Jackson Avenue House (finally) Claims a Life
“The Jackson House”, “Jackson Ave”, “the best new unofficial music venue in Charlotte”… the house went by many names. No longer the mythical party setting it was a couple years ago, the house has been condemned for a while now but someone apparently got into it and died last night after a fire started. The Charlotte Fire Department rescued the man from upstairs but he later died of injuries. They haven’t released his name yet but say he was probably homeless. The windows will be boarded up soon and the house will probably be destroyed.
RIP mysterious dead guy and RIP Jackson House. I’ve done about everything in that house. Eaten, slept, drank, rocked, and rolled. I’ve loved there and I’ve lost there. I filled in for a absent frontman and I’ve watched fireworks in the rain. The parties there can not be explained to people who didn’t witness them because nobody who wasn’t there would ever believe it. Underestimating the crowd would still seem like an exaggeration. The way the floor in the living room would feel like it was collapsing when bands would play. The way the crowd often spilled into the street and into neighboring houses. The freaking sound tower in the backyard. Insanity at its best.
[UPDATE: Here is the current story on the WCNC site. I'll try to keep this updated as details are given.]
January 7th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
Interestingly enough, a friend (Jason Dulin) and myself were leaving breakfast club right as the fire broke out, as we were headed towards Independence down 7th, it was easy to see the end of Jackson St lit up like a Christmas tree (and it wasn’t a big mystery to us that it was indeed “that” house). Having to fulfil our civic duties as rubberneckers, we drove over to check it out…just in time to see the parameds taking a stretcher into the house. We knew that was a bad sign. I counted at least a dozen ambulences/fire trucks/cops/anything with flashing lights. While I’d never actually been to that house (but heard plenty of stories), one of my dad’s good friends lives on Jackson (Aaron Stevenson, Photog) and we used to always watch the fireworks from his pad when I was younger…great view. But you’re right, it was only a matter of time, ironic that it would happen after it was condemned.