December 20, 2024

Freak Scene #45: What's Happening With the Calvin Theatre?

Plus, New Haven's Steve Mednick has released three albums of original material over the past year.

A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)

This week in Freak Scene, we ask the question on everyone’s mind: What’s up with the Calvin? Also, we survey three new albums that New Haven’s Steve Mednick has released in the past 12 months.

It’s been more than a year since the Calvin Theatre in Northampton was supposed to come under new management, yet the King Street venue remains shuttered, with an empty calendar and a blank marquee. 

Eric Suher, who bought the Calvin in 1996 and had run it as part of his Iron Horse Entertainment Group, informed the city license commission in October 2023 that he had reached a deal to lease the theater to the Bowery Presents, a New York concert promoter that also operates venues in Boston and other places around New England. Jim Glancy, a partner with the Bowery Presents, said at the time that his company would book the Calvin in conjunction with the Burlington, Vt., concert promoter Higher Ground. The two companies have had a similar arrangement since 2010 to run the State Theatre in Portland, Me.

Glancy told the license commission that he planned to complete the deal and file paperwork to transfer the liquor license from Suher by Nov. 1, 2023. Glancy said that he expected to reopen the Calvin in late February or March of 2024 after replacing the HVAC system and the roof. In December 2023, the commission approved a request to extend the deadline for documents until Jan. 31, 2024. Still lacking paperwork, the commission in March canceled Suher’s liquor license for the Calvin. The license remains unassigned.

There has been no activity since then, apart from Suher making minor improvements in the building as recently as this fall, when he requested an annual license inspection from Northampton’s building and fire departments. That would seem to make the Bowery deal dead, but it’s only dormant, according to city hall. The holdup, apparently, is simply that Suher hasn’t signed the lease agreement.

It’s unclear why, and Suher didn’t respond to an inquiry by text message. Scott Hutchinson, who works for a commercial real estate company in Boston representing the Bowery Presents, declined to comment when reached by phone. Glancy and other executives at the Bowery Presents ignored messages, as did Higher Ground co-owner Alex Crothers.

At its peak under Suher, the Calvin was hosting around 60 concerts a year. Glancy told the license commission that the Bowery Presents wanted to increase that number. More recently, though, the theater’s bookings had declined, particularly since the pandemic. There were just a handful of shows there in 2022, including performances by the Magnetic Fields in April, Ben Folds in May and Noah Kahan in October. Someone who was in the building for the Kahan concert described peeling paint and a moldy-looking basement. The last shows at the Calvin were a pair of gigs by the Led Zeppelin tribute band Get the Led Out in January 2023.

The Calvin is one of more than two dozen properties that Suher owns in Northampton, where the assessed value of his holdings is nearly $32 million. (I added them up as part of this story for the Boston Globe about the Western Mass. music scene.) He also owns the Pearl Street Nightclub, which has been dark for years. The Iron Horse, of course, changed hands and reopened in May as part of the non-profit Parlor Room Collective.

Without a talent booker since 2022, and with no staff to run a venue — and lacking a liquor license, which Glancy told the license commission was critical — it would seem to be in Suher’s business interest to lease the Calvin (or sell it outright) to anyone else capable of running the place. Yet Suher has a long history of not rushing to fill vacancies: the space at 50 Main Street that once housed Spoleto has sat empty for more than a decade.

The Calvin is the largest theater in the area, with a capacity of 1,300. Even without a room that size, Northampton continues to attract acts that had previously performed there, including Billy Bragg, Neko Case, Nick Lowe and Richard Thompson, each of whom played the Academy of Music this year instead. With the right bookings (and a more responsive communications strategy), the Bowery Presents could probably make the Calvin a draw again. City officials, at least, want to find out.

“We continue to be hopeful that the parties will reach a deal,” the mayor’s office said. “We have been watching with interest for a year hoping the final details would be worked out.”

Steve Mednick Has Been Keeping Busy

Everybody always says they’re busy, and then there’s Steve Mednick. The New Haven singer and songwriter has released three separate albums of new material over the past year, and also put out a compilation of his earlier music. For some musicians, that could represent a decade’s worth of work, but Mednick has been on a tear with nearly two dozen albums since he kicked off his music career in 2006, at age 50.

