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OK, for those that have bothered to read the other histories, I've
put in here you know a little of the back ground. I guess what I'm trying to do
is document as much of the last few years before it's lost. So here's my
version of the history of a building that has been the home for the Des Moines
Music scene since 1996, Safari Nite Club & Hairy Mary's. If you have things
to add or if I got a date wrong, or better yet if you have photos
e-mail me.
I'm not sure when the first time was that I stumbled
in to Safari. It may have been before Tony Trenell owned it. I believe at that
time it was know as The Dog House. It was a little hole in the wall College
bar. I'm sure that I was well under age and the fact that I don't really
remember much about it I must have been drunk. A few years latter I remember
seeing a band in the small club that would have been around 91 or so. I don't
remember what band it was(because they sucked) but I do remember drinking Red
Stripe and trying to pick up this college girl with little luck. I believe that
Tony bought the bar in 1993. At the time he was a Drake Law Student from
Nigeria with a love of Rasta music. This combined with the location close to
Drake set the bar's image as a Hippy hang out. A lot of local grove bands and
hard up for a place to play alternative acts played there over the years
including some surprisingly larger Rasta bands.
The original Stage was set up on the South end of the east side of
the bar, just inside the door. At the time, the front windows were open and you
could see in from the street. Over the next 4 years the stage moved around a
lot. The first move was into the west building with the stage facing the bar.
I'm not sure where the sound booth was at that point but at the time, Tony only
was renting half the building. Then it was moved to the south side of the west
building were it was sitting when in 96 when the club changed formats. the
sound board was just in front of the women's restroom on the north side of the
west building with an area with pool tables and booths.
The first time I clearly remember spending any time in the club was
in the summer of 96. A client of mine who DJed down there at times asked me to
stop by. I remember the place being empty and dirty. At one point a roach ran
across the bar in front of me. At the time, there really wasn't any place for
live original music in Des Moines. We were all really looking for a new club
and had been since 2nd Ave Foundry closed it's doors in the fall of 95. So in
part I was kinda checking out the place.
Tony was having problems by 96 and
had grown tired of all the pains of trying to keep the club going. One of the
biggest problems he had is the increasing level of Thugs showing up at the
club. Rasta had had a good year and had to a degree crossed over from the
hippie drug grove and into Hip Hop. So along with a large audience comes a new
level of wanta be gangsters. The end effect was about 10 rough necks wrecking
the party for everyone else. It got to the point where Tony couldn't keep any
paying customers in the place and the rough new crowd was unwilling to pay for
anything. A rough place to be, to say the least. Tony figured that it was time
of a change.
Joey Hollywood had been the sound man at the Old Hairy
Mary's and foundry and had been floating around the Des Moines music scene for
a better part of 10 years. I think at the time he was or would soon be the road
sound man for House of Large Sizes. Joey a big guy with a Benny Hill sense of
humor. He was the first and the last person to ever talk me in to eating Pork
Rhines and Tabassco. We had got to know each other during the last year or so
of the old Mary's and 8 months the Foundry had been open. Joey was a staple of
the Des Moines scene and is sorely missed. He just recently retired(yeah Joey
we've heard that before, like I'm one to talk) but he brought an energy to the
club that no one else has ever or could ever. He was instrumental in bending
Tony's ear to the change and helping to bring in others from the local
scene.
Barry a local Artist and Bar Tender who had worked at
the Foundry came in and started managing the club in, I believe, the summer of
96. One of the first things he did was to bring in Mike aka Bull to handle the
booking. Bull was and still in a Booking Agent for a lot of regional bands,
most notable being House of Large Sizes. The club still continued to have Rasta
bands but Bull brought in regional and national bands that were definitely not
Rasta. Bull brought in bands like Fast Ball, House, Billy Goat and many of the
original Mary's regulars.
I think the
first show I saw there was Radio Caroline. A local band with a reputation for
being really loud. They were a cross of roots rock and plain old rock and roll
at High Volume. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if this happened before or
after Barry took over the management. At any rate it was a turning point for
the club. I saw a lot of faces that I hadn't seen since the Foundry closed and
it put that seed in everyone's mind that something could happen
here.
