Hammerjacks

Hammerjacks, Baltimore's shrine to big hair, loud dresses and heavy metal, is plotting a comeback. An Anne Arundel County man has bought the trademark to sell Hammerjacks-related merchandise. And, he said he's negotiating with developers for a new branded club near the planned Baltimore slots casino off Russell Street. His plans are the second time a revival of the iconic megaclub has been attempted since it closed in 1997; a 2000 reincarnation failed to win over the original's legions of fans, which included, over the years, the likes of Bret Michaels and the classy lady pictured above.  Kevin Butler, a 47-year-old mortgage executive from Anne Arundel County, was a regular at the Howard Street location of Hammerjacks; the club originally opened in 1977 on South Charles Street, but it was the club under an Interstate 395 overpass that became iconic.

UPDATE: Alas, it's not her. "Not even close," according to spokesman Ryan O'Doherty. Oh well. I'm sure Rawlings-Blake threw down back in the day. Just not in this photo. Take a look at the woman in the turquoise shirt at the bottom left-hand corner of this photo. Is it current Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, partying at Hammerjacks in 1997? The resemblance is striking. The photo is dated March 28, 1997 -- less than two months before they tore town the iconic Baltimore club.

UPDATE: Alas, it's not her. "Not even close," according to spokesman Ryan O'Doherty. Oh well. I'm sure Rawlings-Blake threw down back in the day. Just not in this photo. Take a look at the woman in the turquoise shirt at the bottom left-hand corner of this photo. Is it current Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, partying at Hammerjacks in 1997? The resemblance is striking. The photo is dated March 28, 1997 -- less than two months before they tore town the iconic Baltimore club.

Hammerjacks, Baltimore's shrine to big hair, loud dresses and heavy metal, is plotting a comeback. An Anne Arundel County man has bought the trademark to sell Hammerjacks-related merchandise. And, he said he's negotiating with developers for a new branded club near the planned Baltimore slots casino off Russell Street. His plans are the second time a revival of the iconic megaclub has been attempted since it closed in 1997; a 2000 reincarnation failed to win over the original's legions of fans, which included, over the years, the likes of Bret Michaels and the classy lady pictured above.  Kevin Butler, a 47-year-old mortgage executive from Anne Arundel County, was a regular at the Howard Street location of Hammerjacks; the club originally opened in 1977 on South Charles Street, but it was the club under an Interstate 395 overpass that became iconic.

Brian May of Queen will be at Hammerjacks Friday. The free show will kick off WIYY-FM's 16th anniversary celebration, Don Wehner of Upfront Productions announced yesterday. Mr. May, who has been touring with Guns N' Roses, will play Queen material. His band includes Cozy Powell, Spike Edney, Neil Murray, and Jamie Moss. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the show begins at 10 p.m. Call (410) 659-ROCK for more information.

A concert venue and club could open this summer at the former Hammerjacks nightclub, a Baltimore icon of heavy metal and rock that closed nearly two years ago to make way for a development now stalled in the housing slump. The new club, Bourbon Street Live, would occupy both floors of the Hammerjacks building at 316 Guilford Ave. and feature live music, said James J. Temple Jr., an attorney who served for many years as legal counsel to the old nightclub and who is planning to operate the new club.

Louis J. Principio Jr., a founder of Hammerjacks, the South Baltimore nightclub and concert hall, died at St. Agnes Hospital Tuesday of cancer. He was 67 and lived on Oakland Terrace Road in Arbutus.A mass of Christian burial for Mr. Principio will be offered at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Roman Catholic Church of the Ascension, Potomac and Poplar avenues in Halethorpe.A native Baltimorean, he became a partner in the business, which now concentrates on concerts in its building at 1101 S. Howard St., when it opened as a tavern on South Charles Street in the late 1970s.

If you spend a lot of time listening to hard rock, either on the radio or in the concert hall, odds are that you think of Skid Row primarily as a party band. Sure, the band had some success with slow songs like "18 and Life" or "I Remember You," but as anyone who has ever caught their stage show knows, mostly what they do is make a lot of noise and have a lot of fun -- pretty much what you'd expect from a band specializing in songs like "Monkey Business."So if you heard that Skid Row was in town to play a benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, you might think the story was somebody's idea of a joke.

For many Baltimoreans, the name Hammerjacks evokes the big-hair, hard rockin' '80s, a time of spandex and torn jeans, mascara and mousse, black leather and pink lace. Hammerjacks was home to glam bands and hard-rock honeys, where Guns N' Roses made its local debut and Bret Michaels of Poison went to hang. It was the place to see Kix, Ratt, Skid Row or Extreme. Well, get over it, Baltimore. The new Hammerjacks is a different experience altogether. "Hammerjacks 1980 was then, and Hammerjacks 2000 is now," says Louie Principio, owner of the new club, which celebrates its grand opening tonight.

