Dude, A Pearl Is Gone.

You will never know what your inbox will contain when you wake up in the morning. This morning I got a message from my friend Marcus Mote with the heading "Pearl is closing". I read that they will be ending a 4 year plus run at the end of the week with Mike Morgan on the 8th.

I have to admit there have been times when I have read or heard that a club was closing and really didn't care but that is not the case with Pearl. Because of my duties as a father I didn't make it out to Pearl probably as much as I should have. I played a few gigs there and went to see a few acts also. Rick Yost was usually at the door and his wife Tracy was back by the sound board. Rick was always good for a laugh and an inside joke while Tracy always listened to my rants about the latest political happenings. It had all the good things a club should have along with great bartenders and parking. And I always liked showing people the proximity of the Dallas City Courthouse and the fact that a mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald was driven right past the club on his way to Parkland Hospital.

Pearl had the problems any venue would have downtown but that didn't stop many from attending shows by local artists or national ones either. Now that it will no longer be open those national acts will have to pass through Big "D" without stopping. Not a good thing for local Blues fans.

And one last thing, Rick and Tracy truly loved the music and the artists. Sure they always had to look at the bottom line in order to survive and those of us with half a brain understood that, but plenty of times they let people and KNON use the club for benefits. Their hearts were always in the right place.

So thanks Rick and Tracy Yost for treating me like a human being and not just some other guy who wanted a gig.........oh yeah, and thanks for contributing to Dallas' Blues history.

Pearl will be missed.....