|
contents | blues | |||||||||||||
| Eden Brent at The Balinese Room Sunday, December 31, 2006 The Balinese Room Showroom in Galveston, TX will feature the piano pounding boogaloo queen Eden Brent, winner of the 2006 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. The Casino Bar will host Down to Earth, the dancin', shakin', Motown-classic rock-and-oldies dance masters. In the smooth swinging era of the '40s and '50s, the Balinese Room was legendary as the Gulf Coast's premier nightspot, with waiters appearing with a lit match as soon as you took out a cigarette, and the temperature always a cool 69 degrees. Operated by Sam and Rose Maceo, the swanky club was situated at the end of a 75-foot pier over the Gulf. Many famous performers appeared on its celebrated stage — Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Sophie Tucker, the Marx brothers — and Houston oilmen like Diamond Jim Walker and Glenn McCarthy were regulars. The Texas Rangers tried repeatedly to bust the gambling at the Balinese, but by the time they'd made their way through the six heavy glass doors and down the long length of the pier (dubbed "Ranger Run"), all the gaming tables had been converted to backgammon, the slot machines folded into the wall like Murphy beds, and the chips stashed in the kitchen (where one suitcase-full was once inadvertently roasted in the oven). The band was even known to strike up "The Eyes of Texas" in "honor" of the Rangers; when all patrons rose to express their Texan patriotism, it further slowed the lawmakers' progress. The Rangers finally had their way, shutting the Balinese down in 1957, along with all the other gambling establishments in Galveston. The Balinese Room has been restored and reopened as a club with bamboo mat walls and purple light palm trees. The long pier features shops and services . As ZZ Top sang: "Deep in the South of Texas not so long ago / there on a crowded island in the Gulf of Mexico ... And everybody knows it was hard to leave / And everybody knows it was down at the Balinese." The club is open Thursday through Sunday nights for either private special events or for shows and live bands open to the public. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |