Russell Hobbs was the owner and operator. Jeffrey Liles booked the bands and was the house DJ. Jim "Rev. Horton Heat" was the house sound man. Tracy "Beak" Smith was the carpenter and electrician. Ray Watkowski was the light man. Trey was the bartender. Perla Doherty, "Big Steve" Shein, Cyndi Cook, Tracy Smith, Denise Prince and Beth Searcy were the door people. Laurie Watson lived upstairs and made beaded leather belts. "The Buckwheats" - Kris Wheat, Brian and Dave Dude - lived in front, kept the place clean, poured free beer and ran the record store. Tom Mooney and Little A did security. Creighton Curlee was the house soundman after Jim started doing Rev. Horton Heat full time. Leroy Shakespeare lived upstairs above the backstage area, and Russell lived in the loft above the bar.
Influences
Andy Warhol's Factory (NYC), Caravan of Dreams (Fort Worth), Roxy Theatre (LA), Whisky A Go-Go (LA), Club Foot (Austin), The End of Cole (Dallas), Knitting Factory (NYC), the Venice Beach boardwalk (LA), St. Marks Place (NYC), Tango (Dallas), Liberty Lunch (Austin), Scream (LA), Powertools (Houston), Viper Room (LA), Fenix Underground (Seattle), 9:30 Club (DC), Seventh Street Entry (Minn./St.Paul), Iguana's (Tijuana), Maxwell's (Hoboken), Limelight (NYC), Trees (Dallas), Mystic Garage (Pensacola), House of Blues
Sounds Like
Buck Pets, Jane's Addiction, Bad Brains, Scratch Acid, Flaming Lips, Butthole Surfers, Henry Rollins, Meat Puppets, Sandra Bernhard, Husker Du, Karen Finley, The Replacements, Screaming Blue Messiahs, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green On Red, Thin White Rope, Dead Milkmen, Del Fuegos, My Sin, Naked Prey, 10,000 Maniacs, Janis 18, T-4-2, Poison 13, 7 Seconds, Three On A Hill, Ten Hands, Decadent Dub Team, End Over End, Rev. Horton Heat, Rigor Mortis, Da Nu Man, Howling Dervishes, Shoulders, Lithium X-Mas, Peyote Cowboys, Loco Gringos, Course of Empire, Rhett Miller, Shitty Beatles, The Trees, Spam, DRI, True Believers, Bodeans, Pontiac Brothers, Buena Vistas, Dino Lee's White Trash Revue, Zeitgeist, Glass Eye, Doctor's Mob, Wild Seeds
The Theatre Gallery was one of the first of many influential live music venues in the Deep Ellum neighborhood just east of downtown Dallas. Besides helping to establish a thriving original music scene, the building also served as an important art gallery space which regularily exposed subversive painters from all over the world. Theatre Gallery was a theatre space as well, and hosted shows by comic Sandra Bernhard, performance artist Karen Finley, spoken word artist Henry Rollins, and a number of original theatre productions. Some of the visual artists who showed their work at Theatre Gallery: Bill Haveron, Ron English, Jeff Robinson, John Pomara, Matt Miller, Richard Hoefle, Denise Prince and many others.
Aaah man. Theatre Gallery. Left an imprint on everyone who came through it. Certainly did on us. We will try to return the favor by posting some of our live recordings from there soon. Those were magic days...
I had no idea! I just subscribed to your blog. I didnt know what I was missing all this time., it won't happen again.... unless there's another place I am unaware of??? ANNa xoxo
My Gosh just reading all the post from people brings floods of memories back. I think I just actually lived between Phrophet and TG, Thank Gosh for L.S and of course YOU for always taking care of me if need be! Miss You Doll, Susan
Wasn't Zero a bartender there? Whatever happened to him? I remember watching the Loco Gringos and the Daylights jammin' out at the Prophet Bar. I think the first time I went to TG Shallow Reign was playing (I think, my memory is from that time is a little cloudy) but I loved the place. Good times.
I miss the Prophet. What happened to Russell Hobbs? I miss him. How hardcore is the Door? And what happened to his picture, even though you're a cute babe, too?
i remember seeing Schooly D and Fishbone. still one of the best concerts EVER since i got both drumsticks from Fishbone ... or as they have written on them "Fish sticks"
I was there when I was 15.
Went to see Shallow Reign @ TG 'cause had a crush on Patrick Sugg...
Sat next to him in Biology at Arts Magnet..
I did not disect my frog.I painted it' toenails instead..Biology was not my best subject at the time..haha
IT WAS PRETTY SAD and FUNNY TO GO BY WHAT USED TO BE T.G. AND PROPHET BAR A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO....I SAW ALL THESE LARGE REFRIGERATORS . COULD HAVE USED THOSE BACK IN THE DAY!!!You could've charged people to lay out in one , like a coffin! It seems like the hottest nights were the ones where The Police were always checking for people standing outside , getting some air! BUT , I also remember the Butthole Surfers show , when Darby from Charred brought all this homemade percussion to play on the sidewalk. Normally the cops would have told us to pack it in , but , with rumors of a drug bust , they had bigger fish to fry (Coulda fried 'em on the sidewalk!). I attended the show , but , after 20 mins . , the heat was too much (Not complaining , it WAS 20 - plus years ago.), so I joined the Char - Jam. After the show , The Butthole Surfers came by , and said they were diggin' the sick beats we were layin' down (I heard they even stopped at one point , listened , then played along.) . John.
Surfers on "A", Little "A" trolling the sidewalk, Bad Brains-my good friend got hishead punched through the front window of TG, Husker Du and tons of great local shows. Thanks a ton! W-(not your beloved prez)
