"You weren't there, so you don't know what happened, and the City Paper didn't do a good job of defining what happened. First of all there was no "bouncer" and no girl was "pushed"."
...nor was anyone apart from the band and club staffers, so when you get down to it it's really just the word of the club vs. the word of the band.
And since both parties involved have presented their versions of events, the rest of us who care about the various musical communities of this town are quite free to discuss it all and present our points of view, especially in light of this City Paper article.
A couple of points to clarify- I use the word 'bouncer' as a synonym for a person working for a club- perhaps this was an inadvertantly misleading terms on my part- so I'll use the word 'staffer'- although it should be said that I don't have any negative connotations with the word 'bouncer', or with any other word that describes a job that's intended to ensure the safety and comfort of people in a live music environment.
And the 'unecesarily strict policy that excludes anyone under the age of 21' was in reference to guests/friends of the bands, et cetera. Obviously I don't expect that a 21+ club will let in any random underaged person- the club would lose its license and face other serious consequences. My point is that there will be always be cases in which it's excessive to keep an 19 or 20 year old person from coming into a club- Britton's girlfriend, for example.
I agree with you on this- "the reality is, there will always be a few people who cause a scene and ruin things for everyone else"- I just don't see how that would apply to a handful of friends of a band. Obviously the band isn't going to come into a show wanting trouble, and so it would seem obvious that their personal friends would make an extra effort to wear their X's and behave.
According to your post, the trouble began when these friends in question caused a fuss about not being let in- well, I would have done the same thing. In my youth, I spent a lot of time going to see shows, but there were always ones that I couldn't see because of my age- the most memorable age-related misfortune I had was being unable to see Jerry Lee Lewis play at a biker bar on a Colorado interstate, three months shy of my twenty-first birthday.
Now that we're older and remain involved in music, do we not owe it to young people who are passionate about it- just as we all were in our teenage years- to make a bit of an effort to expose them to great live music?
So going back to this 'no girl was pushed' part, although no one can ever be certain of this one way or another (again, it's the word of the staffer(s) vs. the word of the band), I find it almost impossible to believe that a simple verbal altercation would possess Mr. Powell to throw the staffer through the window. It just doesn't make any sense. Perhaps I'm more inclined to believe his version of events because he's been to my house so many times and has never caused any kind of trouble- but that past precedent of character seems to be as good a reason as any. The staff's version of events seems to be that people were argueing, and then all of a sudden this kid went apeshit and wrecked house. It doesn't add up.
One would only hope that the recipients of the phone calls that went out around town would at least hear Barkitecture's side of the story, and that each would then make up his or her own mind as to whether or not to book the band in the future. I'm no booker, but I'd certainly have no qualms about booking them if I were.
And pela, I agree with you that they're a really good band- I've heard their new record and it's stunning.
By the way, I appreciate your post. Obviously you and I are not going to agree on a lot of what's being talked about here, but for what it's worth I think this is an important and healthy discussion to be having.
