Karen Ponzio Photos
Eric Vikmanis delivers.
Pete Mould, co-owner of The Cellar on Treadwell in Hamden, was seeing the crowds at his bar and concert venue grow steadily — until the Covid-19 outbreak.
Since the government-mandated closings and alterations of businesses in Connecticut, Mould and his partners Shari and Eric Vikmanis have found a way to keep their patrons coming back for more, albeit at a distance, with The Cellar Presents: Dinner and a Show. This Friday night event pairs curbside pickup of the best of the club’s bar food and drink with live streamed shows on Facebook by bands that have performed or were to have performed at the venue.
“People were devastated,” said Mould. “I was devastated. We all were devastated. When you work so hard for nine months and get it where you want it, and now not knowing when you can open again — it’s scary.”
“At first we couldn’t talk about it, so we let things lay low” said Vikmanis. “It was emotional. We all talked and wanted to keep it safe for employees. Shari and I decided to take it on, keep the name out there.”
The decision was made to provide curbside pickup at the venue once a week, on Fridays, from 5 to 8 p.m. while five acts streamed their performances from their homes from 5 to 10 p.m.
“Shari broke out the Superman cape and has been booking bands and working on the menu,” said Mould. Pre-orders are encouraged via email prior to the day of the show to try to minimize waste but are accepted until 3 p.m. the day of the show. Phone orders start 4:30 p.m. the day of the show.
Payment, in advance, is kept contactless and pickup is curbside, with Eric bringing the food out to the customers waiting in their cars.
“We are already seeing return customers and regulars,” said Vikmanis. ”I’m getting to know the cars. You only see me,” though he added he might be “unrecognizable in my PPE. It ends up being like a bit of a tailgate, people coming early to talk to each other from their cars.”
Patrons can then bring their food home and turn on the live stream to watch a show with their dinner.
“It’s good content for them,” he said of the acts. Many have played at the venue previously and many had their shows cancelled due to the Covid-19 restrictions. Each act streams through its own Facebook page; then The Cellar shares it on its Facebook page through a watch party.
Vikmanis noted that he himself has been finding comfort in watching artists, and hopes others will too. “People are getting inventive,” he said. “It’s something positive. They’re doing something versus feeling depressed. They’re finding new ways.”
As someone who usually spends nearly every Friday out at a show or dinner (or both), I was ready to try what The Cellar was offering. I ordered and paid for food for my husband and I two days prior to the show by email from the menu posted on the venue’s Facebook page. We were given a pickup time from a window of time we had chosen. On Friday we arrived at the venue and received our food in a timely fashion. Eric’s smiling eyes greeted us as he put the food in our trunk after we popped it open. The scent of our dinners filled the car immediately.
“I wish there was a park open where we could pull over and eat it,” my husband said.
Takeout, sweet takeout.
Luckily we do not live far away and were soon home and digging into our dinners: a rodeo burger for him and a chicken tender platter for me, both with a mound of hand-cut fries and accompanying sauces.
My husband declared it a “perfect burger, like a summer one on the grill.” He also praised the fries; “these are the good ones,” he said.
My platter had four sizable chicken tenders that easily could have made four separate chicken sandwiches. I ate two along with a handful of fries and partook of all the sauces. It was bar food at its finest. Please note The Cellar is offering beer and wine along with the food; I chose to not drink on this night (as I often choose when I am working) but I will say a cold cider or pilsner would have suited the meal well as I settled in to watch the live streams.
The first act of the night, David Taylor Coffey, began at 5 p.m. with acoustic originals and covers performed from his couch, adding in a harmonica occasionally and shout outs to those commenting via Facebook. He also added in a plea to support local restaurants, bars and venues, even raising his beer and noting that it was “a local beer I wish I could be drinking at the Cellar On Treadwell on tap.”
The next act, Turkey Vulture, performed their hard hitting punk-pumped metal set from their basement. The husband and wife duo of Jessie May on guitar, bass, and vocals and Jim Clegg on drums tore through both originals and covers while intermittently interacting with their fans and friends about their sound and lighting. They also talked about their soon to be released EP. There were also multiple requests to donate to the Cellar’s Employee Relief Fund and support businesses affected by the shutdowns. The set ended with May addressing the venue: “We hope to play there when all this is over. You rock.”
Frank Viele also interacted with his fans and friends throughout his bluesy acoustic set, the third of the night. “It’s a very humbling experience to see people from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Iowa, everywhere…” he said. “I’ve met a lot of cool people. It’s nice.” He played requests for old songs as well as a selection of new ones — “there are a tons of new songs” he said — and even added in a cover of “Use Me” by Bill Withers, “one of my musical heroes.”
“I wish you nothing but love and safety,” he said before he was done. “Be good to each other.”
Castle Black, a band from New York that was supposed to play The Cellar for the first time the night before, played a set in a darkened room that suited the band’s moody alternative punk grunge sound and was punctuated by an occasional pre-taped reading. The trio — including Leigh Celent on guitar and vocals, Scott Brown on bass, and Joey Russo on drums (tonight on cajon) — also ended its set with a viewing of its latest video, for the song “Dead in a Dream.”
The final act of the night, Marisa Mini, played solo in her “she shack.” She said she missed her band, Trashing Violets, noting that they were supposed to play at The Cellar “and then the world changed.” She covered Beyoncé and The Weeknd between originals with such titles as “Ain’t No Man Gonna Love These Hands” and “I Love My Guitar Much Better than You” while continuously interacting and laughing with her fans and friends via her Facebook feed. “I’m really hopeful for the future,” she added at the end.
Mould and Vikmanis are hopeful too. “We had some of our best weeks leading up to it (the closing)”, said Mould. “People were excited. Music is a socializing entity. It brings people together.”
“Bands were coming over before their sets at the Ballroom and then coming back to hang out afterwards,” said Vikmanis, referring to their neighbors across the parking lot who are also now closed. “We’re all in the same boat.”
“The hope is there,” added Mould, “to have our oars to row our boat.”
The Cellar Presents: Dinner and a Show continues every Friday. For more information about this week’s menu and the list of bands live-streaming please see their Facebook page. The Employee Relief Fund gofundme page can be found here.