by Josh Bynum

On January 1, 2011, Skull Alley, a popular venue for independent music artists and a hangout spot for people of all ages since June of 2008 — including many current and former Manual students — closed its doors for good.

The venue began struggling after an inspection from the fire marshal led to the shutdown of their screenprinting shop in the basement that brought in 40% of its income.

“Essentially, when we rented the space we did so under the assurance that we would be able to screen print in the basement of the space. We based our entire business around the screen printing shop financially subsidizing the venue because we knew going [into the business] how little money would be made off all ages shows, and how fickle turnouts can be in Louisville,” said venue owner Jamie Prott in a press release.

This strikes yet another blow to the local music scene as the popular music store Ear-X-Tacy was forced to close and relocate to a smaller location just seven months ago.