Let me tell you a little story.
In the summer of last year, I was in talks with several
venues, Plush among them, about putting on a benefit concert for Teach For
America. Plush’s offer was by far
the most generous, to their credit, so we booked a date in September with them. However, when we were in the planning
stages (booking bands, reaching out to alcohol sponsors, making flyers) I was
informed that we had been double booked with a touring band and that my benefit
was getting the boot. Guess
giving $5,000 to some teachers isn’t as cool as the $1,000 Plush might have
made on the touring band.
“Get me once” right?
Shame on you.
I failed to learn the correct lesson from that experience
because I was caught in the throes of what I thought was, and what proved to
be, a great idea. It was at this
time that I first conceived of hosting a Sunday, mid-day open mic at Plush. Now, eight months later, Plush has
pulled the plug on me once again.
Shame on me.
Seems we weren’t making enough money to justify continuing
the free service we were providing there.
And even though our last event before the hiatus, where Darris Robins
graced the stage, had attendance better than some of the shows I’ve attended at
Plush, we can’t make a reasonable assumption that three plucky upstarts can
make good on this thing with no advertising budget, no media support, and no
money to get either of those things.
All hail the bottom line, and the scene be damned, right?
Now, I don’t blame the management at Plush for their shortsightedness
nearly as much as I blame myself for this “Gotcha twice” moment I’ve found
myself in. Plush has legitimately
decided that they will close at 3pm on Sundays to save money. Now that we’re running AC again, the
bar doesn’t make enough during my open mic to justify keeping the lights
on. That’s the sorry state of
business in St. Louis, I’m afraid.
They are a business; they do have to make money, or at least not hemorrhage
it. It’s not their responsibility
to see when they’ve got something truly magical on their hands. Magic doesn’t always make money right
away. That’s why no first year
magicians drive Bentleys.
But it was magic.
I was a little nervous about pissing off some of my friends when Dan
started calling it “the best open mic in town.” But fuck it.
It’s the best open mic in town.
Why? Because people are
meeting for the first time at this open mic, and then making shit happen. Plushies (this is the last time I’ll
use this term) are creating tracks together, booking shows together, joining
bands together, releasing EPs, and releasing minds from captivity (yeah,
yours). By virtue of the Sunday
evening, 4-8p format, we were able to bring together working adults and high
school kids, ganja loving jam bands with hip hop hustlers, music lovers with
music creators, and people who are always on the scene with people who can’t
find any other time to break into it.
And Plush has got the nerve to offer me Tuesday. You can go to Highway 61 or the Shanti if
you want a Tuesday. That’s not what
this is. This is something
different. You just don’t get it.
I come away from this experience grateful for having had
it. I strengthened my relationship
with two guys who I will consider among my best friends for the rest of my
life. I met some of the most
talented and driven people this side of the Mississippi and I gave them a
platform to play. At Plush, we
enabled the formation of bands, collaborations, concert bills and jam circles. We saw organic, spontaneous, creation
WEEKLY. And my skill as a
guitarist and a performer went into overdrive. It has been as valuable as anything else I’ve ever done as
an artist and I am grateful for having had that opportunity.
Here are the things I’m not grateful for.
I’m not grateful for having been ignored by the press in
this city that claims to be on the side of the local act, the upstart, the do
it yourselfer, the guy busting his ass; all of which I’ve been in this city for
2 years now. I understand not
covering all my little concerts, showcases and residencies. But the open mic was something that
deserved, that demanded attention.
NOTHING. RFT, Eleven, KDHX
have all ignored what we’re doing at Plush. Though some coverage might not have saved us, it sure
wouldn’t have hurt. My friend,
John Krane, the first guy in this town ever to offer to record me, a guy I’ve
played shows with, wrote an article on open mics in this town and left out
Plush. I don’t think he meant any
harm by it but his omission illustrates how thoroughly our little thing has
been swept under the rug by the hip opinion makers in this town.
I don’t like that Plush agreed to renew us through June and
then pulled the rug out from under us by email after one “slow” week. Honestly, I thought I had some time to
build momentum again. Our first
event back in November wasn’t a show stopper. There were a lot more people out last Sunday than at the
first event, hands down. Matter of
fact, Jelani and I had to play for at least an hour that night, sign up was so
slow. But we had the opportunity
to get it rolling free of the fear of the chopping block. I thought we had the same opportunity,
which we need in the light of the kind of media support we get. We’re an organic operation, fueled by
the power of the flyer, the facebook event and good old fashioned word of
mouth. Had I known we were living
week to week, I might have started putting up my flyers earlier or maybe asked
Dan to reach out to Evan Sult again.
I don’t like that they’re going to have their Tuesday open
mic, and maybe get some business, and maybe even pay their host (good luck
finding another group of dipshits like the three of us to do it for free). I’ve avoided the “Get me thrice” option
and bowed out of that game. If
Plush will deal with me after this blog, which I don’t think has been too
scathing against them, but people are sensitive around here, I’d be glad to do
a show there sometime. But never
anything ongoing. They are too
unpredictable, too likely to just up and do something entirely different. It’s best that we part ways Because I think the full saying goes,
“Get me once, shame on me; Get me twice, shame on me. Get me three times, fuck er’body!”
But I do like you! So come check out the LAST open mic @ Plush that we're putting on. 4-8p on April 28th. After that, Dan, Jelani and I have cool things in the works. Stay tuned kids. We got something for you!
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