“By November 1930 Nick Bands yet to be announced for Commodore’s pening night festivities scheduled for Nov. 12 Bob Mackin News Reporter WHAT a week to live in Vancouver! There’s glorious late- October weather that compen- sates fora gloomy June. An owner of an Oregon. minor league baseball team ~ who announced plans to move &- his club north next spring. And unmistakable proof” that the Commodore Ballroom is returning to life. Construction crews at the grande dame of Granville Street put their hammers down long enough Monday morning to give reporters a tour. They still have plenty of work before the public is welcomed inside Nov. 12 to see a to-be- announced act. (Will it be Bryan Adams? Tina Turner? Adams and Turner? Wait and sec.) The Commodore will reopen just weeks before its 70th anniversary. The art deco ballroom, built by George Conrad Reifel and designed by architect H.H. Gillingham, opened Dec. 3, 1929. That fall’s stock market crash led to its closure four months later. Kogas and Johnny Dillias wel- comed patrons back to the din- ner and dance club. Reifel’s nephew Dick Gourlay took over in 1961 and spent cight years tending the Commodore before Drew Burns transformed it into the heart of live music on the west coast in 1970. Over the next 25 years, the Commadore stage was graced by Tina Turner, KISS, Dizzy Gillespie, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Blondie, U2, the Police, the Clash and hundreds of oth- TH Commodore is a great place to see a live band, and one of the city’s oldest drinking establishments. LET there be light at the Commodore! The windows of the art deco ballroom have been uncovered. THE resurrection of the Commodore Ballroom isn’t finished, but reporters got a sneak peek on Monday. ers. Burns’ lease expired in 1995 and the Commodore went dark in July 1996, Universal Concerts (now House of Blues Concerts), Bruce Allen and Roger Gibson came to the rescue a year ago. The group has invested $32,5 million in renovating the club. Many of its old features, like the grand win- dows, have been restored. The kitchen and washrooms have been modernized and a wheel- ir elevator has been built. There will even be a street-level ticket wicket. Allen, whe manages Bryan Adams, and Gibson, a co- owner of North Vancourer’s Lynnwood Marina, promise the * Commodore’s trademark bouncing dance floor will be as resilient as ever. West Vancouver’s Grant Lawrence led his band the Smugglers into the Commodore spotlight on a 1990 garage rock bill with Seattle's Posies and Young, Fresh Fellows and Toronto's Range: Around the worid ise Cae! gic caren Par eeen NEWS photor Bob Backin SMUGGZERS’ singer Grant Lawrence on the edge of the Commodore Ballroom’s stage. His band, which started in West Vancouver 11 yaars ago, plays there in February. Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. But Lawrence's favourite Commodore memories extend beyond the stage. He was thrown down the stairs and out the deer by 2 bouncer after he jumped onto the merchandise table to dance as San Diego’s noto- tious Beat Farmers played for a beer-soaked crowd. “The craziest thing ! ever sav there was while the Cramps were playing, people converged at the back and the bouncers thought it was a fight,” he says. “Some bouncers broke throu and it was the two girls from Lik the Pole fully engaging themselves in oral sex on the floor right in front of the bar. | fought through for a look and the bouncers pulled them apart. It was total- (leng.distance charges may appiy). ly outrageous.” . The Smugglers are looking forward to their chance to inspire similar craziness in February when they headline their own record release party. 8 Shows confirmed so far. Big Bad Voodes Daddy (Nov. 15); Big Sugar (Nov. 16); George Thorogood & the Destrovers (Nov. 19); Spint of the West (Nov. 20); Colin James and the Little © Big Band (Nov. 25); Wide Mouth Mason (Nov. 26); Nomeansno (Dee. 2); Doug & the . Slugs/Trooper/Prism (Dec. 4); West Coast Music Awards (Dec. 5); Me’Shell Ndgeoccilo (Dec. 10); Alpha Yava Diallo (Dec. 11); Blues tor Xmas (Dec. 19-20). After Nov. 5, call the Commodore hotline at 739-SHOW. This 900MHz digital cordless comes with Visual Call Waiting capabilities - so you can see who's calling, even if you're on the line. All this, anc! smali enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Plus, at just $28.96 per month you'll find it hurry, we're cutting the strings on this offer November 15th, 1999. For The TELUS Store nearest you caii toll-free 1-877-557-5577. BQ. TELUS Direct Dativery conveniently brings these great phones to your door, call 1-888-557-5577. 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