This Kickstarter campaign wants to help keep the Double Door Inn’s legacy alive

The spot, open since 1973, was a must for lovers of blues, reggae, Zydeco, ska and Americana. It’s hosted music greats like Eric Clapton, the Avett Brothers and Stevie Ray Vaughan and was named Club of the Year by the Blues Foundation in 1994.

While the calendar is already booked with remarkable acts before the final show on January 2, four Charlotteans, some of whom have been attending shows since before they were old enough to get in, are looking to make sure that the Double Door Inn will never be forgotten.

Over the next five months, Kim Brattain, Rick Fitts, Chuck Bludsworth and Jay Ahuja will create a 40-minute film entitled Live From the Double Door Inn: A Documentary.

The film, which they’re aiming to have in Blu-Ray format and television-ready before January, will focus on the Double Door’s staff, promoters, performers and, most importantly, its fans. It will also feature familiar faces like the Avett Brothers, Eric Clapton, Larry Sprinkle and Bruce Hensley.

But putting together a documentary, especially one so involved and personal, takes time and money, so they’ve taken to Kickstarter to ask for help.

The industry standard cost to make a 1080 HD documentary is $2,000 per finished minute. With a goal of 40 minutes, the filmmakers are looking at an $80,000 tab.

They’re hoping to raise a minimum of $50,000 to cover roadblocks like music licensing and archival usage (and digitalization) fees, travel and location costs, printing and promotion along with post-production costs and a private preview event. Any more raised will go toward conducting more interviews and more energy being spent on post-production.

With only a 5-month window to work with, the $50,000 has to raised by Tuesday, September 13. If the money isn’t raised, as with any Kickstarter project, the idea will be scrapped, so the crew is offering impressive rewards to help get there in time.

$10 will get you a Facebook shout out and $25 a bumper sticker, but the real rewards start at $50, where you’ll get a copy of the final product. A backing of $100 guarantees a copy of the film, poster, guitar pick and more while $250 will earn you an invitation to the private preview party and an on-screen credit in December among other, smaller gifts.

As of yesterday, over 80 supporters have given more than $15,000 to the project. See how you can get involved here.

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Cover photo via Facebook