Soon after Barry took over, he hired Lanny. A good friend of mine to
say the least. When he started working there it was like then required that we
end up there every weekend. Lanny added a great deal of character to the club.
Lanny has to really be experienced first hand to be completely understood. Just
to give you a small idea; take an ex Marine add a great deal of Irish Pride,
mix in a steady diet of Beef and only beef and then top with a lot of Guinness.
He was also a veteran of not only the Gulf War and the Old Hairy Mary's and the
Foundry. Shortly after he started, he got Paul a job there working the door. So
then, I had no choice but to be there every night they were open. Paul of
course is in Slipknot but before his big ass band and long before SK was voted
the Greatest Band in the world and sold millions of records, he was a lonely
door man making around $30.00 a night plus free drinks. Paul would be at that
post till the January 1999.
A lot of things happened
in the summer of 96, like Slipknot began to cut it's
teeth, My band The Have Nots began to play out,
Fastball & other national bands played the bar but the events that seemed
to set the stage for change that summer are: For the first time in years a club
did all ages shows, The first Axiom Promotions show, a benefit brought the
music scene together for the first time in years and the 107.5 the DOT's Battle
of the Bands.
I'm not
sure what the first all ages show was but the one that sticks out is the Total
Passover last shows/the Blount/ Glue Gun show. Total Passover was a band that
had been around since 88 which was originally called Shamrock Shakes. They were
for a long time the only true punk band from the central Iowa area. Fronted by
Andy Levy(an active member of the early Des Moines Punk and Hardcore Scene. He
had been a member of Children of the Corn and Published the Love Seed Fanzine.)
With Kurt Johnson(now in the Chezwicks) on Guitar, Tom Meehan(did a short stint
in the Minneapolis band The Short Fuses) and Tom Halverson(Del Stars and now in
the Chezwicks and a bar tender(ed note-now he's sound guy) at the lovely
Hairy Mary's) on Drums. I think there
had been a number of line-ups up to that point like I think their first Drummer
was this guy Jason Rupe who had sung in Flesh and Blood/Ritual of Agony for a
while. TP was a straight ahead punk band in the vain of the Ramones & the
Queers with often fun but really silly lyrics. The band had been a stable part
of the scene for close to 10 years, touring a few times, playing the old AAMC
shows in Ames, The old Mary's and etc.... The biggest thing that sticks out in
my mind about SS/TP is that, in an age of metal bands, college rock bands and
alternative/Grunge bands, they were a salvation in a way for just simply being
a punk band. They had called it quits after Tom M moved to Minneapolis and they
did a set of reunion/good-bye cause it's really over now shows that summer.
Mainly because Andy was moving to SF. The show that I saw in this group of
reunion shows was the all ages one with Blount and Glue Gun sponsored by the
mighty Spank.
Spank Magazine is a zine
started back in I believe back in 94 by Doug & Michelle Daugherty. Spank
still is active to this date(2002 ed note-Spank called it quites in 20001) and
both Doug and Michelle have been an undying source of Local and national punk
scene. Off and on since 94 or 95 they had been putting shows on in their
basement on the city's South side. With a chance to do Blount & Glue Gun
they simply didn't want to do it in their basement. So the show was placed into
Safari. I believe they did other shows there that summer including the Fixtures
show. The thing that stick out about this show is close to 150 kids showed up
which at the time was unheard of. In fact it was hard for even local and
national bands to draw over 100 people. It clearly established that all ages
afternoon (5-9pm) shows could work. It also made it clear that there was a new
generation of punks hungry for shows. Spank continued to do shows independently
or with Axiom Promotions and the Club till about 2000.
Axiom Promotions kind of just happened. I was sitting there planning
the 96 Halloween party of the Studio and decide that since there would be
alcohol at the party it would have to be 21 & over. I didn't like the idea
of excluding my clients that were under 21 but for legal reasons it had to be.
