{"id":243866,"date":"2010-09-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-17T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/small-setting-proves-huge-for-casbah\/"},"modified":"2010-09-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-17T07:00:00","slug":"small-setting-proves-huge-for-casbah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/small-setting-proves-huge-for-casbah\/","title":{"rendered":"Small setting proves huge for Casbah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Erin Goss
\nReportero SDUN
\n<\/strong>
\n

\"Small<\/a>
\u201cWe still even after 20 years get great bands coming through that could be playing bigger places, but for whatever reason\u2026they just want to play a small place with an intimate setting,\u201d said Tim Mays (above), owner of The Casbah.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Casbah owner Tim Mays he has an eye for seeing a diamond in the rough. When deciding how to expand the legendary Casbah back in 1994, the venue owner faced a difficult decision\u2014expand the original, cramped location with a disappointingly restricted alcohol license into the adjoining radiator shop next door, or take over a lesbian bar on Kettner Boulevard and revamp the place. Luckily for Mays, it was an easy choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a call about this place which at the time was a lesbian bar and we came and looked at it and said yeah it\u2019s perfect!\u201d Mays said.<\/p>\n

From there, the former lesbian bar began its transformation into what has become loved as The Casbah. With the help of a new liquor license (and henceforth a well of opportunities) and May\u2019s passion for vintage d\u00e9cor, The Casbah was reborn as a home to an eclectic mix of objects as well as visitors. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy partner, Bob, used to own a vintage furniture store so he was a huge vintage fan and I am too and that\u2019s what we wanted. No corporate, no beer posters or stuff like that,\u201d Mays said.<\/p>\n

When asked about the stuffed beaver that looks over The Casbah\u2019s back bar with an American flag held tightly in its stiff, cadaverous hands, Mays said, \u201cIt was given to us by Cargo Records for our 10-year anniversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cA stuffed beaver, it\u2019s pretty awesome,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

But the venue has drawn a loyal crowd since its opening for reasons beyond its watchful rodent and quirky style. The Casbah\u2019s welcoming atmosphere keeps bands and fans coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still even after 20 years get great bands coming through that could be playing bigger places,\u201d Mays said, \u201cbut for whatever reason, they\u2019ve enjoyed playing here in the past or they just want to play a small place with an intimate setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet Mays understands that a lot of the venue\u2019s success boils down to the honest treatment of the musicians and patrons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people come here I like to think that we treat people well. We definitely go out of our way to make sure the bands are well cared for because they could be playing somewhere bigger and so we go the extra mile to be square with them\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

As a result, The Casbah has seen some amazing bands come through and the venue\u2019s line up has time and again been indicative of the next big thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cult played here. Weezer played here. Death Cab used to play here. The White Stripes, Modest Mouse, The Black Keys. Pretty much all the bands in that indie genre of music that have gotten big have come through here,\u201d Mays said.<\/p>\n

As owner of The Casbah, Mays has seen his fair share of madness at the venue\u2019s shows\u2014including bands playing with fire onstage and audience members getting naked\u2014but he said one story sticks out in his mind. It was when a band called the Extra Action Marching Band was faced with a plumbing issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had drums, baton twirlers, cheerleader guys and girls but it was kind of run in a tribal manner, not like a high school band, and they had so many people that they had to be stationed all over the club. So they were beating on their drums and playing their horns and we had a flood that night. In one of the bathrooms the sewer line backed up and the whole front room flooded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mays\u2019 face lit up for a brief moment as he finished the story\u2014and it quickly becomes clear why this story in particular sticks out in his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean it was literally pouring. There had to be water about two or three inches all over and nobody cared. Everybody stuck around because they were having so much fun,\u201d he said about the audience\u2019s devotion to the music, which is on par with his own.<\/p>\n

May\u2019s devotion to furthering good live music is a lifestyle that goes beyond ownership of The Casbah. Mays admits to often referring bands to his friend\u2019s venues, such as Soda Bar and Bar Pink, when the Casbah\u2019s schedule is too full too accommodate a band. He also tries to work some of his resident bands into bigger venues as their fan base grows. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe send bands over to [other venues] if we can\u2019t help them. It\u2019s a healthy competition. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s bad at all, there are enough bands to go around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to develop a personal relationship and friendship with band members whenever I can,\u201d Mays added. \u201cYou know bands that play here; we take an interest in their careers not just because it will benefit us but because we like to see them grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about The Casbah, go to casbahmusic.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Erin Goss SDUN Reporter Casbah owner Tim Mays he has an eye for seeing a diamond in the rough. When deciding how to expand the legendary Casbah back in 1994, the venue owner faced a difficult decision\u2014expand the original, cramped location with a disappointingly restricted alcohol license into the adjoining radiator shop next door, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1320,"featured_media":243867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Small setting proves huge for Casbah","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}