A small but appreciative crowd of about 40 or 50 people was all that our fair city could muster on the night of Tuesday, March 18, to witness the final performances in the history of The Bomb Shelter, the legendary BYOB music venue on 24th Street North downtown. Birmingham’s Menewa, an acoustic folk-rock-country group, opened the show, and Spottiswoode and His Enemies were the headliners.

As we reported a few weeks ago, the 2-story building that houses The Bomb Shelter and nearly a dozen artist studios and rehearsal spaces is for sale by its owner, Mitch Damsky. Gary Hyche, whose construction company is based on the first floor, has leased the building since 1993 and made spaces available at bargain rates to scores of artists and musicians. Hyche also plays guitar in Menewa.

Menewa’s set included material from it’s CD, Fairlane, including a tune called “Wash” that I liked a lot. For information, visit www.myspace.com/menewa

Jonathan Spottiswoode, originally from England and now based in New York, was playing The Bomb Shelter for the third time and seemed genuinely pleased that he had the opportunity to take part in this final show. He and his band were exhausted after a 12-hour drive from Houston, Texas, but they chugged down some coffee and played for at least an hour.

Spottiswoode plays acoustic guitar and sings, and his band — who packed a lot of muscle onto a tiny stage — back him up with drums, bass, guitar, mandolin, keyboards, accordion, trumpet, and saxophone. Spottiswoode has an engaging stage presence, a good sense of humor (which manifests itself in his lyrics), and a sound that seems to evoke a little Nick Cave, a bit of Tom Waits, even some Ray Davies. Rather than use the horrible cliches employed by music writers who don’t actually have a musical vocabulary, I will stop now and suggest that, if you want to learn more, you consult the band’s website at www.spottiswoode.com

Credit for the photo used with this entry goes to Bob Farley of f8 Photo. See his web site at www.f8photo.org

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So sing the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars, who might just be the most peace-loving and compassionate band in the world. Manic chess master Bobby Fischer could have learned a move or 10 from these guys, et up with bitter madness as he was while he lived. There’s really no excuse for the kind of invective Fischer favored (although the perpetual promise and perennial failures of mass transit in Birmingham could inspire similarly sorry talk).

In other news, it’s the beginning of the end for The Bomb Shelter and the last days of Pompeii. Have sweet dreams and write ‘em down and we’ll meet again on the other side.

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