So, we began planning an alternative all ages party at the Safari. Also, my
band the Have Nots had been itching to do an all ages show. So, we began to
pick bands to play with. To say that it was pretty slim pickings would be an
under statement. Finally we got Victims Annoyous from Souix City, Going to
Grandmas(a local punk band that plays to this day), Dr. Castratia(a local Ska
band of Drake students), and the Skull Caps. The show was on Sunday October
27th and close to 170 kids showed up. I remember going up to play and trying to
fit over $500.00 in ones and fives into my wallet. It set the pace for the
future and convinced me that it was a job worth doing.
The benefit shows were
over a weekend for a local musicians(I know I'm terrible but I can't remember
his name) who had been part of the scene back into the early 80s and I believe
was in the Hallowman(an old Des Moines band that gained some notoriety in the
late 80s). He had been arrested on a drunk charge and thrown in the drunk tank
at the Des Moines City Jail. during his stay, he was beaten by another prisoner
to the point of having to be hospitalized. There was a feeling of togetherness
that only a good cause could bring. The attendances was around 200 a night for
the two nights and it brought out many people I hadn't seen in years. It's sad
that it took a tragedy to do this.
The battle of bands was important because it really brought the full
scope of the Des Moines scene into focus. Not only did it establish
Slipknot as the band to see but it showcased the
talent of Des Moines and help a lot of musicians to realize that they were not
alone. Many contacts & friendships were started there.
Also, I have to mention that Slipknot released Mate, Kill, Feed, Repeat on October 31, 1996. The CD release show/costume party marked the beginning of the metal crowd's migration to the club. Not to say that they weren't there in the first place but it seemed like there suddenly were a lot more of them.
I'm not sure
when but sometime in late 96 Barry left to move to Boston and Bull left for
Minneapolis. The Manager position was taken over by Lanny and Tony(the owner)
took over booking. Axiom Promotions continued to do a few more regional shows
in 96 concentrating on All Ages Punk & Ska shows. Before long I began to
get contacted by agencies and National acts. I did book Isaac Green & the
Skalars and the US Bombs(show was cancelled) during this period but the goal
was an all ages show once a month and then it became one every other week. At
the time I really had no idea of the level that was to come but mainly late 96
was a building period.
Shawn Crane of slipknot
had been talking about starting a club for some time. To be honest I just kind
of blew it off as talk but in mid January of 97, he stopped by the studio with
Paul and told me he was buying Safari. I knew he had been talking to Tony off
and on for a while about taking over the club but nothing had came of it until
then. I think just about everyone was, "Shawn why are you buying that dump."
but Shawn had a vision in his mind. I think he took over running the club
around the same time and began cleaning the place up and painting. Many of the
members of Slipknot helped in this. the Stage was re-carpeted and flames were
paint along the bottom of the bar.
Shawn officially owned
the bar on February 1st , 1997. The first show was Murphy's Law & my Band
The Have Nots(you can read my review of the show
here). It was Around this time, Lanny, Randy and myself
had start a public Access show called Recline of Mid-Western Civilization that
featured shows at the club. The first taping we did I believe was at the late
show with VICTIM's ANONYMOUS and Radio Caroline.
