Slowdown (venue)

Slowdown is an entertainment venue located at 729 North 14 Street in NoDo, a new development near the Near North Side neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. A combination of a live music venue, shops, restaurants and apartments, the venue was developed by Saddle Creek Records as a direct competitor to the Sokol Auditorium in Little Bohemia [McMahan, T. (2005) [http://www.timmcmahan.com/slowdown.htm "Hurry Up, Virginia! Saddle Creek's Slowdown project can't came fast enough,"] "Lazy-I." Retrieved 7/10/07.] . Slowdown is said to be "unlike anything in Omaha - or the Midwest" because of its comprehensive, mixed-use design. [Brennan, S. (nd) [http://www.omahacityweekly.com/article.php?id=1048 "Speed up, Slowdown: Saddle Creek music venue project works through delays as Omaha eagerly awaits its opening,"] "City Weekly". Retrieved 7/10/07.] The venue is named after the group Slowdown Virginia, who have had a strong influence on "The Omaha Sound".

History

Slowdown began in 2000 as an idea to start a rock club. Jason Kulbel and Robb Nansel started with the idea to renovate a space somewhere in the downtown area and give Omaha the permanent music venue they felt it was lacking. As it became apparent that the perfect space for renovation was just not out there, Robb and Jason spent most of their time working on the expansion of Saddle Creek Records. In 2004, they decided that the renovation of an old space was never going to be ideal and started looking around for some land to buy. The intention now was to build a permanent home for both Slowdown and Saddle Creek.

Fortuitously, the "perfect" spot was found on Saddle Creek Road in midtown Omaha. [It was Saddle Creek Road that provided the name for Saddle Creek Records.] However, there was strong opposition to the development from local residents, and those plans were scrapped. Jason and Robb were approached by the City of Omaha to find the right place to build Slowdown. A few different options were considered, and the one that seemed to make the most sense was on a plot of land the city offered just south of Omaha's Near North Side and a few blocks west of the Qwest Center.

The city proposed kick-starting the rebuilding of the north downtown area, and with the help of [http://j-dev.com/ J Development] and [http://alleypoyner.com/ Alley Poyner] , the Saddle Creek/Slowdown building quickly became a part of a "development". [(2007) [http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewnews.pl?NewsID=8008 "Slowdown In Omaha"] PollStar. 6/7/07. Retrieved 7/10/07.]

References

External links

* [http://www.theslowdown.com Slowdown] official website.
* [http://www.saddle-creek.com Saddle Creek] records official website.
*"Crawdaddy!" article on Slowdown (venue) [http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Article.aspx?id=6182 "Saddle Creek Slowdown"]