Barfly Overview: Cosmic Charlie's

Despite what it's name, logo, and decor might suggest, Cosmic Charlie's, a new concert hall that opened in University Plaza (Euclid and Woodland) a few months ago, is not exclusively a hippie joint. (I for one am trying to get in the habit of dropping the 'Cosmic' schtick in favor of just calling it Charlie's, and I don't think I'm alone on this one.) Manager Mark Evans has been working hard (and doing a damn fine job) to get a variety of cross-genre shows in there, local, regional and national acts, and so far has succeeded in getting a show practically every single night of the week. It's been a hodge-podge mix : some jammy stuff, some funky stuff, a little Americana stuff, some bluegrass, a little punk, some electronica, indie, hip hop...nothing too crazy but a little bit of everything.

Since I think Charlie's might not be completely on the scenester radar yet, I figured I'd wax on the place for a minute.

The actual physical space has a special place in my heart - when I first moved here for college about 9 years ago, it was called Lynagh's Club (1990ish - 2002. R.I.P.). This place basically served as my gateway to the music scene in this town (albeit, the overall scene and my taste in music have both gone through some changes since then). It was the first place I ever saw live music on a regular basis in Lexington, and it didn't take long to get quite comfortable there - I found myself there pretty often in its final two years. The club was 21 + and I hadn't quite reached that age yet, so I had to exercise creative measures to get in (scandalous, I know - do note that they weren't particularly lax on IDs or anything; my friends and I were just realllllly determined, and quite thorough in our methods - you gotta fight for your right, man). And considering that the club ended up closing down before I turned 21, I have no regrets about sneaking in - there were very few (if any) 18+ clubs that I knew of, and going there regularly really got me turned on to the wonders of seeing live music in a small club. I'm not just putting it on when I say that having a comfortable place like that really helped me feel connected to this town in ways I might not have if I didn't have the chance to get out and enjoy live music regularly. This is an issue that has been addressed among concerned Lexingtonians repeatedly in the past few years, but in case it hasn't been on your radar very much, just think about how many kids leave Lexington directly after they graduate, because they "wanna get away from this town." Think about how they might feel differently if they had a regular spot that they loved, where they could see live music and meet new people and really become part of a music community. Fortunately, we now have a number of options (Buster's, Al's, Round Barn, etc.) to remedy this, and I know I'm not alone in feeling like Lexington has seen a great resurgence in entertainment options over the past few years.

But I digress.

First off, Charlie's is a really cool space. There are two main areas, separated by a few steps, and stage is really visible from both. If my memory serves me correct, the walls, floors and ceilings are all black, and there are basically no windows in the place, so it's got this dark & cozy atmosphere, which I love. The stage seems higher than the one that was at Lynagh's, which is good, and it's also been repositioned from the center of the back wall to the back right corner, kind of at an angle. Both of these factors seem to contribute to giving the stage better visibility from everywhere in the club. The back wall across from the stage has this crazy alternating LED light spectrum thing going on that's actually pretty cool. There's a number of places where you can sit down and have a conversation and still see the stage really well (though the conversation thing might be difficult if a super loud band like the All American Werewolves are playing, which was the case last time I was there) and also a decent sized open floor right in front of the stage. Capacity is just under 300, so it's a good sized venue for Lexington, but it's still really intimate. They also have one of the best beer-on-tap selections in town.

Overall consensus = Charlie's is a really quaint place to see small & mid-sized shows. I love Al's and I love Buster's for various reasons, but Charlie's has it's own thing going on and I think it can potentially offer a lot in rounding out the Lexington music scene. They've attracted a handful of shows that the old Lynagh's or even the old Dame would have gotten, like Dirty Dozen Brass Band (tonight), Asylum Street Spankers (tomorrow), Velvet Elvis (Saturday), Same As it Ever Was (November 28) AND you can find Bluegrass Collective, Lexington's most fun bluegrass band, there every Sunday. At this point, you probably won't find very many hipsters or WRFL kids there, or the young professional happy hour club - this is a place for the old school, down home, eternally casual-yet-enthusiastic Lexington music lovers of generations past. My sincere best wishes to the club.

Win tickets to see Asylum Street Spankers Thursday, November 17
Business Lexington article about Cosmic Charlie's
Cosmic Charlie's web site
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