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FROM THE MUSIC DESK
Complex, Indeed
An Ambitious Eastside "Maxi-Lounge" Kicks Off With a Blue-Chip Show // Still Fighting to Get the OLCC To Say the Magic Word

by ZACH DUNDAS
zdundas@wweek.com


Southeast 2nd Avenue lies quiet in drought-defying Sunday rain. A backpacking mendicant and a couple of skateboarders more or less have the drizzle to themselves.

Second runs through the gut of an undeniably cool neighborhood, a warren of brick streets, iron rails, warehouses begging to host action-movie showdowns and core industries that couldn't give a damn about the Silicon Forest. The area is home to a number of sterling community assets, like Montage, Tazo Tea, My Father's Place and Taboo Adult Video. Still, it would be easy to write it off as a graying antique in the all-singing, all-dancing cyber-age.

If a group of businessmen, artists and music promoters have their way, however, there will soon be an influx of action on 2nd. They hope to transform a long-dead nightclub into a super-sized cafe/supper club/art center/"maxi-lounge"/theater/music venue. They say B Complex, which hosts a two-night "pre-opening" celebration starring top-notch electronic artists this weekend, will offer Portland a brand of sophistication not found elsewhere.

"This is an experiment of sorts for a new kind of reality that could exist in a gathering establishment," writes Brian Williamson, the effort's booking agent, in an email. "We have this wacky, far-fetched hunch that there's a growing body of people craving something different than what presently exists, some other 'place to B' (sorry)."

The prospective engineers of this paradigm shift have restored a multi-level space with a deeply uneven past. Most famously, the building once harbored the club Euphoria, where bands ranging from L.A. punk legends X to ex-Portland jazzman Jim Pepper played in the '70s. Euphoria was apparently beloved by the venue-starved Portland arts community of the time for its venturesome music and theater booking.

According to accounts of the era, the club also experienced entanglements with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. For example, a story from Willamette Week's Sept. 13, 1977, issue reports that the OLCC yanked Euphoria's booze license because three of its many owners at the time had criminal records.

In the decades since Euphoria relocated to the Great Nightlife District in the Sky, a succession of businesses cycled through the building. Annie Pearl's, a Southern restaurant, ran into problems with neighbors over trouble at hip-hop shows in the early '90s. More recently, a short-lived club called The Mercury Room occupied the premises.

If this weekend's shows--which include national jazz/electronic fusion acts like Ninja Tune's Kid Koala and Sientific American--is any indication, B Complex is looking to extend the more positive aspects of the Euphoria tradition. Early statements from the Complex camp sketch a project incorporating music, theater, an Internet cafe, quality food and creative drink, all in a space that could potentially hold up to 600 people. Williamson is booking first-division music into the summer, with engagements with Autechre, Vandermark 5, Saul Williams, Da Lata and Portishead veteran Andy Smith already scheduled for May and June.

All this would seem to jibe well with the City's vaunted vision of a reinvented inner Eastside. After all, Her Honor herself recently spoke of this very district as a natural extension of downtown, a prime candidate for revitalization. As every good little New Urbanist knows, quality nightlife destinations are key to injecting energy into any neighborhood.

However, there are other factors at play. B Complex is in the middle of a designated alcohol impact area and has attracted the opposition of some neighbors. The OLCC rejected the club's liquor license application, largely because of the impact area. B Complex has appealed the ruling to an administrative law judge, a state-appointed hearings officer. A hearing is currently scheduled for the second week in April.

In the meantime, B Complex will use a caterer's license to sell beer at this weekend's show. The owners apparently plan to go forward with the project whether or not they score a booze license. If they're successful, odds are that the strip of 2nd Avenue between Southeast Oak and Pine will be very different, very soon.