Wednesday, June 30, 2010
How the Avalon reopened its doors
Posted By Stephen Dark on June 30, 2010, 3:31 PM
When I last talked to Kollective music promoter Corey Adams, he was prowling round the debris of South Salt Lake-based all-ages venue, The Avalon caught between anger and grief at the lose of his club.---
While Adams is a controversial figure in many quarters, The Avalon is such a precious landmark, such an architectural rarity on the otherwise dismal urban sprawl that is State Street, it was hard not to sympathise with his sense of loss at being forced to close it last summer.
A South Salt Lake administrative judge had sided with the city's fire marshall over concerns about The Avalon's safety when it came to audience members diving into a mosh pit, despite Adams' best efforts, he said at the time, to stop them.
In a surprising turn around, on June 5 Adams reopened The Avalon with Me Without You, the typical type of art rock band that this venue came to specialise in before the court forced him to put it up for sale. And it was South Salt Lake that helped him reopen its doors. He says he went to the city planner Mike Florence and explained that potential buyers were only interested in it as a live performance venue. Florence, Adams says, told him, "Let's see if we can get you open."
After some discussion, Adams says he agreed to close in the floor space before the stage by putting in several more benches. "There's no possible way they can have a mosh pit," he says. "Everybody has to stand in rows. It worked."
Adams is content with his new relationship with South Salt Lake. "I think we can co-exist," he says with a laugh.
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