three points:
Well, on the other hand the shows at Pyramid Atlantic usually start promptly at 7 or 8 and are over within a couple hours (and are pretty decently attended). That's a much more palatable experience for a lot of people, and those shows are equally provocative.
hey, i love pyramid atlantic, too, and jeff surak is to be commended for picking up the experimental slack since 611 florida closed and i stopped booking the velvet lounge full-time. however, pyramid atlantic is an art space and not a bar, so having shows from 7-9:30 works perfectly fine for them. it is also a bit off the beaten path. the velvet lounge relies on bar sales to make money, and it is imperative that we keep people drinking there from 8pm-1:30am...and 2:30am on the weekends.
Another bitching thread. Geez... I've been in DC since 1993 and the Velvet Lounge is an important place .. they give up and coming or up and never coming bands a place to play! They also book some strange shows that simply don't sell enough to interest IMP or LN.. such as Eliott Murphy in his only DC show in probably 10-20 years! Or the guitarist from Television (Richard Lloyd I want to say)..I saw a great sabbathy metal band one time there and their manager rolled, lit and passed around a joint (grade a) to the crowd at 2 am... Its just a different place.
hutch nailed our aesthetic in this paragraph. nowhere else in dc will you see elliott murphy, richard lloyd, and hit a j at a doom-metal show at 2am. if this isn't your bag, so be it, but there are still some folks in the area who dig this scene, and this is who we cater to.
Wait, what happened to Jansch? I saw he bailed from the Al Stewart Birchmere show. Was he scheduled to play dates with Roberts too?
bellenseb, bert had surgery this month and had to cancel his whole tour. he's recovering well, and plans to reschedule in the spring.