Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510190037
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
But don't say it's gone yet, says Jimmy Butler, owner and founder of the Roanoke Comedy Club.
It will be taking a two-week hiatus, though.
At least.
Butler this week sold the building on Williamson Road that has housed the club for the past three years.
``I'm down,'' said Butler, ``but I'm not out for the count.'' He has been looking for weeks for a Roanoke City Market location for the club, but with no success.
After scouting out many locations, but not finding the right one in downtown Roanoke, Butler checked out one more prospective location Wednesday - this one outside of downtown - and hopes to hear today whether he's found yet another home for the club he founded 11 years ago at what's now the Radisson Patrick Henry Hotel.
The club has had a nomadic existence since it opened as the hotel's Down the Hatch in 1984. After leaving the Patrick Henry, it was at Hotel Roanoke, then back to the Patrick Henry until moving to the former Wood Nichols building on Williamson Road.
If things go as Butler hopes, he'll have the club up and running again by early November - depending on how well his negotiations went Wednesday for a site he would not identify.
Butler says his major concern, as always, is for his patrons. He distributed free tickets recently that said they were good through Oct. 28.
``Make sure you put in there that [the tickets] are good till the end of the year,'' he said with characteristic optimism.
by CNB