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Downtown Lake Worth’s live music scene, already pronounced enough to inspire the 20-band Lake Worth-It festival last month, recently got an exclamation point. Little Munich (facebook.com/LittleMunich), the 3-year-old downtown German restaurant, has now thrown its hat into the South Florida indie-rock ring.
Unlike most area restaurants, where music is an afterthought, the new venue appears intent on doing it right. Rather than place bands in a corner window, owners Peter and Gabi-Doll Kachler built a center stage in the back of the room with a house PA system and lights. That way, live bands might actually be the first thing patrons notice as they enter.
It’s a rare local concept, but the couple brought experience from working in German nightclubs during the 1970s and ’80s.
“They’ve done some original music shows over the past six months with bands on the floor up front,” says TheHoneyComb.com promoter Steve Rullman, who recently left Propaganda and crossed Lake Avenue to work with Little Munich. “Now, they want to take more of a bold step, but they’ve run restaurants and bars before. They’re interesting people and know what they’re doing.”
That knowledge extends to Little Munich’s authentic German food, atmosphere and “bier.” The venue also offers a free Wednesday movie night at 10 p.m., plus 9 p.m. karaoke nights on Sundays and Tuesdays. Rullman says he may even add cover bands on Thursdays in hopes of further filling up its long bar and 15 tables .
See The Dewars with The Band in Heaven on Friday; Everymen with Ohio-based group Arlo & the Otter on Saturday and Pretty Please on Sept. 10, all at 10 p.m. at Little Munich, 806 Lake Ave., Lake Worth (561-932-0050).
‘Round town
Veteran Boca Raton blues band the Fabulous Fleetwoods (fabulousfleetwoods.com) will celebrate on multiple levels this weekend. All four members turned 50 in 2010, but in addition to a birthday party, the evening celebrates their brand-new self-released CD Blues Heathens from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday at Kevro’s Art Bar, 166 S.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach (561-278-9675 Dada (dada.closermagazine.com), the two-story house-turned-restaurant and live-music venue, celebrates its 10-year anniversary on Saturday with a block party featuring Poppa E. & the E. Band, the Spam All-Stars, and Fusik from 8 p.m. to closing at 52 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach (561-330-3232) Jupiter reggae-rock act B-Liminal (b-liminal.com) suffered a postponement of this weekend’s creative “Endless Summer Concert Series” waterfront festival on Peanut Island. But the band plays a free fan appreciation show at 9 p.m. on Saturday at Corners, 71 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter (561-747-1161), with the first 50 attendees receiving a free acoustic CD the band had recorded for the fest Horn-heavy 11-piece band The Resolvers (theresolvers.com) headline a South Florida reggae triple-threat, with Spred the Dub and Natural State, at 8 p.m. on Sept. 10 at Propaganda, 6 S. J St., Lake Worth (561-547-7273).
As a local Lake Worthian, I’ve been a patron of the Munich since before it was the Munich (The Dirty Dwarf). It has the best beer line-up in Lake Worth and say no more. The openness of the room is more like a feasting hall that an American resturant with booths.
As a local musician I have played the Munich several times. In my conversations with Gabby I told her to go with more live music. I think she finaly figured out the old addage that ‘you have to spend money in ouder to make money’.
The Munich could also become a spot where “adult music” could be featured. By this I mean not just cover bands playing songs just like the record did 40 years ago, but real musicians doing creative renditions of musical gems from the thousands of great songs that have been done over many decades. This is what I do when I gig and I have had quiet success at this track. People want to hear good music and have a conversation at the same time. The Munich can fill this void.