Court Adjourned for New Brunswick Music Scene?

Benny Horowitz says he grew up at the Court Tavern.

Horowitz, a Bridgewater product and drummer for Gaslight Anthem, attended his first show at the legendary New Brunswick night spot in 1994 when he was just 15--an all-ages show featuring the band Resurrection--and immediately fell in love with the place.

"At that time," he told me via phone from Nashville, where he is recording with the band, "there were a few places in New Brunswick, the Court being one.

"Once you went down into that basement, you were steeped in it. The allure of it was really cool as a kid."

Over the years, Horowitz, who became a regular at the Court when he turned 21, says he played in six differrent bands that performed about 20 shows and he's seen countless others.

The city, he says, has had the venue in its sights for years, "because they want to put whatever it is they want to put there, a parking deck or luxury condominiums for the New York commuters."

But this focus on redevelopment is a mistake. New Brunswick has been on of the most underrated musical cities on the Northeast. Few cities its size can boast of the lineup of bands with a national reputation. In addition to Gaslight Anthem, which is recording its major-label debut in Nashville and has had several singles chart nationally, and the Smithereens, there are Thursday, Saves the Day and now, The Screaming Females, a band starting to get some real buzz in the music press.

Bob Albert, the club's owner, offered some reflections on the club's history in June to Patch. He said the bar moved to the Church Street location that made it famous in 1981, around the time Albert started working there and booking bands. Over the years, the club has seen groups like Patti Smith, the Replacements and Henry Rollins perform on its stage -- as have blues legends like Otis Blackwell and Pinetop Perkins.

“That was one of the neatest things I think we ever had here,” Albert says. “For one thing, it was a pretty raucous crowd. When (Perkins) played here it was in ‘93. The guy polished off two bottles—they weren’t full liters but he wound up drinking over a liter — of Remy Martin. He and my dad got so loaded together, that was undoubtedly my dad’s favorite night here.”

As great as the memories are to those who know the court, perhaps the saddest aspect of its closing is what it means for New Brunswick's music scene. I remember seeing the reggae band The Deed in the early 1980s at The Melody and participating in an open poetry reading at the Roxy around the same time. Both are long gone, as are the Bowl-O-Drome.

The Court, which has had its share of financial troubles in recent years, had continued rocking. With its closing, however, and the growing difficulty organizers are having hosting basement shows in the city, it is hard to know what shape the legendary music scene will take.

"I really feel for Bobby, for Neal and all the guys that worked at the Court," Horowitz said. "They’d been working at the Court for years. It is an unfortunate situation. A lot of people are losing a great place to play and it is getting harder and harder for people to find a stage. People are dying for a venue."

New Brunswick, Horowitz said, is a "city with a rich history and a city that has always been the birthplace of a lot of music. It always has been a place where bands get together."

It's something that the city government needs to consider. New Brunswick's history as a music mecca demands that something be found to replace the Court.

"The town is losing a huge cultural hub if they don’t replace it," Horowitz said. "It is not just some bar on the corner shutting down. It means a lot to a lot of people and if it ceases to exist that leaves a giant black hole for people trying to create music."