On A Sad Note

The Five Spot is gone. A four alarm fire destroyed the night club in Olde City yesterday morning. Normally, I wouldn't have cared a less that a night club burned down, but with this one it's different. Back in college, I used to frequent The Five Spot regularly with my friends. We would go there on Tuesday nights when they had the Black Lily. For those of you who never heard of Black Lily, let me break it down to you. Black Lily was basically an open mic night where it featured new and well established acts, and a few celebrities here and there. I liked it because it wasn't your typical "club" vibe. The Five Spot had that laid back atmosphere to it.

Black Lily is where I discovered wonderful acts like Kindred, Jazzyfatnastees, and Jaguar. I also had the pleasure of seeing Jill Scott right before her CD debuted and she blew up, Black Thought from the Roots for whom I think the Roots are one of the most talented Hip Hop acts out there, but horribly and undeservedly underrated...that's a whole other post, and Musiq, which I must add I am very happy he has a new song playing on the radio now. Not only was Black Lily a place where I saw great live music, it was a popular place where a lot of us theatre majors from Temple hung out.

I also remember going to Latin Night with a bunch of coworkers after work. Latin Night was neat because if you got there early enough you could take Salsa lessons. I enjoyed dancing and looking at the more experienced couples glide across the dance floor. Unfortunately, this was the only Latin Night I went to and now, well, it looks as though I will never get the chance to go to another one. It's a shame because I had so many good memories there. I would like to know what caused the fire, though, and thank God no one was hurt! I wonder if the owners are planning to rebuild it or reopen in a different location? Who knows? However, I do know one thing and that is The Five Spot will be sadly missed.