At the time the booking was all handled by Shawn and Myself aka Axiom
Promotions. The main focus was opening Des Moines back up to live music and
rock, punk, Ska, & metal national acts. Also to continue with all ages
shows on a regular bases. At first I mainly worked on all ages shows but as the
number of Agencies and Bands contacting increased, I was forced to start doing
21 & over shows. The Bands that stick out in 97(for a complete highlight
and my reviews go here) are: MURPHY's LAW, QUINCY PUNX,
CRETIN 66, THE SEX OFFENDERS, HORNY TOADS, ISAAC GREEN & THE SKA-LARS,
INCH, PANSY DIVISION, PLEASURE FUCKERS, THE IMPENENT SEA SNAKES, U.S. BOMBS, 30
FOOT FALL, BORIS THE SPRINKLER, AT THE DRIVE-IN, PEECHEES, DRAGS, THE HUMPERS,
THE LEAVING TRAINS, RADIO CAROLINE, NIL8, SOCIAL DISTORTION, RED 5 &
AUTOMATIC 7, BLACK 47, THE YUM YUM TREES, SWINDLE, AGENT ORANGE, BLUE MEANIES,
APOCALYPSE HOBOKEN, BALLGAGGER, BACKWASH, VALENTINE 6, OBLIVIONS, REVOLATORS,
RED MAX, MERCY RULE, OPIUM TAYLOR, GLUE GUN, APOCALYPSE HOBOKEN, PROP 13, THE
URGE, REEL BIG FISH, THE AQUABATS, MOG STUNT TEAM, THE TEENAGE FRAMES, THE
LADONNA'S, THE LOADMONTHS, ,ROCKET FUELS THE KEY, Bleed, BLANK 77, BOBGOLIN,
THE TOMORROW PEOPLE, UFOFU, THE CHICKEN HAWKS, NECKBONES, 247 Spyz and THE
B-MOVIE RATS.
Though we had some failures here and there we made sure that it was
well know that the club was a national club with a growing audience. Also that
summer Steve Robinson helped out for booking when Shawn stopped booking. By the
fall I was booking the club completely. This was a bright time in my life and I
think just about everyone involved with the club. The crew was: Tony
Gray(Paul's Brother) manager, Joey Hollywood was the soundman until he was
replaced with Kevin Miles, Lanny Bartendered then left to move to LA, My son's
mother Jessica bartendered, and the other Kevin bartendered. We were like a
gang for the most part. It was all business but there was always this
underlaying feeling of play time. Things like Bar-B-Queuing meat we bought off
this guy in a pick up truck for the bands, Lanny playing bag pipe music to
clear the bar at 2am, & sitting on the roof and drinking for hours with
Shawn. It was like hanging out with your friends all night but working. Also
the great music and the number of friends made over that summer with the bands
that played the club.
It was also during this period that
the much need changes and improvements were made to the bar. The first was
re-flooring the back area of the west building. It really need to be done and
when they moved the pool table out of the area the floor gave way and I think
Paul fell through. It started in late February, they ripped out the sound booth
and back women's restroom. Then the floor and filled the basement with 20
trucks of sand. then pored cement over the sand, rerouted the pluming(this
caused a sewage flood and the cancellation of the first Mog Stunt team show.
Mog blamed it on the alien that was following them around the country), built
the stage & dressing room and put in a new lighting system. Shawn also
bought a new sound board and made a number of changes to the sound system(I
think the old board dated back to the late 80s). This was all done in time for
the Social Distortion show on May 23rd but Slipknot ended up playing the first
show on the new PA and Stage.
The next part of the
renovation didn't begin until late August(I believe) when the last of the old
ceiling was removed and building the shell of plywood, an office, new sound
board are and new electrical wiring was completed. All in all the complete
renovation cost close to $40,000 without closing the club.
By November
of 1997, Slipknot was gaining increasing attention from labels and was becoming
a large drain on Shawn's time. So, Shawn made the hard decision to close the
club and concentrate on the band full time. the doors closed on November 15,
1997. Even though he had already found a buyer the club's future was really in
question. There was a feeling that something important had come to an end. The
Des Moines scene would greatly miss Shawn the club owner.
The first thing that
bugged me about Jake was he didn't want to continue with any of the employees
that made Safari what it was. I think it's natural for a new owner to want to
fire everyone and bring in there own people but as an outsider of the Des
Moines scene this was a mistake. It was like he cut the heart out of the club
and it would be a period of decline. The first thing he did was to paint over
the graffiti and remove the stickers of the bands that had played there over
the past few years. Removed in a word the history of the club. He also built
uncomfortable booths out of 2 x 6 and Paint the eat side of the building this
ugly light brown. His goal was to make the club a college hang out. Of course
this didn't work.
