A quiet atmosphere can help a coffee shop attract a studious clientele, but what about everyone else?

Scott Creney, the manager of Jittery Joe’s Eastside location, has taken it upon himself to make his store more than just another coffee shop by introducing “Music Movie Night,” a free showing held every Tuesday.

“I guess you could say I’m aiming for a surrealistic, Dadaist type of experience,” Creney said. “So many people go about their daily lives in such a task-oriented way, just traveling from point A to point B. So I’m interested in redirecting them.”

Creney said he hopes customers stopping in on Tuesdays for java will find an unexpected and rewarding experience in “Music Movie Night.”

“There’s a lot of mystery and unexpected things in life, and you can go into a situation expecting one thing and end up receiving something completely different out of it,” he said. “We’re just trying to add a little color to the world.”

Tonight’s screening is a collection of music videos from the major-label era of iconic alternative rock band Sonic Youth.

The collection, entitled “Corporate Ghost: The Videos 1990-2002″, spans seven studio albums and includes nearly thirty music videos. The videos will be shown in a continuous stream.

“What’s cool is that Sonic Youth made a video for every song on [1990 album] ‘Goo’, and all of its videos are included in the collection,” Creney said. “It also includes their Carpenters cover ‘Superstar’, which was featured in the movie ‘Juno’.”

Other highlights Creney mentioned include an anti-George H.W. Bush video for “Youth Against Fascism,” periodic appearances from acclaimed director Sofia Coppola, and several videos directed by Spike Jonze.

Creney began holding “Music Movie Nights” during the summer, when he showed an old Smiths bootleg collection and a Blondie video. It has “been a success creatively and philosophically, though maybe not commercially,” he said.

The idea was hatched when the Eastside Jittery Joe’s moved to a larger facility in January and sought ways to utilize the free space they acquired.

“The context of holding an event like this in a coffee shop atmosphere is unique,” Creney added. “One week we’ll play something mainstream like Huey Lewis, then follow it up the next week with more avant-garde material.”

Creney expressed high hopes for future showings, including his desire to present a feature related to space-jazz artist Sun Ra.

Aside from “Music Movie Night,” Jittery Joe’s also offers free experimental music concerts every Sunday night. Dubbed “Experimental Music Night,” this event allows obscure bands to play in a different atmosphere.

“It’s essentially free advertising for the bands,” Creney said.

“Downtown Athens has gotten incredibly expensive to live in, and it is overrun with bars and drinking,” Creney said. “There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but a lot of people have relocated to the Eastside, and people of any age can come to Jittery Joe’s to see a free show.”

Events like tonight’s “Music Movie Night” and Sunday’s “Experimental Music Night” is Creney’s way of giving back to Athens.

“I’ve set up these events because I enjoy my job and the atmosphere,” he said. “I’ve been lucky to have a lot of freedom in how I run the store, and we always attract the best customers.”