Sense of entitlement? I live in DC buddy and this is the 930 - last time I checked a DC venue- board! These shows are being booked north and south counting on me going. If it wasn't for me driving up there or down to that hellhole shit town you live in (in which I lived for four years so believe me I know what a shit town you live in.. and it is a shit town) you wouldn't be getting diddley. Maybe the ocasional Gwar show or Cracker reunion. thats about it .
I have no problem with Baltimore and Richmond getting their shows but when they get shows with the express purpose of having me drive up or down there to make them profitable then I do have a problem. Because I happen to live in DC and would rather see them here.
You're right, I'm sure every venue in Baltimore and Richmond has the "express purpose" (a very fast purpose!!) of booking shows so that you specifically from DC come to them. I know the people working Sonar are sitting around right now going "oh man, if hutch from the 930.com messageboard doesn't come 4 times this year, we are FUCKED!!"
Here's a clue: all venues assume people from out-of-town are going to come to their shows. It's not as though Baltimore and Richmond clubs require 90% of their tickets to be bought up by DC people and the 930 Club is sitting there, getting no one from Maryland or Virginia. Be serious. The difference is, Richmonders and Baltimore-ians don't sit around bitching every time we have to drive to DC to go to a show. We don't view our trekking two hours as an act of infinite largesse towards your fair city. But you have to get in your car once in a blue moon for No Age and MBV and you flip the hell out and start calling for a boycott of any show outside of DC because "natural DC shows" dare be booked out of your comfort zone.
Oh, and the idea that a venue like The National can't be successful (particularly with a restaurant attached) without DC residents is asinine. You're right, no one lives in Richmond, Fredericksburg, Williamsburg, or the northern Hampton Roads area. No one. The thought that nothing but Gwar or Cracker can be supported without some mass exodus of DC people heading south is laughable. If The National limited MBV sales to people only to people Fredericksburg and south, are you really going to tell me it doesn't still sell out? Don't be ridiculous, the maybe 100 people coming from DC to that show would be replaced by a hundred people in the area. Your myopia is staggering.
As I said before, I have no problem with someone saying they wish a certain show hit a certain venue or city, but to act like shows are being STOLEN from certain NATURAL cities and that DC residents should boycott all shows not in their backyard so that you and people of your ilk NEVER have to drive anywhere for anything is the most childish, spoiled, entitled load of crap I've ever heard. And I write Julian's America, for God's sake. Think about that: the guy who writes Julian's America thinks you're being childish, spoiled, and entitled. Get a hold of your life, man.