New York backers
Music venue shake up: Meridian closes to make way for The Capitol and a NewYear's Eve birth
This year presented a mixup in the city's music venues: the threatened shuttering of Numbers, the rebirth of Fitgerald's, and the quiet continued rise of downtown mall-based House of Blues (which opened in late 2008). Now, EaDo music scene maker the Meridian has Facebook announced its closing.
A Houston Press article thoroughly details a messy year of management changes, unpaid bills, forgotten rent and miscommunications that left burned bridges with David Coe and Wu-Tang Clan. But it turns out there's more to this story and a future for the building along the Southwest Freeway.
A separate group plans to reopen the venue under the moniker "The Capitol Houston" on New Year's Eve. Manning the helm will be publicist and journalist Jerroy Germaine.
CultureMap spoke with representative Roy Thompson, who insists that there will be entirely new management at The Capitol.
"This has nothing do with the Meridian," Thompson says. "These people are all from New York City — lawyers and accountants. It's going to be wonderful."