The Brewery hosts its final show tonight, demolition on Monday

As many of you may have heard, the long standing Raleigh music venue, The Brewery, will be shutting down after tonight's (July 29) show featuring, appropriately enough, Embracing Goodbye. Current, Set Apart, A Kiss For Jersey, The Demonstration and Sent By Raven will also play.

On Monday, August 1 the building is set to be demolished by a local contractor who purchased the building. The venue was apparently given very little notice about the demolition. The building to the right of The Brewery on Hillsborough Street has already been demolished and the lot cleared. The lots will be used to build a new Kerr Drug store as well as other businesses.

Another one bites the dust

More sad news for the Triangle scene. Raleigh's Bickett Gallery have announced that the contemporary art gallery/venue will be closing it's doors after May 20. Bickett will close just over a month after Kings Barcade will close it's doors. It really seems to be a rough time for venues in Raleigh. Let's hope the virus stops with Bickett and doesn't continue to spread throughout the area.

Check out "Bickett Gallery Closing in May" for more information about Bickett's closing and history.

Third time's the charm?

That's what owners of Raleigh Music Hall may be hoping. The club, which only reopened about a year ago after its former life as Martin Street Music Hall, has closed its doors once more. (We'd been wondering why their website recently vanished.) Owner Rob Farris cited a "bad lease situation."

In other not-so-good news on the local scene, King's Barcade, a couple blocks away on McDowell Street, will close in April.

Their building is being torn down to make way for a parking deck and shiny new condominiums. Owners are taking tips for a new location at kingsbarcade@mindspring.com.

Both of these clubs are, of course, in the shadow of the construction zone caused by the "new and improved" Fayetteville Street and demolished convention center. Hmm, you think there's a connection there?

As the only local venue where I can play Pole Position between sets, I'm sad to see King's go and hope they'll find a new home soon. In the meantime, let's all get out and support the clubs that are left.

Record Exchange closes its doors

Sad news, Raleigh music lovers. The Record Exchange's Hillsborough Street location has gone out of business, and the Mission Valley store isn't far behind.

TREX President Don Rosenberg cited declining sales due to competition from stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy as well as the popularity of online downloads.

Rosenberg said he tried to diversify the stores by selling DVDs and video games, but it wasn't enough.

Even though TREX is calling it quits, Rosenberg said there's still hope for independent retailers.

"There is potential out there for stores to do well even in an iPod world," he said. "There is a future in this. It just may not be me that does it."

TREX's Mission Valley location is in the middle of a clearance sale and will only be open for about another week.

UPDATE: Sources tell Triangle Music that the Mission Valley location will reopen with a new distributor, and this whole thing is actually for the best. But still, go check out the sale while it's still going on — 20% off CDs, DVDs, etc and 50% off vinyl and bargain bin merchandise.

[photos by Kevin Norris]