Chas Crowder has been a music booking agent in Santa Cruz for nearly 25 years. He's booked the bands for the summer concerts at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, among booking other local gigs. Now, Crowder is revitalizing the Atrium — a smaller, more intimate space in the Catalyst, a legendary venue in downtown Santa Cruz.
He's doing this while the future of the Catalyst is up in the air. A development company has plans to replace it with a seven-story multi-use complex, although the current lease on the performance space doesn't expire until 2028.
Meanwhile, Crowder is booking a variety of local and traveling musicians. I spoke with him
recently about the new schedule of concerts at the Atrium, and I began by asking Crowder how he got his start in concert promotion:
"Well, it actually started in Alabama. My mother's a professional musician. She's in the Alabama Blues Hall of Fame, so I grew up in a blues recording studio a little way from Muscle Shoals. And I used to ride on the back of the bus with her and go to shows. I've been going to bars and shows since I was a little kid. She kind of trained me to become a booking agent, and that's what I've been doing my whole life, is music and booking and events. We moved out here, and two weeks after moving here, I got a house gig at the Catalyst 24 years ago, and I became a booking agent a couple of weeks later."
Click the audio player at the top of this story to listen to the interview or read the highlights below. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Crowder on how and why he started booking new gigs at the Atrium venue in the Catalyst:
Dylan Music: From what I understand, the
Atrium shut down for a while, and now you're bringing it back?
Chas Crowder: Yeah. The owner [of the venue] called me, and he said "we're trying to get some local shows here in the Catalyst Atrium and we think you'd be great to do this...can you get us a schedule together for July?" And I said, "sure."
I booked Common People, which is this great Brit pop band, and then we're going to have local bands every Wednesday night. Some of my favorite people, Ripatti and Rose are going to be playing the last Wednesday of this month. In August [we'll have] reggae, country, classic rock, and soul funk with Alex Lucero on the 26th [of August].
Chas Crowder describing the space of the Atrium:
It's about a 400-capacity venue, give or take a few people. It's got this bar that used to be the longest bar in the state of California because it actually starts in the Atrium and wraps all the way around into the main room. There are all kinds of strange sculptures on the wall and things like that. So many great artists [have played there] over the years. Nirvana played there. Eddie Vedder [lead singer of Pearl Jam] jumped off the balcony in the main hall. Tons and tons of famous bands [played there] over the years when they were coming up.
Crowder on what's in store for the future of the Catalyst and the Atrium:
Everybody's talking about what's going on with the building and such. But we want to keep this
longstanding music tradition going on right in downtown Santa Cruz as these giant buildings are popping up. The owner of the Catalyst said
he's going to make some sort of announcement in a few months, but I've not been given that information. What I do know is he really cares
about the community and he wants to see people in there. If we do make a transition, this is the time to come support the Catalyst.
Booking agent Chaz Crowder has revitalized the Atrium concert space inside the Catalyst with
ongoing intimate concerts there. Ripatti and Rose, a rock band with hints of blues, soul, and Americana, will play there this Wednesday night. A complete list of concerts taking place there in August can be found at the Atrium at the Catalyst website.
