Got a Live Nation email regarding Silver Spring Fillmore

[hutch]

[xx

[hutch]

Originally posted by hutch:
   

Originally posted by Sir HC:
 

Originally posted by hutch:
 [qb] i agree with julian..
 Maybe because it is not finacially viable without getting the venue for free?  Hell I am sure the Black Cat (700 cap if I remember correctly), would build a 3-5k place if they got it for free, same with Seth, same with a bunch of others.  So lets have all these groups bid on it in a fair manner. [/b]

the black cat?? they live in fantasy land where credit cards don't exist.. when was the last time you went to a bar that didnt take credit cards??
 
 dante is not interested in having his venue be any different than it is and has no ambition whatsoever to build a midsize venue..
 
 i think we all know this.
 [/b]

[azaghal1981]

Originally posted by hutch:
   

Originally posted by hutch:
   

Originally posted by Sir HC:
 

Originally posted by hutch:
 [qb] i agree with julian..
 Maybe because it is not finacially viable without getting the venue for free?  Hell I am sure the Black Cat (700 cap if I remember correctly), would build a 3-5k place if they got it for free, same with Seth, same with a bunch of others.  So lets have all these groups bid on it in a fair manner. [/b]

the black cat?? they live in fantasy land where credit cards don't exist.. when was the last time you went to a bar that didnt take credit cards??
 
 dante is not interested in having his venue be any different than it is and has no ambition whatsoever to build a midsize venue..
 
 i think we all know this.
 [/b]

[/b]

Dante's a financial psychic and saw the huge credit crunch coming before anyone else.  

[Relaxer]

Originally posted by hutch:
 how can it not be viable? 930 club is selling out an overwhelming percentage of shows.. we all see this!
 

Most 9:30 shows do not sell out. It's easy to think so because the high-profile bands that we discuss/bitch about here do often sell out. But just because Nick Cave and Vampire Weekend sell out, doesn't mean that Chromeo and Yelle will. In fact, only seven out of 50+ shows currently listed are sold out.

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  so what youre saying is that if seth wore $500 shoes and watched the hill that julian would be with him?

I would follow him to the ends of the earth in our matching Bruno Maglis.

[Relaxer]

Not even OJ would wear those ugly-ass shoes

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

Originally posted by Relaxer:
  Not even OJ would wear those ugly-ass shoes

Now this is a really unfair complaint. Simply because a particular loafer style was ugly does not make the entire line of an elite Italian shoemaker "ugly-ass" some 15 years later. Maglis are, by and large, a more sophisticated, comfortable version of Ferragamo.

[kosmo vinyl]

Originally posted by hutch:
 
 for me the silver spring fillmore is not what i want.. i want it in DC! build it! the market is there.. you can have wilco play 3 nights at the 930 or 1 night at the new venue (or you can rent dar and we can all get screwed..that is not a music venue)...you do the math

Did it ever occur to you that maybe Wilco just likes playing the 9:30 club?  Don't they usually come back after their small venue tour to play Merriweather also?

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

Originally posted by kosmo:
  Did it ever occur to you that maybe Wilco just likes playing the 9:30 club?  Don't they usually come back after their small venue tour to play Merriweather also?

We'd sure be able to test that theory out if they had any other reasonable club option whatsoever to play in the metro DC area.

[mdh9857]

I just hate the idea that it is in Silver Spring.  Who wants to go there over going to DC?  We could definitely use something else.
 
 Btw, I never went but what was the capacity of Nation?  Something in another area of dc could work.

[hutch]

Originally posted by kosmo:
   

Originally posted by hutch:
 
 for me the silver spring fillmore is not what i want.. i want it in DC! build it! the market is there.. you can have wilco play 3 nights at the 930 or 1 night at the new venue (or you can rent dar and we can all get screwed..that is not a music venue)...you do the math

Did it ever occur to you that maybe Wilco just likes playing the 9:30 club?  Don't they usually come back after their small venue tour to play Merriweather also? [/b]

maybe wilco is not the best example..and i have no doubt bands/artists love playing the 930 club..its a wonderful place.. but there is a reason wilco has played DAR.. the 930 is too small for a band with wilco's following.
 
 but you seize on one small thing i say.. the general point holds: DC has outgrown the 930 club.. the market is too big for it.. there is a need for a bigger venue.. IMP knows this or they wouldn't have to rent DAR!
 
 in any case: if IMP does not want to build the bigger venue then someone else will and for IMP to stand in the way of that is just protecting its own economic interest..nothing else.. its easy to say Live Nation's proposed Fillmore is an abomination because it takes advantage of what it has been offered by the Silver Spring area politicians.. but the bottom line is: if IMP thinks its so bad why hasn't it done it the right way?

[hutch]

Originally posted by mdh9857:
  I just hate the idea that it is in Silver Spring.  Who wants to go there over going to DC?  We could definitely use something else.
 
 Btw, I never went but what was the capacity of Nation?  Something in another area of dc could work.

