MACON, Ga. (WGXA) — There’s a place where the spirits of generations passed surround those who stop by, and those who take the stage; a place where music continues to bring people together. Cheryl Grant Louder helps to carry her father’s original concept now 55 years later.
Cheryl Grant Lauder looks at photos that hang on the ‘Grant’s Lounge Wall of Fame,’ inside Grant’s Lounge; the Macon bar and music venue her father, Ed Grant Sr., opened in 1971 in Macon on Poplar St. (Credit: Gloria Ruth Finney, WGXA)
“My dad wanted a place where everybody could come together and play music and congregate and have fun,” Ms. Cheryl told WGXA News following the official Feb 16., anniversary of Grant’s Lounge.
In 1971 Ed Grant Sr., opened Grant’s Lounge. His vision was that it would be a place where blacks and whites could play and enjoy the music together.
“Music breaks and crosses all those barriers,” explained saxophonist, KolG8.
Saxophonist KolG8 speaks with WGXA News about the history of Grant’s Lounge, as well as his own experience performing on the Grant’s stage, as well as his own time on tour as a professional musician.
55 years after the doors first opened along downtown Macon’s Poplar Street, KolG8, is one of the professional musicians who still make sure to take Grant’s stage anytime they can; musicians including Angel Ocasio Jr.
“Music is a universal language,” Ocasio also expressed.
Angel Ocasio Jr., speak with WGXA News inside Grant’s Lounge about his time as a musician playing the Grant’s stage and beyond.{ }(Credit: Gloria Ruth Finney, WGXA)
“We’ve had so many groups to come,” said Ms. Cheryl. She attributes much of that to Capricorn Records just around the corner at the time. “But Capricorn was kind of suffering a little bit because they did not have a venue for their musicians to audition,” she continued.
A photo of Cheryl Grant Lauder standing beside her brother, Edward Grant Jr., hangs alongside numerous photos on the ‘Grant’s Lounge Wall of Fame,’ inside Grant’s Lounge; the Macon bar and music venue their father, Ed Grant Sr., opened in 1971 on Poplar Street in Macon (Credit: Gloria Ruth Finney, WGXA)
Grant’s Lounge became that place, and when Macon’s music scene was really taking off, some people got their start right here.
Some of them got to the top some of them didn’t but some of the guys that was in the band got to go and play with another group that got their recognition had Leonard Skinner wet Willy Charlie Daniels Tom Petty even Chuck Leavell has played here with the Rolling Stones…We’ve had so many groups to come and play.”
Cheryl Grant Lauder sits at the bar inside Grant’s Lounge; the Macon bar and music venue her father, Ed Grant Sr., opened in 1971 in Macon on Poplar St. (Credit: Gloria Ruth Finney, WGXA)
However shortly, after Grant’s Lounge opened, not everyone liked how this place was bringing people together, including some of Macon’s police department.
“They beat one guy up and put him in the hospital because he was talking to a white lady and he wouldn’t stop, so all the police beat him up right outside of our Grants Lounge. So, it we’ve been through a lot of challenges trying to stay in business during that particular time.
Through the years there were other challenges.
“Later on, kind of after Capricorn moved out of town, then we were suffering with trying to pay band members to play here,” Ms. Cheryl said.
Then came the age of disco. “We had live entertainment upstairs and we had disco downstairs. Through the 90s we went straight strictly DJ.”
Eventually all good things come back around. Since then, Grant’s has been renovated, but the spirit of the place remains.
Grant’s Lounge – (Credit: Gloria Ruth Finney, WGXA)
“Sunday night jam — I’ve been hooked ever since,” said kolG8.
“There is order, there structure, but a jam is really to come and learn and grow,” Ocasio said explaining what a jam session is all about.
“They would get on the stage and they would pick a key and they would just go from there and they would play and that’s I mean they would play and they would play it would sometimes it would go on for like 45 minutes or an hour, you know in and It gets better and better as the jam session goes on,” Ms. Cheryl said of the jam nights which were previously held on Monday but are now held every Sunday night.
Grant’s Lounge – (Credit: Gloria Ruth Finney, WGXA)
After 55 years, Ms. Cheryl says it’s her father’s vision that has stood the test of time. “When I when I see the band members playing on the stage, especially the mixture of band members, and I look up and see my dad smiling, and I just tears just come down because I know that this is what he wanted. He wanted a place for everybody.
She says she hopes to see that legacy continue for years to come.