Exit/In exits- your memories? (home, wedding, club)

[Wheatridger]

Just after I returned from a week in back my old home town, I was shocked but not surprised at learning that the Exit/In, that keystone of the Rock Block, will finally fall. My feelings were sad, but muted at the loss of this stage. The building I wouldn't miss- it wasn't a huge wedding cake of a building like the Ryman, or even a cupcake. It was the box the cupcake came in. The quality of the acts -and the fans - were what made it special.

During my mid-'70s era, no other place in Nashville presented such a wide variety of ambitious music, and so often. It was everything that other mainstream country and hard rock stages wouldn't book. My taste ran towards what they now call "Indy" and "World," and I was just tuning in to jazz. I saw more shows than I can remember, but two I'll never forget involved jazz guitarist Larry Coryell. Lenny Breau was his duet partner, an underappreciated wizard of fingerstyle acoustic guitar. Lenny came to Nashville to study with Chet Atkins, and there was a lot for Chet to learn from Lenny, too. That cat could turn ordinary guitar into a harp at an instant! My 35mm camera came with me, and I captured some moments of their splendid, spirited improvisations.

A couple years later, Coryell played the Exit/In solo. Lenny Breau's heroin habit had followed him here and finally pinned him down like a captive butterfly. Coryell was really excited to see my prints, which I gave him for free... and those bucket-list pre-show minutes of getting to hang and share some good weed with one of my guitar heroes.

There must have been a lot of those Exit/In stories. The place was so tiny that you couldn't help meeting folks, and it was energized by the love of great music, not just drinking and partying. But maybe it was just that too, on other nights? What are your best Exit/In memories?

In Related News- Back home in Denver, our oldest jazz club was sold on the very same day. El Chapultepec had dished out hot Mexican Food and cool Jazz in downtown for 80+ years. Now Dirks Bentley and partners will build something called Riot Club. "We want Denver to compete with Nashville and Dallas," they say. As if...