The bathrooms actually work now. That\u2019s one of main differences between the rebooted version of iconic Huntsville, Alabama music bar Tip Top Caf\u00e9 <\/a>and its vintage version, says Kip Shepherd, who saw many shows at Tip Top back in the day. <\/p>\n During the mid \u201880s through early \u201890s, grimy tiny Tip Top hosted then baby bands like Widespread Panic<\/a>, underground heroes like Dead Milkmen, roots legends like Bo Diddley, \u201calmost famous\u201d bands like Storm Orphans<\/a>, and local standouts like Sex Clark Five<\/a>. <\/p>\n On December 20, Shepherd attended a secret show at the new Tip Top by beloved long-running band Snake Doctors<\/a>. Because all the licenses weren\u2019t in place then, the show was held as a private party with no alcohol served. <\/p>\n \u201cIt sounded really good,\u201d says Shepherd, an administrator of Facebook group \u201cI remember the Tip Top\u201d<\/a> which has almost 2,000 members. \u201cThere was a nice crowd in there and they did a really good job with the P.A. and all that other stuff. I kind of liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, for New Year\u2019s Eve, Tip Top is fully licensed, including liquor, and will host its first rock show in many years. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 9. <\/p>\n The bill features two of North Alabama\u2019s best \u2013 if not the two best<\/i> \u2013 current bands, alt-rockers Camacho<\/a> and funkateers Soul Karnival. Tickets are $10 via tiptophsv.com<\/a> (plus a miniscule 25 cent fee) or $15 at the door. <\/p>\n [UPDATE 12\/31: Per <\/i>the venue\u2019s Facebook page<\/i><\/a>, \u201cThe presale tickets for New Year\u2019s Eve have sold out. Tickets will still be available at the door, but they will be limited.\u201d] <\/i><\/p>\n Camacho guitarist A.C. Segler is understandably jazzed to open the new Tip Top, whose partners include John Chamness and Evan Billiter, who cut their teeth with recently closed St. Stephens Music Hall<\/a>, and Trevar Akins, who\u2019s bringing wizardry from his Veloce Pizza<\/a> at Lowe Mill to Tip Top. <\/p>\n Segler says, \u201cI\u2019m very bummed that the original Tip Top was before my time, but I\u2019m super stoked that Evan and John asked us to play, period. But also that Evan and John are even making it happen in the first place with Tip Top. So it\u2019s gonna be exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Chamness is in awe of Tip Top\u2019s history and doesn\u2019t take being its new torch bearer lightly. <\/p>\n \u201cI get goosebumps in there sometimes,\u201d Chamness says of the humble cinderblock building. \u201cJust thinking about, man, who stood right there. Like, Chris Robinson<\/a> stood right there.\u201d <\/p>\n Indeed, Mr. Crowes Garden, the Atlanta band that turned into \u201890s \u201cJealous Again\u201d rock stars The Black Crowes<\/a>, with Robinson as their electric frontman, performed at Tip Top. <\/p>\n Chamness adds, \u201cI just want to make sure everybody knows, this is not our take on the Tip Top. This is us doing the best we possibly can to honor what it is, because to me, it is a piece of Huntsville\u2019s music history, and it is an important piece of that history.\u201d <\/p>\n True to that, a list of every band that played Tip Top has been printed out and mounted on a wall in the new version. There\u2019s more than 500 of them. <\/p>\n It\u2019s been a long road here. Real estate developer Bill Chapman purchased the building around 2014. Chapman\u2019s planned Tip Top reboot originally planned a fall 2016 opening. Some internal construction took place. <\/p>\n At one point, tvg hospitality, the group that runs Orion Amphitheater<\/a>, was involved as a consultant But after eight years passed without opening, it seemed like the new Tip Top was dead before go.<\/p>\n Then this spring, new hope. Chamness, Billiter and Akins signed a five-year lease of the Tip Top building<\/a>, address 125 Maple Ave. in the Lincoln Mill area. In mid-November, the new Tip Top announced its first shows<\/a>. <\/p>\n But those shows, scheduled for late November and mid-December, didn\u2019t work out as contractor work and licenses didn\u2019t button up as expected. After nine years though, another month\u2019s wait isn\u2019t that big of deal.<\/p>\n Chapman has been a better than OK landlord during all this, Chamness says. \u201cHonestly, he\u2019s been way more hands off than I thought he would be. He completely just let us go and has been very supportive. We didn\u2019t pay rent the whole time during that renovation, so I\u2019m like, you know, you don\u2019t get that anywhere. The rent we are paying, he gave us a very good deal on it because we paid for all the renovations. And when we need some muscle with the general contractor or with the city, he\u2019s like, hey, I know a guy, and he steps in.\u201d<\/p>\n Lance Church owned and ran the Tip Top during its glory days. His grandfather Calvin Church opened Tip Top in the 1940s. For years it was known as Church\u2019s Tip Top Cafe. Lance purchased the Tip Top from his father Marshall Church around 1986. <\/p>\n After starting with local and state bands, Tip Top began attracting regional artists and eventually national acts, with Lance handling the booking.<\/p>\n In 2016, the amiable Church, then a manager at a local Applebee\u2019s, told me<\/a>, \u201cWhere Huntsville\u2019s located, of course, we\u2019re between Nashville and Birmingham, so a lot of the bands would be at the Exit\/In in Nashville and then they\u2019d play The Nick in Birmingham<\/a> and in between they\u2019d catch us. Or on their way they would catch us. