Return of the House that Mullets Built

Get set for the comeback of The Button South.

To paraphrase the Talking Heads, "do something once, why do it again" has never been a credo of the folks behind the South Florida rock institution The Button South, which over the years has flatlined more times than Dick Cheney. Its most recent death occurred on Oct. 29, 1999, when the city of Hallandale Beach refused to renew the after-hours license for the nightclub at 100 Ansin Blvd., which customarily remained open till 6 a.m. because where else were strippers supposed to go after work?

In early 2000, the body-shot emporium Baja Beach Club took over the space. But it, too, went cold earlier this year, following the city’s refusal to award Baja a 4 a.m. license, partly because the site had seen more than its share of violent incidents over the years but mostly because it’s in Hallandale Beach, a strip-malled city so dull it makes Dania Beach seem positively electric by comparison. (For three months a year, however, the city is home to Gulfstream Park and the Florida Derby, so it’s not entirely without character.)

This Friday, The Button South returns with a new name, The Set, an old goal (to rock!) and under the watchful eye of the building’s original owner, John Naimi, who says he’s re-seizing the reins to make amends for the "disaster" that resulted from leasing to Baja Beach Club and Cafe Casablanca before that. "I was embarrassed for myself and for the city," Naimi says of the violence that often erupted on club property under outside management. "I don’t even want to see the name Cafe Casablanca in the paper."

While Naimi says he’s never had any problem with Hallandale Beach city officials ("very close friends," he calls them), the managers of Cafe Casablanca and Baja Beach Club certainly did. In October 1999, according to the Sun-Sentinel, Cafe Casablanca owner Semone Zamyatin slapped the city with a $700,000 lawsuit, claiming it tried to run him out of business by rolling back the venue’s closing time to 2 a.m. Zamyatin closed the nightclub, which actually operated on live music nights as The Button South, a month later.

As for now, Naimi will open The Set to the public from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with an occasional weeknight concert. "I don’t even want to go through that with the city," the owner says of not pushing for an after-hours license. During the week, Naimi says The Set will be leased out to a Los Angeles film company (whom he declines to name) that will use the space to shoot ("not gun-shooting," Naimi assures, "movie-shooting") a television series, which he also refuses to name but refers to as "something like Friends."

The good news for music fans is that Naimi is leaving the booking to local concert promoters Grant Hall and Jim Hayward, the latter of whom presented the very first South Florida Slammie Awards at The Button South in 1992. Among the bands Hall and Hayward, together or independently, have blessed our area with: Fugazi, Alejandro Escovedo, Southern Culture on the Skids, Superchunk, The Meat Puppets and so on.

"I’m really encouraged by what they’re trying to do," says Hall, who knows from unscrupulous nightclub owners. "I think it’s going to be a nice place."

Of course, it’s also going to be a rocking place, as is fitting for a nightclub that historically threw down the welcome mat for everyone from poodle-permers Saigon Kick to chronic punch line Vanilla Ice to Swedish guitar shredder Yngwie Malmsteen. (To be fair, acts like the Descendents, The Reverend Horton Heat, John Hiatt and Ween also braved the club’s smoke machines.)

Friday night is something of a soft launch, with pop-leaning locals Humbert, Sixo and Soundsystem sharing the bill with goth exhibitionists Wet. The "grand opening party" on Saturday, however, should certainly up the mullet quotient as Intense, Monster Zero, Shine Box and All Is Well attempt to fill the 1,400-capacity room. Coming weeks will see the likes of Releese, A New Level and Wallop (Friday, Aug. 31), Wicked Screaming Squirts, The Livid Kittens, The Necrophiles and Going Nowhere (Saturday, Sept. 1) and The Groovenics, Zigjaw, Bum Ruckus and The Fundamentals (Sept. 2). Most concerts will admit 18 and older, although the show on Sept. 2 will be all-ages.

For more information, call 954/455-1750 or see the club’s Web site at www.theset.org.

Sound bites

• Soaking Up the Good Fla. Sunshine, Vol. 1 (The HoneyComb.com). Produced by TheHoneyComb.com entertainment Web site and the new West Palm Beach monthly Closer, this 17-band alternative-rock sampler is about what you’d expect from such an overview: highs that reach for the firmament (Remember the Ocean’s "Summer"), songs that contentedly stake out a middle ground (The Rocking Horse Winner’s typically precious "Tomorrow") and lows that can be forgotten with the pressing of the fast-forward button (Mindlikewater’s flat "Two Believing Eyes," Breaking Spree’s Rancid imitation "Section Nine").

However, quality reigns here, as everyone from the irresistible guitar-pop outfit Legends of Rodeo ("Jesus Drank Wine and So Will I") to the ska-happy Groovenics ("Slush Puppy Girl") to the recently disbanded sonic impressionists Disconnect ("Hialeah") turn in ultra-fine performances. Moreover, the compilation attempts to belie the notion that South Florida is nothing more than a breeding ground for knuckle-dragging testoste-rock. In a neat, savvy twist, the CD’s two rap-rock entries are provided by femme-fronted acts: Pank Shovel and Betsy Ross, the former with the slip-slidin’ "Pipebomb Dream" and the latter with the two-minute outburst "October One," in which the 16-year-old Miss Ross phlegmatically threatens a child molester ("it’s crazy fucks like you that need to be held captive").

Other standouts include See Venus’ warmly electronic "Are You Ready?"; the Baby Robots’ fuzzy and trudging "Privacy Calls"; Whirlaway’s ghostly taut "Distance"; and Plutonium Pie’s hectic, minute-and-a-half salute to our local highway of death, "I-95." (Contact steve@thehoneycomb.com.)

• Ghost by Releese (ETP Entertainment). Recently, a representative of Releese came by the City Link tower to drop off the group’s new CD. When I told him I hadn’t heard of the band, he appeared dumbfounded that I could be so ignorant. "I can’t believe it!" he exclaimed. "We draw huge at The Metal Factory!" After a single listen to Ghost, I realized I’d have to apologize to the man — I had heard Releese before, only this band called Creed had somehow gotten hold of their songs and beat a path to fame, fortune and, the ultimate stamp of mainstream success, VH1’s Behind the Music. Somebody should probably tell the guys in Releese before other bands (Fuel, Godsmack, Staind) do the same.

• Seasoned Smart Ass by Anchorman (Purple Skunk). The second full-length from this band of veteran punk rockers (their lineage includes such acts as The Vacant Andys, Hudson, Radiobaghdad and Jive Step Bunch) indeed reveals a great degree of seasoning. Falling somewhere between the melodic-hardcore of Gainesville’s Hot Water Music and any number of souped-up ’90s bubblegum punk bands, Anchorman manage to rise above their peers with a solid sense of songcraft, a deep appreciation for a great hook and a punk-rock singer, John Owens, who can actually sing. The rhythm section of drummer/founding member Darryl Bonebrake and bassist/new dad Chuck Gleek is tighter than conjoined twins, and guitarist Chris Hawkinz proves again that he’s one of this region’s most exciting guitarists, punk rock or otherwise. A keeper from start to finish. (E-mail info@anchorman.cc.)