I was looking around to see if Dread was playing at the Red Bar on Sundays (or anytime) and see that they are not. Anyone know why?
I came across this article which is a few years old and thought i'd post:
It’s where barefoot hippies meet Burberry-clad yuppies, biker babes hang with beach bums and haute cuisine is served with a side of bluegrass.
For years, this one-time general store and current Picolo’s Restaurant and Red Bar have anchored the Panhandle artist’s enclave and celebrity hide-away of Grayton Beach.
The Red Bar is best known for its crab cakes – a recipe perfected by Belgian-born chef and co-owner Oliver Petit – its funky decor and its live music.
“People have been attracted to this area for years – artists, musicians, cooks. It was the place in the Panhandle where a band could come and do something besides covers. And this building was the center of that, it is one of the oldest buildings in the county.” said Kyle Ogle, guitarist for the popular bluegrass band Dread Clampitt, a favorite at The Red Bar.
Petit, who has co-owned the establishment with brother Phillipe for 11 years, said the decor is modeled from a night club their father once owned in Liege, Belgium. He calls the look his “tribute to pop culture.”
The ceiling of The Red Bar’s small main dining room is covered in foreign film posters, red Christmas lights adorn its walls. A silver disco ball and crystal chandeliers add light along with an illuminated plastic Santa Claus. A collection of random street signs, black and white photos, statuettes and an antique cash register add to the eclectic look. Mismatched tables and chairs are tightly packed on the worn wood floors.
Cheryl Crow and former fiance Lance Armstrong are “friends of the restaurant,” as well as NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, Petit said. Willie Nelson has hung out at The Red Bar and pop star Steve Windwood told a record producer friend about Dread Clampitt after hearing them perform there. Winwood’s friend helped the group produce a CD. Music legend San Bush, founder of the NEw Grass Revival, spent an evening oyster shucking with the band after hearing them at the bar.
Marsha Holton, an organizer of the annual Magnolia Music Festival, and acoustic event at the Spirit of Suwanne Music Park near Live Oak in northeast Florida, listened to Dread Clampitt perform live at The Red Bar and said she was hooked on the venue and the band.
Holton said Cread Clampitt’s take on traditional bluegrass stylings and the band’s original songs have been a huge hit at her festival, which marks its 10th anniversary Oct. 19-22
“I think seeing them play at The Red Bar is like seeing them play in your living room because it is so relaxed,” she said. ” I love their songs, their music, it’s happy music, it makes everyone want to get up and dance.”
Band members Ogle and Balder W.P. Saunders grew up in the area. Their songs often pay tribute to their Panhandle roots with lyrics about the ban on commercial net fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi tourists and the beauty of the white sands and turquoise waters of this region.
“Grayton Beach is like a diamond in the rough,” Saunders said.
“I’m afraid it’s all getting sterilized now. Where all of the artists have to go (north) to DeFuniak Springs to live. Where all of the bars are closing down. The people who were into the art cannot afford to live here,” he said.
Ogle refers to his childhood time in the Panhandle as “BC – before condos.”
Petit said he is trying to maintain the laid-back feel of the region’s past with his “no credit cards, no reservations” policy. The menus change daily and are written on chalkboards carried by wait staff to the tables. The dress code at the beach-front bar and restaurant is casual, diners wander ini for Sunday afternoon brunch in bikini tops, flip flops and wrapped in towels.
Petit said his menu offerings are a fusion of southern and European styles, much like The Red Bar itself. He boasts that he offers the best key lime pie in the region.
Although there are plenty of upscale boutiques and swanky restaurants catering to wealthy tourists in this increasingly exclusive region along Florida’s Scenic Highway 30-A in South Walton County, many visitors and locals such as Indiana transplant Denny Green say they prefer Petit’s eclectic gathering place.
“I love the music, and the guys who are playing the music are living the life of the music they play. I wasn’t a fan of blue-grass until I started coming here and everyone was just having fun and they were into it,” he said.
