THE BUZZ: ‘Graffiti’ becomes ‘Red Brick; ‘Star Wars’ fans bummed by botched screening

‘Graffiti’ restaurant is now ‘Red Brick,” with plans to expand live music: “Bringing more music to downtown Petaluma, that was always one of our intents,” says Neil Whitehouse, one of three co-owners of the new Red Brick restaurant, in the brick-fronted waterside location only recently occupied by Graffiti restaurant. Graffiti owner Maureen McGowan has stated she’d been looking for a buyer for nearly two years, and a deal came together just last fall.

The new owners officially took over - and promptly renamed the Theater District landmark - on Dec. 4. Along with a number of changes, including a new menu (now featuring classic pub food) and a reimagined interior design (a lot more open space, for one thing), Whitehouse and his partners plan to book more bands and musicians, for which they are building a small interior stage, with lighting system.

“We’ve been going to Grafitti for years, and we always thought the place had great potential as a live music venue,” Whitehouse says.

The transition has been fairly rapid, he explains, in part to allow employees to work through the busy holiday season. According to Whitehouse, Red Brick will stay up-and-running through the end of the year - with a New Year’s Eve party featuring blues legend Steve Freund - and then will close for a week or so in January, to allow time to make additional interior modifications.

When the place reopens, plans are for live music to be featured on Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays.

“Tuesday’s going to be the most interesting and a sort of a gamble for us,” says Whitehouse, who adds that hopes are high for building a steady audience. One step is to bring in more name acts, along with a steady line-up of local up-and-comers. “We have a bigger budget than the previous owners,” he says. “We’re looking at booking a lot of jazz, blues, folk, probably some traditional music, including Celtic and Latin bands. It’s going to be eclectic.”

To assist in booking musical acts, Red Brick is partnering with Petaluma musician and drum teacher Tracy Rose, who’s already begun scheduling bands at the venue. The restaurant’s website (redbrickrestaurants.com) will soon be including an online calendar of upcoming acts.

“We have a lot of plans for Red Brick,” says Whitehouse, “and building a good, vibrant music scene here is just one of them. Let’s see what we can do.”

Kids participate in hands-on menorah-making workshop at OSH: On Sunday, Dec. 10, 45 kids of all ages, from toddlers to teens, gathered at Orchard Supplies Hardware store in Petaluma, to build their own brightly colored wooden menorahs. Used in the celebration of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, the candle holders are designed to hold eight candles, one for each day of the Festival of Lights.

“It was a lot of fun, and the kids made some wonderful menorahs,” says Rabbi Dovid Bush, of the Chabad Jewish Center, which co-sponsored the event with OSH. “Kids love Hanukkah, anyway, because it’s a very exciting holiday, because there’s fire, you’re lighting a menorah, there are tasty treats. It was amazing to give them an opportunity to have such a hands on connection of the holiday.”

Last week’s ‘Star Wars’ fan event crashes and burns: Last Thursday night, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m., Boulevard Cinemas in Petaluma hosted a celebratory event that turned out to not be so celebratory. Succinctly titled “The ‘Star Wars’ Fan Event,’ it featured one of the very first screenings the new movie ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’ and including free popcorn, ‘Star Wars’ trading cards, and a special pre-film short offering a message from the movie’s director, Rian Johnson. Unfortunately, just like the Rebellion’s desperate attempts to escape the sinister First Order, the planned celebration hit a few snags. “The movie stopped twice and we had to re-watch 15 minutes of it each time,” posted ‘Star Wars’ fan Robyn NiConney, on the Press Democrat’s Facebook page. “Not the right crowd to have problems with,” she added, calling the event “an awful experience.”

Noting that the management gave attendees free movie passes to make up for the epic disappointment the sold-out crowd endured, NiConney added, “It was memorable, anyway.”

(Have a BUZZ item to suggest. Write to David Templeton at david.templeton@arguscourier.com)