He re-opened
the club on December 31st, 1997 with a bunch of local bands playing. Not the
best choice to say the least. I went down and checked it out but didn't come
back again for 2 months. For a short time Paul worked at Friends club(owned by
former Safari owner Tony) and then got he's job back at Safari working door. He
started to bug me about booking the place again. Jake hadn't really done much
of anything up to that point. Against my better judgement I started booking
some shows in the room. I didn't do it at all at the level that I did under
Shawn but I did do the Paladins, US Bombs, Dropkick Murphys, Gravity Kills,
Agnostic Front, Kurt St. James(former Tenderloin), APOCALYPSE HOBOKEN, B-Movie
Rats, Slipknot, REO Speedealer, The Chicken Hawks, Fury 66, Aquabats, At the
Drive-In, The Teenage Frames, Gaza Strippers, Funeral Oration, Paw, Maximum
Penalty, SNFU, Hi Five, Chixdigit, Marky Ramone & the Intruders, Sloppy
Seconds and Fugazi. Most of the other larger shows except Suicidal Tendencies
was done by An out of state promoter called Avolance Promotions. Some notable
show were Rev. Horton Heat, Reel Big Fish, Man or Astroman, Jesus Lizard,
Suicide Machine and etc...(I didn't really keep track of them).
The big difference is that it wasn't a home team controlling the
promotions. This had it's advantages but a lot of disadvantages. Increasingly I
noticed Jake's lack of interest in the reputation and interests of the club.
Instead, especially toward the end, it seemed his main focus was a quick buck.
During the rain of Jake the club saw everything from an almost riot on Hip hop
night to a girl dancing in a cage made of tomato fencing on Rave night to
female oil wrestling to shady and questionable band payments to over selling
the club itself. He taken a club that under Shawn had gone for a shitty little
regional club at best to a national club. Under Jake the club went from a
national club to a shady shit little local club. By late December we were all
beginning to lay bets on just when he was going to skip.
January
26,1999 after the Flys show, I stopped in for a drink and the then
Bartend/manager Brian pored us all a shot and toasted to the last night Safari
would be open. I freaked and quickly asked what he was talking about. He told
me that Jake had failed to pay the Dram shop insurance (insurance required to
carry a liquor licence in Iowa). I told Paul to call Shawn(Shawn's family still
owned the building and Jake was in default on the contract to buy the
business). Shawn told Paul to get everyone's keys and pull the cash. Brian and
I headed to GTs to have a few beers and talk about what had happened. GTs is a
bar owned by the former owners of the old Hairy Mary's Jeff and John. After the
bar had closed we sat there and talked to Jeff and this guy I didn't know
Brad(Fatty). When the conversation turned to Safari and it's closing, Jeff
expressed interest in buying the club. Do to the fact that Slipknot was leaving
in the morning to finish recording their S/T album, there was a point of
urgency. I didn't know it at the time but Brad "Fathead" Smith was a childhood
friend of Shawn's. Long story short, Jeff, John and Fathead bought the club and
took over the next day.
I don't think anyone told Jake about this and he found out the next
day when he walked in with some plastic cups and a case of beer. The new owners
went to town remolding the east side aka bar building. Including putting in a
stainless steel bar top, Painting, ripping down the ugly panelling, uncovering
a 7up ad that had been painted on the side of the older west build in the 40s,
ripping out most of the booths, opening up the windows on the front of the
club, putting a chopper behind the bar and little touches like drum lights over
the pool tables and of course getting a foes ball table. By February 1st the
club looked like a club again not a college hang out.
The other
thing they did was change the name to Hairy Mary's. the original Hairy Mary's
was located on the south side of downtown. Open from I believe 91 until 94, It
had been the first real live music club in Des Moines to break live original
music. A club where you Not only saw regional and local standards or future
standard but also up and coming alternative and grunge bands. To get an idea of
the level of bands that played the old Mary's and the new one, check out their
web site at http//WWW.HAIRYMARYS.COM.
The feel was completely different and for the first time since Shawn
had stepped away from the place it felt like the club was moving forward. The
first weekend was a three day benefit featuring local and regional bands that
raised over $1700.00. At the time the future of all ages shows was in question.
