“This is like a New York jazz club!” exclaim visitors from up north the first time they see the Side Door Cabaret, according to Palladium Executive Director Paul Wilborn.
It’s true. Like such legendary boîtes as the Village Vanguard, Side Door is small, dark and intimate, with cabaret tables, a 185-person capacity, and no seats too far from the stage. It’s also underground, sort of: You enter from the main lobby of the Palladium and descend the stairs to the ground level. (When the Palladium began hosting jazz downstairs in 2004, patrons entered through a side door facing Third Street; that proved problematic, says Wilborn, “but the name stuck.”)
The Palladium was once a Christian Science Church, and the Side Door was its Sunday school. The building was purchased by a team of civic-minded ’Burgers in 1998 for the purposes of establishing it as a performing arts center that, unlike the Straz or Ruth Eckerd, would cater to local artists. St. Petersburg College took over the facilty in 2007, and shortly thereafter hired Wilborn to run the place. With his experience as journalist, performer and one-time City of Tampa arts czar, he has proven to be the ideal guy for the job. This past season, he says, was the Palladium’s “best financial year ever,” with big crowds drawn to the 850-seat Hough Hall for events like the Palladium Chamber Players series and the St. Petersburg Opera season, while increasing numbers discovered the Side Door.
Ranging from jazz to blues to Broadway, the Side Door’s programming places special emphasis on “people who are on the rise,” says Wilborn. He remembers blues artist Selwyn Birchwood’s first concert drawing just 40 people; now he’s selling out and charting on Billboard. Bluesman Damon Fowler and jazz guitarist Nate Najar are among the other Side Door mainstays whose stars have risen.
Fran Snyder, founder of the Listening Room Festival, has held a number of showcases at the Side Door. He compliments the staff and appreciates the fact that Wilborn (“a straight-up gent”) programs only one music event at a time at the Palladium, so that the Side Door doesn’t face competition from upstairs. That’ll be especially true this summer; the Palladium has shut down its mainstage programming for the rest of the season to accommodate expansion of its rest rooms — good news for anyone who’s ever had to maneuver past the ladies’ room line in the lobby.
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2014.