Spring Break
Local concert hall closing
Brian Washburn
Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: Life & Style
"The music industry is decreasing every year because the 14-year-old is not buying [music] legally and they are also not buying into the culture, scene, shirts or any of the music scene that would need to happen to bring it back up to par," Brown said.
"I can't afford to do it anymore," he said. "It's never been that profitable because we don't have a bar, but there were months where we would make money and then those where it would lose money, so it would balance itself out."
However, the balance took a turn for the worse when this summer The Music Hall tanked worse than it had before, Brown said. The music industry is not the only one to blame, though. America's failing economy is even tearing down local music scenes.
"The economy is the number one reason the local music scene is declining," Brown said.
"It came to a point where it's like 'do I pay the Music Hall's electricity bill or buy groceries this month?' and I have a good job, so why am I in this situation?" Brown said. "As much as I love the Music Hall, I'm too old to move into it again and too old to starve just to see it tank."
But while the Music Hall has tanked in the past, other venues, such as George's, seem to never have that big of an issue, mostly because they have a bar in their venue, Brown said.
"I have been approached by Bud and Busch about putting in beer and serving pizza because then [the venue] would still be all ages, but I'm just not called to that," Brown said. "I just can't justify a 10-year-old being in there with that. It's not what I'm called to do and not what my vision was.... I could put a bar in and make $20,000 a month, but I always turned the offers down. I never did it for the money. If it was about the money, there would be a bar in there.
"The goal of the Music Hall was to impact peoples lives with music, whether it's taking bands to the next level or the fans," he said. "If you read the blog [on the Music Hall's MySpace], that's what the Music Hall means to them, but what did it mean to you, or the guy that's three years older than you that played in a band, or even to me when I was in college."
"I can't afford to do it anymore," he said. "It's never been that profitable because we don't have a bar, but there were months where we would make money and then those where it would lose money, so it would balance itself out."
However, the balance took a turn for the worse when this summer The Music Hall tanked worse than it had before, Brown said. The music industry is not the only one to blame, though. America's failing economy is even tearing down local music scenes.
"The economy is the number one reason the local music scene is declining," Brown said.
"It came to a point where it's like 'do I pay the Music Hall's electricity bill or buy groceries this month?' and I have a good job, so why am I in this situation?" Brown said. "As much as I love the Music Hall, I'm too old to move into it again and too old to starve just to see it tank."
But while the Music Hall has tanked in the past, other venues, such as George's, seem to never have that big of an issue, mostly because they have a bar in their venue, Brown said.
"I have been approached by Bud and Busch about putting in beer and serving pizza because then [the venue] would still be all ages, but I'm just not called to that," Brown said. "I just can't justify a 10-year-old being in there with that. It's not what I'm called to do and not what my vision was.... I could put a bar in and make $20,000 a month, but I always turned the offers down. I never did it for the money. If it was about the money, there would be a bar in there.
"The goal of the Music Hall was to impact peoples lives with music, whether it's taking bands to the next level or the fans," he said. "If you read the blog [on the Music Hall's MySpace], that's what the Music Hall means to them, but what did it mean to you, or the guy that's three years older than you that played in a band, or even to me when I was in college."
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