After that weekend the question was answered. Even though many clubs have now
followed suit by having all ages shows, the Safari was the club that first took
the chance to do it and continued to do more then any other club in Des
Moines.
I also,
continued to book with Jeff handling the club end of it. Since there were a few
shows still booked under Jake. Two more shows Vanilla Ice & Reel Big Fish
were allowed to go on. Then for the first time since November of 1997 all
booking returned to the club. That was a good feeling. One of Jeff's biggest
battle cries always has been and always will be independence. In 1999 some of
the great bands that played the club were: the Chicken Hawks, Murder City
Devils, Black Hallows, Gaza Strippers, Swinging Utters, Hellos Creed,
APOCALYPSE HOBOKEN, Mercy Rule, Fear, Blood for Blood, Flatus, Loaded(ex-guns
and roses, Black Flag), Slipknot, Billy Goat, Woogles, Bantan Rooster,
Nashville Pussy, Sister Machinegun, Bellrays, The Teenage Frames, Ensign, Zeke,
RC5, Bob Log III, Paw, Nobodys, Marky Ramone, At the Drive-In, Hairy Apes BMX,
Stepkings, AFI, Good Riddance, Sloppy Seconds, Candy Snatchers, The Weaklings
and Man Scouts of America.
After a few
months Jeff realized that running three businesses and booking was spreading
him too thin. So Fathead took over his end of the booking. Even though a few
outside people(mostly local bands) would set up shows for the most part all the
booking till around August of 2000 was handled by me aka Axiom Promotions and
Fathead.
As the year progressed
I found myself less and less interested in booking and began to take more and
more of a back seat to Fathead. I guess after almost 4 year full years of
booking, at times as many as 5 shows a week, it's easy to get burnt out. Simply
put I wasn't having fun anymore. So in August I decide to slowly phase out the
booking. At around the same time Fathead began to break in Gus aka Snake to
take over booking. I quite and then the club asked me to do the UK Subs in
October and along the way, I picked up a few other shows. The last show that I
did was on October 15th almost 4 years to the date of the first Axiom
promotion's show. At that time Gus took over complete booking responsibilities.
It was good to leave it in someone's hands that I feel is up to the job.
Everyone keeps telling me that I'm not really done and they maybe right only
time will tell.
As I look back now in
December of 2000, I can't help but feel a warm pride in what I have lucky
enough to be involved in. The people I've touched and been touched by, the
idols that I met and all the good times that have happened in that building.
I've had the pleasure of watching one of the top metal bands in the country and
my friends, Slipknot cut their teeth and
out grow the club. I've seen and booked what I think are some of the greatest
bands to be around in the four years I was at it. I think the best part is that
it's not over. There's still the same magic there that always has been and like
music in general it's not the end of the story. There will always be a group of
kids in a garage learning to play and maybe coming up with something special
and I'm just happy that there is a place in Des Moines, Iowa where they can
play called Hairy Mary's.
DaVo
December 1st, 2000
Recently I received the following e-mails from Jake Ludington the former owner of Safari from December of 1997 to January of 1999. I felt that in all fairness I should post them here:
Hi Dave,
Obviously, you are entitled to whatever opinions you may have about me. I would appreciate it if you would correct a few of the facts regarding the history of the Safari.
The most glaring error in your history of Safari has to do with how my ownership ended. The end actually came about because I owed Shaun's dad, Mike, several months rent and we agreed that the best thing for me to do was allow him to find someone else to take it over. The DRAM Shop insurance was allowed to expire by the owners of Hairy Mary's not myself.
I did not get involved with the Safari Club to make a quick buck. I had been going there on and off during both Shawn and Tony's ownership periods and I loved the place. There was and still is no other place in Des Moines worth going to for live music. For the record, my ownership of Safari resulted in a considerable financial loss on my part.
