Washington Post article: "End of the Roadhouse"

[unbasslichkeit]

From today's Washington Post (Friday, 11-30-07). Feature article about Chick Hall's Surf Club in Prince George's County, Maryland (about a 10-minute drive from Unbasslichkeit's house.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...112902228.html

Disclaimer: Yeah, I played there, and I'm gonna miss it big time. Even that decrepit old Peavey Combo 300 which served as house bass amp.

[txbasschik]

Originally Posted by unbasslichkeit

From today's Washington Post (Friday, 11-30-07). Feature article about Chick Hall's Surf Club in Prince George's County, Maryland (about a 10-minute drive from Unbasslichkeit's house.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...112902228.html

Disclaimer: Yeah, I played there, and I'm gonna miss it big time. Even that decrepit old Peavey Combo 300 which served as house bass amp.

What a shame!!! I love a good old ice house, road house, or just general dive. I hate those clean, new places with their franchised "funky" look. Fake, fake, fake!!! Gimme the real thing!

This made me mad...

<<<Basically, roadhouses stand in the way of society's relentless march toward clean, safe, calculated living. So they are being eradicated, converted into mattress factories, dialysis clinics, parking lots.
>>>

Its true. Our society is being run by the Mommy Wants To Keep You Safe From Yourself people. Safe, clean...and regulated. It makes me want to vomit.

I am so sorry that such a treasure is being wiped away. Branson, and ALL Hard Rock Cafes, should be wiped away...not The Surf Club!

As gated subdivisions and the accompanying huge shopping centres make their relentless approach to my blue-collar, working-class, trailer-dwelling neighborhood, I fear The Safe, Clean Yuppies will wipe our beloved ice house away, one day, and put up a gorram Starbucks. God help us when the roadhouses and ice houses and biker dives are gone. Then it will truly be Plastic World.

Raise a glass to The Surf Club...and remember to visit your local roadhouse before its gone, too!

Cherie

[Lazylion]

Gotta give Chick Hall credit for hanging in there as long as he did. IIRC, that's not the greatest neighborhood. He's a great player.

[txbasschik]

Originally Posted by Lazylion

Gotta give Chick Hall credit for hanging in there as long as he did. IIRC, that's not the greatest neighborhood. He's a great player.

Evidently, it was just a change in demographics that killed the bar. White, blue-collar folks are gone. Black (blue-collar? Hard to tell from the story...) folk are there now. And the more-prosperous white folk prefer slicker, cleaner places.

Just a shame, to see such a place go. Mr. Hall must have really loved it, to hang on so long.

Cherie