Last Exit's Open For Business and Booking Bands Again

I spoke with Jack Maverik, the co-owner of Last Exit Bar & Grill, who's been plenty busy lately. He and his partner Brad White are still working on nailing down a rental agreement with Arizona Partners Retail Investment Group, the peeps who own the Tempe strip mall where the bar...

By Benjamin Leatherman

May 14, 2009

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I spoke with Jack Maverik, the co-owner of Last Exit Bar & Grill, who's been plenty busy lately. He and his partner Brad White are still working on nailing down a rental agreement with Arizona Partners Retail Investment Group, the peeps who own the Tempe strip mall where the bar and live music spot is located.

"We still are in the middle of lease negotiations," Maverik says. "And it's taking a long time."

The goal, he adds, is to be able to ink a multi-year deal sometime early next week. Meanwhile, Maverik and his partners have been moving forward with things. Last Exit's been open for business over the past few weeks, they've brought in a jukebox and pinball machine, set up free WiFi access, and even redesigned the place's logo. They've also recently started booking live music acts again, including a couple of groovy shows this weekend.

Bluesy alt-rock band Japhys Descent will stop by on Friday night along with 36 Cents and a Dream, Quadrant Five, and Tucson's Thriftstore Throwdown. The show starts at 9 p.m. with no cover.

On Saturday, Mark Zubia and the other musicians of Los Guys will perform, as will N.A.P.P. and The Hounds. The music gets going at 9 p.m. with a $5 admission.

Nickstar Karaoke Night is still happening on Mondays, while the weekly open mic session hosted by Dudley is every Tuesday. Click here for the rest of the upcoming shows at Last Exit.

And if you're interested in getting your band a gig at Last Exit, feel free to send an e-mail to Maverik at [email protected].

Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music and nightlife. He joined New Times in 2003. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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