Clawfoot House founder plans farewell show

Paige Cornwell

DAILY NEBRASKAN

Ember Schrag has a collection of more than 100 thank you notes stuffed in a box. Among the stacks of cards is an origami crab and another that has the acronym spelling out CLAWFOOT.

The notes are from the multiple bands that have played at the Clawfoot House, her home turned music venue, art gallery and meeting place for the Lincoln music community. One is a card that looks like a fish eye from an artist who dresses up like a fish. His show, which took place in Schrag's kitchen, was one of 89 different shows Clawfoot House has hosted since the beginning of 2009.

Schrag is taking this box with her when she moves out of her house next week.

After booking and hosting shows for the past year and a half, Schrag, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate, is leaving Clawfoot House to pursue her own music on a two-and-a-half month U.S. tour.

Clawfoot House, a duplex at 11th and F streets, will continue as a music venue, but with new residents managing. Clawfoot House is hosting a show tonight featuring Schrag and other artists, as well as a spaghetti feed, garage sale and tarot card readings. The dinner starts at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $3 for the dinner and $6 for the event.

Schrag decided to go on her own tour while she was in a recording studio in April. She wanted to change gears, she said.

"I was juggling a lot of stuff and just decided I wanted to go on the road," Schrag said.

Clawfoot House started when Schrag moved into a duplex with her now 2-year-old daughter, Lillian, and a roommate who was never really there. She started putting on local shows and getting the word out that she wanted to host emerging artists who wanted to play in Lincoln and got the support of her landlord.

"We ended up with all these great shows," Schrag said. "It ended up much bigger than I ever expected."

It's been a long, but awesome, time at the Clawfoot House, she said. She's met a ton of artists, including her boyfriend, musician Bryan Day. The musicians who played at her house would often stay in her living room. She made them coffee in the morning when they finally arose from their sleeping bags the morning after a show.

She played the first show at her house, the first of 89 shows and countless artists to come through. If she could go back in time, she would tell first-show Schrag to maybe not have as many shows, to pace herself.

"It was a total roller coaster," Schrag said. "But it was a riot. It was such an extreme thing, and it worked."

When asked about her favorite show, she pauses. There were so many. She remembers all of them.

She looks around the room, trying to remember. OK, I know, she says.

"It was a benefit show that lasted two days," Schrag said. "We had nine bands, an art auction, open house and a dinner. It was so much fun. People hung out from 11 to midnight. It was just amazing."

Clawfoot House will continue the tradition of having house shows and serving as a community for Lincoln musicians, said Amy Gordon, a UNL graduate math major who is moving into the Clawfoot House with her boyfriend, Bryan Klopping, a junior fine arts major.

"I think Lincoln is a pretty hip spot, and the grassroots nature of the Clawfoot House appeals to the people of Lincoln," Gordon said.

Schrag's first stop on her tour is in Ames, Iowa. She and Day are going all over the United States, with more than 50 stops on the tour. They won't be able to take much, which is why they are having the indoor garage sale.

"I have so many memories of the people I've met," Schrag said. "I'm taking those with me."

That, and a box of artists' thank you notes.

paigecornwell@

dailynebraskan.com