Old Locations, New Venues
BY
J.D. REAGER | OCTOBER 16, 2008
The corner of Madison and Avalon in Midtown has long held a special place in the heart of Memphis' underground music scene. The intersection was once the home of the infamous Antenna Club, generally accepted as the nation's second-longest-running alternative-music spot (only New York's CBGB's lasted longer) and home base over the years to influential fringe bands such as Tav Falco's Panther Burns, the Modifiers, the Oblivians, the Grifters, Pezz, and countless more.
However, in 1995, the Antenna succumbed to long-standing financial struggles and closed its doors. In the years since, the club has changed hands and names frequently, at different times operating as the Void, Barristers Midtown, and the gay/lesbian nightclub Madison Flame. More recently, an ownership group consisting of Doug Fruitt and Chris Marquez,and later joined by Murphy's owner Robert "Benny" Carter, took over the space and rechristened it Nocturnal.
"Because of Memphis being a late-night party crowd, we all decided Nocturnal would be an appropriate name for the clientele," Fruitt says. "It was brought up to maybe change the name to something with Antenna in it, but we knew we could never live up to the history of the Antenna Club. It has its place in Memphis-music history, and we didn't want anyone to think that we were even thinking we could bring it back."
"There's something about trying to relive the past that just doesn't work," Carter says. "We want to embrace the history and add our forward thinking to it."
Carter and his partners have renovated the space, lending a new and cleaner vibe to familiar surroundings. (The original bar, the DJ booth, and the graffiti/art in the back rooms remain intact.) The process was more than arduous.
"Everything was removed, walls and floors cleaned and painted, etc. It took us two months to complete and get up to code so we could get our beer permit," Marquez says.
Though the club has largely been dormant since the group initially took over the location, action has picked up of late, with club operators more aggressively pursuing local and touring live bands and DJs.