The Sounds of Suburbia

Imagine the balancing act most 40-something Boulder County couples face as they search for a night of action while balancing a budget, kids and the ravages of time.

Baby Boomer and Gen-Xers want to play like rock stars, but so often age and child rearing have zapped their stamina.

Sorry to say it, but the average almost middle-ager can’t party like it’s 1999. Besides, we’re talking about family types who’ve hunkered down in the quaint and sedate suburbia of Lafayette. It’s not as if rock clubs grow on trees out here.

Besides, there’s the issue of where to go. We don’t really fit in with the LoDo club scene or a frat house beerfest on The Hill.

What a drag it is getting old, right?

Not always. In fact, there’s an oasis of early-bird hipness hidden amid the suburban greenery of Lafayette. We speak of Nissi’s Supper Club, a classic music and dinner venue that has become the place for battle-tested Baby Boomers to have their rock and eat it, too.

The club’s owners, T and Teresa Taylor, have developed a handy niche that allows the post-college and pre-Social Security crowd to recapture their glory days and still get home to catch the Tonight Show.

The live music starts at about 7:30 and ends at 10.

The owners describe the 3-year-old, $2.4 million venture as a “modern day Ricky Ricardo supper club.” The Taylors have pretty much defined their demographic by speaking about a character from the 1950s’ sitcom I Love Lucy.

Regardless of age, we can all embrace a place that offers good food, solid live tunes and the chance to get home in time tuck the kids in bed—or head out for more.

There’s also the matter of cash. Those who wouldn’t shell out a few hundred bucks on a concert at the Pepsi Center can spend just a fraction of it on strong tribute bands that mimic the Doobie Brothers or Pink Floyd.

That concept worked out well during a recent Saturday night that had more than a hundred 30 to 50 year olds reliving the glory days of The Police.

The club’s small dance floor throbbed when the tribute band Message In A Bottle pulled out a killer rendition of “King of Pain.”

Maybe this crowd can still party like it’s 1999.

“I find this (club) to be a classy place,” says Alton King, the band’s lead singer. “This is a venue where the audience comes to view the music. You have to be right on, because you have the crowd’s full attention.”

Nissi’s has the upscale feel of a Pearl Street restaurant and reasonable prices to go with the fine sound. A dinner, drink and music tab is modest enough to compete with a night out at the movies.

Tickets for most live shows are less than $14. Families and friends can sit in comfort around roomy tables, while feasting on sesame encrusted ahi tuna or grilled flatiron steak without reaching for an American Express Gold Card.

Seems that rockers who made it to middle age have found a new haven that should keep them dancing for decades to come.