I agree! This is precisely why I wrote a couple of council members here in DC.. they said they are interested in a midsize venue.. It just requires an investment..somebody has to stop in and put up the money.. I don't know why IMP doesn't do it...They must have their reasons but I don't see it...
 
 This is what I wrote October 2007..nothing has happened since then..this was sent to Jim Graham and Jack Evans:
 
 
 Greetings,
 
 I am a DC resident since 1993. I have been living in the ward you
 represent since 2002.
 
 It has become painfully obvious that Washington DC is in dire need of
 a miscale music venue. Currently either you have a show at the 930
 club (capacity 1000 give or take) or you are talking
 Verizon/MCI/Sponsor of the year Center. Constitution Hall is not a
 music venue. There are serious problems with sound there and it is not
 structured to be a music venue. Many people just avoid the place
 rather than be hassled about having to stay seated in seat, bars
 closing 20 minutes after show starts (all this happened to me last
 week by the way), etc. The Warner Theatre as great as it is cannot be
 properly called a music venue. Meanwhile, DC residents - many like
 myself without a car- have to trek out to the Patriot Center and many
 bands are currently not playing in DC rather stopping by at Rams Head
 Baltimore. This is a new development by the way: we used to get
 everyone to stop in DC but that is no longer the case! Merriweather is
 not a DC venue!
 
 Meanwhile, we hear that Seth Hurwitz is against the House of Blues and
 that some people even within the City Council are against the House of
 Blues because it would be detrimental to DC venues (Washington Post
 November 2006). Now I don't care who owns the place but we
 need a bigger venue dedicated to music within DC city limits. This is
 such a slam dunk commercially I just don't understand what the holdup
 is! If Mr. Hurwitz is against someone else doing it let him do it! His
 930 club is so unbelievably extremely profitable I just cannot
 understand why he does not take the initiative himself. We know the
 930 club is too small which is why more than half of 930 shows are
 selling out and often times bands will play two shows in one night or
 do three or four night stands. Many bands are too popular to do this
 and are increasingly avoiding Washington DC because we do not have the
 right sized venue.  Furthermore, scalpers are purchasing a lot of the
 tickets and reselling them on sites such ebay. One thousand tickets is
 not that much and it allows scalpers to have a field day and exert
 market power.
 
 So I ask you: what is going on with DC not having a mis-scale
 dedicated music venue. I cannot fathom why we do not have a place with
 2500-4000 capacity in DC. Are we really against someone like the House
 of Blues investing some money in our city? I have been attending
 concert events in this town for a long time.
 
 best regards,

[xneverwherex]

Originally posted by Julian, certified WEBLEBRITY:
   

Originally posted by hutch:
  and last time i checked 930 concert prices and merrieweather aren't chopped liver..
 
 in fact they are by far on the high end..so we do need competition.

I find that really hard to stomach. I attend shows and check venue websites in DC, Richmond, Norfolk, Baltimore, and Philadelphia with some regularity. Since, until recently, my own town didn't have legitimate music venues, I often traveled to shows, and my decisions where to attend a tour was usually predicated on (a) what day of the week it hit each city, and (b) how much it cost.
 
 While I have no charts or statistical analysis, I can say without reservation that if there was ever any price disparity in excess of a dollar or three on a tour, it was 99.9% of the time with 9:30 Club being more expensive. I cannot tell you the number of times I've seen a tour hit three of those cities only to be $15 in two of them and $20 in DC. Incidentally, DC is the only of those 5 where the 1000-2000 person market has only one choice. I've never noticed it at Merriweather, though.
 
 [/b]

I would just like to know which concerts youre comparing to each other. Because hands down - unless youve been to every single venue in every single city you mention (no offense, but i HIGHLY doubt thats the case), the venues dont even compare in size/capacity.
 
 heres my own example - i saw the dandy warhols in NYC (Terminal 5 - owned by bowery presents - NYC has STEEP competition) - $25 , Phila (TLA) onwed by The Fillmore/live nation - $18-20?? or so and at 9:30 Club (IMP) - $25. so by your logic DC is screwing me because I could have seen the dandys for cheaper elsewhere.
 
 but your logic is flawed. these venues arent even equal in size. terminal 5 is the biggest - and the dandys getting $25 is about right. TLA - much smaller (1/2 the size of Terminal 5) and easily smaller than 9:30, so clearly their club would be a bit cheaper. and at 9:30 club - maybe it should have been $22 as its not as big, but i couldnt complain.

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by hutch:
 for me the silver spring fillmore is not what i want.. i want it in DC! build it! the market is there..

the problem is that if a mid-sized venue was built in SS, the economics of building a similar venue in DC *really* wouldn't work.  i doubt this market could support two such venue, so if they build the SS venue, get used to taking the red line all the way up there for mid-sized shows.  guess it would still be better than patriot center...

[sonickteam2]

technically, wouldnt the smaller venue be more expensive?