Archive for the ‘Vice City’ tag
All-ages shows suffer another blow
Remember last week’s Weekend section, when we profiled a new club over in Eagleton called Vice City? The one where all-ages shows were going to be held on Friday nights? Well, after exactly one show featuring Alcoa rapper Brandon “Hollywood” Holliman, future shows have been cancelled, according to Javier Migoya, co-owner of Aroma Cafe — located next door to the club, which he also co-owned.
The turnout was moderate, according to Hollywood — not bad for a weekend of football playoffs and, by his account, one of the best shows he’s ever done. On top of first-night problems, an exhausting schedule for the Migoyas — Javier and his wife, Alicia — and other complications have given them pause for continuing Vice City.
“The parking situation was just horrendous, and add that to the mix that it was exhausting for me and my wife being here on Friday and Saturday nights, it just gave us second thoughts,” Javier told us. “We’re still going to rent out the facility for parties and events, and we’re thinking about finding a different place to do the teen nights.”
That’s not the only all-ages venue that fizzled out after one show — Remedy Coffee, 125 W. Jackson Ave. in Knoxville’s Old City, tried to do something similar last Saturday night as well, with a three-band bill booked by Dishwater Blonde frontman Davis Mitchell. (We blogged about it last week.) A late start and residences located over the coffeehouse, however, meant that the show had to shut down at 10 p.m., and now the folks at Remedy have postponed the other two all-ages shows scheduled through the end of the year.
“I wanna help them find a spot they can hang and be creative; however, I don’t think it’s gonna be at Remedy,” Mitchell wrote to us earlier in the week. “ We’re not really equipped or a fit for that but it was worth a try.”
There’s been a shortage of all-ages venues in the East Tennessee area since Old City Java, another Old City coffeehouse, changed hands a few years ago and ceased to hold Friday and Saturday night shows. Occasionally, someone comes along and tries to fill that gap; Level 10 on Kingston Pike still occasionally holds all-ages performances, but others — places like The OSE, The Boneyard in Loudon, The Rock Studios in Maryville — they either didn’t make it, or their all-ages shows aren’t regular occurrences.