The JamHouse

In our current economy places where your band can play or where you can jam is being lost. Support our JamHouse shows & jams. Keep the venues where we enjoy playing open and vibrant. Here's a little history & current facts about some of our local venues.

1. The Front Row- Closed.
2. Rockland- Closed.
3. Cruisers- Closed.
4. CrossRoads- Closed.
5. MVP's- Closed.
6. The Brewery. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Really! The Brewery not only closed it's been torn down. A popular Raleigh live music venue for 27 years is gone. In it's place will be a drugstore, apartments, and a parking deck.

7. Marcom's Lounge:
*** Up date as of March 26, 2012. ***
Marcom's has taken over the location which formally housed BoneDaddy's Hideaway. This location, on Creek Side Drive, and just across the street from The LongBranch, should open things up for Marcom's. This location offers it's own parking lot with plenty of available parking. The building itself should also enhance Marcom's appeal and it's draw of public support for the club. The new Marcom's Lounge is now open. I'll add a review of the club soon.

Marcom's should be a very nice venue, band friendly, and can promote some added appeal to Raleigh's live music scene. Let's hope all works out well for Kathy Marcom and her venue as things develop in 2012.

Ratings will come later after Marcom's has a chance to settle in. Good luck Kathy and congratulations.


8. BoneDaddy's Hideaway: (This review remains here for historical purposes)
On Sept. 3, 2011, BoneDaddy's closed awaiting efforts to reorganize and reopen. Sadly, the venue has now closed for good. BoneDaddy's was a great facility, but as a "Biker Bar" BoneDaddy's did not appeal to woman who are not "biker" types. And, of course where more women go, so too do the men. Most music was loud, frantic, and tends to be more "biker friendly music" than anything else. Even so, there just has not been enough support from the "biker community" to keep BoneDaddy's afloat in this recession. In my opinion making the club more appealing to other Raleigh demographics would have been the right move.

I had been told that The JamHouse shows ranked within the top 10 money makers for the venue and I had made that statement here in this review. Purple recently notified me that The JamHouse did not rank in the top ten. I apologize to Purple for not having made an attempt to verify the statement as actual fact prior to making that boast in this review.

I do know, first hand, that we in The JamHouse played numerious shows at BoneDaddy's during the first two years of it's opening. Our shows were always very well attended. This fact should have told Purple that The JamHouse shows was one of the things that had gone right for the club. Granted, The JamHouse shows drew a different audience from the usual biker patrons due to the varied styles and genres of music that we play. The JamHouse draws interest from all of the varied demographics that makes up Raleigh's total population, not necessarly from the biker population.

BoneDaddy's preference, being a "biker bar", was to have more out of town bands in to play music popular with it's long time regular biker membership. Even so, it seems that the biker population here in Raleigh is just not large enough, at least in this economy, to successfully support BoneDaddy's.

Location: I give the location of the building an A. Marcom's has taken over this site and will open in early 2012.

9. The Pickled Onion:
Stopped regular music nights after The JamHouse moved on from there in Dec. 2009 after having played every Saturday night their for four months. I started live music night for The Pickled Onion in Aug. 2009. The food at TPO was very good. As was the staff. Combined with our music night, Saturday night, Saturday nights at TPO went from last place to first place as a money making night for the venue. The owner at that time became very difficult to work with and made The JamHouse certain promises that were never fulfilled. So after four months of playing jams and shows every Saturday night I pulled the plug on The Pickled Onion and we moved on to other clubs. The Pickled Onion went down hill again and the owner sold out. It seems this former owner also is in partnership with several other venues.


The current owner of TPO has had an occasional open mic or an occasional band, but that's all. There's some strange goings on there too. It seems odd to see a person at the bar apparently peddling wrist watches while the owner sat next to this same person and seemed too know what was taking place. There are some bad rumors floating around about other "dealings" going on too. I would not play there again under the current ownership and conditions.

Only one rating necessary, overall: (D) at best.


10. Scooters:
Has some regular bands that play there. These bands have been playing Scooters for years. Jeff, the owner, is NOT willing to support new bands and events. Maybe he's too scared to take a chance in the current economy. More comfortable with the bands he already knows. Scooters only fills about two thirds of it's seating availability, at best, with their current line up of bands. Many times it's only about half filled. My brother-in-law plays in two different bands that play at Scooters regularly, The Blenders and Twist Of Fate. Both bands are excellent. As are the other bands that play Scooters.

