Closing of club hits a sour note for musicians

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Jan. 20, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.

Joe Lano was preparing to play the third of six scheduled nights at Blue Note Las Vegas when the jazz guitarist received an unexpected phone call from Bob Collins, the club's production manager, on Wednesday.

"He said, 'You're not going to believe this, but they sold the club,' " Lano, a local resident, said. "He said, 'You need to come down here and pick up your equipment.' "

When a stunned Lano arrived at the Blue Note, he discovered a scene he described as, "like something out of the movie 'The Sting.' "

"It looked like a bomb went off," Lano said. "It was complete evacuation -- guys running all over the place, a truck out front, boxes being unfolded and taped together, guys taking things down off the walls and taking speakers off the ceiling.

"I've never seen anything happen like that. If a place closes, they usually make an announcement and fulfill agreements they've made. This was like Gypsy-style."

Ronnie Adler, general manager for Blue Note Las Vegas, said those holding tickets for upcoming shows at the defunct venue should contact Ticketweb.com for refund information.

Wednesday's closing marked the final chapter for a club that had struggled since opening on Aug. 17, 2000, at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue at the Desert Passage mall at the Aladdin.

Adler said owner Steven Bensusan -- who also owns Blue Note venues in New York City and Japan -- came to town and informed local employees Wednesday that he was selling the Las Vegas location to a new dance club called Ibiza.

"Apparently, the owners knew they were looking to do something, but we didn't," Adler said. "I feel bad for the employees. Most of them have families, and this was quite a shock. But there's nothing you can do. It's a business."

Production manager Bob Collins also didn't see the move coming.

"I got blindsided by it," said Collins, who had worked at the club since it opened. "Steven came in Wednesday and told me they'd sold the place. I was very surprised."

After closing briefly in 2001 and then renting the larger of its two rooms out to the Broadway-style musical "Tease" for several months in late 2001 and early 2002, the club began widening its scope in an attempt to attract more patrons.

Along with nightly jazz shows in its smaller room, Blue Note Las Vegas staged a hard-rock bill called "The $12 Riot" in November, hosted rapper GZA (aka Genius) last December and had scheduled comedian Rudy Ray Moore for this Saturday.

The club had also worked with the Las Vegas Jam Band Society to bring jam-oriented rock shows to its large room. Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Particle, the OM Trio and the Dark Star Orchestra were slated to play the Blue Note in the coming weeks.

"They just kept booking things as if nothing was wrong," Greg Serensits, president of the Las Vegas Jam Band Society, said. "But the way the corporate world works, it doesn't surprise me."

Eric Kabik, past president of the Jam Band Society, arrived at the club Wednesday night to eat dinner and take in Lano's performance when a valet attendant informed him of the news.

"He said, 'The Blue Note is closed.' I said, 'Is it a private party?' and he said, 'No. Closed, as in gone,' " Kabik said. "I looked and saw a moving truck out front, and it looked like they had some employees helping them move things out."

By Saturday, newspapers were taped to the windows and the Blue Note Las Vegas' phone number was no longer in service. On Sunday the Las Vegas section of the Blue Note website had been taken down, with only the words "Las Vegas no longer active" awaiting visitors searching for ticket refund information.

Ticketweb.com still offered tickets for Particle's Feb. 15 and 16 shows on its website this morning, with the Blue Note still listed as the concert venue. Serensits said 900 tickets had already been sold for the two shows.

As of Sunday, Blue Note had issued no official word on the ticket refund policy, and a spokeswoman for the club's Las Vegas public relations firm said her company had been unable to reach Blue Note operators since the closure.

Calls to the New York location were met only with the statement, "They have no information on that at this time," from an operator.

Desert Passage mall spokeswoman Wendy Albert declined to comment on the closing, and would not comment on reports that the Blue Note was in considerable arrears on its back rent.

Serensits, a regular at the club, said the closing did not come as a complete surprise to him considering the small crowds he witnessed on most nights.

"If there were more than 8 to 10 people there on a nightly basis, I'd be surprised," Serensits said. "They were losing money, and it became a rent problem for them."