After a long and exhausting process, Tommy Stanco handed the keys of the Balcony Club over to a new owner, Teddy Davey, last night.
Stanco had been the owner of the Balcony Club for 25 years before turning over owenership to Davey. In 25 years, the club has never closed, although it’s come close so many it’ll make your head spin. (For more about Stanco’s perilous journey trying to keep a jazz club thriving in Dallas, read the story we wrote for the April issue of Advocate magazine.)
For years, Balcony Club followers have thought, “This is it. This is the end of the Balcony Club,” but every time the club somehow manages to pull itself out of a nosedive. For the past few months, it’s looked like the same ole scare story, except this time it has a new ending.
On July 14, head bartender Todd “Cocktail Todd” Buckley announced on the Balcony Club Facebook page that he was selling off everything in the building that wasn’t nailed down. The announcement unleashed a flood of curiosity from club-goers: Was the Balcony Club closing… again?
Last night the Facebook page boasted, “The Balcony Club will be open tonight, with music by the Greg Ray Group at 9:30. Twenty-five years and still going strong!” which succeeded in, once again, thoroughly confusing people.
Commenter Roger Wilson put it thus, “Why are you posting one day you’re ‘closing, everything must go’ and the next day ‘going strong’? Hard to plan going when it might one of your everything-must-go days.”
What has been confusing for Balcony Club fans caught in the whiplash, has been a bit of a nightmare for the people closely involved in the back-and-forth drama behind the scenes.
This time, the Balcony Club had reached the point of no return. After digging himself into tens-of-thousands of dollars in personal debt, Stanco simply couldn’t wrangle up the funds to pay the rent or the outstanding TABC bill. Had he not turned the club over to Davey, Willingham Property Company which owns the Lakewood Theater, could have locked the doors of the Balcony Club forever.
Under Davey, the club will stay open, although at this point we don’t know what that will mean for the club. Bruce Richardson, who is working with Davey on the deal, says he and Davey need a day or two to “catch their breath” after the transition.
Check back later for the full story.
