Do you remember that Blind Melon video from way back in the 90’s?  The one for the song  “No Rain”?  In it there is this little girl and she’s dressed as a bee, and she moves around her world kind of showing off her bee costume and doing her dance, and people just don’t get it.  But she persists and goes from place to place and in the end she never finds anyone that understands her and she sits, lonely and depressed.

And then she happens upon a big open field where  there’s dozens of people all dressed like bees, all playing and dancing around.  The “beegirl”, as she was called was positively enraptured having found her tribe after so much hoping and so much looking and trying.

That’s how I felt when I walked into Lux, the beloved Rochester bar in the South Wedge neighborhood for the first time.

To be honest, before that day I had never heard of the place, I live in Syracuse an hour away, but when Rockin’ Rochester Productions booked one of my all time favorite bands into Lux, The Fleshtones, there was no way I was going to miss that.

When I walked in, I was just beside myself that such a place existed, a warm, fun, entirely left of center kind of dive bar from Mars, just looking around I knew I had found my Rochester home.   As I looked around I saw the paintings on the walls of Monty Python, Jim Jarmusch and the faux stained glass of the sainted Joey Ramone.  There was a old school cigarette machine, you know the kind where you put your coins in and pull a lever?  Well, this one dispensed art.

A pool table, and honest to God pinball machine, board games and a backyard where people can hang out in nicer weather.

There really is no place like it, and sadly nothing even close in Syracuse.

And the place was a mix of college kids who know what’s good, aging rock n rollers (like myself) who live for the loud, three-chord magic you can only get in a room like this, LGBTQ folks who know what a safe welcoming place Lux is, neighborhood folks stopping for a beer after dinner.  Everyone was there.  I mean there were no fewer then two people in WFMU tee shirts!

And when I say everyone, I mean everyone, because I walked into a friend from Syracuse, the late great Scott Cornish was there to see the band.

Over time I would visit Lux a bunch more times, most often to see my favorite bands, Labretta Suede & The Motel Six, The Televisonaries, Cupids Boomerang and my friends Perilous all graced that tiny corner stage and every night I was there I couldn’t think of a better place in the world to be that night.

Lux is a special place.

Last night a fire destroyed Lux’s  2^nd floor.  Everyone is ok. The cat is ok. The bar itself took a ton of water and smoke damage, but the structure of the building is sound. 

Lux will rebuild and reopen but it’s going to take some time and work to get this rare jewel back in operation but when it does, I hope that first night and every night after is packed.

Lux is authentic, the real deal and in the era when everything seems so contrived and focus grouped, a place like Lux needs to exist.  A place where people who maybe don’t always fit in can find a home.  A place where the rock n roll makes the floor shake and the walls sweat.  A place where people can gather and not worry about what anyone thinks of them.

When Lux comes back it will be a celebration like no other, because we need places like Lux.

I know I’ll be there.