Listen to Poison's current single, "Something to Believe In," and you'll hear singer Brett Michaels lament the abundance of social injustice in America today, from homeless people starving in the streets to Vietnam vets dying lonely and forgotten. "If there's a Lord above," he sings, "please give me something to believe in."Sit down and talk with the singer, though, and it quickly becomes obvious that he does have something to believe in -- the fans."Because the fans are always there," says Michaels over the phone from his home in Los Angeles.

Baltimore police have identified one of the victims of the multiple stabbings that occurred early Saturday inside the downtown nightclub Bourbon Street. Charles Johnson , 24, died of his injuries. The three other victims were transported to local hospitals and are expected to survive, according to spokesman Detective Jeremy Silbert. Police responded at 1 a.m. to Bourbon Street, on the 300 block of Guilford Avenue, to find four men stabbed inside the club, Silbert said.

For Bret Michael, 2010 has been a year for surviving. First, the veteran frontman for the metal band Poison went on "The Celebrity Apprentice" and survived all the way to the end, winning the competition and raising more than $600,000 for diabetes research (he was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes in 1969, at age 6). During and after the show's filming, he survived several health scares, including an emergency appendectomy, a brain hemorrhage and diagnosis of a heart defect that will require surgery early next year.

A concert venue and club could open this summer at the former Hammerjacks nightclub, a Baltimore icon of heavy metal and rock that closed nearly two years ago to make way for a development now stalled in the housing slump. The new club, Bourbon Street Live, would occupy both floors of the Hammerjacks building at 316 Guilford Ave. and feature live music, said James J. Temple Jr., an attorney who served for many years as legal counsel to the old nightclub and who is planning to operate the new club.

A development plan that includes a tower to rival the city's tallest skyscrapers could mean the demolition of yet another vestige of downtown's historic architecture. Setting up what would be downtown Baltimore's third preservation face-off in less than a year, a Washington-area development team is in early talks with the city about building a mixed-use project near the end of the Jones Falls Expressway, including a tower that could rise as high as 60 stories. To make that happen, the developers would need to raze the Terminal Warehouse, an unimposing brick edifice that has stood on the Guilford Avenue site since 1894 - and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975.

Hammerjacks, once a Baltimore icon of heavy metal and rock, will close Saturday after the sale of its building to developers. The club never regained its legendary status after its reincarnation in 2000 in a two-story brick building on Guilford Avenue, where disc jockeys spinning dance club numbers and hip-hop were more common than live music. But in the days before the cavernous club under an Interstate 395 overpass was razed and paved over for Ravens stadium parking, bands such as Guns `N' Roses and the Ramones could practically make the expressway vibrate.

The fight began as a routine brawl during "teen night" at Hammerjacks nightclub in downtown Baltimore and ended days later with an 18-year-old fatally shot inside his car near Lake Clifton-Eastern High School, prosecutors say. But minutes before Reginald Gray was killed in February, court documents say, he used his cell phone to call his girlfriend -- a call that helped police arrest four suspects. He told her that if anything happened to him, it was the teenagers whom he and his friends had beat up at Hammerjacks who did it. James Edward Robinson Jr., 18, Aaron Shawn Bell, 18, Derrick Davis, 17, and Xavier Lewis, 18, pleaded not guilty yesterday to first-degree murder and numerous assault and weapons charges related to Gray's killing.

Hammerjacks, once a Baltimore icon of heavy metal and rock, will close Saturday after the sale of its building to developers. The club never regained its legendary status after its reincarnation in 2000 in a two-story brick building on Guilford Avenue, where disc jockeys spinning dance club numbers and hip-hop were more common than live music. But in the days before the cavernous club under an Interstate 395 overpass was razed and paved over for Ravens stadium parking, bands such as Guns `N' Roses and the Ramones could practically make the expressway vibrate.

This weekend marks the end of a mini era for Baltimore's ripped-jeans and leather-clad heavy metal rockers. The Thunder Dome -- which brought national heavy metal acts to Baltimore for a little more than three years -- is closing its doors. The final concert is Sunday and goes from 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. An assortment of 14 local and regional bands will play -- but the national acts that built Thunder Dome's reputation won't be there. The club was sold in September. The seller, Jerry Adcock Sr., could not be reached for comment.

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Michael S. Steele showcased their chummy rapport last night at a $20-a-ticket inaugural "jam" at the Hammerjacks nightclub in downtown Baltimore. "How's everybody doing?" Lt. Governor-elect Steele asked the crowd of several hundred people - a largely African-American turnout. But when he received only mild applause, Steele declared, "We're about to usher in the biggest change in Maryland government in 40 years and that's the best you can do? How's everybody doing?"