Boomers about to up the volume

It's a shadowy joint, there are no windows nor any need for them.

What illumination there is in the boxy bar comes mainly from assorted Budweiser and Heineken neon beer signs that checker the wood-grain walls and the white Christmas lights strung up behind a small stage that runs along one side of the room. Adjacent to some pool tables sits a Demolition Man pinball machine with Sylvester Stallone's stern mug glowing in the dark.

Boomers is in a squat stone building tucked away on Sirius Avenue, not too far from Palace Station. It's kind of sleepy on a recent Tuesday afternoon, just some old-timers shootin' the breeze and sipping Czechvar drafts. But it's about to become a lot more happenin'.

Soon, Boomers will be outfitted with a 16-channel, 1,000 watt PA system in its large backroom, and will once again be hosting concerts, this time with improved sound and an eye toward bringing in some bigger national touring acts in addition to Vegas bands.

The lady behind the new venture: Roxie Amoroso, best known for her time with rough and tumble Vegas rockers The Loud Pipes as well as for having booking now-shuttered local venues such as The Roadhouse and Squiggy's.

"I guess I'm kind of a glutton for punishment," she chuckles. "I just keep going back to it.

"Each and every time something closes in a nasty way, I've said, 'All right, this is it. This is the end. I'm going to focus on my band,' " continues Amoroso, who now plays with the promising Pigasus. "I just can't sit at home. I can't just do one thing."

She and her husband, Jesse, a fellow rock lifer who she has played and booked shows with for years now, have gone through their share of ups and downs while trying to keep a steady venue open. They're hoping to find a measure of stability at Boomers. With a smaller stage in the 225-capacity bar arena and a larger backroom that can hold 500 people or so, they want to create a flexible space that accommodates bands of a variety of sizes and styles when they begin putting shows on there May 7.

"People get too locked into a certain genre, and they want to turn a place into a hard-core place or a punk rock place," says Amoroso, who has experience booking notable bands such as the Supersuckers and Darkest Hour and hopes to use her contacts with national agents to continue bringing bigger names to town. "It's like, at the risk of sounding like a hippie, why can't we all get along? Let's call it a live music venue, and let's take advantage of it every night. Let's have different bands and all kinds of things going on."

Of course, Boomers has an uneven history when it comes to hosting shows, but Amoroso intends to put a new face on an old haunt.

"People have tried to book this place in the past and have had negative experiences, and it's like, 'Don't be so emotionally attached to it.' It is what it is. It's a great room," she says. "If we put the right bands in there on the right days of the week, it can be anything we make it."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.