As for the firing of the old staff, I kept the only two people still employed by Shawn when I took over, Kevin Miles and Kevin Cole. Shawn's advice to me when I took over was to fire everyone but Kevin Cole. One of my biggest mistakes was not talking Paul into coming back to Safari when I reopened it.
Yes, I tried to get more of the college crowd to come to Safari. Drake students and Des Moines residents alike have been complaining forever that there is nothing to do in Des Moines. My goal when I took over Safari was to change that. I tried different kinds of music because I like a wide variety of music and because not everyone in Des Moines likes loud guitar rock and punk.
The idea for the "Techno" night was inspired by Sophia John. She had suggested that I talk to Sid and crew about doing a regular gig one night of the week at Safari. Admittedly, the hip-hop nights were not the greatest idea I've ever had. I wanted to believe that people could have fun without feeling the need to behave like common street thugs. I was wrong.
Feel free to use this information as you please. I would appreciate it if you would update the information regarding the closing at the end of my ownership. The Dram Shop insurance incident happened sometime in February or March of 1999, my ownership ended January 26, 1999.
Thanks, Jake
The following was my responses to the above email and Jake's responses:
Davo is in Red and Jake in White
When I wrote that I was going on both my feelings and my memory of the events as they happened. I was there the night in which I was informed that the club was closing because the DRAM Shop wasn't paid. As I understand it Shawn was completely unaware of this until Paul called him.
Shawn was never involved in any business dealings other than signing his name to the contract I agreed on with his dad at the beginning. There was a night that the club was closed over the DRAM Shop by Vice because the Hairy Mary's guys hadn't bothered to listen to me when I gave them a list of bills that were coming due. The reason Paul called Shawn was because Mike Graham told Paul I was planning to close the club, which was something that had only been discussed with Shawn's dad up to that point.
As far as the money being your main focus, it was a consent feeling for most of the time you owned the club shared by a great deal of people involved including myself.
If you call trying to pay the clubs bills and my own personal bills having money be my main focus, then yes I suppose it was. I certainly wasn't the most business minded person who ever lived, but paying the bills is a necessity of any business and even I recognized that. I didn't want to get rich, just break even. If you look at the financial records from Shawn's tenure at Safari you would see that he made less than zero dollars as a bar owner as well.
This seemed a great deal more so toward the end. It's a funny thing when you look back on sometime that the negative and the positive are increased.
I don't really care if anyone remembers me or not. I'm just hoping for some minimal accuracy in reporting.
When it comes to different styles of music, I have to say that changing the format of a club that had already established itself as an underground club to try to gain a larger MAINSTREAM crowd was kinda silly.
The only way underground anything ever makes money is when it is accepted by the mainstream. The body piercing business is a perfect example.
You understand that often you were in fact competing directly with Connie's?
I did not book cover bands, so no I was not competing with Connie's.
Also the point of the history is to express how important the club has been in shaping the local scene over the past 4 years and I'm sorry but Hip Hop and Rave night tended to reduce the club's influence in the scene in my opinion. I mean come on Jake the Gay clubs and the Hip Hop clubs were more than covering this and the only real reason to bring it into a rock club was to increase profit.
I was attempting to fill in what were otherwise dead nights in the schedule. If there were bands to be had, the dance music always got pushed to the side. Hairy Mary's isn't exactly doing a roaring business on nights when they don't have bands either.
Owning a club is about making mistakes and taking chances but it is also about making a difference and effect in the lives of your clients and the culture around you. Let's face it beyond bring in a few acts here and there there was no great event that made any lasting change during the roughly year that you owned the club. It maybe unfair from the stand point that it is being compared to the period that Shawn and Tony owned the club but I have to call it as I see it.
My time with the bar may have been insignificant in your eyes and even in the eyes of many other people, but the fact is no one else was lining up to fill in the obvious gap in the Des Moines music scene. I know I was and still am an outsider to the scene. I also know that I stepped up and made an effort in a town where most people sit on the sidelines and watch, waiting to criticize the people who put their ass on the line to make a difference.
In fairness I'll add this e-mail to the page as soon as I have time to do so.
Thank you!
Jake
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