As of December 18, Milestones, the longstanding downtown live-music club at 170 East Avenue, will be operating under a new owner: local musician and club manager Joe Gizzie.
Michael O’Leary has
run the club for 13 years. But, he says, it was time for a change.
“I’ve known for a
while that Milestones needs a new energy,” O’Leary said last week. “I just
haven’t been focused on providing that energy. Every once in a while, it’s time
to move on. It needs a facelift and it needs a new energy, and that’s what Joe
has in mind.”
Gizzie has been
general manager at a number of Rochester night spots, including Barfly, Karma, Tonic, and Pearl, but none of these places featured live entertainment
regularly. Gizzie also fronts the band The Back Porch Poets.
“Honestly, I’m a
huge, huge, huge music fan,” Gizzie says. “I absolutely love hearing original
music.”
Gizzie will
eventually rename the club High Fidelity, but he plans to keep Milestones’ live-music
format. This was important for O’Leary, who says he wanted to make sure
Milestones wound up in the right hands.
O’Leary, who bought
the club in early 1994, brought in national talent and showcased local music.
And it became a staple in a fickle nightlife market and in a neighborhood that,
at the time, wasn’t vibrant.
Originally located at
50 East
Avenue,
Milestones was forced to move in 1995 to make way for the new Appellate Court
building. At the time, County Executive Jack Doyle assured the public that the
influx of lawyers would revitalize the neighborhood.
“That was a tough and
ugly time,” O’Leary says.
But he withstood that
adversity and the ups and downs associated with running a live-music venue.
“Having a club,
especially a live-music club, for 13 years is a little bit of a feat, I think,”
he says.
Milestones introduced
acts like Duncan Sheik, Ani DiFranco, Asylum Street Spankers, and Southern
Culture on the Skids to Rochester. Big-name nationals mounted the Milestones bandstand as
well, including ex-J. Geils front man Peter Wolf, whose incendiary show in 1995
will go down as one of O’Leary’s favs.
The legends stopped
by, too: Bo Diddley was O’Leary’s first big show.
“That was pretty
exciting,” he says. “He was a character, to say the least.”
But Milestones’ real
championing was of local artists. Countless Rochester bands (this writer’s, included) honed their chops and built
their fan base at Milestones. If O’Leary had time to book a swan-song gig, he
says, it would star two long-gone hometown acts.
“If I could put a
dream show together as my last show, it’d be Koo Koo Boy and Big Roots,” he
says.
O’Leary says he has
enjoyed watching the area boom.
“I think seeing the East End evolve from what it was 15 years ago — not the greatest
of neighborhoods — to now, where it’s a neighborhood that can sell $600,000
condominiums: that’s a pretty big change, and I’m glad to have been a part of
that.”
But O’Leary isn’t out.
He plans to open a new place nearby: the Temple Bar and Grille, at 109 East Avenue, formerly the Eastman Lounge. You’ll have to get your
groove on to the Temple’s jukebox, though.
“As part of my
agreement, I won’t be doing any live music,” he says. “I’ll still be doing
festivals and live events. I’ll still be part of the East End committee. I wanna make sure the East End Festivals
continue. I’ll still be doing Party in the Park and other events for the city.”
Milestones will
continue to operate under its old name until Gizzie finishes renovations, which
will include a new, bigger bar, new sound, and an improved stage. He’ll unveil
the spot as High Fidelity in early February.
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2006.
