09/03/2026
We’ve been through a lot. On August 15th of last year, we made a social post warning everyone that Louisville’s nightlife scene was at risk. Because as soon as the teen street takeovers started in the Highlands, we recognized a change in the relationship between ATOMIC and ABC, even though we had not a damn thing to do with those teenagers, or them with us.
We knew then that all it would take was something to happen even remotely close to us, and we would be blamed, and it used as justification to shut us down. And then that sh*t happened. And we were.
What some city officials don’t seem to realize, or if they do, seem to care for, is that everyone needs a place to go after a long week, especially in this bullsh*t economy. Not to mention all the other bullsh*t we go through every day as a people, as a neighborhood, as a city. We’ve come a long way over the last few decades but still have so much further to go.
We, as a people, need a place to gather together, put the sh*t week we had behind us, and celebrate each others’ wins, together. We, as a people, need a place for everyone, White, Black, Gay and Straight, however you identify. A place to have a drink, listen to music, to all be together for a moment.
While we were thinking through what the hell had just happened to us, like what all this really was about and what it meant for our future, our man Remi hit it. It’s ATOMIC VS EVERYBODY now. That’s the situation we’re in. But it isn’t just us. Everybody is in a fight of some kind against something or someone. We’re all fighting for something.
So starting now and into the unforeseeable future, it’s ATOMIC VS EVERYBODY.
THIS WEEKEND, it’s MEECHIE VS EVERYBODY. It’s SYIMONE VS EVERYBODY. It’s QUIISO VS EVERYBODY. It’s LOUISVILLE VS OLE MISS. It’s YOU VS EVERYBODY.
BIG THANKS to EVERYBODY who stood by and stood up. And the entire ATOMIC FAMILY.
PEACE, Y’ALL — Dustin Hensley
