The music industry rarely treats people kindly. Jeremey Brown knows this well. He ran the Music Hall in Fayetteville for several years and was there when the warehouse space/all-ages club shuttered its doors.
But he also has a college degree in the business side of the music industry, and he knows exactly what happened.
FAQ
Nomads Music Lounge
WHEN — Opens 5 p.m. weekdays and noon on Saturday and Sunday; closed Mondays
WHERE — 1431 S. School Ave. in Fayetteville
INFO — facebook.com/nomads…
"The Music Hall wasn't sustainable because we only sold tickets," he says.
Enter Nomads Music Lounge, an idea more than a decade in the works. It opened Jan. 30 in the former Tanglewood Branch Beer Company location in south Fayetteville. It combines the things Brown knows -- music, business and the restaurant industry. It packages a vegan- and vegetarian-friendly restaurant with live music and, unlike the Music Hall, a full bar.
"It's something to honor what the Music Hall used to do, but grown up," Brown says.
The original idea was to start Nomads in the Dickson Street Plaza in 2003. That never materialized. Brown sat on the permits for the concept for more than a decade, looking for the right place to start and estimates he looked at 30 places before finding the current location.
The recently departed brewery left Brown with a nearly turn-key operation.
"If he (former Tanglewood owner J.T. Wampler) hadn't done what he did here, this wouldn't exist," Brown says.
Brown built out the patio at the site and created a stage in one corner. He turned over the menu to business partner Brittany Cusanek, who churns out quesadillas, wraps and salads. An art student at the University of Arkansas, Cusanek is also in charge of coordinating the monthly featured artist at the restaurant -- this month, fellow student Jackson Been.
Brown says he will book music each Saturday and accommodate touring shows as they pass through. The venue -- capacity 100 -- featured its first touring act yesterday with a performance by New York rockers Born Cages. The next such show comes courtesy of North Carolina rockers He is Legend, who visit on Thursday.
The kitchen closes during major shows. But what the kitchen does before the shows makes all the difference for Brown and the new business model.
The ticket money is now for bands.
-- By Kevin Kinder
NAN What's Up on 03/13/2015