The Rough Draft Begins Its First Chapter

Right before his final song of the first set of the first singer songwriter night in the round at The Rough Draft Saturday night, Chris Q. Murphy said he was ​“immediately impressed as both a musician and a Brooklynite” with the venue opening at the site of the former Space. He said the Rough Draft had actually carried out what similar places in his town are trying to accomplish.

“I can’t wait to go back and tell everyone I played at a place in an office park, and it was incredible!” he told the audience, who responded with laughter and cheers.

It was the Rough Draft’s ​“unofficial grand opening,” according to owners Karen Robinson and Chris Scionti, welcoming all at 4 p.m. with the bar opening and at 9 p.m. with the first in a series called Singer Songwriters in the Round, presented by Paper Moon Productions.

The venue has been completely remodeled, with a full bar where the stage used to be, a new stage and sound system near the entrance, and a full kitchen and menu that wasn’t fully ready on Saturday, so was offering cold appetizers and snacks to the crowd (Robinson said the kitchen should be ready to go as planned, with the full menu on line within the next week).

The below-ground space has been brightened up with wall paintings depicting a variety of characters and scenes from classic children’s books, as well as copies of rough drafts of popular writings, song lyrics, and drawings. There is also an area with letters from Hemingway to F. Scott Fitzgerald on one wall and old concert ticket stubs under the glass top bar.

An upstairs bathroom (with a sign next to it that says ​“whatever, just wash your hands”) is a Beatles tribute resplendent with, among other things, outlines of the Fab Four, Penny Lane and Abbey Road street signs, a strawberry field and copies of song lyrics.

According to Robinson, as soon as the kitchen is all set and running with the new menu, she and Scionti plan on updating the front patio and extending it out to include the right side of the building. The venue will be open Monday through Saturday at 4 p.m. (except Fridays, when it will open at 3 p.m.) It will only open on Sundays when the Ballroom — across the parking lot — is also open for an event. There are plans to have weekly scheduled events including Monday night trivia with Digital Tracks Entertainment, rotating Tuesday and Wednesday night events including an open mic, comedy, spoken word and paint nights, and then music Thursday through Saturday.

Robinson said all of the employees except for one are former employees of the Outer Space and The Space, and have been exceptional in helping her and Scionti get the place up and running.

Saturday’s show included five singer-songwriters, some local and some not local but from not too far away, presenting songs in a round-robin fashion and brought together by Chelsea Genzano of Paper Moon Presents, a booking and promotion company.

Genzano was a singer-songwriter herself for 20 years. She was eager to be involved in the music scene again and was ​“so excited” to be able to bring this first show to the new venue. She already has another one scheduled for July 7 with five different performers. Saturday’s show included local acts Samuel Sandoval, Elle Sera, and Andrew Biagiarelli, as well as Chris Q. Murphy from Brooklyn and Jake Manzi from Springfield, Mass., each playing a song at a time through four rounds of songs for two sets.

The performers took the stage one at a time until all five were up there at once and remained there through four rounds to complete the first set of the evening. Each performer, armed only with a guitar (though Menzi added harmonica to one of his pieces) complemented each other while offering their unique takes and talents. There was a definitive storyteller vibe to the set, as some performers talked about their next song’s origins and content.

Others simply entered into the song with a short introduction. Sandoval in particular let his songs do most of the talking for him, choosing pieces that were quite poetic and literary leaning in nature, even paying homage to Samuel Beckett in one song with the lyrics ​“I can’t go on, I’ll go on.”

Murphy went the literary route as well, but in a more front porch gritty rock-roots fashion. His ​“Talkin’ Middle Earth Historiography Blues” had its origins in not only the songs of Woody Guthrie, who Murphy shouted out before the song, but the much beloved Tolkien series.

Biagiarelli gave a few of his pieces a more bluesy tone, but added that one of his songs began as a poem. Before the show Biagiarelli said poetry is ​“where it all started” for him, and his music is definitely reflective of this.

Manzi brought a more modern indie rock tone to his songs, calling to mind Ryan Adams at times and leaning into his guitar to energetically enhance his storytelling, which caused Murphy at one point to gesture toward the sound engineer and ask, ​“hey can you make my guitar sound like that?”

Sera melded frank and fun lyrics with an unabashed rock ​‘n’ roll flavor, making each piece she chose, whether it was a slightly altered version of a previous recording or one that she noted she hadn’t recorded yet at all, seem freshly drawn for the moment, while also deeply rooted in everything you want a singer-songwriter to be, clear and precise while still able to deliver the unexpected.

The audience was receptive and appreciative throughout the night. Though at times the bar crowd got a little loud, it did not detract from the performers or the performances. People came and went continuously, greeting old friends and the new owners with congratulations and appreciation.

Once the kitchen was all set and a few more details taken care of, Robinson said, the Rough Draft will have an ​“official” grand opening. She had originally wanted things to be completely done, but then said with a laugh that she realized, ​“hey, we’re The Rough Draft!”

The Rough Draft is located at 295 Treadwell Street, Building H, in Hamden. Check the venue’s Facebook page for upcoming events.