Kamran Javid, proprietor of the Village Pub

The Village Pub

Committed To Country

By Paul Moffett

In the nightclub business, the hottest, latest thing often defines the format of a club.

Not so the Village Pub in Jeffersonville. Kamran Javid is not about to throw country music aside if some newer, hotter music arises.

"We're committed to country music," he said, "We're here for the long run."

Kamran is putting his money where his mouth is, having recently spent a considerable amount on an interior overhaul. The dance floor has been expanded from less than a thousand feet to its current two thousand square feet and new railings have been added. The club is roomier overall and is easier to move about in. The bar and railings are all natural hardwood and there is a new mural along one wall, painted by Frank Campbell, a local artist.

A new sound system has been installed, together with new lights, by Acoustic Audio of Jeffersonville. A computer-controlled master equalizer, adjusted to the room, will help the band sound better and make the music more consistent from night to night.

Bose speakers were hung from the ceiling in order to ensure that the music is heard throughout the room. Kamran is particularly pleased with the quality of sound the club now has.

The Village Pub is the local site for the preliminaries of the Annual True Value/Coca-Cola Country Showdown, for the second year in a row. With the new arrangement of sound and interior space, the judges have a much better view of the stage for the event.

For the first time, the Village Pub will host the Kentucky State Finals of the True Value Showdown. On August 12, a number of local winning acts, including Karen Kraft, will compete to move on to the finals. Following that portion of the Showdown, Curb Records artist Tim McGraw will entertain.

The Pub was not always so large, of course. It was opened August 16, 1980, by Kamran's brother-in-law B. J., in one small section of what was an eight-office building. Slowly, the Village Pub grew as more sections of the structure became available for incorporation into it. From the beginning, the Village Pub booked local country acts, with the occasional road acts rounding out the bill. The big red guitar on the high-rise pole has marked the site for hundreds of thousands of travelers on I-65 since the early Eighties.

Javid took over running the club from B. J. in January 1986 and has managed it since. Remodeling has been a fact of life off and on for most of that time. In 1987, the Village Pub began offering dance lessons, which were so popular that they have been a fixture ever since.

Dance lessons are currently being offered on Thursdays and Fridays. The door opens at 6:30 p.m. and classes start at 7:00 p.m. Call (812) 288-9848 for more information.

Kamran has recently hired Dave Jennings to help him out. Jennings is an on-air personality at WRKA, with a show on Saturdays and Sundays. His job is to free up a little time for Kamran to enjoy the latest addition to his family, Shahrnaz Paige, who was born over the Memorial Day weekend.

If you ask him, Kamran will probably show you her picture. The Village Pub is, after all, a friendly, down-home kind of place.