The Buhs prep for Mardi Gras at the new Prohibition Hall

Strings of lights hang just inside 1118 McGee, and I hear a few strands clink together like crystals as I brush past them into the handsome space. To my right, a long bar stretches nearly to the center of the room, stopping at a spacious dance floor filled with tables and littered with debris from New Year’s Eve. Colored strobe lights flashing on the stage at the back of the room and a neon-lit disco ball twirling above the bar compete against the few streams of daylight struggling through the glass front doors. Some brand of fun — too much of it, perhaps — has recently transpired.

It’s likely for this reason that co-owner Sergio Acosta — formerly of Westport’s now-closed Gusto Lounge (no comment, he tells me) — asks that we relocate our interview next door, to the Zoo Bar. There, whiskey and water in hand, Acosta lays out his plans for where we’ve just been: Prohibition Hall.

“There’ll be DJs and theme nights, that kind of stuff,” he says. “We’re looking to have a Latin night with Mark Lowrey and his Latin jazz band [the Kansas City Latin Jazz All-Stars], and Wednesdays will be jazz night. The first and third Wednesdays we’ll have the Broadway Jazz Orchestra. First Fridays will feature DJ Rico and his Boss Hooligan Soundsystem. The idea is to have something pretty much every night of the week.”

Acosta reaches for the bowl of bar snacks resting at the center of the table. He speaks quickly, in a loud, rough voice, as he roots through the pretzels to mine for the roasted peanuts at the bottom of the dish.

He goes on: “Right now, everything is sort of tentative. I’m not going to push something — a night or a band or a DJ — that doesn’t work out, obviously, but I think there’s such a broad range of music in Kansas City and there are fans that listen to so many different types of music that we should be able to have something for everyone.”

With a capacity of 300, Prohibition Hall is big enough for the most enthusiastic iterations of each target audience. And Acosta means to keep the musicians happy, too, with a new sound system and an expansive basement-level green room, soon to house a shower. “If you leave a show smelling better than when you started it,” he says with a short laugh, “that’s amazing.”

Since Prohibition Hall’s grand opening December 31, Acosta and his booker and general manager, Tony Quinn, have put on only a few gigs in the space. That will change at the beginning of February, as the show calendar is firmed up — and after local supergroup the Buhs (Diverse Jazz trumpeter Hermon Mehari, rapper Reach, Hearts of Darkness drummer Brad Williams, singer Lee Langston, singer Julia Haile, drummer Ryan J. Lee, keyboardist Kinyon Price, guitarist Tim Braun, bass player Ben Leifer, singer Anthony Saunders and rapper Les Izmore) throws its second annual Mardi Gras party on Sunday.

“I feel like Prohibition Hall opening will be pretty lucky,” Mehari says as he helps Acosta empty the snack bowl. “With RecordBar closing, and even jazz clubs closing — Take Five and Broadway Jazz this last year — there’s guys hitting me up all the time that are coming through Kansas City and wanting to play and I’m just like, ‘I don’t know where to send you.’ But Kansas City seems to be one of those places that when one thing closes, another place pops up, and it seems to work out.”

Mehari qualifies his optimism with a warning about that Mardi Gras party: With a wide smile, he explains that this year’s has a “Player Haters Ball” theme (inspired by the 2003 Dave Chapelle show sketch of the same name).

“A player hater is a person who is hating on other things, and in the way that they’re hating, it’s funny,” Mehari explains. “The dress is super-fancy, with jewelry, furs, bling — kind of pimp-y. The idea is to assume or reveal your hateful self. You don’t have to be nice. Everyone there has the luxury to be as hateful as they want. Boo the band! Whatever.”

I’m trying to envision a scene in which a band as worthy as the Buhs — ready to provide a set of original soul and funk material as well as a set of dance covers — would submit to the boos of its audience, but Mehari and Haile assure me that it’s all in good fun. And the highly likable Buhs aren’t going to make it easy for patrons to rage: Admission is free, and each person will get two complimentary drink tickets at the door (exchangeable for glasses of Haterade, concocted by the American’s head bartender, Seth Shaver).

In a big-picture way, Haile adds, the party serves as a vehicle to introduce the band to a new group of people as it prepares to release its debut full-length.

“Everyone who’s involved still maintains their own amount of work or gigs that they’re doing, but we all want to bring attention to the Buhs, and that’s been building for a while,” she says. “We’re working on an album right now and are just really delving into the recording process. We’re still writing, so we’ve got a handful of songs that we’re going to revisit and pick the ones that are worthy of an album.”

Haile sounds thoroughly unafraid of whatever venom may get thrown her way come Sunday. In fact, she tells me with a laugh, she welcomes it.

“I think our generation kind of loves that — throwing shade for fun,” Haile says. “That’s really what it is. People can get a little nasty, and it’s fun to let that side of yourself out. Everyone has hater thoughts, no matter what they say, so why not let that shine for a night?”