Maybe a new beginning for clubs everywhere. Listening rooms. Maybe in your house?
“Our place is centered around the artists, and we do ask people to keep their talking down so that the performers can come across to everyone.”
—From one of Exit/In’s first advertisements in The Tennessean
Within its first year, Exit/In quickly stood out for what it was not. It was no concert hall in size or character. It wasn’t a sports bar or old-fashioned nightclub. Modeled after Atlanta’s Bottom of the Barrel, it was a listening room where patrons behaved much like they would at the movie theater. It had a coffeehouse feel but sold liquor by the drink. Perhaps the civility of its patrons could be chalked up in part to the bar’s serving only top-shelf liquor. “Cheaper stuff brought bad vibes,” says Manier. There were also the house rules: no fighting, and no talking during performances. True to the owners’ plans, Exit/In would provide patrons with equal parts musical entertainment and education.
Read it all at Source: Where Happiness Reigned: Exit/In’s 1970s Heyday