76 replies to this topic

[church]

> Don't bother with ASU kids. I'm serious. Unless you sell $200 jeans and bubble tea at your venue, 99% of ASU kids will avoid it like the plague <


99%? wow. so nobody in any of the bands you like, nor any of your friends went to asu? there are no indy-alternative-political-artistic-social outcasts at asu?

[guitarduane]

99%? wow. so nobody in any of the bands you like, nor any of your friends went to asu? there are no indy-alternative-political-artistic-social outcasts at asu?

not if crow has his way

[weener]

I go to ASU, and I am in that 1%. Not enough kids to sustain a non-dance music venue. I'm in the art department, and I've met some really neat people, and seen maybe a dozen of these neat people at a show, but if you walk around (even the art/music department) and look at people, non-mainstream culture is just not present in a sizeable quantity.

Some of the indy-alternative-political-artistic-social outcasts you might see at the next Modest Mouse or Fall Out Boy show, but you wouldn't see a swarm of them at some rock club in Tempe to see Andrew Jackson Jihad and Fatigo. The rest of them are hanging out at Dos Gringos or the Library and getting drunk and listening to Coldplay in the car on the way home.

Check out the top-ten most listed bands from ASU's facebook:

1. Jack Johnson 
2. DMB 
3. Sublime 
4. Coldplay 
5. Green Day 
6. The Beatles 
7. Incubus 
8. The Killers 
9. The Format 
10. Fall Out Boy

Perhaps some people in bands I like went to ASU five or ten years ago, who knows?

Oh, and if Crow had his way, we'd all be billionaire Mormon engineering students who were all in bed by 8 PM.

[unluckycharm]

Oh, and if Crow had his way, we'd all be billionaire Mormon engineering students who were all in bed by 8 PM.

For a second I thought you guyzz meant Crow the robot from Mystery Science Theater 3000

:geek:

[unluckycharm]

oh yeah. I SAW Franco a couple of weeks ago at the Marah show. I thought he had totally disappaeared....

After a band I was in--The Lemmings--broke up he would still call for a year after that leaving voicemails for me "Allo, this is Franco from the Mason Jar, I've got a show for the Lemmonings..."
Dude is a trip.

[Nil_Failstorm]

Actually, Naz hit it right on the head. In the morning/afternoon it will function as a bakery/cafe. And there will be two seperate "bar" areas. One will function as a standard live music venue; pay your $5, have a beer, watch some bands play. The other bar will be completely seperated from the stage area, thus you can actually carry on a conversation, use your cellphone, hit on that sexy bartender, escape from the sucky band playing in the other room, etc. And there will be NO cover charge for the secondary bar. That way the "normals" from ASU can still come and check it out without having to listen to you and your weird bands! hehehe

That way, each aspect can contribute to the entire business, rather than relying on the music-only aspect to stay afloat. And we have several other special events in mind and other things that regular music-only venues would never even attempt. All these factors will allow us to keep the cover charge at $5 and the drinks and food all reasonably priced.

The best aspect of it will be the atmosphere. It will be like no other establishment like Arizona has every seen. We're already planning to have a "crash room" for our friends and family because we'll be there literally all day every day whether we're working or not.

The final factor is definitely location. The Roosevelt Row stuff is pretty much out of the question now that First Friday has brought out all the scenesters in force. One of the downtown venues was bought three years ago for about $120,000 and is valued at $900,000!!! So with the city and cop and real estate battles going on, south Phoenix is actually looking better.

It's still close enough to the other venues downtown, there are some incredible properties available for great prices, but each city has different zoning ordinances which I'll have to fight through first. And the city is pushing out the slums and drive-through liquor stores and putting up Super Walmarts. There are million dollar homes along south mountain. It's a new suburban sprawl from Tempe all the way west to Avondale. And there is literally NO type of entertainment venues at all.

I haven't had a chance to check out the new stuff on Grand, but that's still too west side for what I have planned to be successful. The population the further west you go is not supportive enough.

And I used to work at a movie theater, trust me, the thought crossed my mind a thousand times. Unfortunately, the few that are left are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to be profitable. I mean, if you can even keep the movie theater going, there's probably not enough business to keep my venue going.


Thanks for all the feedback!
Keep it coming!

[Nil_Failstorm]

also, making 40% of the business food related means the liquor liscence drops to about $9000 anually . (Otherwise, as I understand, the liquor liscence is harder to get and runs about $90,000)

Liquor licenses are based on population. They are planning to add 5 or 6 more this year. Otherwise you have to buy one from someone who already has one. And the going rate ranges from $90,000 up to as much as $160,000 I've seen. It's like legalized extortion.

Because honestly, there's a grocery store or Circle K on every corner where we can buy alcohol. So getting the alcohol isn't the problem, it's controlling your patrons within the drinking establishment. It's like bad parents who don't take responsibility for their kids. Only we all pay for it venue-wise.

But there are lots of bureacratic tricks. It's $2000 for a Series 12 Restaurant Liquor License. It's another $1000 in application and administrative fees. Then each city charges you on a similar scale. And you pay taxes to the state, city, and county. Then there are all the zoning fees and opening a new business fees.

Liquor licenses are based on population. They are planning to add 5 or 6 more this year. Otherwise you have to buy one from someone who already has one. And the going rate ranges from $90,000 up to as much as $160,000 I've seen. It's like legalized extortion.

Because honestly, there's a grocery store or Circle K on every corner where we can buy alcohol. So getting the alcohol isn't the problem, it's controlling your patrons within the drinking establishment. It's like bad parents who don't take responsibility for their kids. Only we all pay for it venue-wise.

But there are lots of bureacratic tricks. It's $2000 for a Series 12 Restaurant Liquor License. It's another $1000 in application and administrative fees. Then each city charges you on a similar scale. And you pay taxes to the state, city, and county. Then there are all the zoning fees and opening a new business fees.

[Hooray For Everything]

I guess that whole 'thing' might work, if we had enough good bands here....but I've felt like I've had to apologize to a lot of bands for the locals that the promoter saw fit to have open for them.....

I'm not saying everyone has to be the same....we (Reluctant Messiahs) opened up for Devotchka...we certainly don't play Ukranian rock music, but we fit more than, I dunno (who do I wanna offend) some metal band might have......

I just hate having to sit through crappy stuff....

and I think it's one of those things that make national acts think we are goofy.

[mashed tates]

in my little tour experience i can say one thing for sure...band bands are everywhere. and lots of 'em, too. phoenix is better than most.

[Lonna]