Steve Wildsmith

Note to bar owners — don’t piss off the person who maintains one of your social networking sites. The results won’t be pretty.

Take, for example, the Sugar Shack Bar and Grill, 5712 Kingston Pike SW. It used to be called The Speakeasy; we blogged about the name change last October, and the new owners hadn’t even gotten their live shows off the ground yet. The first was to be held Saturday, Jan. 23, featuring The Hotshot Freight Train, which we profiled last Friday.

Anyway … that’s a no-go. As are other live music shows, apparently. And the lady who was apparently booking said shows isn’t happy. As of Tuesday afternoon, this was on the venue’s Myspace page:

I regret and am utterly SICKENED to inform you that ALL shows booked at the Sugar Shack Bar and (no longer) Venue are canceled. The owners, against my better judgment and pleas, have decided to F— YOU OVER and cancel all their planned shows (which screws up tour dates for 40+ bands) and stop booking shows all together. I am sorry that this has to be done. I was truely looking forward to drink beers and watching some awesome shows. I am truely sorry for the inconvenience. If you would like to place a complaint (which will do nothing but piss of the owners) please call Clyde and Kathy at 865.766.5056 between the hours of 3pm-5pm because that it the only time that they will be there. Do to this absolute stupidity and asshole move on all the bands I have quit and will be deleting the Myspace to avoid upset emails. I am already upset enough for your alls sake I can’t take heart breaking emails! I am sorry everyone. Please continue to play awesome shows and I hope to see you around Knoxville. ~Sarah OutofControl”

Good luck, Sarah. And good luck, Sugar Shack/Speakeasy/Whatever-It’s-Called-This-Week owners.

The Speakeasy Bar and Venue, located at 5712 Kingston Pike and opened back in early summer, is already changing hands. It’s been sold, according to our sources, and will be under new management and a new name — The Sugar Shack Bar — starting Nov 1. Shows will continue to be booked, but live shows will be on hold until later on in November/early December. “New show dates will be posted as they are confirmed,” so keep checking the current Myspace page for more info. Eventually, the current Myspace page will be changed to reflect the new venue.

Three shows remain under the Speakeasy tent this weekend: A killer indie-pop show at 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29 featuring Pegasi51, Cold Hands and Gamenight at 9 p.m.; cover is $5 … The Hotshot Freight Train with Travis Singleton and Carroll Hallow at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30; cover is $5 … and a “Raising the Dead” Halloween party at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, featuring a reunion show by Letters to Scarlet with Your Favorite Hero (admission also $5).

Download a couple of free mp3s by those bands:

Cold Hands, “Taking a Ride”: Right-click here (choose “Save Target As” or “Save Link As”)
Buy “Sex. Beats. Romance.” by Cold Hands: Click here
Read an October 2008 interview with Cold Hands frontman Henry Gibson: Click here
Cold Hands on Myspace: Click here

Download “Time Slows Down,” by Pegasi51: Right-click here (choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”)
Download “Take a Seat in the Back,” by Pegasi51: Right-click here (choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”)
Pegasi51 online
Pegasi51 on Myspace
A June 2008 interview we did with the band