I believe that this city - starting with R.T. Rybak, who has publicly declared his love for the place on numerous occassions, and Natalie Johnson Lee, the City Council rep. for the clubs address - right down to each and every citizen, owes Steve McClellan, Jack Meyers and Byron Frank a sincere thank you and a debt of gratitude for their undying dedication and persistence to keep this landmark establishment open. Now in the ownership of a hands-on operations staff, our city can look forward to the opportunity of having many great local, national, and international acts putting on tremendous shows (I've personally seen such acts as R.E.M. and U2 at the venue, before they "made it big"). In addition, the philanthropy of DAMF, events such as the annual Curtiss A. Tribute to John Lennon (every Dec. 8th, dating back to 1980), and JC Superstar (every Good Friday), and the occassional Holiday dinner for staff, family, and friends of the club, are just a few of the reasons too numerous to mention here to get out there and support "OUR' club.
There had been problems here for a few years - anyone who passed through those doors knew it - and now they're finally settled. One of those problems is larger corporations booking acts that had traditionally visited First Ave. into other clubs, some say with a veiled threat that if they played the Ave. in Mpls., they would not be supported in other cities. These are only rumors, and nobody's talking.
But when time came around, there was a whole mess of talk - "Oh, that's terrible. What are we going to do? I'm certainly not going to support that OTHER club." "Why is that happening? It's the best place in the world to see a show?" (Truth be told - it IS). "we should have a fundraiser to bail them out of their financial problems....."
Fine.
Starting today, we're at Ground Zero (pun intended). Everything is just fine.
But, in order to ensure that these problems don't arise again, we need to actually GET OUT THERE and support the place financially. Yes - Steve is generous with comps. But if you can afford to actually pay money to see a show, don't use them; give them to a friend who might like the show but just can't afford it right now. Buy their merch. Tip your bartenders. Volunteer to take tix, put up posters, run tix to vendors. Tell your friends.
We dodged a bullet, folks - a REALLY big bullet. You only go around once in life, so let's make this good. Lets make it work.
Don't let this ever happen again.
Oh, and Steve, Jack, and Byron... "Thanks!!!!"
-Kenneth J. Peterson Downtown
"I'm Kenneth J. Peterson, and I approve of this email."
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/entertainment/10205221.htm?1c http://www.startribune.com/stories/1371/5091681.html http://www.citypages.com/databank/25/1249/article12657.asp http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vivafirstavenue?yguid=204346128 http://www.tcpunk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4156&start=225
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