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The
Antenna, the Midtown nightspot that pioneered modern alternative rock in Memphis, introducing such bands as
R.E.M., Black Flag and Hole to local audiences, has permanently
closed.
A June 7 concert by
the band Tripping Daisy ended almost 15 years of shows at the club,
according to manager Mark McGehee. ''The Tripping Daisy show went
kind of sour,'' said McGehee, 38. The group had a guarantee of $
680, he said, ''but all I could come up with was $ 400 from all my beer
sales, the door, the cigarette machine . . . I made up my mind (to close)
that night.''
McGehee's brother
Steve took over the club at 1588 Madison in 1981, the same year a
young R.E.M. played there for a $ 50 guarantee. Another local club,
the Well, had earlier tried alternative rock with such local performers
as Tav Falco & Panther Burns and Alex Chilton. But the Antenna
was the right place at the right time, as the early '80s saw an
entire
generation of post-punk
bands sprouting all over the country.
And like R.E.M., most
of them found their way to the Antenna, including such hardcore pioneers
as Black Flag, the Minutemen and Husker Du, punk-funksters the Red Hot
Chili Peppers, the Grateful Dead-inspired jam bands like Widespread
Panic, the recent crop of neo-punkers including Hole and Green Day and
hundreds of other groups, from the Replacements to crazed
singer-songwriter Mojo Nixon.
By the late '80s,
Steve McGehee had grown tired of the scene and Mark McGehee took
over. The booking criteria remained the same. ''I didn't want to do
what's mainstream,' Mark McGehee said.
But, he admits, as
so-called alternative music became mainstream, ''I think we outlived our
usefulness.''
With the success of
Nirvana and Pearl Jam, alternative rock topped the charts and moved up
from club to theaters and arenas. Many of the groups that first
found an audience at the 200-seat Antenna moved on to the 600-seat New
Daisy, the 2,000-seat Orpheum, the 5,234-seat Mud Island Amphitheatre,
the 10,000-seat Mid-South Coliseum and the 20,000-seat
Pyramid.
But McGehee also saw
his neighborhood change. Nearby Overton Square is no longer the city's
center for hip, young entertainment it was when the Antenna opened.
Older audiences seeking wilder nights flock to Beale, while those out for
a quiet evening go to the coffeehouses in nearby Cooper-Young.
Meanwhile, thanks to all-ages shows, the club crowds have gotten younger,
and it's hard to keep a bar open selling soft drinks to teens.
''To me Midtown is
just dying, as far as entertainment,'' McGehee said.
But in a business
where clubs come and go with the seasons, the Antenna had a good
run. ''My brother started a dream, and it came true, but it was a
nightmare,'' McGehee said with a caustic laugh. ''But we served a
purpose and had a lot of fun.''
For now, he's trying
to adjust to a more normal, non-nocturnal lifestyle.
''I don't know what
to do on the weekends anymore,'' McGehee said.
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