By MARY HUHN
Posted: 4:48 am
September 9, 2008
WITH countless clubs and performance spaces in New York City, it's hard to stand out.
Joe's Pub, celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall, does.
In a single night, you could catch a Brazilian band, a local country act and a drag duo. Pete Townshend, Lou Reed and Dolly Parton have all played. Stew developed "Passing Strange" there before wowing Broadway.
It all began when George C. Wolfe, then artistic director and producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater, had a vision,
It wasn't the Virgin Mary emblazoned on a bagel, or anything like that, but something far more enduring.
As he walked through the Public's administrative offices, he saw a performance space. "I had this gorgeous feeling," he tells The Post.
His vision became a reality when it opened in 1998, named after late NYSF and Public Theater founder Joseph Papp.
The venue's anniversary party runs through December with performances by artists closely associated with the pub, but the big birthday bash will be Oct. 10-12, with a Judy Collins tribute (the songbird herself will appear). Tickets for this lofty show start at $350, so you might think about hitting one of that weekend's 10 free concerts with the likes of Raúl Midón, Jill Sobule and others (see joespub.com).
Although its birth was an easy one - within a year of opening you could hear music seven nights a week, and the lounge became a celebrity hot spot - it wasn't always clear Joe's Pub would see 10.
As with the rest of downtown, Sept. 11 hit the club hard.
Bill Bragin had just joined as artistic director. "The week after I started we were shut down. The economy was in a free fall and people weren't going out," he says. Wolfe felt pressure by some board members to close the club.
But by doubling the number of shows per night, Bragin turned it around. In 2006, the club added a third nightly concert.
"We used to hold 200 shows per year, now it's 800," says Shanta Thake, who replaced Bragin this year.
Part of the venue's appeal - for performer and audience - is its intimacy, says Serge Becker, a founding partner who designed the space. "You get amazing artists in such a small space," he says. "When Dolly Parton was onstage, I was thinking, 'I can't believe I'm two feet from Dolly Parton.' "
But Joe's Pub also introduces new names along with the established ones. Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse and Alicia Keys all had early showcases there.
A co-founder of world-music party GlobalFest, Joe's Pub has championed alternative music, just as it has developing voices.
"Joe's was the place where I really made manifest my childhood dreams," says Justin Bond of Kiki & Herb.
In the next few years, expect more Stew-like collaborations between the Pub and the Public.
"The Pub gives us access to musicians we would never have otherwise," says Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public.
The room is quirky - performers stop mid-song when they hear the subway rumble beneath or comment on someone's dinner at one of the stage-side tables.
"Not to get too hokey, but there's something magical about that space," says Thake.
marymhuhn@nypost.com
