Earlier this month news broke that shuttered Somerville rock club Radio could have new life as Thunder Road, a proposed live music venue from longtime booking agent Dan Millen of Rock On Concerts and former Harpers Ferry co-owner Charles Abel. Tonight, the pair, doing business as Chelsea-based Chuckmaster Entertainment, will go before the Somerville Licensing Commission in hopes of securing a liquor license.
The hearing is at Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Ave., on the second floor ward alderman room, and starts at 6 p.m.
The meeting is open to the public, and Millen is hoping for a crowd.
“It’d be great if you could come down and speak your mind either on our behalf or against us; we hope it’s the former, of course,” he wrote in an email over the weekend. “While the city’s Economic Development Office is likely going to recommend that they table a decision on approving or disproving the license until September’s meeting, it’s still important that members of the music community and residents of Somerville voice their opinions.
Millen added: “Y’never know, they may grant us the license anyway, as it’s at the licensing commission’s discretion whether to ‘yeah’ or ‘nay.'”
Radio, located at 379 Somerville Ave. just outside Union Square, closed for good in November 2013 after an electrical fire caused damage to the two-floor venue. In February, the liquor license was expected to change hands, and since then, everything from a regular bar to rock club to Paint Nite art space have been rumored to fill its void. Paint Nite had successfully purchased Radio’s liquor license from former owner Aimee McGrath, but have utilized it in a different space in Somerville.
Chuckmaster Entertainment would be seeking a separate, available permit from the city to sell alcohol at Thunder Road.