Big Dipper To Play Its Swan Song
The night has come.
On Saturday, the Big Dipper will open for business one last time before it closes indefinitely.
The building is up for sale, but owner Steve Spickard said he’s open to renting it to another tenant.
“We’re looking for the highest and best use for the property right now,” Spickard said. “We’re certainly open for suggestions.”
According to Spickard, the club might not be closed for very long; he has a couple of prospective tenants.
The closure greatly affects the local music scene. Since 1989, the Big Dipper regularly booked live, original music.
Now, only a few original music venues remain in Spokane.
For its final show/blowout party Saturday, the club has booked Portland’s Calobo.
The seven-member band offers a sound it calls “acoustic groove.”
In Portland, amid all the postpunk bands signing to big labels, the “acoustic groove” band and its peers, the Strangers, the Renegade Saints and Higher Ground are waging an acoustic revolution on the town.
And consumer interest seems to be quite enthusiastic for Calobo and company as all four bands dominate the local sales chart.
Calobo’s sophomore effort, “Runnin’ in the River,” has sold more than 4,000 copies so far. That, on an independent level, constitutes a successful album.
What’s more, the seven-piece unit garners sold out shows wherever it stops in the West.
The band not only has opened concerts for internationally acclaimed artists, it has received several open invitations to appear with acts like Widespread Panic, Jackson Browne and America.
Because the Big Dipper wants to deplete its stock of beer and wine, prices will be lower than usual.
Music starts at 9:30 p.m. The cover is $5. Bring your ID.
As mentioned last week in Nightwatch, Citizen Swing will not be a part of the Saturday’s show. The band doesn’t have a show scheduled in Spokane until June 30.
Elsewhere in the night
A benefit concert for local rock band Beggar’s Opera, which recently had all of its equipment stolen from its van, has been staged at Outback Jack’s.
After returning home from a gig in the Tri-Cities at about midnight late last month, Beggar’s Opera left its van, full of equipment, unsupervised. Four hours later, when keyboardist Steve Calvert returned to unload everything, all of the equipment - $30,000 worth - was gone.
Two suspects are in custody but only one guitar and an amplifier have been recovered.
The five Spokane bands playing Saturday at Outback Jack’s - Maha Reeb, Solomon Kane, Chain Reaction, Addict Salt and Mojo Danser - will donate their pay to Beggar’s Opera.
Saturday’s show begins at 9:30 p.m. The cover is only $3.
Using borrowed equipment, Beggar’s Opera will play two shows at the Comet Tavern in Hillyard, tonight and Saturday. The shows are part of the band’s effort to raise money for new equipment of its own.
Mikey’s Outrage opens both nights.
Music’s at 9:30 p.m. The cost is also a mere $3.