Local musicians take a beating.
Mikey Baker had big plans.
***image1***He was going to spend his Friday night wearing makeup. He was going to shred guitars, breath fire and spit blood. He was quite possibly going to rock and roll all night and maybe even party ev-uh-ree day.
But the Santa Fe City Council changed those plans when it voted unanimously to deny Chilacas Restaurant and Cantina a certificate of occupancy on Oct. 26, effectively shuttering the embattled club until further notice.
The decision left Baker-who plays the role of guitarist Ace Frehley in Love Gun, a KISS tribute band scheduled to perform alongside the Hollis Wake at Chilacas on Oct. 28-and his mates out in the cold.
Chilacas has been embroiled in controversy for months [Outtakes, Oct. 19, "
"] over whether or not an entertainment facelift constituted a violation of the city's zoning code. Owner Curtiss LaCross had staved off two previous attempts to shut the club down.
Baker says he understands the plight of those in the neighborhoods surrounding Chilacas who have loudly voiced their opposition to the restaurant-turned-club.
"My only real gripe about the situation is that the Council didn't leave any room for appeal," Baker says. "The decision was handed down on Wednesday night and by Thursday morning they had shut it down. That's the fastest thing they've ever done in this town."
But Chilacas did not have to pull the plug on Love Gun, according to the city's planning and land use director, Anne McLaughlin, who says the business has 30 days to appeal the decision, and that there will be a "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" hearing about the Chilacas case at the Nov. 9 City Council meeting. "They can continue to operate until the city takes clear action to make them stop," McLaughlin says.
Neither Chilacas owner LaCross nor his attorney could be reached for comment.
As for Baker, he spent the night he should have been tearing through "Lick It Up" absorbing the sting of yet another blow to Santa Fe's faltering live music scene. Determined to rock on, Baker and his bandmates hit the town.
"We just said let's go out and support somebody else," Baker says. "But there was nothing else to support. Everything was dead. It was really frustrating."
Baker also says the cancellation cost his band and the Hollis Wake (both of whom turned down other gigs for Chilacas) around $1,500 in lost revenue and promotion efforts.
Andy Primm-"Paul Stanley" in Love Gun and a member of the local band Amazing Larry-says the local music scene has all but been eradicated from Santa Fe.
"I've never seen it this bad," Primm says. "I've been playing in clubs here since 1988 and it's never been this dry…I'm sure it's tough to run a club in a city where everybody is an artist, but there should be at least one viable rock venue in this town and there isn't."
