Right now, The Wayside Ballroom is a mess. Electrical cables dangle from the “ceiling,” machinery and tools are strewn across the dust-and-debris-covered floor, and at least 10 metric tons of musical gear weighs down the stage.
But owner Caleb Stanislaw vows that everything will be ready by Friday. That’s when Stanislaw and co-owner/wife Theresa Stanislaw’s inaugural foray into venue ownership will celebrate its grand opening. One of town’s most sorely missed dirty rockers, The Hanna Barbarians, will reunite temporarily to headline a bill that also includes Austin’s Isaiah The Mosaic and Amplified Heat, Los Angeles’ Fever the Ghost, Dallas’ Diamond Age, and Fort Worth’s Tidals, Squanto, and The Fibs. Not too bad for a club in the warehouse-packed no-man’s land between TCU and the Near Southside.
“It’s not Fairmount or the Near Southside,” Stanislaw said. “It’s the Wayside. It’s its own part of town, and we’re trying to build something special here, and hopefully a little bit of that could spill out into the community.”
Stanislaw may be new to running a club, but not to the music scene. From 2007 until 2013, he owned and operated Guitars Etc./Caleb’s Guitars, with locations in Granbury and Weatherford. “I wasn’t good at selling what I was supposed to,” he said. “The cool vintage [guitars] would come in, and I couldn’t let ’em go.”
The 31-year-old native Fort Worthian and TCU album also plays guitar in The Hendersons, Vincent Neil Emerson & The Old Souls, and Tripp Mathis & The Traitors, and he’s the frontman of his own band, The Pyramids.
Stanislaw got the idea for a venue about a year ago, after visiting The Loft. Seeing the legendary Chicago venue/museum/repair shop inspired him. “I’m telling you, that’s like a musician’s mecca,” he said. “I kind of wanted something like that for myself.”
After spending months looking “all over town” for the right space, he found the 3,600-square-foot warehouse at 2905 Bryan Avenue and closed on it about six weeks ago, he said. The capacity at The Wayside is about 350, Stanislaw said, but after he opens the back patio and possibly a rooftop patio, that number might “be more like 500,” he said.
Though The Wayside Ballroom will be available for any kind of party you can imagine, rock shows are going to be the main focus. “It’s the thing we’re most excited about,” he said. “From the beginning, being a musician, it’s all about making sure the bands get paid and are treated well,” noting the nearly 1,000-square-foot green room with its own bathroom and bar service area.
Stanislaw won’t be hiring any employees. The Wayside Ballroom is going to be open only for events. At least for now. Until the Stanislaws’ liquor license comes in, The Grotto will be catering the booze. Parking will be on the street. The Stanislaws will handle the concert calendar on their own but have been working closely with Blackbox Presents, the Fort Worth booking agency co-owned by the husband-and-wife team of Aaron and Jamie Knight, who “have been really, really helpful introducing us to other booking entities,” Stanislaw said.
Stanislaw is not too worried about the location, confident that Fort Worth’s plans for the so-called Hemphill Corridor will sweep him up in Progress. And also that he and The Wayside Ballroom can serve as a kind of catalyst.
“Since I’ve been here, I’m not thrilled completely with the feeling you get late at night walking around this neighborhood,” Stanislaw said, “but I think that this business being here will be one more reason for Fort Worth to want to make this a legitimate area for commerce.”
Cover to the (21-and-up) grand opening party with the ’Barbs is $10. The ballroom won’t be completely done by Friday, but the joint will be all sparkly and shiny by the next event, Oh Whitney’s annual Thanksgiving “rager” on Friday, Nov. 27.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