Even so, the venue's regulars plus the band's draw often can't fill the club on a regular bases. This economy is killing everyone. Scooters is a great bar though with good food and good staff. The outside patio is nice. Bands play on the patio in warm weather. They play inside in cold weather but with the inside being so small it gets crowded without many people actually being in the club. The venue does not pay well either, says they can't afford to. Understandable in our current economy. Hey Scooters, give The JamHouse a chance. I've tried to get Jeff to have us in but Jeff will not give up time his regular bands are used to getting. Jeff's staying with what he knows. Can't blame him.

Location: (A)
Staff: (A)
Food: (A)
Beer & Mixed Drinks: (A)
Management/Attitude: (B)/(C)


11. The High Park Bar and Grill:
This venue has a bad attitude toward bands in general. The former owner of The Pickled Onion is in partnership with High Park. That may explain a lot. High Park is a huge bar and restaurant. We had about 60 folks in for a show recently and this was not enough to satisfy the management. Even at a "first show" for us at their venue. Nearly all the folks in the place were folks we brought in with us.

I asked the manager where his regular Saturday night customers were. The manager, Ed, said that our bands may have prevented their regular customers from coming as they may have not wanted to hear music on Saturday night. He also said that our folks did not drink enough. Maybe. But a lot of food seemed to be sold though. Most food items was good, burgers and such. But nothing was really super. Some food was poor such as their chicken pastry. No taste at all. Service was mostly good but some foods did not get out on time and in the correct order. Example, main course was brought out before the appetizer. How hard is this to screw up? Duhh!

It seems that High Park does not even have a regular Saturday night crowd, dinner crowd included, to make much fuss about. Then Ed has the nerve to blame The JamHouse for their lack of a full house on the Saturday we played there. Hey, our 60 people in the venue on a Saturday night is much more than they can honestly claim frequents the venue.

Management cooperation was fair going in, but quickly changed down hill once our bands got to performing. The night manager Bob, who is also the head bartender, had nothing good to say about anything. He certainly had a very poor attitude towards the playing of live music. The wait staff was nice but not very attentive. Food seemed to get out late and some of the food was not very good.

Bob down played our bands even before we started playing. He had no confidence in our show and in our club members attendance to support our show. Bob made comments like "The sales at the end of the night will tell." Well, The JamHouse members accounted for 60 people in to enjoy the show that night. There were some of the venue's regular patrons in the house too, but not many. In the end Bob and the head manager, Ed, were not happy that our 60 people did not buy enough of their food (B-) and beer. I think we did leave very fair tips for the staff however, even though service did not meet expectations, (B+) at best and some of the food items were poor.

No wonder then that on a prior visit by me to the club to generally check things out prior to our show, High Park only had a few patrons in the house. There was a band playing that night too. The band had a few followers of their own. But over a period of 90 minutes, in what should have been the peak of the evening, High Park only averaged about 25 people in the club at any one time. How dare Bob and Ed put down our show when we supplied more than twice that number in the house all night long. Buying their food and drinks.

I think that High Park Bar and Grill had better but more attention on providing quality foods, good service, and a more appealing general attitude. I don't think I'd enjoy putting on another event at High Park. Let me score High Park Bar and Grill from what I've experienced and learned recently:

Location: (B)
Physical layout and room: (A) Nice building and layout with lots of room. Bathrooms need some work. They are large enough but not as clean as they should be.

Food: Overall, (B-)
Staff/service: (B+)
Beer: (A) Good selection and cold.

12. The Korner Pocket:
*** Update as of March 24, 2012. ***

I visited The Korner Pocket on Saturday March 24, 2012 for the first time since The JamHouse moved our jams and shows from The Korner Pocket to a new location. The staff is practically the same so TKP does have that going for them. TKP is also having bands in regularly on weekends. That's good too.

I knew the band who performed that night, Total Strangers. The band was good as usual. Total Strangers has recently made some changes in personal and in their set lists. They are better than ever these days. All was cool so far.

The rest of my visit to The KP that night was not pleasant. Except for one couple who I knew from having them at many of our JamHouse events at The Korner Pocket, I did not know another sole in the place. Besides the staff, the band, the friends of the band, and this one couple, everyone else was a stranger. That in itself was not really a surprise or a concern... until.

I arrived at TKP just in time for the bands second set, around 10:30pm. The patrons had enough time by then to have a few beers and drinks as the band had started their first set at 9pm. Well, that was to bad. Because as it turns out many of the woman in the club were already drunk. I could not tell much about the men as they stayed in place at the bar. Buy these ladies were messed up. Some of them were dancing with one another, spilling beer all over the floor, and just showing themselves.

