Erratic ARO.space on road to recovery

For a minute there, ARO.space went Whitney Houston on us.

When it opened in March of 1998, ARO.space - transformed from the legendary Moe's - instantly became the diva of Seattle nightclubs. Run by the Tasty Shows people, the chic club on Capitol Hill was packed on most nights, particularly on Saturdays, when it attracted a mostly gay audience.

DJs spun house music on Thursdays through Sundays, and Tasty Shows booked terrific touring acts (the Latin Playboys, Public Enemy, Joi).

Things started changing in late December, when the club was sold to Kay Kim, a businessman with no prior nightclub experience. After outbidding Bob Davis to buy the club, Kim promised the club would stay the same, with "little changes."

ARO spent the month of January all over the place, as erratic and flaky as Houston (who also has been having trouble staying focused lately). Attendance dropped drastically.

After less than a month of ownership, Kim - who could not be reached for this article - threw in the towel. "Within a week he decided it wasn't his cup of tea," says Davis, who ended up buying the club, after all. He closed the deal on purchasing ARO on Feb. 15.

Davis opened Giggles in 1985, eventually selling the University District comedy club in 1998. He admits "I'm still learning about the music business," and hired Scott Stanley to do the booking at ARO.

Davis and Stanley now have the club open five nights a week, with a fixed lineup.

Wednesdays: "Blend," a mixture of electronic, jazz and hip-hop artists. (This week, the Knitting Factory's Graham Haynes performed with England's State of Bengal.)

Thursdays: Currently funk and hip-hop DJs, likely to change in the future.

Fridays: Salsa/Latin house. Nueva Era, from Southern California, plays tonight for Cinco de Mayo (10 p.m., $10).

Saturdays: Touring house DJs. Duane Harden and Davey Gold, both from the house-music label Strictly Rhythm, spin this Saturday (10 p.m., $13).

Sundays: Hip-hop with DJ Funkdaddy, the lone holdover from 1999.

Stanley, a former club DJ who runs SOV Entertainment, has big plans for ARO. "I love live music just as much as electronic," he says, vowing to book more local bands, possibly with Mondays being a showcase night. This is particularly promising, as one of the biggest criticisms of ARO.space has been that it virtually ignored local musicians.

Davis says he will be putting money back into the Euro-disco club, which has become a bit rundown of late. There are repairs to be done on another level, too: "We're trying to overcome some of the negative vibes," Davis says.

Stanley recently met with gay community leaders, and says, "I'm interested in getting the gay community back in here."

He says he'll be booking special events for Gay Pride, and thinks Thursdays will eventually become a gay-themed night at ARO.

Davis and Stanley have a long way to go, considering the intense competition, particularly evident on Saturday nights. With Tasty Shows booking hot DJs on the "Lick It" Saturday nights, I-Spy has become the "in" club that ARO.space used to be. And the Showbox's "Dedicated" Saturday dance nights draw consistently big houses.

Drum-and-bass club opens

Seattle has its first club devoted exclusively to drum-and-bass, the high beats-per-minute dance music. The club is Ghetto Technologies, an 18-and-over venue opening tonight on Capitol Hill at 722 E. Pike St. - the site of the Beat Box, a dance club that has been closed for more than a year.

The promoter-manager of Ghetto Technologies is Marcus Lalario, who has been promoting the popular drum-and-bass Tuesday nights at the nearby Baltic Room. Lalario also was associated with Beat Box, but he said that club was "kind of dark and dirty - it wasn't really my thing." Investors have put up quite a bit of money for a sleek redesign of the club, which will also be a record and clothing store.

Tonight, Ghetto Technologies has imported two U.K. DJs, Fierce and MC Rhyme Time. Admission is $10, and the club will be open from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. The cover and hours are the same on Saturday.

Cat Power intriguing, but from afar

Cat Power returns to Seattle for two shows at the Crocodile Cafe on Sunday (5:30 p.m. all-ages, 9 p.m. 21-and-over show; $10 advance, $12 at the door).

Cat Power is powered by Chan Marshall, the dark, enigmatic singer-songwriter from New York. Sometimes she plays guitar and sings by herself, sometimes she has a backing musician or two.

When I hear a Cat Power song on the radio, I am inevitably intrigued, entertained, taken to a different world. The deconstruction of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" (from Cat Power's new album of covers) is sensational, heard from a safe distance.

Up close and personal, it's a different story. I have seen Marshall/Cat Power live twice, and found the shows to be just on the sunny side of torture. A typical song of hers is so slow and deliberate, you wonder if you will die of natural causes before it has ended.

Perhaps the best way to listen to her would be the cat position, curled up on a comfortable couch. Standing, in a packed club? The thought makes me arch my back.

Tom Scanlon can be reached at 206-464-3891 or tscanlon@seattletimes.com.