The Minneapolis nightclub The Fine Line was on fire tonight.
Don't know how much damage yet. Of course, this is a place that Prince has played and hung out on occasion...

That's a nice little club. I hope the fire didn't cause much damage.

squirrelgrease said:

That's a damn shame... Fine Line's a cool club...

Neversin.
[This message was edited Tue Feb 18 5:27:30 PST 2003 by Neversin]

me and a friend of mine (violett) were downtown last nite and saw all the fire trucks and stuff...we were like, "ohmigod, hope that ain't the fine line!!!" anyhow, the story's here (from http://www.startribune.com:

Fine Line Cafe set afire by band's pyrotechnics
David Chanen
Star Tribune

Published Feb. 18, 2003 FINE18


The Fine Line Music Cafe in downtown Minneapolis would have been smokin' Monday with the guitar wailing of Link Wray, but the warm-up band got things hot a little early.

The Jet City Fix was playing its encore when it set off a pyrotechnic display that started the club's ceiling on fire about 7:15 p.m., fire officials said.

The crowd of about 120 was scooted out and the fire was extinguished within 15 minutes. Nobody was injured, and the fire was contained to the Fine Line, but the club sustained extensive water damage.

Members of the The Jet City Fix never told club owner Dario Anselmo that they would be shooting anything off during their set, Anselmo said. The band played a show at Luther's Blues bar in Madison, Wis., on Sunday and was yelled at by the owner after it did the same thing, Anselmo said.

Anselmo said Fine Line management had reviewed safety procedures with the staff Monday in response to the deaths of 21 people who were killed earlier in the day in a crowded Chicago club.

"What happened in Chicago was an anomaly," he said. "We make sure we're not over capacity and check to see if all exits are unlocked."

The capacity of the Fine Line Music Cafe is 720. The club opened in 1987 in the 100-year-old Consortium Building at 318 1st Av. N. in the Warehouse District. The fire caused an estimated $100,000 damage, but Anselmo hopes to reopen in a month.

"I'm shocked, but happy everybody got out," he said while looking at his business. "This could have hurt a lot of people. We would have never allowed the band to do something like this. I hope they don't play again."

Larry Lysaght and his wife, Linda, were sitting in the club's second floor waiting for food when they saw a small fire in the ceiling. It looked like it was part of the show, he said.

"It took awhile to figure it out, but we still didn't believe what was happening," he said. "Somebody from the staff was trying to put it out, but then they started to holler at people to get out."

David Wolfe, lead singer and guitarist for the Vibro Champs, was also upstairs when his friend pointed to the flames falling from the ceiling. They were making their way down the stairs within seconds, but he said he could feel the fire at the back of his head.

"It was just amazing," he said. "The staff did a wonderful job of getting everybody out. It's sad to see this happen to such a great club."

The local rockabilly band was supposed to play after Wray, the 74-year-old musician best known for the 1958 whammy bar guitar-filled instrumental classic "Rumble." Wolfe was disappointed he wasn't going to get the chance to play with his hero.

"And none of our equipment was insured," he said.

The sprinkler system activated and all the patrons were out of the club before the Fire Department arrived, said fire spokeswoman Kristi Rollwagen.

Jet City Fix of Seattle is scheduled to open for Wray for the next month. But on Monday night the band was pretty shaken up, Anselmo said.

Said Lysaght: "It was like 'Smoke on the Water,' revisted. It's too bad. They were nice kids and played a tight set."

First of all The Jet City Fix should be held responsible for this since they played a club previously and shot off pyrotechnics and the same thing happended. How f*ucking irresponsible of this band. I guess they don't have any common sense NOT to do it again. Why wasn't this mentioned to the owners/mangers of The Fine Line that pyrotechnics would be used. Sounds like a violation of a contract agreement to me. $100,000 is NO small amount and I hope that Jet City is held partly responsible for this and pays for some of or all of the damage. Also another bands instruments were equipment was ruined and not insured.

I'm really happy to hear that no one was injured or killed by this. The Fine Line did a fine job of evacuating the club without any injuries. What happened at the Epitome Club is unexcusable. I can't beleive a bouncer would be ignorant to spray so much pepper spray in a space that had NO ventilation. Also it was two women fighting, why couldn't one or two male bouncers have stopped that without the use of pepper spray. Also they should have opted to use PEPPER FOAM, that way it does not spread through the air. It is concentrated and remains only of the subject or area it is sprayed on.

I forgot to mention that the Epitome Club owners should have NEVER had the second floor open, since the Fire Dept had told them to keep it closed due to a violation. The club owners are RESPONSIBLE for 21 deaths.