Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

The Facts on Fiction

Since Old City dance club Fiction relocated to the Blue Cats/Tonic entertainment complex, there has been some confusion regarding its somewhat phantom existence. When is Blue Cats Blue Cats and when is it Fiction? And how does Tonic enter into the plot? Gary Mitchell's clubs seem to be experiencing an identity crisis.

The story line is not as complicated as it seems. Six nights a week, Blue Cats and Tonic are Blue Cats and Tonic. The shape-shifting takes place every Saturday night, when Blue Cats becomes Fiction 125 and the whole complex—Blue Cats, Tonic and the courtyard—becomes a three-in-one dance club venue.

"It made sense to consolidate all the businesses so that we could really put all of our effort into the one venue," says Lenore Kinder, Blue Cats' director of operations.

Now Knoxville club kids can enjoy all the sensory onslaught of the original Fiction, plus two DJ's instead of one—DJ Slink's progressive techno in Blue Cats and DJ Alfred's '80s-style dance music in Tonic.

"It has a really cool vibe. People have compared it to various dance clubs in Atlanta," says Kinder. "This move has really taken it to a new level."

Recent improvements to the venue include sound system upgrades and improvements to the air filtration and conditioning system, as well as aesthetic "enhancements." Ho-hum barstools aren't conducive to the plush, exotic atmosphere Fiction prides itself on, so comfier furniture and décor from Fiction's former location were hauled in to give the club a facelift.

Thank God someone forgot to pack the cage dancers. But unfortunately the absence of Fiction's hired naughty schoolgirls has not put a damper on the meat-market atmosphere that puts the "r" in "Friction."

Now, however, most of the bump-and-grinders take up residence in Tonic, while individuals who seem more interested in music than getting into one another's pants seem to gravitate toward Blue Cats. The courtyard stands as a kind of purgatory between the two worlds, a cross between a frat party and the time-out room of a rave.

Doesn't sound like your scene? If their heaven sounds like your hell, take heed: Fiction 125 could be paving the venue's path to booking better shows in the future.

Kinder explains that similar venues in other cities have turned to offering at least one dance night a week to draw crowds and generate the revenue that can be used to attract better music during the week. While Fiction 125 draws an estimated 1,000 people throughout the course of a night, Blue Cats was getting to the point where it couldn't afford the price tags of big-name weekend bands.

If you're going to dance the dance, you've got to pay the piper, and in this case the Fiction crowd seems more than willing to foot the bill for us all. Body glitter can be blinding but, whether you decide to partake or sit Saturday nights out, keep in mind that a club's got to do what a club's go to do. So far, at least, there seems to be enough Blue Cats to go around.

Clarification

It's one of those ideas that seems so obvious, you wonder why no one has tried it before. But it was left to an outsider to recognize the great music talent here and try to bring artists together.

The Tim Lee Band hosts the Knoxville Music Night every Wednesday at the ThInQ Tank. The group plays a couple of songs and then invites special guests each week to join them (or play a few songs with the TLB's instruments). It's led to some interesting pairings, including last week's rendition of the John Prine song "Angel from Montgomery," with Jodie Manross and R.B. Morris trading verses.

The shows are great because they're free and laid back and you never know what surprise guests might be there.

The night's variant format has led to some confusion though. Some people think the shows are open-mic jam sessions, which they're not. Last week, one drunk kid got in Tim Lee's face and told him he needed to be doing "blues improv...you know, playing blues and making up songs about what's happening in your life." "No thanks, I'd rather stick to Stooges covers," Lee says.

Perhaps the confusion comes from the fact that there are several open mic nights in the Old City and elsewhere: Barley's (Tuesdays), Brackin's (Tuesdays), Sassy Ann's (Wednesdays), and New City Café (Thursdays). (There are others out there, but not all the clubs are good about updating their listings.)

But if you're an amateur musician, don't show up at the ThInQ Tank with your guitar or bongos on Wednesdays hoping to jam. "I'm not really sure what the Knoxville music night is, but I know it's not a 'showcase' and it's certainly not a blues jam," Lee says. "Hopefully, it's an opportunity to create some sort of community atmosphere where music players are comfortable hanging out and interacting, and where music fans can go for free early on a Wednesday night and see some of that interaction on stage."

Next Wednesday's show will include guests Randall Brown and Greg Horne.

Go.

Thursday: Bryon Larrance and Jason Day are an organ jazz duo playing at Lucille's. Hmmm. Well, it could be a great way to wind down after a noisy Sundown show.

Friday: Forget music. Take a midnight hike in the mountains and enjoy some solitude.

Saturday: Get thee to the fair. Groove to washed up hip-hop stars Tone Loc and Young MC.

Sunday: We wrote a whole cover story on how great Donald Brown is. Go see for yourself at ThInQ Tank.

Monday: The Pernice Brothers are playing the Pilot Light!

Tuesday: As you get older, you get angrier and that's good for drumming. So that when you hit something, you really want to hurt it. You really want to hear it break. You want to take something that was really important in the family, a family heirloom, and you want to throw it across the room and hear the sound that it makes when it hits the wall. I think that's what we all want out of rhythm, is to take something that someone else cares about and destroy it.

Wednesday: Go to the Jay Farrar show at Blue Cats and yell out for Wilco covers!

—Madame "without expression, waiting for a sign" Georgie with Leslie Wylie and Joe Tarr