[Blacklabcollective] show update + I fucked up + long email

[tara myketiak]

Hi, so here's my account of tonight's man meat + 3 local bands show...
Off the bat it was a bit of a shit show...lindsay was gonna do the show but
then got the opportunity to go out of town so i took it on, but she
realized it was gonna be a money sinkhole (3/4 local bands, not a huge
attendence on fb) and suggested to the promoter, mitch, who i had never met
before until tonight, that we should cancel because it wasn't going to make
$. I wasn't a part of that conversation but I guess he really wanted to go
through with it. Also a few hours before the show every volunteer bailed so
it was a whole scrambly thing. Mitch wasn't super communicative or helpful
in regards to that.
That said, once the show was under way he was very on the ball about
getting bands to start on time, and when the show went a tiny bit over, he
checked in before the last band asking what our cut off was, so I'd
definitely consider working with him again just for that.
That said, after the 20 ppl that compromised the 4 bands playing, and the
volunteers, etc, we probably only had 10 ppl who paid door. The total we
made from door was 74$, but we did really good on bar (235$) because of
some pretty drunk norms. After the show, even though we had said it wasn't
gonna be a money maker, I made the executive decision to pay the touring
band 50$ and only keep 24$ from the door. I realize that's problematic but
I just didn't feel in good conscience to pay 37$ to the touring band. I
realize that the 50/50 split is our policy, so if I stepped out of bounds I
completely understand and am willing to pay the black lab 13 in lieu of
what we should have earned. No judgement, if y'all feel thats fair i am
totally fine to do that. Also, and in light of all the ongoing issues of a
whitewashed punk scene and trying to promote diversity, this show ran
really smoothly, everyone was really respectful, and it was the most women,
and especially women of colour, i've ever seen on the black lab stage. It
was definitely the most diverse show we have hosted in a while, and i just
felt, on the fly, that the touring band deserved a decent cut. Again, I get
that that's not our policy, I'm fine to pay it, and I hope I haven't
undermined our collective agreement in any way. I'm glad these diverse,
fun, (total not black lab crowd) shows happen at the end of the day, but I
also think, as lindsay initially suggest to mitch, we should say no to
shows that we know are going to make 0 dollars. We're lucky that we made a
decent bank on bar, but its not fair to bands when we know they are only
going to make 35$ dollars for one touring band, and also its a waste of
time for all of us who are scrambling to get the organizational ends met. I
get that most of that is on the promoter, but I think like lindsay
suspected, if the promoter doesn't seem to get how much of a dud the show
is going to be, we should put our foot down unless one of use is really
into it or one of the bands. Otherwise its just a sinkhole in terms of time
and $. Really sorry this is so long but Im just trying to give a picture of
my experience. I would definitely consider working with mitch again if the
show was more of a draw.
tara
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