Toys Out the Attic

For all of Lafayette's good little girls and boys, especially Dave Hubbell, Santa came early this year, bringing with him clearance from the city for Toys Music Center to hold live music events and a sack bursting at the seams with local musicians vying to play the all-ages venue.

After months of inactivity in the carpeted room adjacent to his record store, Toys Music Center owner Hubbell is free to offer concerts, something that he has been denied since April 29.

Hubbell started holding gigs when Toys moved into its fourth location, this one at 1017 E. St. Mary Blvd. He used the in-store performances as a way to lure young music fans into his store, in hopes of buoying his sagging sales. Hubbell says he figured his retail license would cover this new venture, as he attended many similar events at Raccoon Records, but reasoned, "If there is something that I need that I don't have, somebody will make me aware of this. Well, we did and nobody did."

The shows, which he says numbered about 80, went along without a hitch until a fire, kicked off by the pyrotechnics of '80s rock outfit Great White, ripped through Rhode Island's The Station, killing 96 people.

"After Great White burned down that club in February, fire marshals started going around checking everything on everybody, and they were headed to Caffé Cottage one night and just walked by here." A band happened to be playing that night, luring the deputy into Toys. After a look around and a peek at his license, he was dumbfounded by Hubbell's operation and said that it would be left up to his boss, who showed up about a month later. According to him, Toys required an assembly license, so Hubbell needed to pay the Division of Planning, Zoning & Codes a visit. The zoning board took one look at his location and denied him the license, based on parking issues, but agreed to reconsider. Six weeks of hoop-jumping laden with blue prints and proposals later, the board once again said no way. However, the ever-connected Hubbell managed to pull a few strings.

All the while, the perplexed Hubbell stuck to his argument that, "For the most part, it is almost entirely local bands that play here for an age group that is too young to drive, so why is parking an issue?"

Hubbell says the oversight was because, "I never thought about that, I am a f---ing DJ! I'm not trained in fire prevention."

Eventually the fire chief, an administrator for city, a representative from the fire prevention bureau and zoning heads convened at Toys and told Hubbell of a few changes he need to make and reduced his capacity. Among the changes: two exits at all times for the store and the venue, a fire door in the back, a new door handle and emergency lighting. Hubbell took it upon himself to hire two guards to monitor the front and rear exits, keeping an eye out for delinquents.

Toys got the nod to relaunch shows Wednesday, Oct. 15. On Thursday, he hit his e-mail list with the announcement that local instrumental rockers Ahab! would play the first show. The word that the Toys live music venue had returned trickled out and then exploded into a gushing flood of bands jockeying for a spot on the bill. Other than Ahab!, Hubbell has not contacted any bands but is booked, with few exceptions, through December.

For Hubbell, giving kids who can't make it past a bar's bouncer a place to hear live local music is just as important as giving hungry locals a place to rock. So far, the reaction has been "great. Kids are starving for it."

As a proud papa himself, he also realizes how nerve-racking it is for a parent to let a 16-year-old loose into a dark venue. That's why he remains accessible to parents, adding that every couple of weeks a concerned parent calls inquiring about the venue and is invited down to check it out, where they always get in free.