Turf Club re-opens under new management tonight

City Pages file photo

​A week and a half after it shuttered unexpectedly, the Turf Club will re-open tonight with new management and new hours of operation. The venue will open at 6 p.m. today for a pre-show happy hour, followed by a free show with local bluegrass band Pocahontus County.

"I'm viewing this as the opening of a bar, instead of re-opening a bar and nightclub," new manager Josh James told us last week. He says he hopes to "re-invigorate and re-instill the sense of community that this place has had for so many years."

The Turf is retaining the same booking crew that was working at the club before the closing -- Ryan O'Rourke and Christy Hunt -- so regulars shouldn't notice any dramatic changes to the music at the club. For the time being, the big change-ups will include keeping the club closed on Sundays and Mondays, and discontinuing the club's longstanding Monday night residency with Fat Kid Wednesdays.

Don't be shocked if some of the decor has changed, too. "I've already pulled a bunch of posters down," James told us. "It's something that - it's alive. It has to evolve and change. The Turf Club is, in and of itself, an entity, and hopefully it gets to stay that way."

No word yet on whether the basement bar (formerly the Clown Lounge, then later the woodsy Clown Lodge) will re-open anytime soon.


Previously:

• Turf Club closed until January 11, changing management
• Turf Club closing: New manager Josh James speaks out
• Former Turf Club manager Dave Wiegardt offers parting words