April 22, 2003
For Immediate Release
The Fenix Underground Announces It? Reopening On May 15, 2003
SEATTLE, WA ?The Fenix Underground, Seattle's premiere nightclub, is slated
to reopen its doors in a new Pioneer Square home on May 15.
The Nisqually Earthquake, on Feb. 28, 2001, devastated the historic Cadillac
Hotel building, the former home of the Fenix, forcing the popular nightclub
to close its doors after ten years of business. Shortly after the
earthquake struck, owners Rick Wyatt and Mike Lagervall vowed, "the Fenix
shall rise again!" and began the two-year process of finding a proper
location and building a new Fenix worthy of its namesake's reputation.
The new Fenix is located at the corner of 1st Avenue and Washington Street
with entry from Occidental Park. The 18,500 square foot, multi-level club
will feature much of the same live music, touring bands and area DJs its
patrons have grown to love. The Aboveground stage will once again host a
wide variety of local and touring acts playing Reggae, Rock, Swing, Ska,
Industrial and Gothic, as well as favorite cover bands like Hit Explosion,
The Beatniks, and The Retros. DJ Trent Von and others will headline the
Underground with dance music seven nights a week, after-hours music, and, as
always, the Fenix will be included in the Pioneer Square joint cover.
"This new Fenix is designed to do everything that Fenixes are supposed to do
and more," says Wyatt. Like the original, the new Fenix has an Aboveground,
an Underground, and a Cafe that are connected, allowing 1,000 people to
wander throughout. The brand new club is spread over three floors with five
bars, three dance floors, a pool hall, and a cafe, which will be open late
on weekends.
The site has been under construction for one and one-half years with
renovations and retrofitting on every level, opening passage between two
buildings, preserving original brickwork and embracing sections of
underground Seattle that have been hidden from the public for the better
part of a century.
When the original Fenix Cafe opened in 1991, a Tex-Mex style cuisine was
offered (Fenix is the Spanish spelling of the word Phoenix). Wyatt has
decided to resurrect a southwestern flavored menu. "We won't be a typical
Mexican restaurant, but we will be serving our own brand of Mexican
influenced food." The caf? will be open for both lunch and dinner with
seating available on the outdoor patio as well as inside seating complete
with music and wireless Internet access.
In mythology, the Phoenix symbolizes resurrection and rebirth. An Egyptian
tale tells of a bird that would live in the desert for 500 years and then
consume itself in fire, later to rise renewed from it? own ashes. When The
Fenix was named in 1991, little did Wyatt and Lagervall know of the
significance the name would bring over a decade later. "Like the myth, this
Fenix is rising from the rubble and dust to spread its wings over Seattle
once again," says Wyatt.
http://www.fenixunderground.com/
Whew...that's a real "Beirut" you got there Rambo. Most large bands that don't want to play in an arena because of it's cold atmosphere and poor acoustics play in this what you call a "basement". Then again, I guess just going outside of your own yard is a real battleground.
In the future, I suggest YOU become more informed about the world you live in.
