So you`re opening your first bar in a couple of weeks and you still haven`t figured out the decor? What do you do? Well, if you`re Rick Remaley, you rummage around in a few closets, find a couple of old religious paintings, throw them up on the walls and ”watch the whole thing get out of hand.”
”Straight people (conservatives) walk in and don`t know what to make of it,” says Remaley, owner of the Crash Palace, 2771 N. Lincoln Ave.
Artists walk in and then come back with pieces they have found or made. Every week a few new ones show up in the bar, which has been open since March.
”The straights come in, look around and all ask: `What`s with all this religious stuff?` ” says Remaley. ”The people in our crowd get it.”
”Our crowd” are mostly musicians and offbeat music-industry types. One recent night in the bar, there was an abundance of dreadlocks and nose rings. ”Sometimes it bothers me that so much attention is paid to the art, because the main thrust of the bar is alternative music,” says Remaley, who defines alternative music as ”bluegrass, jazz, African folk or anything you don`t hear on commercial radio, period.”
Although he is a self-proclaimed atheist who was ”raised a sort-of Catholic,” Remaley has gotten carried away with the religious theme since he opened the bar: He had an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe tattooed on his calf. ”It`s just so beautiful,” he says. ”That`s why I like religious art, because some of it is so beautiful-and some of it is really kitschy.”
Remaley has no problem with the fact that his bar decor might make some people uncomfortable: ”If it scares the weak away, it`s okay by me.”