By Netera Landar
As always, FogBound Blues Club is packed with people. It’s Friday. Not quite 5 p.m. FogBound DJ Tar Heel is filling in for DJ Ghost. I manage to get through the door and head toward the first open spot. Not an easy task. Seventy-five people are listening to South African blues guitarist Dan Patlansky belt out “Bring the World to Its Knees.” Kaleo, an Icelandic blues rock band, sings “Way Down We Go,” and Billy Gibbons, from blues-rock band ZZ Top, admits “My Baby She Rocks.” Then, DJ Yume takes the stage with a group of dancers.
My search for FogBound’s manager isn’t difficult. Saphire Jinn is the person I need to talk to. I cam to find her, as there’s no way I can reach her through the sea of avatars.
I asked how the venue began and learn that Yanik Lytton and her partner, Meredith Mistwalker, started the club on Nov. 4, 2009. Yan searched for Blues clubs, but there were few that played it properly. Seeing the potential, Yan created FogBound. Her goal was to make it feel like a real Blues club.
Yan still owns the club, and Saphire is the general manager. Saphire met Yan in February 2013. When they became partners, Saphire started helping out and learned how the club operated. Saphire co-managed it until 2019. She left FogBound for a year to start Warehouse 21. Saphire got it up and running and then returned. She took full control of all operations.
“I have recently hired an assistant manager, Avalon Bouvier, who is amazing and has really brought this team together. It’s amazing how well things work here now,” said Saphire.
The sim has changed over the years, but the building remains the same.
FogBound has DJs every day, with over 40 staff members and no turnover.
“Once a DJ is hired, they know it doesn’t get any better than this, and they stay and are happy,” said Saphire. “DJ Panther has been here the longest. It was Panther, in fact, that told me about FogBound and gave me the LM.”
Asked why FogBound is one of the most popular blues clubs, Saphire responded that FogBound’s standards differ from any other “Blues” club; they are Rock Blues Clubs.
“We stick to the Blues. Yes, it might be a Blues Band doing a Blues song, but it’s always going to be blues-rooted. People know the difference,” she said. “Yan and I have had very good luck in hiring DJs who know the Blues. We have a method that has worked 100% of the time. Also, our atmosphere here is different from that of any other club. Here, freedom is encouraged. You will notice the only rule is to be kind to staff. We don’t judge people. The place has a family feel, with lots of love and laughter in the air. People pick up on that, too.”
Saphire said that FogBound has been a journey for them. She credits Gregg Torgeson as a major part of the venue’s early years and mentioned how much he’s missed.
“What started out as a novelty so Yan would have a place to go at night has now evolved into this amazing operation,” added Saphire. “So many lives have been touched by FogBound. The love stories that started here alone are amazing. This is where so many come for their evenings, and we are family here.”
Netera Landar
As always, FogBound Blues Club is packed with people. It’s Friday. Not quite 5 p.m. FogBound DJ Tar Heel is filling in for DJ Ghost. I manage to get through the door and head toward the first open spot. Not an easy task. Seventy-five people are listening to South African blues guitarist Dan Patlansky belt out “Bring the World to Its Knees.” Kaleo, an Icelandic blues rock band, sings “Way Down We Go,” and Billy Gibbons, from blues-rock band ZZ Top, admits “My Baby She Rocks.” Then, DJ Yume takes the stage with a group of dancers.
My search for FogBound’s manager isn’t difficult. Saphire Jinn is the person I need to talk to. I cam to find her, as there’s no way I can reach her through the sea of avatars.
I asked how the venue began and learn that Yanik Lytton and her partner, Meredith Mistwalker, started the club on Nov. 4, 2009. Yan searched for Blues clubs, but there were few that played it properly. Seeing the potential, Yan created FogBound. Her goal was to make it feel like a real Blues club.
Yan still owns the club, and Saphire is the general manager. Saphire met Yan in February 2013. When they became partners, Saphire started helping out and learned how the club operated. Saphire co-managed it until 2019. She left FogBound for a year to start Warehouse 21. Saphire got it up and running and then returned. She took full control of all operations.
“I have recently hired an assistant manager, Avalon Bouvier, who is amazing and has really brought this team together. It’s amazing how well things work here now,” said Saphire.
The sim has changed over the years, but the building remains the same.
FogBound has DJs every day, with over 40 staff members and no turnover.
“Once a DJ is hired, they know it doesn’t get any better than this, and they stay and are happy,” said Saphire. “DJ Panther has been here the longest. It was Panther, in fact, that told me about FogBound and gave me the LM.”
Asked why FogBound is one of the most popular blues clubs, Saphire responded that FogBound’s standards differ from any other “Blues” club; they are Rock Blues Clubs.
“We stick to the Blues. Yes, it might be a Blues Band doing a Blues song, but it’s always going to be blues-rooted. People know the difference,” she said. “Yan and I have had very good luck in hiring DJs who know the Blues. We have a method that has worked 100% of the time. Also, our atmosphere here is different from that of any other club. Here, freedom is encouraged. You will notice the only rule is to be kind to staff. We don’t judge people. The place has a family feel, with lots of love and laughter in the air. People pick up on that, too.”
Saphire said that FogBound has been a journey for them. She credits Gregg Torgeson as a major part of the venue’s early years and mentioned how much he’s missed.
“What started out as a novelty so Yan would have a place to go at night has now evolved into this amazing operation,” added Saphire. “So many lives have been touched by FogBound. The love stories that started here alone are amazing. This is where so many come for their evenings, and we are family here.”
Netera Landar