One particular lady was so drunk that see fell to the floor while trying to dance. Several of her lady friends and one of the staff members tried to assist this person up off the floor. It took about two minutes for them to help this person to get up. And when this young "lady" did finally stand up and got her balance, she bounced around and drifted off among the tables and chairs some where. The other ladies were back at the bar by then greatly celebrating another moment of bring above ground.

By this time I'd had enough "fun" at The Korner Pocket. With the band still performing, and still doing a great job, I decided I'd better leave before things got more festive. I could not help but to think how very different the patrons were in TKP this night compared to the many nights when we in The JamHouse had packed The Korner Pocket without much fear of drunks spoiling our evening.

With this visit being my first since we, The JamHouse, left TKP in late January, I'll probably try to attend another show or two when another good band is scheduled to play. Maybe the drunk patrons on my first night back was an exception and not the rule. Maybe. After eighteen months of building up the reputation of The Korner Pocket via our jams, our shows, and our members, I hate to think that The Korner Pocket cannot, or will not, maintain a good reputation as a safe, fun, and enjoyable place for live music. Especially in so short of time.

So there it is... The Korner Pocket as it was on March 24th.

Tony : (
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The following is my original posting I entered just after leaving The Korner Pocket after our last JamHouse event there on January 21, 2012. Of course this was entered before I returned to TKP to attend a show I wanted to see, Mar. 24, 2012:

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Since I started hosting jams and shows in Sept. 2010, up to our last show on Jan. 21 of 2012, The Korner Pocket had been our main jam and show venue. TKP has a great staff and is probably tied with Fat Daddy's as having the best bar food in Raleigh. The down side to TKP is the owner/manager. He is difficult to work with and absolutely refuses to pay a decent fee to any band, regardless of the bands popularity or fan draw. In the case of The JamHouse that meant BANDS. TJH usually would have at least two bands to play each night and sometimes we have had three bands. Plus we sometimes have held jam sessions.

All of this meant a larger crowd for TKP with everybody buying food, beer, and mixed drinks, from 8pm until 1am. TKP income on band night greatly improved, yet the bands went little paid. So after so much time spent at TKP with so little cooperation and appreciation being shown to The JamHouse and our bands by the owner, I simply had had enough and quit hosting JamHouse events at TKP. Hopefully you bands can continue to pick up some gigs there if you want. Don't expect to be fairly paid, much less well paid. But a gig of your own may work out better for your particular band instead of sharing a pay out as we did within The JamHouse as a music club.

Another drawback for TKP is the four pool tables that takes up so much space. In the past year and a half I've never seen more than two pool tables being used at any one time. Most of the time only one table is used. Three of the pool tables have to be moved to enable us to have a stage area and to provide a little dancing room. With better cooperation from the owner TKP could be made into the happening place for live music in Raleigh. Much opportunity is being missed here.

You guys and gals in The JamHouse have packed TKP many times now. We've had as many as 140 folks to attend a show. I'd say we averaged bringing in between 75 to 90 folks at each show. We had one slow night of about 30 folks. Heck, prior to TJH regularly putting on shows at TKP 30 people in the venue would have been considered a big night for them. We were very successful and
had some great jams and some great shows at TKP along with some huge crowds. I appreciate you and thank you for some really great times. And thanks for your support of me and The JamHouse as a music club. Maybe we'll do this again at another venue some time.

The JamHouse has spent a lot of time at TKP. Together, The JamHouse has greatly improved the customer base of TKP and we've added much to improving the publics opinion of The Korner Pocket. TKP had been known generally for bad behavior and for bar fights. Not for music and good times. Thanks to The JamHouse, all of us, TKP reputation is now that of great bands and music, fun times, and a safe and pleasant place to enjoy a night out. I wish the staff well, they are great. For their sake I hope TKP continues to attract good bands and have good crowds.

Location: (B+)
Physical layout & room: (B)
Food: (A+).
Staff/Service: (A+)/(B) - Great staff, but with our large crowds sometimes food takes a long time to come out. We filled the house.
Management and Attitude: (C-) at best.


13. Sharon's Country Lounge:
Small, dark, rustic, and country. No frills but has a pool table and some electronic games, poker, etc. The bar manager who had been in place at Sharon's has been dismissed. It seems he has mismanaged activities at Sharon's over the last 3 months ending this past July 23rd. Sharon herself is back at least part time in an effort to turn things around there and get the venue back on track. Sharon seems to be motivated. Right now the focus may be on getting the out door shows and cook outs moving in the right direction. I think that we, The JamHouse members, our bands and jam folks could greatly help in keeping his place lively and operating strong. We'll see how things go here. There is a nice grassy area for outdoor fun. It's great for lawn chairs and blankets and enjoying this venue as the cooler weather moves in. Sharon's only sells beer, no hard liquor sold. More to come about this venue as things develops.

