A.C. Reed’s B&S Lounge, 213 E. Main, closed its doors unexpectedly on its patrons recently, and an employee says she is not sure if the blues establishment will reopen.

The lounge, which had high hopes and big musical expectations closed earlier this month, B&S Lounge employee Kim Boyd says.

Boyd said she doesn’t know if the blues establishment is closed permanently, however.

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I don’t think they are closing down for good, Boyd said. They had to get some things together.

Boyd said the closing is a result of improper management.

The manager there before wasn’t making good decisions for the business, she said. He (the manager) wasn’t running the place as good as it needed to be. He deserved to be fired.

Boyd said A.C. Reed and his group, The Sparkplugs, will probably manage the club when they return from a trip.

Personally, I don’t think they’ll open up until they (A.C. Reed and his band,) get back from Europe in mid-February, Boyd said. Velvet McNaire (back-up singer for the Sparkplugs) is running things as of now.

The establishment, which opened in April1995, had none of owner/sax man Reed’s promised acts. Reed had said he hoped the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy and Koko Taylor would perform at the Blues club when the club opened. Taylor was the only one to find her way to Carbondale in October 1995 but played at the Shryock Auditorium on SIUC campus.

The B&S Lounge was the former home of dance bar, Club Paradise.

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A.C. Reed could not be reached for comment. The former manager’s name could not be verified as of press time.