Manager of Club Nashwa: Give us another try

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Perhaps I was too harsh in my earlier assessment of Club Nashwa, a downtown Asheville nightclub I see as somewhat of a sketchy place. To wit:

Hi, my name is JC. I am the new General Manager for Nashwa and I can say with 100% certainty that there has never been a shooting or a stabbing at our club or in regards to our patrons. There have been several fights but realistically every establishment that serves alcohol has to deal with these bouts of aggression every once in a while.

Unfortunately there have been much more serious and violent incidents at other bars in town than anything that has happened at Nashwa. To set the record straight we HAVE restructured our recurring weekly events and have made drastic changes in the management and staffing of the club to improve the vibe and appeal of the club. For anyone who has not been to our club I sincerely hope that the article above does not prevent you from coming out and having a great time at our establishment. For those that have been to our club before and found it not to be their cup of tea, I ask that you come back and give us another try and see the changes that we have made. 

JC, thanks for your note. So maybe I’ll give it another chance. There’s some jello wrestling and Bootstraps Burlesque action at the club this weekend. We’ll see…

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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2 Comments

  1. Anon May 27, 2009

    So the first night that I’ve ever been there must have been some sort of fluke? I was treated like a common thug for simply trying to get in to an Ott show. I’m not against being searched to get into a club, they do it all the time at the Orange Peel, but with the difference that the door staff doesn’t threaten or frighten me with an aggressive attitude and presupposition that I must be up to no good. When I was there one of the performing DJs got kicked OUT before his set because he talked back to the doorman and apparently did not respect his authoritah (I believe his infraction was to verbally defend a girl who was being hassled by the staff). I also heard that a girl got body slammed to the pavement by said same doorman and suffered permanent brain damage that night. Is this not true? It seems that Nashwa has more than a little atonement to do. Perhaps they could start by taking down the dress code sign at the door urging us not to wear our "bling" and tooth "grills"?

    When a club starts out with the assumption that patrons who enter will be criminal thugs, it tells people like me that this is a place that no respectable person would ever attend. As a respectable person I vowed never to go back there again, but couldn’t resist going back to see Shpongle. To Nashwa’s credit the Shpongle show *did* go a bit better, but still the vibe from the security men in the hallway made me feel genuine guilt and fear as I tried to move between Nashwa and Hookah Joes, and I got the impression that if the door men could display open firearms they would have welcomed it. That place’s security needs to stop acting like a SWAT team and maybe timid respectable women like me will consider going back inside.

    If Nashwa was the only club in town I might accept the argument that fights occur anywhere that alcohol is served, but in fact I have never encountered this vibe in any other local venue despite copious amounts of alcohol. It strikes me that this argument blames the patron for their problems, which doesn’t surprise me since as a patron I felt blame laid upon me simply for having the nerve to step onto their door stoop and buy a ticket. In fact, it made me so nervous to go there I felt more aggressive as a result- has it occurred to them that the scowls and heavy handed attitude of their staff actually causes fights to break out? Because *happy* patrons have less reason to raise hell you know.

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  2. jello wrestling and bootstraps burlesque? Holy shit, I gotta get out of this town!

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