No sooner did Frank Hendrix announce the collapse of talks between his club Emo’s and C3 Presents in the latter’s bid to buy the East Riverside venue than it was confirmed Antone’s will occupy the newly vacated Beauty Ballroom as he’d speculated weeks ago. “Last week is a blur,” texted Herndrix from Las Vegas an hour ago. “I ran away to decompress.”
Two weeks ago, when Hendrix went public with Antone’s ceding its warehouse district corner for new arts venture Project Infest, he listed Beauty Ballroom as a possible headquarters for Austin’s world famous “Home of the Blues.” Not nearly as surprising as his revelations last week of a two-month negotiation with C3 over Emo’s, this latest news at least resolves the question of Antone’s future.
It also makes Emo’s that much more attractive when the venue comes back on the market as Hendrix informed the Chronicle it would.
In the meantime, the local live music baron texted that there’s “nine years left on the lease” at the Beauty Ballroom location (currently being billed as Emo’s Annex), so Antone’s looks to settle in nicely on the same block as Emo’s. That brand’s safe wherever it lands says its current namesake, Susan Antone.
“In almost 38 years, we have been all over, but we’re stronger than any one location,” the club’s matriarch told us last week, explaining that the history tourists associate with her family’s name isn’t based on a place, but rather on “soulful music with a lot of rhythm.”
“When they’re here, they want to see music at Antone’s,” she chuckled.
Soon, that’ll be east of the highway.
This article appears in February 1 • 2013.
