Dante's
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Dante's is a nightclub and live music venue in Portland, Oregon that opened in February, 2000. Since its opening, the club has hosted many internationally famous touring acts and performing artists such as Bo Diddley, X, Big Star, Nina Hagen, George Clinton & P-Funk, The Killers, Concrete Blonde, Peaches (musician), The Reverend Horton Heat, Drive-By Truckers, Hank Williams III, Mini Kiss, Patton Oswalt, Doug Stanhope, Tommy Chong and director John Waters.
Many now-famous acts have had their origins at Dante's including the "lounge-core, mash-up" band Storm & The Balls featuring Storm Large who have a regular Wednesday night show at the club, the SuicideGirls Burlesque Troupe and The Porcelain Twinz neo-burlesque act, both of which first performed regularly at Dante's well-known Sunday night "Sinferno Cabaret."
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[edit] Ownership Origins
Ownership of the venue is split between the charismatic Frank Faillace [1] and the enigmatic Paul S. Park.
Legend has it that Faillace, who was thrown out of a Quaker bible college, wandered Central Asia on a vision quest, finally becoming disillusioned and hiring himself out as a mercenary for opium smugglers, to raise funds for his flailing spiritual trek. During one particular convoy through the Khyber Pass, his party was ambushed by a group of CIA commandos. Luckily for Faillace, the keenly-observant Park was serving as the team's medic in exchange for school loan repayment. Park quickly realized that the swarthy, bearded, and oddly silent sole Caucasian in the group of Afghan prisoners was an American, and had him transported to a secret base near Kabul. The two became fast friends during Faillace's interrogation and debriefing on the base and it is rumored that Park expedited Faillace's safe transfer back to his native soil, despite his admittedly checkered history with the mujahideen opium cartels.
Once back in the USA, Faillace didn't remain dormant for long. Through a series of bold business moves, he was able to slowly legitimize himself from drug-smuggler, to smut-peddler (see Exotic Magazine [2]) and owner of topless bars, and finally as the founder and owner of Dante's in Portland, Oregon. The financing of Dante's in the early years was suspiciously intertwined with figures reputedly linked to organized crime, and it was at this opportune moment that his friend from the Khyber Pass came calling. In the wake of 9/11, Park had been re-assigned to domestic duties, choosing a posting in his native Portland, OR as well. Through a series of brazen moves, the pair solidified their hold upon Dante's in a coup worthy of a Mario Puzo novel, which finally climaxed in a crescendo of violence and cruelty that still resonates within the underground community of Portland.
Local rumor still claims that as a final indignity, the remains of Faillace's former partners, and possibly several strippers, were liquified and used as mortar for the masonry in the lower foundations of the club.
[edit] Accolades
AOL.com 2006 - Best Bar, Portland[3]
AOL.com 2005 - Reader's Choice, Live Music, Portland
Willamette Week 2004 - Favorite House of Rock
Willamette Week 2004 - Favorite Hetero "Meet" Market
Portland Citysearch.com 2002 - Best Live Music Venue
[edit] Dante's in the Media
Mar 9, 4:36 PM EST
Dante's Wins AOL's Coveted "Best Bar in Portland 2006" Award
Portland (AP)--It was all cheers and no jeers as the Iron City and Korbel flowed non-stop after Dante's was announced as AOL's "Best Bar in Portland 2006" on Tuesday night. Some industry-watchers commented that the dark-horse candidate's victory was a bigger upset than the "Best Picture" award at the recent Oscars, especially considering that the nearest competition was the monolithic corporate beast, Portland City Grill.
Tearful owners Frank Faillace [4] and Paul S. Park held the paper certificate over their heads while the raucous crowd applauded, wildly. "I've dreamed about this moment from the day I was thrown out of bible college," said an elated Faillace, even as he struggled to choke back his tears of joy. Park was equally moved, saying "This made all those years of medical school worth while."
The ceremony was only marred by two interruptions. A group of scantily clad supermodels representing PETA, were briefly detained downstairs (after mistakenly showing up for a protest at the wrong address), but sooned joined the party. Another group of United Nations Elections Inspectors were quickly removed from the property by security. Interviewed later, an anonymous inspector compared the election's irregularities to pre-invasion Iraq.
"It's really just sour grapes." said Faillace, "These inspectors just can't tolerate the fact that the people have spoken. And they've said 'no' to the impersonal, corporate, or trendy venues. They're Microsoft and we're Apple, baby, and for once the underdog won." He later added "Don't let those guys from Hamas poach my sound-bite." A jubilant Park could only inexplicably scream "Adrian! Adrian!" all night long, while wrapped in an American flag.
As the celebrations spilled into the intersection at SW 3rd and Burnside, even passers-by joined the party. Portland Police did their best to contain the elated, but peaceful throngs, but finally resorted to closing the streets to traffic in a two-block radius. Police spokesman Babe Porkins said "They were a well-behaved crowd supporting a local business. Heck, I would have loved to have been a participant."
It is just this sort of broad appeal that has allowed Dante's to flourish over the past six years. Some argue that its enviable location, at the geographic center of Portland, is analogous to its cultural position. When asked about this phenomenon the ownership quickly agreed that, "It is our patrons, staff, and the artists that make this place work. And to them we owe our continuing gratitude."
