The Musical Box

Well, it looks like The Dame is going to rock again after all.

Following its June closing and August demolition, little in terms of concrete news of a new location for the venerable downtown music club - Lexington’s only real showcase venue for local bands and national touring acts - surfaced.

There were rumors. Man, oh, man, were there rumors - the most persistent being that The Dame would move closer to campus to the Woodland Ave. space once occupied by Lynagh’s Music Club (as well as two subsequent businesses that tanked). For much of the summer, phone messages and emails filed in from editors, other reporters and, mostly, music starved fans. All asked essentially the same thing: Have you heard anything about The Dame yet? Shoot, people were stopping me on the street asking that.

But like everyone else, I didn’t have a clue. And as the fall etched closer, it seemed less and less likely we would ever hear from the club again.

Well, Beverly Fortune brought us the good word this morning that The Dame will re-open on Oct. 3 at the old A1A location as part of the complex now known as Main Street Live. It’s a different, larger hall and, given its shoulder-to-shoulder proximity to other clubs, the feel and vibe is likely to shift a bit, as well.

But at this point, this can only be viewed, in the midst of one of the dreariest years ever for the local music community, as euphoric news. Should you think otherwise, you might want to take a walk by the corner of Main and Upper where the rubble and wreckage of The Dame’s former life sits in heaps.

So, Oct. 3 it is. Mark it down. You’ve got a date with The Dame.