Hardcore punk and metal shows have been happening at Tenleytown restaurant Casa Fiesta for more than two years, but tonight, it hosts its last one. That’s according to restaurant manager Nora Alvarez, who says the Latin spot is coming under new management and ditching the music.
The shows have been a pain, Alvarez says. “It’s been positive for us a little, but a lot of negative. So with the new management, we don’t want the shows to continue,” Alvarez says. “We’ve had people who were here and when this kind of music is going on, a lot of [customers] stop coming for that.”
Musician and booker Robin Zeijlon says he’s brought more than 50 shows to Casa Fiesta and helped with many others. In an email, Zeijlon writes that Alvarez called him today and gave him the news. “All I know is that the new management is not interested in having loud-ass punk shows there,” he writes.
That sounds about right. “We did make some sales, but [with the most recent concerts] we had problems with the neighbors and a lot of stuff that happened during the shows,” Alvarez says. “They scared people away, basically, and it’s too loud. It’s really kind of negative a lot in a lot of ways.”
But the noise isn’t over yet. Tonight’s gig will bring four loud bands to the restaurant: Full Of Hell, Column of Heaven, Nyodene D, and D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ)—which a Facebook invitation describes as the “heaviest band playing today.”