Historic Elliston Place club Exit/In has been closed since Thanksgiving, pending a changeover in management, and longtime operators Chris and Telisha Cobb’s lease expired on Dec. 31. The new owners of the property have announced their plan to reopen following renovations sometime this year. However, in just the past few days, there’s been a flurry of controversy surrounding the venue.
Starting on Jan. 8, photos of the club's marquee, which read “Sorry Not Sorry” on one side, spread like wildfire on social media. A photo of the opposite side also circulated, though less widely. It read “Shirtpanties!” — a local prankster's tag, which anyone who’s visited a Nashville venue bathroom in the past 15 years is almost sure to have seen.
Representatives of real estate developer AJ Capital Partners — as of July 2021, the owners of the property home to the Exit/In building and its neighboring bar — say they found a mess inside. Monday night, Jan. 9, The Tennessean reported missing or damaged fixtures, broken glass bottles and a smashed mirror in the green room. Some fixtures inside were spray-painted, and a mural on the side of the building had been painted over, apparently with a broom found nearby.
“We were shocked and disheartened to find both buildings vandalized with significant damage,” an emailed statement to the paper from AJ Capital’s Tim Ryan says, in part. “Despite this awful and senseless act of vandalism and destruction, we remain committed to respectfully restoring the venue and faithfully stewarding it for the long haul. The Exit/In is Nashville’s Music Forum — her history, legacy and role in this community are nobody’s to own, hijack or destroy. And to that end, we look forward to making more lifelong memories with artists and fans in due time.”
A representative also told The Tennessean’s Molly Davis that monetary damages will be assessed and a course of legal action will be decided on. It remains unclear who is responsible, and whether or not the damage had anything to do with changing the marquee.
"We worked really hard to clean that place on New Year's Eve," Chris Cobb told Davis. "No one employed by me has entered the building since our lease ended."
In a pre-Christmas article in Billboard that announced Dan Merker as the venue’s new talent buyer, it was noted that the mural, a panel featuring the names of many artists who’ve played the venue since 1971 and other painted signage on the exterior walls had been painted over; it seems a fresh coat was applied this week. Cobb told Davis that he’d obscured these elements as part of removing his intellectual property from the site prior to the end of his lease. Last year, he filed an application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the name “Exit/In” and other associated intellectual property. It was accepted but was opposed by AJ Capital, and the ownership of the IP is still in question pending a decision from the USPTO that may not come until next year.
On Thursday, Cobb posted a statement to his personal Facebook and Instagram reiterating that the photos on social media and in The Tennessean’s story don’t reflect the state he left the site in. In a message to the Scene on Friday, he clarified some of the reports of damage. “ ‘Hoses sawed off’ is how the leased soda guns were removed by their owner,” Cobb writes. “The ‘cut wires’ appear to be the phone lines that have been inactive since before I started there in 2004. I certainly don't see ‘destroyed utilities and infrastructure’ in any of the photos that are circulating.” He also confirms that he’s received no communication from AJ Capital since his lease ended.
In his Thursday post, Cobb also highlights the Historical Commission Permit granted in December to AJ Capital by the Metro Historic Zoning Commission. The permit allows modifications to the building as outlined in the attached plans, which offer the first look at what the firm has in mind. They call for a return of the exterior facade to its appearance in the mid-1970s: Painted white, with a small mansard roof overhang on the left side as you look at it from across the street, as well as a painted sign above the door on the right.
Looking closer at the proposed changes to the interior, patrons would still enter via the side as they have in recent months. More significant changes are in store, including lowering the raised portion so that the main floor is all on one level, and converting of much of the space underneath the mezzanine into bathrooms.
“This was always going to be a big job that will take a long time,” Cobb writes in his post, “and result in significant changes to the look, feel, sound, capacity, and of course, culture of the venue.”
"Exit" - Google News
January 16, 2023 at 09:30PM
https://ift.tt/qja7nvR
Even Without Shows, Last Week Was a Wild One at Exit/In - Nashville Scene
"Exit" - Google News
https://ift.tt/SLw9POB
https://ift.tt/qVJMX4j
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Even Without Shows, Last Week Was a Wild One at Exit/In - Nashville Scene"
Post a Comment