Over the past 34 years of "blues, booze and Cajun food," Blind Willie's nightclub in Atlanta has weathered Black Friday, the Great Recession, the 1996 Olympics bombing, 9/11, an aging neighborhood and the deaths of headliners from Rufus Thomas to Beverly "Guitar" Watkins.
But the coronavirus pandemic "might be enough to put us under," says co-owner Eric King. "It's like a science-fiction movie around here, looking out the door and not seeing people on the street." Like every other live-music venue, Blind Willie's closed in mid-March, but the club has a "very difficult lease arrangement," and while its landlord has been lenient on rent during the crisis, King doesn't expect this largesse to last forever.
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