Other than the Missouri Theatre — the Blue Note and Rose Music Hall, formerly known as Mojo’s — are two of the most established concert venues in not only Columbia, but in Mid-Missouri.
For the past 34 years, the venues grew up and flourished under the supervision of one person — Richard King. However, at the tail end of last year, King sold the spaces to the owners of the Majestic Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin. While the sale wasn’t necessarily unexpected, it did prompt many venue-goers to wonder what would happen to the cherished institution — mostly — what changes, if any, would be visible.
Which is why it’s difficult to separate the Blue Note and Rose Music Hall from its owners. Although there are a lot of “firsts” associated with the takeover of the businesses for the new bosses, the move signifies the depth in the relationship between new co-owner Matt Gerding and the Blue Note in particular. It’s the first time he’s lived back in his hometown — Columbia — since moving to Madison. It’s the first time that he’s been a part of the True/False film festival. It’s also the first time he’s returned to the Blue Note as something more than a frequent concert-goer.
After 8 years of off-and-on negotiations, Gerding and business partner Scott Leslie finally inked a deal with King to take over the Blue Note and Rose Music Hall. The last few months have been spent renovating the sister venues, and except for a few cosmetic touches here and there -- and a new, soon-to-be installed sound system at the Blue Note -- they’re essentially done. And according to Gerding, even out-of-towners who returned to the venue for True/False could see the difference.
“We definitely got a pretty good amount of feedback from people just about how clean the venue was, and they loved the new bar and the new flooring and all that kind of stuff,” Gerding said.
And outside of the new neon-blue underlit bar and decadent flooring that stretches from the reflective hardwood lining in the lobby to the padded stage and pit that’s no longer sticky enough to latch onto shoes like glue on paper — True/False also marked the full, albeit intangible marketing manifestation for Gerding. “Beer Tastes Better in the Front Row.”
"That concept just sort of plays into the idea that you can get a beer anywhere in this town, but there's something greater that happens inside these walls when people are enjoying that same beer with one of their favorite bands, or one of their favorite movies that they've ever seen, or whatever the entertainment is,” Gerding said. “There's a value, you know, that's created by, you know, the fact that this is an old Vaudeville theatre with a stage and cool productions and entertainment and things you can't get at any other venue in town."
Gerding reflects this open-arms ethos by keeping the Blue Note and Rose Music Hall, well, open. To Gerding, it’s not only about booking a diverse set of musicians at the venue to keep concert-goers coming back when their favorite bands are in town, it’s about re-instilling that vaudevillian idea of booking all sorts of entertainment at the venue to keep people coming back for fun all the time.
One of their biggest successes in this sense is their new Brew ‘n View series. The concept is simple — take a cult-classic film, invite people to get free entrance if they dress up accordingly, and have a bunch of beer on tap. According to Gerding, the screenings, like The Big Lebowski, have hit attendance of 500 or more people, which is impressive considering that the 800-person venue shrinks in capacity when set up for screenings.
But that’s not to say that the venue isn’t looking for more unconventional bookings as well. On Wednesday, the Blue Note -- in conjunction with the Mid-Missouri Pride Fest -- hosted Ru Paul’s Drag Race, a touring drag show featuring some of the best known queens from the reality show of the same name. The venue, filled from floor to ceiling with die-hard fans of the program, made the venue reminiscent of “The Beatles at Shea Stadium.” The two groups plan on doing another drag night on April 18th, albeit with local queens next time.
However, for the next few months, Gerding will be focusing on the music. Particularly, by revamping the 9th Street “Summerfest.” This week marked the first round of promotion for the event, starting with the day-by-day unveiling of the lineup. While the series has consisted of a multi-show platform spread out throughout the summer in past years, he’s working to make it more reminiscent of a festival setting. In addition to most of the 9th Street Shows now being free, Gerding also plans on extending the festival to other outdoor spaces, namely Forest Rose Park. But to him, it’s not so much about selling the music as it is about selling an experience.
“We like to promote the idea that Columbia is a great place to be in the summer,” Gerding said. “it’s just playing up what makes Summer great in Columbia, which is the ability to be outdoors and to be in a city that allows us to build a stage and put on concerts with national touring artists, and allows us to sell beer outside.”
Outside of the upcoming summer, Gerding also said that the venues are looking to push their branding by doing some long term preparation for the venues. In addition to finishing up the Roots and Blues lineup, they’re also in talks with True/False about curating their music for next year.
