By Brennen Jensen, baltimore City Paper, 12/6/2000
For the better part of a decade, the boarded-up Congress Hotel has loomed over the 300 block of West Franklin street like a shabby ghost. It's the seven-story equivalent of Miss Havisham's moldy wedding cake, a heap of decorative curlicues and flourishes mired in neglect and lorded over by rats. A long-shuttered nightspot lies in the basement of this 97-year-old hostelry, eight granite steps beneath Franklin Street. Descend those steps, pass through a rusty metal door, and you're in a dim, cavernous room punctuated by 10 stout columns.
“What can I get you?” a voice calls out from the gloom. It's LesLee Anderson. Sporting a voluminous head of blond hair, she stands behind a marble bar stretching some 70 feet along the north side of the room.
Continue reading “Glory Hole” at Baltimore City Paper: http://citypaper.kctechworks.com/story.php?id=3556.
OMITED FROM ITS HISTORY WASTHE REBIRTH WHEN MY BROTHER WADED THRGGU AFOOT OF MUCK AND WATER FILLED WITH OLD 40S ERA RADIOS, NO WHERE IS THE HISTORY BEFORE THER PUNKS TOOK OVER.
THE DAYS THAT MUDDY WATERS PLAYED THERE IN THE 70’S MY BROTHER WAS ASKED TO SIT IN WITH MUDDY SOMETHING TYHAT WAS A GREAT MJOMENT IN HISTORY AND THE HOUSE BAND FOR BLUES PLAYING BASS FOR SCOTT CUNNINGHAM BLUES BAND WAS THEN OWNER OF BLUE SEAS RECORDING STUDIO OWNER FROM LOVING SPOONFUL, STEVE BOONE ON BASS WITH GUY PHILLIPS ON LEAD SCOTT ALSO PLAYED LEAD IN THE BLUES GROUP BUT TYHERE WAS ALSO JAZZ WHERE BILLY COLE ON PIANO
CHARLEY BYRD PLAYED THERE, GIRL FROM IPANEMA.
SCOTT OWNED THE CLUB WHEN TALKING HEADS PLAYED ANDBRAND X WERE BIG CONCERTS. THERE WE HOSTED NBRQ AND THE CHARLOTTESVILLE ALL STARS LITTLE FEET WERE RECORDING AT BLUE SEAS RECORDING STUDIO WHERE AFTER THE GIG MUSICIAN GATHED TO JAM JUST JUST HAPPENED TO BE STATE OF ART 1977 STUDIO DESIGN BY HOPKINS ELECTRICAL GENIUS THAT CODED HIS WORK SO ONLY HE COULD REPAIR THE MIXING BOARD USING ONLY GRAY WIRE.
Hi, Rory,
Thanks for adding to the Marble Bar story. Not sure if you saw my original piece as its been offline for a long time. It’s back now here:
http://citypaper.kctechworks.com/story.php?id=3556
I did cover much of the history before the punks. I spoke with your brother. But the place has SO many stories. Maybe I should do an update. -Brennen