Natalie Caudill / DMN
Workers on Friday attached the big "G"
to the sign on Big D's newest country-Western
megaplex, no small feat with a marquee that
weighs 12,500 pounds.
Posted on 09/06/2003 4:57:50 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Howdy, neighborFamed roadhouse to put down boots in Big D next month
10:48 PM CDT on Friday, September 5, 2003
Finally, after years of delays, Gilley's has planted its brand on Dallas – a soaring sign 50 feet tall and visible from just about any south-facing downtown window.
First announced in March 2000 – a week before the Nasdaq peaked and then tumbled – Gilley's soon suffered ups and downs of its own.
The original architect died, investors came and went, the first management team left and even the location changed, though it remains centered in South Dallas' Cedars neighborhood.
But with Friday's sign raising – a delicate enterprise, considering the two-level "Gilley's Dallas" marquee weighs 12,500 pounds – Gilley's executives say they're just about ready to offer the public the finest in country music and more.
"Our grand opening starts Oct. 15 – it's really a grand opening week, running through Oct. 18," Gilley's general manager Doug Keller said.
Charlie Daniels opens Gilley's on the 15th, followed by the Oak Ridge Boys on the 16th, and namesake Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee in the "Urban Cowboy Concert" on the 17th, Mr. Keller said.
"We're trying to make a statement right away that even though our roots are country, we aren't just country. So on the 18th, we'll have Loverboy," he said.
Gilley's will also host the Dallas Legends Jazz Festival in June and Dallas Golden Gloves boxing beginning in February.
The newest Gilley's is intended as an upscale version of the original, a sprawling concrete bunker in Pasadena, Texas, that burned more than a decade ago. By then, thanks to the movie Urban Cowboy, it had been cast as a cultural icon.
Eventually, Gilley's will encompass 91,000 square feet in the old Schepps building at 1135 S. Lamar St., just south of Interstate 30. But the first phase will include about half that, Mr. Keller said.
Gilley's developers deliberately retained the industrial look of the Schepps building, giving it a wash of earth tones to accentuate its age and allow an old Schepps advertisement on the north wall to maintain a ghostly presence.
Inside, though, the place has been packed with up-to-the-minute electronics, including video and high-speed Internet access – must-have amenities for another target audience: convention groups and trade shows, Mr. Keller said.
"Nobody will be happier than me when we open," he said. "It's been a long time coming."
E-mail myoung@dallasnews.com
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/090603dnmetgilleys.c717.html
Natalie Caudill / DMN
Workers on Friday attached the big "G"
to the sign on Big D's newest country-Western
megaplex, no small feat with a marquee that
weighs 12,500 pounds.
What a spread, eh, Max ?? ...Eventually, Gilley's will encompass 91,000 square feet in the old Schepps building at 1135 S. Lamar St., just south of Interstate 30. But the first phase will include about half that, Mr. Keller said.
What a spread, eh, Max ?? ...Eventually, Gilley's will encompass 91,000 square feet in the old Schepps building at 1135 S. Lamar St., just south of Interstate 30. But the first phase will include about half that, Mr. Keller said.
Jerry Lee Lewis of early rock 'n' roll fame was also one of the first in that genre to get his name into several scandals involving his marriage to a distant cousin,etc.
Another cousin, Jimmy Swaggart, got quite a ways up the ladder as an evangelist/singer before his escapades with some shady ladies brought him down.
In the midst of all this, Mickey Gilly comes off as the one who seems to stay out of trouble.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mickey when I interviewed him at a Chicago radio station back in 1980. (WJJD/WJEZ....both have new call-letters now: WSCR & WJMK respectively) and he seemed to be surprised by the "Urban Cowboy" movement taking place in country music. He seemed to be "surfing" on the fame more than contributing to it. He rode that wace until it dissipated.
For insurance money...
Yep, I be sityooated now, bro... Well about halfway there. Well okay about a quarter way there. Well okay I'm workin' on it. ;)
Hopefully I'll get back down to God's Country before the month is out... Haven't decided whether to drive it or fly it...
So what's been goin' on around here? Anybody got axed since I been gone?
So what's been goin' on around here? Anybody got axed since I been gone?Glad ya axed me that. Yuk! Yuk!
Not much, Max. The runaway 'RATS got back to Laredo yesterday. I haven't read the article yet, but the Dallas Morning News lead-in noted that there was 100 folks to 'greet' them when their plane landed in Laredo. Given that Laredo is a Liberal heartland, it's not too impressive that they couldn't get a bigger 'rent-a-mob' gathering than that I'd say. So, they come back with tail metaphorically tucked under. They get their day in court today there. In the first hearing, the LIB judge pretty much said they didn't have SQUAT for a case and ONLY referred it to the three judge panel because it's a minority voter right issue. The other two judges are GOP appointees. I expect a 3-0 decision to come out, 'get lost you idiots ... bu-bye now' ...
Oh, and #21 bit the dust last night ...
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