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Black’s takes a bow

Local pub celebrates 25 years on Whistler’s F&B scene with new event and lots of live entertainment

David Branigan has memories of some vintage musical moments from Whistler. He spent almost 12 years, from 1988 to 2000, on the local scene, working in the food and beverage industry, helping to build the Longhorn and the ill-fated AlpenRock House. He also wrote for the Pique for five years and helped organize some major concerts.

"We definitely had some great shows (and) probably one of the biggest ones I was involved with was when Ashley MacIsaac first came out with his Hi, How Are You Today? disc, which was big domestically and kind of started to explode," he recalled.

"We sold out in, like, minutes on that show."

Eventually, Branigan made his way to Victoria, where he managed the Shark Club and Station House, and converted the Ingraham Hotel into a live room. Then he and his wife opened a business in Kelowna where Branigan got his Marine Captain ticket - they built their own ship to host corporate dine and dance cruises. But he couldn't resist the lure of Whistler.

"When the Olympics were coming up I just really couldn't resist the excitement. I came for a family vacation at Christmas and saw some old friends, and felt the hype and the energy, and felt it was time to come home," Branigan explained.

He was back for February 1, "the quietest two weeks I've ever seen in Whistler," and just in time for the Olympic and Paralympic experience.

"I'm very pleased I came back and was part of that - the energy obviously throughout the village was unbelievable and we were right there, we got a lot of feed off the Sliding Centre when (Jon) Montgomery won... and that whole army came down." He paused and laughed, "I have no idea where that jug of beer came from, certainly!"

Now, after a 10-year hiatus, Branigan is back, taking over the role of pub manager at Black's Pub, which is celebrating its 25 th year in business; quite an impressive feat in this town.

"It's an ever-changing market, there has been a lot that's happened over those 25 years," Branigan pointed out.

To mark the occasion, Black's has launched a new food and crafted cocktail menu, and even introduced a brand-new night, Take A B.O.W. (which stands for Bar Owner Whistler), the new Old School Locals' Thursdays. The evening will see industry friends, hospitality legends and longtime Whistlerites invited in to act as bar owner at the boutique pub for a night. They get to live large for the night with a complimentary bar tab, dinner and the selection of theme and entertainment for the evening.

"Everybody thinks that it's easy to run a bar but it's more challenging if you look at the books!" Branigan laughed.

Wayne Katz, long-time owner of Zog's, Gone Bakery and Moguls, was the first industry vet invited in to host the new event last Thursday, and apparently the inaugural party was a big hit. The evening featured a DJ, a bit of karaoke and some old-school tunes from Whistler throwbacks like The Beat Farmers.

"They were a great band - Country Dick Montana (the leader of the band) actually passed away on stage at the Longhorn back in 1995," he said.

"They were very popular back in that era when there was a circuit of great bands - Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, She Stole My Beer... and The Beat Farmers were among that group that would come out and absolutely pack the bars."

"The old school locals will remember well; Beat Farmers set bar sales records in Whistler for the better part of a decade," Branigan recalled with a laugh, "He did a raunchy version of 'Lucille' - I don't know how you can make 'Lucille' raunchy, but Country Dick managed to do it. He had a song about cocaine called 'Big Rock Candy Mountain,' which was another crowd favourite."

Black's will continue to host Take A B.O.W. occasionally, whenever they can secure the right personality to host the evening. Keep your eyes peeled on the Pique 's music listings for the next session.

The regular musical lineup at Black's is changing significantly as well. Their popular Wednesday night jam session, which has more recently been hosted by local bluesman Sean Rose, is being handed over to Kostaman. And Saturday night will now feature a three-person rotation of talented Sea to Sky musicians Jon Shrier, Sean Rose and Rachel Thom.

"The fact of the matter is that Sean and Kostaman and Rachel Thom and Jon Shrier ... are a group of burgeoning musical talents that play together, so when we looked at the situation we thought, 'Well, lets harness the collective,'" Branigan explained.

"We certainly want to support the local talent. You develop by playing and the more you get a chance to play in front of a live crowd the better you'll get it."

Branigan empathizes with local musicians who find there aren't enough venues to play since the legendary live music venue The Boot closed in 2006.

"Don't get me started on that one!" Branigan laughed, "I think its partially economics, too. It's tough sometimes for owners. Having been an owner now I understand getting a return on that investment as limited as sometimes that may be. But by the same token, a community's gotta have a heartbeat, and the heartbeat to me is often reflected in the arts, in the live music."