Also Closing || February 7, 2007

Our first-ever concert review took place at the Dallas Hard Rock Cafe on McKinney Ave. We never set foot in the place again--the Kurt Cobain memorabilia near the bathroom creeped us out too much--but it was certainly a surreal experience watching bands set up as nervous dining families looked into the main hall and wondered what was about to happen. "Rock music? At the Hard Rock Cafe? Honey, hide the kids."

Even though we could care less about its future--surprised the overrated theme restaurant lasted so long, really--we figure this week's as good as any to post the official news of the Dallas location's closure. You'll love this one: Turns out the news was leaked by Virgil LaFerney, the founding officer of the HRC Pin Collectors' Club...you know how each HRC has city-themed pins? Apparently, a club dedicated to said pins will need a new meeting spot after March 4, the date noted in LaFerney's bulletin e-mail sent to the Pin Club's members early this week:

Some very sad information to pass along. It's been announced that the Dallas Hard Rock Cafe will be permanently closed at the end of business on March 4. I can go into all of the reasons but the "bottom line" is just that. The cafe has been loosing money and it's been decided to close the doors. There is talk of the cafe reopening possibly in a hotel/cafe/live venue in a few years but after March 4, the grand cafe where the current Hard Rock is located, will be no more. This Saturday, February 10, those few die-hard pin collectors who have been meeting regularly will be meeting again for what will end up being our last time in the upstairs Cheese Club.

If you have any interest in paying the hole its last respects before it's (assumedly) turned into a CVS Pharmacy, and you're not a pin collector, Sunday night's your best bet--and perhaps the best concert the place has seen in years--as Red Monroe, PPT and Strange Fruit Project perform at a Grammy-themed shindig. Do bands perform during Grammy commercial breaks? Or do they lip-sync to Beyonce's performance? Beats us, but we hope it'll be a plain, normal, non-deep-fried concert, as all three acts are great and SFP in particular doesn't perform in Dallas that often. We'll try to attend, but in case we're late, save us an order of Boneless Bodacious Tenders! -SM