Originally posted by Shadrach:
You make absolutely no point here other than there is a lack of a mid-sized venues to support these types of shows you mention. And that is somehow 9:30's fault?
WTF? Must be IMP black ops going around and sabotaging all the venues that spring up around the area... oh wait, there hasn't been anyone eager to build and open a place like this until recently. Give me a break. You have no clue what the hell you're talking about. I'm all in favor of competition and another local venue, but at what cost? Georgia Ave. through Montgomery Co. is lined with potholes, how about they fix that for starters?
No one said it's anyone's fault. But the fact remains, at current, your company is the exclusive provider of services for bands of that size in the metro DC area. You're also the people who stand to lose the most if you actually have competition for once. You and Seth can praddle on about taxes all day long, but its so incredibly duplicitous to pass off your concerns as "taxes"
when in fact it's "IMP's bottom line."
What's most appalling is people eat this crap up. People like Sweetcell who live nowhere near Montgomery County -- and therefore have no reason to be concerned about how MoCo spends their revenue -- are writing emails in deference to the project at the prodding of you folks. What a bunch of fans boys. Even if you have a point about the public financing, how ridiculous it is coming from IMP employees. It's like believing Barack Obama really thinks John McCain is the wrong choice for America, as opposed to his real motivation for saying things about McCain being that Obama wants to President himself (or vice versa, same applies to McCain's comments about Obama).
What's most hypocritical about this rant is the "I'm all for competition, but..." Yeah, you're all for competition as long as there isn't actually any competition. IMP having the only 930 Club-size/mid-size venue in the area isn't competiton; 9:30 Club and SS Fillmore both existing is competition. That's good for consumers. That's good for the area. It's not good for Seth as evidenced by his scaremongering about how prices will magically jump through the roof. It's not good for 9:30 Club fanboys who hate LiveNation and have judged the venue quality before a blueprint has even been drawn up. But for the rest of us, in the real world, competition and having choices are a good thing.
