Two week’s ago PopCult broke the news about The Bakery, Charleston’s artistic hub located in the former Purity Maid Bread building on Charleston’s West Side. Things were looking bleak for the future of the building, which houses musicians, artists, gyms and more. I’m glad to report that there have been many positive developments and The Bakery is in a much better position to survive.
Today Bill Lynch had a really good summary in the Gazette-Mail. Within a week of the plight of the Bakery going public, all the small spaces in the building have been filled with tenants. A series of benefit shows have been scheduled to help with repairs to the roof and a Paypal account has been set up to not only allow donations, but also to make it more convenient for tenants to pay their rent.
On August 12, the Empty Glass will host a benefit concert by No Pretty Pictures, Meet Me in the Matinee, Hurl Brickbat and Rodney & The Cressles. You’ll find the event page HERE.
August 26 sees another benefit, this time at The Boulevard Tavern, with music from Sox N. Sandels, The Dead Frets, Shenanagram and The Charleston Rogues. Details on that show can be found HERE.
September 2 is when yet another benefit happens at The Blue Parrot. This time it’s Browbeater, The One You Feed and Cold Shoulder Revival pitching in. This event page is HERE.
All of these benefits will help raise funds to repair the roof of The Bakery, which in turn will make more space possible to rent, and help stablize the financial situation. A major benefit show in October, which will take place at the loading dock of the massive Bakery building is still in the planning stages.
That show will likely be headlined by Byzantine, hot off of a tour to promote their new album, The Cicada Tree. That’s Byzantine’s Chris Ojeda, who really got the ball rolling on this whole effort, in the photo at your right. We’ll be playing you tracks from that new album on Radio Free Charleston and in rotation on The AIR starting next week. The Cicada Tree was actually recorded at The Bakery.
It’s great to see Charleston’s artistic and musical communities rally around the building. Our arts scene was dealt a major blow in 2010 when The Sacred Heart Co-cathedral acquired The Quarrier building and kicked out all the artists, musicians and dojos that were housed in that great spot. It would be horrible to see such a disaster happen again.
These are all steps in the right direction, but more needs to be done, and we have to continue to focus attention on this cause so that it isn’t forgotten in a few months. We will continue to bring you updates here in PopCult. (Photos in this post were taken by Kenny Kemp for The Charleston Gazette-Mail).
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