I came across this article which is a few years old and thought i'd post:
It’s where barefoot hippies meet Burberry-clad yuppies, biker babes hang with beach bums and haute cuisine is served with a side of bluegrass.
For years, this one-time general store and current Picolo’s Restaurant and Red Bar have anchored the Panhandle artist’s enclave and celebrity hide-away of Grayton Beach.
The Red Bar is best known for its crab cakes – a recipe perfected by Belgian-born chef and co-owner Oliver Petit – its funky decor and its live music.
“People have been attracted to this area for years – artists, musicians, cooks. It was the place in the Panhandle where a band could come and do something besides covers. And this building was the center of that, it is one of the oldest buildings in the county.” said Kyle Ogle, guitarist for the popular bluegrass band Dread Clampitt, a favorite at The Red Bar.
Petit, who has co-owned the establishment with brother Phillipe for 11 years, said the decor is modeled from a night club their father once owned in Liege, Belgium. He calls the look his “tribute to pop culture.”
The ceiling of The Red Bar’s small main dining room is covered in foreign film posters, red Christmas lights adorn its walls. A silver disco ball and crystal chandeliers add light along with an illuminated plastic Santa Claus. A collection of random street signs, black and white photos, statuettes and an antique cash register add to the eclectic look. Mismatched tables and chairs are tightly packed on the worn wood floors.
Cheryl Crow and former fiance Lance Armstrong are “friends of the restaurant,” as well as NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, Petit said. Willie Nelson has hung out at The Red Bar and pop star Steve Windwood told a record producer friend about Dread Clampitt after hearing them perform there. Winwood’s friend helped the group produce a CD. Music legend San Bush, founder of the NEw Grass Revival, spent an evening oyster shucking with the band after hearing them at the bar.
Marsha Holton, an organizer of the annual Magnolia Music Festival, and acoustic event at the Spirit of Suwanne Music Park near Live Oak in northeast Florida, listened to Dread Clampitt perform live at The Red Bar and said she was hooked on the venue and the band.
Holton said Cread Clampitt’s take on traditional bluegrass stylings and the band’s original songs have been a huge hit at her festival, which marks its 10th anniversary Oct. 19-22
“I think seeing them play at The Red Bar is like seeing them play in your living room because it is so relaxed,” she said. ” I love their songs, their music, it’s happy music, it makes everyone want to get up and dance.”
Band members Ogle and Balder W.P. Saunders grew up in the area. Their songs often pay tribute to their Panhandle roots with lyrics about the ban on commercial net fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi tourists and the beauty of the white sands and turquoise waters of this region.
“Grayton Beach is like a diamond in the rough,” Saunders said.
“I’m afraid it’s all getting sterilized now. Where all of the artists have to go (north) to DeFuniak Springs to live. Where all of the bars are closing down. The people who were into the art cannot afford to live here,” he said.
Ogle refers to his childhood time in the Panhandle as “BC – before condos.”
Petit said he is trying to maintain the laid-back feel of the region’s past with his “no credit cards, no reservations” policy. The menus change daily and are written on chalkboards carried by wait staff to the tables. The dress code at the beach-front bar and restaurant is casual, diners wander ini for Sunday afternoon brunch in bikini tops, flip flops and wrapped in towels.
Petit said his menu offerings are a fusion of southern and European styles, much like The Red Bar itself. He boasts that he offers the best key lime pie in the region.
Although there are plenty of upscale boutiques and swanky restaurants catering to wealthy tourists in this increasingly exclusive region along Florida’s Scenic Highway 30-A in South Walton County, many visitors and locals such as Indiana transplant Denny Green say they prefer Petit’s eclectic gathering place.
“I love the music, and the guys who are playing the music are living the life of the music they play. I wasn’t a fan of blue-grass until I started coming here and everyone was just having fun and they were into it,” he said.