Mednick, a lawyer and former elected official, often writes topical songs — indeed, the subtitle of his latest, Flights of Freedom, is “Problems in Democracy Part VII.” Mednick has a specific problem in mind. Over 18 tracks, he sifts through conditions that have led to the present moment in American democracy. He rues the rage and paranoia that have fueled the rise to power of a malignant narcissist who Mednick describes on “The Loser” as “cynical, distorted and depraved,” and pities those who have fallen prey to the disinformation and outright lies that have twisted any sense of civil discourse. That sort of thing could be a heavy lift, but Mednick isn’t merely issuing screeds here. He’s angry, but also sorrowful as he employs allegory and metaphor (“Have Mercy on Us,” “Looking the Other Way”). Often his songs sound as though he’s addressing specific people, such as on the arch “Are They Hiding in the Woods, Henry?”

His album from July, Demosarethese Vol. X-XII, is a more collaborative project that Mednick started during the pandemic with guitarist/bassist Karl Allweier, drummer/keyboardist Isaac Civitello (both of whom played on Flights of Freedom) and fiddle player Ilana Katz Katz. As on Flights of Freedom, this effort certainly counts latter-day Bob Dylan as an influence on songs with a stylized barroom feel that blends rock with folk and a smidge of blues and country. Warm electric guitar and Mednick’s rumpled vocals power “Room 1117,” and Allweier lays down a virtuosic countrified guitar lead on “Song for Melissa Ott.” Later, a sprightly mix of guitars and fiddle lend a deceptively sunny feel to “Try Saying That to My Face,” which pokes at people crying “about history books because they hurt your children’s feelings.”

Released last December, Where the River Bends has a more elegiac feel, on bluesy rock songs full of tight harmony vocals and strong song arrangements. (Allweier and Civitello, who produced, are here, too, along with contributions from Len Kaczmarek on guitar, Bob Loveday on violin and pennywhistle, and Eddie Seville on harmonica and drums), There’s jumped-up electric guitar on “22 Hours on the 803,” whirring organ that underpins streetwise grit on “Liquor and Lust” and, on “Forever, My Love,” a pared-back arrangement comprising acoustic guitar and Mednick’s reverb-swaddled voice. 

With each of his three most recent albums running past an hour in length, digging into Mednick’s catalog requires a bit of a commitment. Depending on your tolerance for topical songs, perhaps the best approach is chronological: start with the more reflective material on Where the River Bends (which is also the only one of the three currently on streaming services, though he says the others are coming) and make your way deeper into songs rooted in current events.

Upcoming Concerts

The Fawns play a free, all-ages show tonight, Dec. 20, from 7-9:30 p.m. at Progression Brewery in Northampton.

The Capital Groove festival returns to Bushnell Park in Hartford June 28-29. Saturday features Khruangbin, Thundercat, Thee Sacred Souls, Steel Pulse and Ripe. Sunday includes Bleachers, Cake, Sammy Rae & the Friends, St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Fantastic Negrito. (Tickets).

Boston rockers Fleshwater play Feb. 14 at the Drake in Amherst (tickets). Tyler Hilton is there March 25 (tickets). Molly Grace performs April 5 (tickets).

Irish folk duo Ye Vagabonds play March 20 at the Iron Horse in Northampton (tickets). Kris Delmhorst is there with Rose Cousins May 9 (tickets).

Here are some additional performers for the Back Porch Festival, happening March 7-9 in venues around Northampton: Along with headliners Lucinda Williams and the Travelin’ McCourys, the festival will feature Ali McGuirk, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, Bobby Rush, James Hunter Six, Caitlin Canty, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, Chatham Rabbits, Chris Smither, CJ Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms, Cloudbelly, East Nash Grass, Fantastic Cat, GA 20, Huntertones, James Hunter Six, Kevin Gordon Trio, the Murphy Beds, New Dangerfield, Sam Grisman Project, Spanglish Fly, Tony Trischka Earl Jam and the Bygones. More information and tickets are here.

Veteran electronic duo Thievery Corporation come to District Music Hall in Norwalk Feb. 26 (tickets).

Hollywood Undead and Tech N9ne perform May 8 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven (tickets).

Joe Samba plays Feb. 20 at the Space Ballroom in Hamden (tickets).

Next week: My favorite albums of 2024.

Freak Scene is always seeking submissions. You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.

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