For the last five years fans of grunge, heavy metal and punk rock have converged on a small club called the Black Thorn in the North Central Bronx. We're sorry to say that owner Nickey Camp has decided to close the club, saying the loss of the club's profitability in the once thirsty neighborhood can no longer sustain his club. Norwood, a community that had once supported two-dozen bars thanks to the large Irish population, now has a handful of bars on the strip as the Irish community has migrated to Woodlawn and Yonkers.

     Black Thorn's final show was held unannounced on Friday, July 27. Bands at the final show included No Way Out, id, Daily's Gone Wild and Homicide High. Outside the club and speaking over the blaring music, Camp said, "It's been a great five years but now there's not enough interest to support Rock N' Roll seven nights a week. It's over." He added problems with the community as well as local police solidified his decision to close.

     Mike Forte of Yonkers, the lead singer of the band No Way Out, which was playing its fifth date at the club, said after his set, "It sucks, but what are you going to do. It was a real good run and we always have an awesome time playing here." He added that venues that play "hard-core" in the Bronx now total zero. With a ten-dollar cover charge split between the bands and the club, these guys are definitely not in it for the easy money.

     Carlos Aguilera, a bartender at the club stated, "I just came back three weeks ago but I was here when they opened. I'm gonna miss this place, I had a lot of fun but I'm not going to miss the drive and paying the tolls from Queens." Luckily, Carlos has two other jobs so he's not too worried but stated that one of the problems with the local club scene is that people don't want to travel for music unless it's an MTV favorite, whom they don't mind traveling into Manhattan and shelling out $40 to see.

     About 60 music fans turned out for the final show but most left early or stayed for a specific band. Meanwhile, 'Homicide High' was ripping up the place with their high-octane guitar and pounding beat as "Terminator 2" was playing on two televisions. Greg, Faygo, Ricky and Danny of Homicide High' shared the spotlight during their final show at the Black Thorn by inviting two friends to sing some of their songs. After their set singer Faygo Joe told the audience, "Catch you all later, see you around."

     "It's my first time at the club but I've been following this band for about eight months," recalled Morris Park resident Melissa Masullo, who was there to see the Morris Park-based band "id." She continued, "I was so surprised to find a rock club in the Bronx. I've lived here for two years and I never knew about this place." She added that she usually travels to Manhattan to see bands like this. The group opened with the intro from "The Gambler" before they broke into their own music and the singer would fall to the floor and go into convulsions.

     Black Thorn soundman Andy McVey called the final show, "uneventful," before adding, "We went out with a whisper. I hope somebody that owns a club will pick up the reins for rock at least one night a week." He went on to say that thanks to the Black Thorn, bands have been coming out of the woodwork. McVey also said that if one band from the local scene could land a recording contract, the Bronx could become a hotbed for the music scene, such as what happened in Seattle after Nirvana's first record.

     So now with a ton of local bands such as Tru Smoke Diesel, Pinwheel, and the underage but extremely talented The Kezzners, who borrowed the name from their teacher at school, it now appears these young, talented musicians have no place in the Bronx to play even though the "club scene" appears to be booming.

     Free summer concerts in the borough have been plentiful thanks to concert series hosted by Borough President Fernando Ferrer, Senator Guy Vellela and Assemblyman Jeff Klein although during all of those shows only one band, Alive and Kickin can be classified as modern rock. New clubs such as the Velvet Lounge on Westchester Avenue continue to open but most of the new clubs continue to play "dance music".

     The area's only free public rock concert this year was a Sting show, held recently in Central Park, which was limited to a select few thousand people. Large concert events such as The Warped Tour that boasted such acts as Alien Ant Farm, New Found Glory, and Rancid or the upcoming Smoke Out with Cypress Hill continues to draw crowds to Manhattan, Jones Beach or Randall's Island. Other all-day events such as Lollapalooza have folded. This past weekend the 17th annual Wigstock was held for possibly the final time, organizers say, due to the show's costly production.

     Established oldies groups such as the Capris, the Belmontsand the Velvatones continue to return to the borough and have no problem drawing good crowds as they do in the rest of the country. Pete Crotty of the band id admitted, "Even our friends from Manhattan don't come up to the Bronx." Although id has been playing together for a year and-a-half, their final show at the Black Thorn was only their second show at the club. Crotty had hoped to gain a following here and sadly added, "But now there is no venue in the Bronx that caters to Rock N' Roll or original music."

