Music venue’s owner talks abrupt closure, future rebirth
On Jan. 8, on the heels of the Texas Beer Co.’s’ departure from the corner of Second and Main streets across the way, the public was also greeted with the startling news that Black Sparrow Music Parlor would be closing.
The music venue may be shuttering its doors for now, but owner Shannon Bagent wants folks to know her business, and the digital radio station KBSR headquartered there, aren’t going anywhere.
The space likely will open again offering a different format, but no date has been set.
“Black Sparrow absolutely lives on, and I will continue this, but I never really do the same thing twice,” she said. “It will be different because I am different than I was seven years ago.”
Greenhouse Craft Foods, which partnered with Black Sparrow for the past year and a half, is going out of business, according to owner Rob Snow on his Facebook page.
Bagent said KBSR continues to operate “KBSR is alive and well,” Bagent said.
“Deejays are coming in and out and broadcasting their shows. That won’t stop. We still have the community radio going strong. We have 21 deejays, and that is still going strong.”
Bagent said she is floating different concepts around for this next incarnation of Black Sparrow, but whatever it is, it will be something that reflects more of who she is now rather than who she was when she launched Black Sparrow.
“I just see something happening that’s a little bit quieter and more thoughtful,” she said. “I see something more along the lines of a place where people can come to sit, do their work sit with their friends. I see maybe a place where people can come and meet up with folks, but I don’t really see all the loudness, all the rowdiness happening.”
One idea that came to her was a community hangout called the “Pour House” in a nod to the leaner times we some say we are facing, featuring dollar coffee and self-serve bowls of stew.
“Right now, what I am doing is starting over with a fresh canvass, and I don’t really see myself painting the same picture twice,” Bagent said. “I have worked in music my entire life. I would love to mix it up a bit.”
Though Bagent, who owns the building at 113 W. Second St., said she is having to start over, including pulling all new permits, she is looking at this closure as an opportunity.
“I still have an amazing sound system and stage, so I could see doing some kind of shows, but I don’t think that I will be going full force towards the music like that anymore,” Bagent said. “It will be a lot more of a thoughtful, more of an intellectual home.”
In the meantime, Bagent said she encourages people to share their ideas with her via her email at blacksparrowmusicparlor@ gmail. com. She also welcomes suggestions on how to speed up the permitting process.
With Greenhouse Craft Foods on the way out, Bagent said she relishes the ability to fly solo at Black Sparrow once again.
“Black Sparrow is still a vital business,” she said. “Black Sparrow still exists. We are still here. We just can’t open to the public until I repull permits.”