Overall: (C)
Potential, overall: (A)


14. The White Oak Grill (Garner):
Fantastic owner and operator, his name is Rhett. He's a really cool guy who is friendly and open to The JamHouse and our concept of bands and jam sessions. Rhett would like us to start some jam sessions at his venue. Rhett has ask me to do his booking. I've started already. JamHouse bands are playing on July 16th, Aug. 13th and 27th. This is a very country looking bar and grill with no frills. Has some really good food though, burgers, steak sub, and onion rings to name a few. Staff is friendly, fun, and cool. The regular patrons are also very cool, fun loving, and enjoy a good band. They show it too. Bring your tip jar when you play here.

Location: (B)
Staff: (A)
Food: (A)
Management/Attitude: (A+)/(A+)


15. Fat Daddy's:
Fat Daddy's (FD's) is a great restaurant. Fantastic food and ties with The Korner Pocket for the best bar food in town. FD's at street level (upper section) is a restaurant only. It's cool, clean, and they have a fantastic condiments bar where you can load up your burgers, just help your self. FD'S has a downstairs level which is the bar and where the live entertainment is held. Entrance to the bar is in the rear of the building. There's good parking too.

While in the bar you can order food from their menu. There are many pool tables in the back, behind the bar itself. They have a game room too. Bands set up and play from the front side of the bar. It's all very pleasant and comfortable. I've heard some good bands at FD's and have had some great times there. In fact, I held our club's first year birthday party at FD's way back in December of 2008. We had about 60 jam folks come in and we jammed for about 6 hours. It was a great time.

On July 14th, 2011 I went in to FD's to ask about The JamHouse possibly playing some music there. Mr. Vick, who handles their live entertainment was not in. I left him our card. I went back several times with the same result. I never heard from anyone at Fat Daddy's. I found out though that FD uses a booking agent for their band needs but I don't know who the booking agent is.


17. O'Malley's:
*** July 30th. 2011: This just in... O'Malley's has announced that due to the economy it will stop having live bands in to play. They say they are not getting enough business to justify the cost. ***

O'Malley's has pretty good food and I've had some real good mixed drinks there. The venue is spit into two narrow sections. One side is the bar and restaurant side. The other side is the live music side, complete with those dreaded pool tables. These tables plus some electronic game machines takes up too much space. Those who actually come in to enjoy the music must crowd themselves in a small area and must yield to the pool players, etc. Some good bands play there but the venue is not taking a chance on new bands right now. I have no idea how well O'Malley's pays their bands.

Location: (B+)
Physical layout & Room: (C)/(C)
Staff: (A)
Food: (A)
Beer/Mixed Drinks: (A)/(A)
Management/Attitude: (B)/(B)

18. Volume 11. I'm rather new to Volume 11. It's a huge venue with a large stage, drum riser, house lighting, a house PA and soundman. There are miltiple band practice rooms available for rent. V11 also has it's own recording studio. The owner, Keith, is very cool. He has asked me to schedule some shows at V11 in 2012. The venue does not sell food so that may but a damper on me planning of shows there. I'm not real sure if we are a music club with an eating problem, or an eating club with a music problem. Anyway, music is all we'll be able to do at Volume 11. Well, there's drinking too of course. : )

V11 caters to the louder side of rock, hard rock, metal rock, etc. Shows held there are usually very loud. I have explained that our shows would not be that loud and that we as a club play all genres, most of which is not as heavy as what's normally played there.
Keith is fine with that and would like me to put on a few Saturday afternoon shows. We'll see. The parking area is small compaired to most other venues, and dark. V11 sells many brands of beer and also serves mixed drinks. There will be more on Volume 11 later.
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OK, that's all for now. More to come, so stay tuned and check back often. Thanks again for your support our JamHouse jams and shows. Please keep me posted as to your bands shows. I hope to catch you out around town.

