Mojoes to Reopen July 7

Although it’s not officially The Tree just yet, Mojoes will be back in business Tuesday, July 7 with Betsy Kuypers managing.

The Tree was originally supposed to open in June, but a deal between her and former Mojoes owner Chris Triebes fell apart at the last minute. Kuypers is a partial owner of Freaksters Roadhouse in Pontiac.

“We’re going to have to wait on a typical hearing and everything like that for me to officially change the name and the signage,” Kuypers said.

A hearing will be held July 21.

“Everything is moving forward with changing the name and getting everything new. But as of now, I am acting manager of Mojoes until the lease transfers over,” she said.

Should everything go smoothly with the hearing, Mojoes should become The Tree sometime after that.

Alien Ant Farm, Eyes Set To Kill, Kaleido and Run 2 Cover are scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Kuypers asks that anyone who wants tickets for upcoming events to order them through Eventbrite.com and not through Ticketrumba, which was an online ticket site run by Triebes.

“Tickets should only be purchased at Eventbrite.com,” Kuypers said. “Tickets purchased through Ticketrumba will not be valid.”

A list of upcoming events at Mojoes can be found here.

Kuypers said she’s appreciative that Triebes is again cooperating with her taking the business over.

“It’s better for the bands that were booked, the people that had tickets and the people that I had already hired,” she said.

About eight shows in total had to be cancelled, although Kuypers said she was able to move two of them to Freaksters Roadhouse.

“When you move a show it’s really tough to even make your money back. I lost a lot of money by moving those shows, but I did it because when you’re working with booking bands all the time, which is what I do for a living, if my name is attached to something, there’s no way I’m not going to do the right thing,” Kuypers said. “I just had to suck it up and take the loss on those shows. At least Chris came around and signed the management contract.”

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk said Kuypers has gone through the same liquor license process everyone else goes through and doesn’t expect any problems to arise for her hearing.

“We generally have a pretty good idea going into it,” O’Dekirk said. ”If there’s a red flag, it pops up.”

An email to Chris Triebes asking for comment was not immediately returned.