.
Cheers.