Thanks everybody,
T : )

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Hey Tony and all JamHouse members. Wish I or we all had a magic bullet for these bar owners. As a former small business owner myself, I understand both sides of the coin, but, some of these bar owners really take advantage of musicians. They need to really look at their situation and decide to pay the money for the band or not have music at all. If the bar/restaurant has a good draw on its own, then the band will only enhance it. Yes, it is important for musicians to bring as many people as they can, but it is not the musician's job to keep the bar in business - it is the bar owners job to keep himself in business. How? If I knew all the answers, I'd be rich! Location, good food, good service and market, market, market!!! It gets soooo tiring to hear the bar owner "blame" the bands for their bad night! Especially if their "bad" night wasn't really that bad, they are just saying that so they can jip the musicians more! Really - musicians in general put up with alot of crap - not to mention the hours/years of practicing their art, the investment of equipment and the time to load up, set up, play, break down, and unload! And because we LOVE to play, bar owners think we should do all this for FREE??? Banding together (no pun intended) and supporting each other through Tony's jams is a great concept and if we all participate as much as we can, eventually, we will see a turn around and we will end up in a good position in the local music scene. So I just want to encourage everyone to do as much as they can to support the jamhouse and not get discouraged. Just keep doing what we love, keep positive and keep looking forward. That's my 1 1/2 cents....

Karrin

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The times they are a changing. We all will have to adapt to keep this good thing going. Jehovah's Witness Protection Program has certainly enjoyed our
participation in the fun and hope it will continue. With coming shows at the two new venues White Oak and Sharon's, we are looking forward to new opportunities and hoping for better days ahead. Thanks to Tony for all his hard work and to members and friends who have supported our band.

Doyle aka: arpmoog
Jehovah's Witness Protection Program

1st to answer the question rearding omalleys
acoustic acts made anywhere from $150-250 depending on the name, I never saw a band paid more than $500 there (except the magic pipers, maybe got 750 a few times). thats actually pretty good for some of the paychecks available in this area. omalleys was a mainstaple for years, Im sorry to see they have given up for now. this is just a neighborhood bar/grill that has a STRONG regular following.
2nd Bonedaddys, I wish them well. they have a decent location, could have a good strong crowd but sometimes has the priorities in the wrong spots. their "Cater to" crowd isnt supporting them, which doesnt help to start with. they do need to do a concept flip badly. it could be very successful. they should reemerge easily, but to what I have no idea.

3rd. as for being able to secure new venues, they are out there. they might not be in the places you would think they are, sometimes not even within wake county. I am new to the jamhouse, but I have been around for years. I did learn that sometimes the gigs are in other markets that you might not have considered before.not every gig you can play is "at home"

I have noticed quite a few places still booking bands but the bars are relying on these bands to draw a crowd ON TOP OF the regular base. they require their bands to do some promotions (ie more than just placing an ad on craigslist) in order to play. and if the band isnt good, has egos/attitudes, and/or doesnt draw..you wont be back. (believe me, ive seen a few bands i cant even imagine HOW they got a booking!)

either way this is a good restructure point for any band. the places to play are dwindling away, more bands form every day. the competition is stiff. its a good time to look at what your doing right and wrong, as this could be the most deciding factor soon as to weather you keep a regular booking or lose it to a dj!

THE BEST THING I see is people like Tony, who are trying to turn one gig into a chance for a few. he is following a concept started by the "HUGE BOYS of Promotions" which may be a great model to follow in the future.

thanks for letting me chime in,

PAMANRALEIGH

The economy is bad,yes,but the smoking ban has served to hurt clubs more than anything.A club now a days will have some people inside and a full crowd outside to witch the club owner uses to his advantage when it comes to paying the band " there just werent that many people here ".I really dont think that things will get any better for a long time if ever.When the job crash cane we began to see everyong going back to school with the hopes of getting a better job that wont be there when they graduiate and musicians should do the same thing.Get to work on bettering your playing so you will be able to get the paying gigs for good money.It is not our fault that the economy has gone to crap but we must make the best of it as a means to better serve us in the future.While we all work at our craft let us not forget the reason we play music and continue to have fun.The Jamhouse is a great place to network with other musicians and help othere that struggle and receive help as you need it.Musicians honoring other musicians is a great motto to have and words to live by as we all need a little help from time to time.I love the events and enjoy playing with whoever is present and have met and made many friends at events and continue to.If you are just starting out as a player please come out and jam with the rest of us and have some fun and you will have at your disposal all you need to better yourself as well as organise a band of your own.

John, thank you so much for your thoughts on our economy, our music scene, and our music club. Those topics, and all of us, are related whether many folks realize it or not.

I really love The JamHouse Music Club and all our individual members, our jam friends, our bands, and our fans. All of you mean a lot to me, more than many of you know.

Rock on brotherman. Hope to see you tomorrow as we have planned.

Your friend in music and in life,
Tony : )