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd we got a good name. The place was a dive, but the customers in there made everybody feel at home. A lot of the bands would go home and spend the night at different customers\u2019 houses and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Although many cool bands played Tip Top, there\u2019s one group Church told me in 2016 he wish would\u2019ve worked out. The venue had been sent a promo pack for Seattle grunge rockers Pearl Jam. \u201cAnd I guess it took a while to get to me and then they blew up so I never even bothered calling them.\u201d<\/p>\n You can\u2019t tell Tip Top\u2019s story without talking about the bar\u2019s unforgettable doorman, Lanny Taylor. Taylor weighed well over 400 pounds and his personality was just as big. He was frank, sarcastic, smart and surly. A bona fide character. <\/p>\n In 2016, Vira Ceci, a Tip Top bartender in the \u201990, told me, \u201cLanny definitely added a lot to the vibe of the Tip Top, and it certainly wouldn\u2019t have been the same kind of place without him. I really liked working with him.\u201d <\/p>\n Taylor, who later opened short lived venue Lanny\u2019s Downtown, died in March 2007. He\u2019d struggled with a heroin, coke and Dilaudid dependency for years. <\/p>\n Chamness says for the new Tip Top he\u2019ll probably work the door himself although he\u2019s looking at perspective others for later. <\/p>\n Back in the day, there were occasional celebrity sightings at Tip Top, like when actor River Phoenix\u2019s band<\/a> played there.<\/p>\n There are also myths. Nope, R.E.M. never played there. And while members of Cheap Trick once stopped in to shoot some pool before their concert at Von Braun Center, Cheap Trick hasn\u2019t performed at Tip Top. Then there are the many people who now claim to have been at proto-Black Crowes band Mr. Crowes Garden\u2019s show, way more than those actually in attendance that night.<\/p>\n A City of Huntsville noise ordinance shut down live music at Tip Top in 1995. Around this time Church began leasing out the Tip Top for the next 15 years or so. <\/p>\n In early 1996, the venue began hosting live music again, but quieter shows. In 1997 new proprietor Marian P. Johnson revived Tip Top as a neighborhood cafe. <\/p>\n Around 2010, the Tip Top shut down after a final tenant just couldn\u2019t make it work. In August 2013, the building was sold at auction for $15,000.<\/p>\n The new Tip Top\u2019s guest capacity is currently 93. Once they get sprinklers installed, that will increase to around 200, Chamness says. Besides the three owners, a staff of four will work the venue. <\/p>\n They won\u2019t be doing food for the first few weeks as Akins recovers from recent carpal tunnel surgery. But not pulling all levers at once on a new venue in a hallowed space might be a cloaked blessing. <\/p>\n Chamness asks initial Tip Top 2.0 guests to be patient. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had a lot of time to kick the tires on the systems such as cash registers, sound, keg system, etc.\u201d <\/p>\n Besides fully functioning bathrooms, interior updates include an expanded bar. The booths from the past have been removed. <\/p>\n This first show on New Year\u2019s Eve will be a corker. Camacho, founded by Decatur natives Segler and singer\/keyboardist Joe Canada, write and play songs echoing greats like Queen and Smashing Pumpkins, but with their own dynamics, fingerprints and soul. <\/p>\n Besides Alabama, they play shows in Atlanta, Virginia, Nashville and Florida. The band also features drummer Alex Powell, bassist Heath Brister and guitarist Mac Macdonald.<\/p>\n Camacho\u2019s latest album \u201cBandits,\u201d released this year, displays their arena-worthy talents in bold shades. See the title track, \u201cWhat\u2019s A Memory?\u201d and \u201cLady Please.\u201d <\/p>\n Drawing from guitarists ranging from Marc Bolan to Dean Ween, Segler says of their NYE show at Tip Top, \u201cWe\u2019re hoping this one will be special.\u201d <\/p>\n Asked what it means for Huntsville to again have a club-sized venue focused on original music, in the wake of Sidetracks Music Hall\u2019s 2022 closing<\/a>, he says, \u201cIt means everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.al.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The bathrooms actually work now. That\u2019s one of main differences between the rebooted version of iconic Huntsville, Alabama music bar Tip Top Caf\u00e9 and its vintage version, says Kip Shepherd, who saw many shows at Tip Top back in the day. During the mid \u201880s through early \u201890s, grimy tiny Tip Top hosted then baby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2219297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2219297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2219298,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219297\/revisions\/2219298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2219297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2219297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2219297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Tip](\"https:\/\/www.al.com\/resizer\/v2\/GMMHYEDSOZG2LK5W5AR46HZ7AU.jpg?auth=d89fe0b30a083ce2af5245e822e72303f08d79f47cc5327deae2f9a4cf7ef066&width=1280&smart=true&quality=90\")
![\"Tip](\"https:\/\/www.al.com\/resizer\/v2\/3US3FIP65FCKTECKG22VW6HCFE.jpg?auth=271923f4b1d9305a3fd53874984171811fc0090da8e08d3a6c3fec11376e80e5&width=1280&smart=true&quality=90\")