Rain spatters like gravel against the half-opened windows of the upstairs club at Avondale Towne Cinema.
A pulsing fog of harmony radiates from the makeshift stage where two musicians are playing lap steel and theremin.
The crowd is packed cheek-to-jowl into the hot, clammy room, and, surprisingly, the listeners are entranced by this ambient, experimental music from Scott Burland and Frank Schultz.
“We don’t have this in Atlanta anymore, and we need this,” says Steve May, former co-owner of rock venue 688, settled halfway back in the room, under Chinese lanterns.
May sees plenty of his old customers in this tiny club, plus many of the folks that played on his stage in the 1980s, including Murray Attaway of Guadalcanal Diary, Tom Gray of the Brains and, of course, the headliner for the evening, Clay Harper.
Harper, pizza magnate, perennial creator of songs and bands, first made a splash in the 1980s with the Coolies, playing hard rock versions of the delicate songs of Simon & Garfunkel. He's been in a variety of settings since then — playing rock 'n' roll in the Ottoman Empire, white rap in Def Mute — but this evening's ensemble offers a very different sound. It's hushed and reflective, with a Curtis Mayfield edge. Acoustic bass, guitar and keyboards provide restrained accompaniment to Harper's murmured vocals.
His performance caps the fourth of five Tuesday nights at the Avondale club, evenings of music and interviews curated by Harper. They are meant to celebrate his modest-sized collection of new songs, released in an album called "Bleak Beauty." (The last edition of this pop-up salon will take place Tuesday, May 29.)
“I appreciate that those songs that he’s been doing, they’re real laid-back, almost kind of quiet,” said Jay Wiggins, who, in his rough-hewn alter ego, Muleskinner MacQueen, performed a few murder ballads on the inaugural Tuesday night, May 1. “It’s like there are no up-tempo, upbeat songs to throw a bone to the crowd. He’s just doing what he wants to do.”
The somber tone mirrors events in Harper's life. In the fall of 2015, his partner of 20 years, Stephanie Gwinn, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Six month later, after five surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy, she died.
“You feel sorry for the person you used to be,” he said recently. “We were naive, we were trying so hard, and we never had a chance.”
The loss colors the material in “Bleak Beauty,” from the somber string trio playing the instrumental “Stephanie Sleeps” to the lyrics of “I’m Not High”:
It’s me again/I’ll hold your hand/I’ll be your man forever/But you sigh and then/Squeeze my hand/Say what if I don’t get better.
Until 2015, Harper’s life seemed on the upswing. He and Mike Nelson opened their first Fellini’s Pizza in 1982. There are seven Fellini’s locations now, and four La Fonda Latina restaurants featuring Latin/Mexican food. In addition to operating a successful restaurant chain, Harper has done well in real estate, and owns houses in Atlanta and Northern France.
But he's never lost the urge to keep creating. Some of his newest work was not well-received. He opened for Todd Rundgren at the Variety Playhouse a few years ago, and his presentation included pre-recorded conversations from a phone sex-chat service. It wasn't warmly embraced. The crowd started chanting, "Todd Rundgren now!"
“The drummer said, ‘Clay, they’re going to throw bottles,’” said Harper. “It looked like an English soccer crowd.”
The scene at the Towne Cinema has been more welcoming. Harper’s band — Marshall Ruffin on guitar, Chris Case on keyboards and Jordan Dayan on bass — is stellar, and not too proud to stop in the middle and start a tune over again if Harper screws up.
“The songs are great,” said Dayan, who has played in many settings, from Cuban to jazz. “It comes out of the soul, R&B vein, but then there’s going to be some Velvet Underground in it, or something else.”
Harper seems happy about the outcome. “I’ve been loving the five Tuesdays in May,” he said. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to everybody involved. It’s really been good, keeping things at a reasonable hour with a reasonable amount of time for people to see each other.”
See Harper’s Facebook page for information about “Bleak Beauty”: www.facebook.com/clay.harper.75839.
CONCERT PREVIEW
Clay Harper
8 p.m. Tuesday, May 29. $5. Avondale Towne Cinema, 106 N. Avondale Road, Avondale Estates. mytownecinema.com.
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