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Gypsy's Den will close its doors for last time tonight

By JORGE SANCHEZ
Published December 31, 2006

CRYSTAL RIVER - The last riffs of classic rock will be played tonight at the Gypsy's Den, ending a seven-year stretch for a bar where the 1970s and '80s came alive every weekend.

The Gypsy's Den was sold two weeks ago and will close after a rocking New Year's Eve party. Tonight will also be the last chance to buy anything that's at the bar, from the bar stools and coolers to the posters of Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan or any of the other classic rockers.

Owners Mark and Jane Davis said they want to sell everything. So if you've just got to have the bar's lava lamp or the bar stool where you met (or divorced) your sweetie, make a bid and you might be able to walk out the door with it.

Mark Davis said he didn't know much about the new owner but didn't think it will reopen as a bar.

"The sales contract said it would be a restaurant," he said. "But that could always change."

But tonight, it will be the last waltz for the classic rockers. Just like smoke on the water, the Den will be a wisp of a memory in the new year.

When the band finishes its last set, the Davises will close the doors to a lifestyle that marked their entire marriage.

"We met here," Mark Davis said.

"Yeah, and most of our 'dates' were here, too," said Jane Davis, meaning she often worked the bar while her husband played music on stage a few feet away.

The Gypsy's Den started in 1995 as the home of Crystal Wind Communications, an Internet service provider. Then Mark Davis started the Cypersurf Cafe in 1999; it featured lots of computers and sold flavored coffees, beer and wine.

It became the Gypsy's Den in 2001, when Davis acquired a liquor license and started offering live music.

He formed his own band, the Emerald Gypsies, which played there most weekends. Davis played bass. Even though the bar where the members played most of their shows will be gone, the band will play on.

"We'll be like most other bar bands," Mark Davis said, "lugging our equipment around from place to place."

He said he will miss the convenience of playing at a club that he owned. He said it was simpler just to leave the amps and speakers set up from week to week and come back, plug their guitars in and start wailing.

The sale of the Gypsy's Den took almost two years. Mark Davis said the original plan was to sell the bar and reopen outside city limits.

"But all the other places we looked at were just too high" in price, he said.

"They just wanted stupid money for anyplace else. A million, a million nine," he said.

So, the Davises will pocket the profits they made from the bar sale and embark on the next chapter of their lives together.

Mark Davis will return to his other interest: computer repairs.

"That will be my main job, and music will still be my passion. I just don't expect to make a lot of money out of it," he said.

Jane Davis has already started working at a credit union.

"It was time for me to go back to work," she said. "We had this place set up so that it basically ran itself."

Both Davises said they look forward to being able to spend time together.

"Since we got married, we've never spent a Saturday night together outside of this bar," Jane Davis said.

"It's something I'm really looking forward to: a Saturday night date with my husband."

Den's last jam

Tonight is the last night at the Gypsy's Den, 155 U.S. 19 S, Crystal River (across from Wendy's). The Emerald Gypsies will perform from 9 p.m. until closing. Admission is $10.

[Last modified December 30, 2006, 20:25:55]