New Club to Open at Mojoes Location

Mojoes may be gone, but a new club will soon be taking its place.

Betsy Kuypers, partial owner of Freaksters Roadhouse in Pontiac, has taken over ownership of the club. It will now be known as The Tree. The plan is to keep all shows in place after June 13.

“For right now, it’s looking like it’s going to happen,” she said. “All shows that have not been canceled yet are currently going to take place.”

Shows booked by Kuypers should be happening soon. She will start with local bands and get them into The Tree as soon as possible. She’s also looking to book local comedians.

“I really like giving local comedians a chance,” Kuypers said.

Kuypers said she had been in contact with Chris Triebes, former owner of Mojoes, and aware of the situation he had with the city of Joliet, namely the over capacity charges levied against him from the city.

“I’m big into reaching out to local businesses and making sure they’re okay,” Kuypers said. “I was talking to Chris about everything and I could just tell from his voice that he’s done.”

Kuypers thought about taking over the club for about a day and then sent Triebes a text asking if he’d like to turn it over to her.

“I’ll buy it and I’ll see what I can do with it,” Kuypers said. “And he (said), ‘Yeah, if you can do it, let’s do it.’”

In working with Triebes, Kuypers said he’s been instrumental in helping get everything together.

“He’s been getting a bad rep for a lot of this stuff. I feel bad that he’s gotten blamed for a lot of things,” Kuypers said. “He’s been more than awesome working with me on this transition and so has the city. Both of them really put differences aside and went with it.”

The over occupancy issues that Mojoes faced shouldn’t be an issue for The Tree, Kuypers said. She has met with city officials and knows that the building currently has a 500 person capacity or 650 with a fire watch.

“We had talked about the city going in there and seeing what needs to be moved and what needs to be shortened, as in bars, stuff like that, to get my capacity up. The city’s building inspector is going to work on that and work on what we can do to make that capacity higher,” Kuypers said.

Her ideal capacity would be around 800.

Kuypers has also asked the city to be more proactive with The Tree, such as having more of a police presence available if need be.

“They’re on board with that, too,” she said.

The name for The Tree stems from the women that work for Kuypers.

“They’re like family to me and they wanted to call it The Family Tree and I really liked that idea, but I shortened it to The Tree.”

While The Tree will have a slightly different sound, Kuypers said she still intends to book metal shows, in addition to Americana, folk, pop and bluegrass music.

“The only thing I’m very unfamiliar with is rap and hip hop,” Kuypers said. “I’ve ran very successful music venues. It’s not that I don’t like that type of music, it’s that I don’t have those connections to the agencies to book that kind of music. I’m sticking with what I know for right now and what I know has been successful.”

In addition to music, The Tree will also feature sushi and salad made to order in a hibachi-style setting, meaning it will be served around a community table. There will not be a hibachi chef at The Tree. These features will only be available during The Tree’s lunch hours.

But wait, there’s more. Painting classes will be taught by Deborah Kuypers, Betsy’s mom.

“She’s a phenomenal artist,” Kuypers said. “That’s always been her dream.”

Kuypers manages six bands through her company Drinkerbell Entertainment and one of the bands will come and do an acoustic set while they’re teaching art.

The upstairs red room, which is off to the side and has its own entrance, will become a coffee and wine bar. It will be called Coffee Chords and Campus.

“So it involves music and coffee and painting,” Kuypers said. “It ties it all together. A little bit of me, a little bit of my mom and we both love coffee.”

Kuypers and her businesses are also the focus of a TV show right now.

“We can’t say the name of the show or the network, but they’re filming and they’re hoping to launch it by the fall,” Kuypers said. “One thing I love is music and every single business that I own has music involved somehow. I think they’re three episodes in already. Periodically we’ll be filming the TV show there at Mojoes. Mojoes will now become the home base for everything.”

Another business Kuypers owns along with her friend Emily is called The Filthy Stitch. It’s a mobile dress studio that goes to festivals and concert venues and takes concert t-shirts and turns them into dresses in a timely manner.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct name of the business in the last paragraph. It is called The Filthy Stitch, not The Selfie Stitch as previously reported.