TREE Nuts || November 15, 2006

*** Exclusive report, must credit Sam Machkovech and http://www.bigdlittled.com ***

Kenny Brattain, owner of Fat Daddy's Sound Shack in Lewisville, has confirmed to bigdlittled.com that he is in the process of reopening the former Trees building at 2709 Elm St. in Deep Ellum.

I was tipped off to a strange MySpace site this afternoon (thanks, Pimplomat) with the username "TreesLives." The account, open only since November 7, touts the eventual reopening of the historic Deep Ellum music venue, but damn, does it seem sketchy at first. Donations are being requested in amounts of $5/$10 a pop to "adopt a brick"--a pretty meager way to handle thousands upon thousands of bucks in monthly rent--and the site declares, "we hope to hire as many of the old staff member [sic] as we can," even though most ex-Trees staffers are employed at the Gypsy Tea Room these days. Could these "donate now" PayPal links just be a big scam?



But the site's photos, purportedly taken just last week, appear legit. I was one of the last to tour the building on the January 2, 2006 afternoon that it was chained up by its landlord, and in these new photos, the message on the whiteboard--"Goodnight, Sweet Moon, Goodnight Forever"--is exactly the same as that January day. Couldn't tell you if the Trees staff left all of those posters up in the upstairs lounge, though, as that stairway was blocked off when I last visited, but the way the old staff was rushed out of the building, I wouldn't be surprised (they had much more expensive equipment to detach and rush out, certainly).

Of course, the photos were also interesting as they had a domain name attached--interactivesoup.com. As the account has been posting vague, "guess who we are" bulletins on MySpace for roughly a week, they couldn't be foolish enough to hide the true answer in a domain name...could they?

By golly, they could.

According to a quick Internet registry lookup, interactivesoup.com is registered to one Kenny Brattain of Lewisville, TX. Why, he's the guy who owns Fat Daddy's Sound Shack, an all-ages rock club in his hometown.

I called Brattain and asked him if he was reopening Trees. He quickly denied it--"Who told you that?" I then laid out the search I'd done and asked if he could confirm or clarify the information. After a long pause, he asked when I'd post my findings ("well, it's a blog, you know...") and then reluctantly confirmed.

"I just wanted Gypsy and the Door not to know who it was, basically," Brattain says, claiming that the MySpace page was meant to gauge public interest in a potential reopening before following through, to see if fans and booking agents still had interest in the venue (and he says they do). "I figured the only person who would [search like that] would be a reporter." Darn tootin', Kenny!

Facts:

* The treeslives page says that "we are going to move our current business into the Trees building," but Brittain says that they'll attempt to run both clubs simultaneously to start out with.

* "We don't know if we can get the CO yet from the city; I don't think it's a condemnable building. That's our only thing, that's why we haven't announced anything."

* In terms of potential cost worries, as the last Trees effort ended in bankruptcy: "I'm not sure what they're used to paying, but this is $1 a square foot, and we negotiated [the landlord] down to 92 cents per square foot."

* The venue could open as early as--Jesus Christ--this New Year's Eve. "We'll obviously not have a liquor license yet."

* Brattain began "aggressively going after" the Trees building "a few weeks ago...we were trying to build up the Lewisville area, but we've spoken to a lot of national booking agents. We have a good reputation up here, we get some big bands, but we'll get basically, as we've been told, anybody riding through Dallas, we can get them [there]."

* Continuing the all-ages credo of Fat Daddy's? "We're gonna stay all ages. Here's how it's all gonna work. You know the stairs? We're gonna check ID on the way up there. We'll check ID at the door, and then when you go up the stairs, your ID's gonna be checked again. You can go upstairs, drink all day long, but when you go back downstairs, you can't bring a drink with you. All ages, meaning even the older people. That way it'll be safe for the kids, and you can still drink."

Keep bigdlittled.com bookmarked for all news updates on the potential reopening of Trees. Of course, the official reopening MySpace page'll probably be a good source as well, but we'll try to find a few more scoops as time goes along. -SM