The Heidelberg Pulls the Plug

No more music at Club Above.

by Chris Berggren

posted 2/8/2010

The Heidelberg's Club Above abruptly shut down its music operation in January, less than eight months after Claudia Leo took over the North Main Street club, spruced up the venue, and inaugurated an ambitious schedule of intriguing local, regional, and national acts. "In an utterly unprofessional, dishonest, and disrespectful business move, the Heidelberg canceled all live music shows with no notice to anyone," says Leo, whose No Fun Entertainment had been booking Thursday and Saturday nights. Leo says Heidelberg owner Ray Kouza gave her a long-term commitment when he approached her about doing the programming last spring; she had acts lined up into June when she was notified of the cancellation.

Friday night's live happy hour shows, a favorite of older rockers, were axed at the same time. Randy Tessier had arranged those shows with Kouza separately--for the past several years, Tessier's band

FUBAR played the first Friday of each month with Drivin' Sideways playing the last and other bands invited to play between.

Last fall, Heidelberg general manager Mike Holloway told the Observer that Leo had tripled attendance at the Club Above. Apparently, that wasn't good enough. "It was just inconsistent, drawing people in with the bands," says Holloway now. The club already was rented out Sunday through Wednesday by a company that hosts charity poker nights, and Holloway says that giving them the rest of the week was a better business deal than continuing the music.

Leo's not giving up. "No Fun Entertainment would like to embrace this change to move our operations to a more professional venue," she says, "and to work with a business that shares our same enthusiasm and entertainment industry philosophy."   

[Originally published in February, 2010.]