     One thing that may have doomed the Black Thorn, many bands contend, was the rule that a band would have to draw its own crowd or get bumped to a later time. Secondly, many club owners demand a slice of the gate for providing the amplifiers. Many musicians tell horror stories of not getting paid or even having bar tabs and owing the bar money after the show. In order for an outside promoter to make it, he must promise and deliver a sold-out show for the club owner, which is what Camp has done at the Limelight for several years.

     Despite the upcoming closing of the club Wetlands, rock clubs in Manhattan such as CBGB's, Kenny's Castaways, Hard Rock Cafe or the Roseland Ballroom continue to thrive with more popular bands that haven't quite "made it". Chris Macauly, the manager of id, told us, "Now there are no other venues in the Bronx now that the Black Thorn has closed, but we'll continue to look for new venues." The Kezzners seem to be about the only group around that has no problem getting gigs by playing their school, Luca's Pizza on Bruckner Boulevard or you can occasionally catch them playing in front of Frank Bee's on E. Tremont Avenue.

     During his final show Camp explained, "You have to open seven days as a bar with music on the weekends," before describing the neighborhood of Norwood as, "Shot." His club had experimented with Hip Hop on Saturday nights and experienced trouble. "Once an incident happens they (the police) put you on a list forever, and you can't get off it," said Camp. He concluded, "Any place that serves alcohol is going to have trouble," as he mentioned the recent closing of the Green Isle across the street, adding that the landlord sold the building after a recent brawl broke up the bar. He recalled other such incidents at the nearby Derby Pub. "It's the bar business," he says.

     Despite Camp's claim that he was never cited for under-age drinking, two independent sources say the club was in fact raided about a month before its final closing. Sources also say Camp's business partner or friend was a police officer and often showed his badge to quell trouble. One unconfirmed report alleges the unidentified officer was reprimanded for his past actions and threatened with termination if he did not stay away from the Black Thorn. Most nights the venue was open to everyone over 18, but patrons still had to be 21 to drink.

     "The rock scene had really just come back about a year and-a-half ago and there is an awful lot of talent out there," adds soundman McVey, who also mentioned another act 'Tru Smoke Diesel', another "regular" at the Black Thorn. He explained the public has to support the underground music scene for it to live, saying, "People from Throggs Neck and Pelham Bay don't want to travel over to Bainbridge." As Camp was greeting his customers for the final time he added, "If you get 5 years out of a club that's considered good. I have no complaints and no regrets... It's time to move on."

     A free concert was shut down this weekend by members of the NYPD. The concert at Edgewater Park was to feature the band 2-4-5, as well as the Kezzners and Lethel Injection and was organized by Eric "Meat Head" Stoltze and Deejay Paddy Boog. Police shut them down because they had not secured a proper permit despite the fact that the show had been an annual event for decades. About 150 kids were seen enjoying themselves before police arrived.

     The only way the music can survive is if the people support it. Places on the Internet, like this wonderful site, are the only way to get such information as the mainstream media is uninterested until a group sells a gazillion records. Despite the unstable Bronx music scene the Velvatones are expected to return for a show Sep. 29th in Co-op City with the Dupres and Yesterday's News and a concert at IS 192 on October 20th. For more information on that show you can log onto their web site at: Velvatones.com.

     With the soon-to-be-completed refurbishing of the Paradise Theater on the Grand Concourse, this reporter has been speaking with several promoters who are interested in stepping in for a monthly, if not a weekly, show for alternative rock, so any bands interested are invited to contact me at the e-mail address located at the end of this article.

     For concert listings and CD information on the band id go to idmusic.net. They will be performing at Downtime in Manhattan on Fri. Sep. 21 with Element Tree. For info on the band No Way Out, who performed a sold-out show this past weekend with Nitch at the Continental on 3rd Avenue, log on to their site at: NoWayOutMusic.com. A new promoter will surely step in and BANDWIDTH will be there when it happens, so stay tuned because like the Neil Young song said, Rock N' Roll can never die!

     (Editor's note: David Greene is a regular contributor to BANDWIDTH and comments or questions about this article can be sent via e-mail to: Newsaddik@aol.com.)