Thursday, January 17, 2008

New Fort Worth music venue, Lola’s, celebrates grand opening January 23

By Erin Rice

Fort Worth had its own share of live music venue closings last year, including the Wreck Room. Joining the Scat Jazz Lounge in strumming new life into the city, however, is Lola's. Formerly 6th Street Live, the club is owned by Brian Forella, former Wreck owner. While he's been operating under the Lola's moniker for a little while now, the club will celebrate its Grand Opening on January 23. Headlining the party are the Tejas Brothers and Ten High Trio, with DJ Burlap and Kirkland James.

Teaming up with Forella to bring a "mature, indie" feel to the club is Lance Yocom, president of Spune Productions. Representing locals such as Doug Burr, Red Monroe, and Record Hop, and booking other clubs and events such as the Wall of Sound Festival, Hailey's, and The Cavern, Yocom is predicting big things for Lola's.

Four Questions with Lance Yocom, booking for Lola's:

Pegasus News: You compare Lola’s future to that of a Gypsy Tea Room (per a recent email). GTR defined the Deep Ellum music scene for the last few years until its recent closure. In what way do you think/hope Lola’s could define Fort Worth’s music scene for years to come?

Lance Yocom: There has not been a smaller to mid-size venue in Fort Worth that took on an "indie" grassroots approach. From the club owner to me booking the place, we have a specific vision in mind. We want Lola's to host quality live music regardless of genre. Much like Gypsy Tea Room was able to for so many years. Spune will be booking touring shows at Lola's as well, which are not normally seen in Fort Worth at this level. Again, the more indie type tours that would have played Gypsy Tea Room is what we're referring to. Lola's will also have [the] ability to accommodate tours through a unique production set up that gives the bands the option to run their own monitor mix from stage, use the venue's (2) built in projector screens, make use of a comfortable green room, convenient parking and more. I think a diverse mixture of quality local music with touring shows will be what puts Lola's and Fort Worth on the map.

PN: Is there a certain genre to expect from shows coming to Lola’s?

LY: Nope. Just, quality music.

PN: What do you expect the balance to be between touring bands and local bands (we are definitely interested in the local band aspect at Pegasus!)?

LY: Spune is very local music driven. It has been Spune's mission since the beginning. There will be a well balanced mixture of local and touring shows. It is Spune's goal to try and get a local band to open as many touring shows as possible. A lot of the time, it is not allowed per the artist agent or the tour may already happen to be a large 3-4 band tour and there is just not room for a local. Although, we will try our hardest.

PN: What kinds of touring bands are you predicting to bring in given the venue size?

LY: We already have several touring shows confirmed for Lola's that might not have ever considered playing Fort Worth. We have several SXSW touring bands already confirmed. We actually will have a SXSW showcase night every night of that week. Lola's will be able to accommodate up to around 300 people right now. There are plans to increase that capacity over the next 6-8 months.

For more information on Lola's please check out the write-up in FW Weekly.

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