By Crystal Harrell
It’s been a little over a year since local band Avenida Music leased a two-story 5,357-square-foot building in downtown Indio with a goal of turning it into the best indoor music venue in the east valley.
The band of brothers, consisting of Sam Gonzalez on guitar/vocals, Vince Gonzalez on bass/vocals, and Josiah Gonzalez on keyboard, with Sean Poe on drums, has achieved a huge step to further integrate Avenida Music into the Coachella Valley community.
The lease was signed with the city of Indio for Little Street Music Hall over a year ago, and the band always had an eye on the current building and wanted to do something bigger with the community.
“The big difference that sets us apart from other venues in our eyes is that this is a music venue by musicians. Our goal and process is to make a kickass music show and see what we need to do to support that, as opposed to bringing in music to sell beer. We are selling beer to support our musicians,” explained Poe.
The opening date of Little Street Music Hall will be announced soon, and the venue will serve a variety of coffee and beer products, also featuring a nice green room for artists. The band prioritized the idea to really approach the build-out of the venue from the eyes of the performer and visualize what they would want to see at a venue they are playing at.
The word “Avenida” translates to “little street” and that name has always stuck with the Avenida Music group, inspiring the decision to name the venue Little Street Music Hall. The name of the venue’s coffee bar, Encore Coffee Bar, also ties in with their musical theme. Little Street Music Hall will be open from Monday to Saturday in two time slots (about 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then in the evenings from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.). Those hours may expand at some point once the summer season is over.
“For a long time, we’ve felt that there are a disproportionate number of things to do and venues to play at on the west side of the Valley. Our hope with this and with the whole downtown revitalization project is to bring some fun things to do to the east side. We are most excited about being a place for the community to gather. We all have so many cool ideas of things we want to do in this space, shows we want to put on, collaborations, classes, you name it! We meet weekly and brainstorm cool ideas to try out once we are open!” shared Poe.
It is the hope of Avenida Music that Little Street Music Hall will become a community center for the city of Indio and the greater Coachella Valley. The band believes that they can use this opportunity to grow and develop the music scene – aspiring to the notion that someday Indio could be listed among cities like Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, or Memphis as a “Music City”.
“Each time we’ve shifted our goal or started a new project as a band, it comes with a change in how we see ourselves and how we fit into the group, each with different skills and different responsibilities. It’s been great growing with these guys, and we love the challenge to be more than just a musician in the band,” said Poe.
If you are an artist, comedian, painter, or any artistic performer that would like to be showcased or perform at Little Street Music Hall, inquiries can be emailed to booking@littlestreetmusichall.com. And if you are interested in a job at the venue, Little Street Music Hall will be hiring soon, and resumes can be sent to sean@encorecoffee.bar.
