Steve Wildsmith

The Pilot Light, that most excellent venue in the Old City (at 106 E. Jackson Ave.), is known for many things … but a spelling bee probably doesn’t leap to the forefront of most patrons’ minds.

Live music? Check. Art, film, theater and combinations of all of the above? Check, check, check and check. But given the hipster vibes that waft out the front door like thick fog, the fascinating but often befuddling graffiti that decorates the wooden walls of the bathrooms and the fact that Will Fist often works the door or tends the bar … well, it’s not exactly the sort of place where you’d imagine a spelling bee might be held.

Au contraire, according to organizer Liz Albertson. An urban planner by day, she’s also a long-time Pilot Light devotee, and after presenting her plan to owner Jason Boardman, she’s received an outpouring of enthusiasm from friends and acquaintances in the local music scene.

“We’re hoping it will be taken seriously, because we’re definitely going to ask some words that are hard,” she said. “We’ll have words along the lines of manias, obsessions, medieval weaponry — funny words that people don’t encounter in their everyday lexicon. We are expecting some laughs, but we hope people bring their A-game.”

It takes place at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17 — and that 8 p.m. start time is by normal standards. (Pilot Light shows are notorious for starting late, so much so that most club-goers know to show up at “Pilot Light time” rather than at the predetermined starting hour.)

“We’ll let people sign up, cut it off around 8:30 and start shortly after that,” Albertson said. “It’s free to get in and watch, and it costs $5 to enter the bee. And you get a free (Pabst Blue Ribbon) with that, so we’re encouraging our entrants to be 21.”

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Albertson moved to Madison, Wis., for five years, where she obtained two master’s degrees and fell in with a group of quirky characters that provided her with part of the inspiration for the spelling bee idea. The competitions have always fascinated her, she said, especially “the home-schooled girl” who won the national bee in 1996 or 1997, she added.

“It was completely awkward and fascinating, and I think a lot of my peers have childhood trauma stories about a word they went out on or being freaked out on stage,” she said. “I think there are a lot of folks who are rebels now but have something in their pasts that makes them want to regain glory from a spelling bee gone awry. I thought it would be amusing, and it’s definitely not your average Pilot Light thing. We’ll see how it goes, and if it goes well and everyone has fun, we’ll do it again.”

So there you have it — an exhibition of knowledge masquerading as therapy at one of the hippest, most fun venues in town. If you’re a regular but have no musical inclination, Albertson pointed out, the bee will be an opportunity for you to get on stage. So far, she added, local rockers Adam Ewing (of Mountains of Moss) and Elizabeth Wright (of the Dirty Knees) have indicated excitement over the possibility of participating.

“It’s kind of amazing the outpouring of interest I’ve gotten from people over this,” she said. “I think people are pretty intrigued and wondering what in the world it’s going to be like.”