Thursday, January 21, 2010
What's Shaking Down SF Music Venues?
Breaking News Kathleen Richards — Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 5:44 PM
That’s the worthy subject of tonight’s Flux Summit, which bills itself as “San Francisco’s premier electronic music industry event.” In case you didn’t know, SF music venues (but not East Bay ones, as far as I know) have been the subject of all kinds of ridiculous fines by the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (aka ABC) as of late, and it’s threatening to shut these venues down. In a nutshell, in order for venues to be all ages and serve alcohol, they have to technically be “restaurants” and serve a certain amount of food. Venues, like the DNA Lounge, have spent as much as $140,000 to satisfy ABC’s all-ages requirements, like building a kitchen, according to their web site (hence, the venue is closed for most of the month).
The discussion will be moderated by Michael Winger, the Recording Academy’s SF chapter secretary, and speakers will include Debra Walker (candidate for SF District 6 Supervisor and advisor of the SF Music and Sustainability policy), Terrance Alan (SF Entertainment Commission Founding President), Mark Rennie (Entertainment Law Specialist) and Tim Benetti (co-owner of nightclub, Bottom of the Hill). According to the press release, “Attendees will learn about the challenges facing the electronic music community and find out how they can get involved.” The summit starts at 6 p.m. and is free (you can register on-site).
In addition to the discussion, the Flux Summit will also feature a mixer and “Test Press,” a music review session in which DJs, producers, and artists will get “instant feedback on their music from top industry experts.” It's happening at 832 Folsom Street in SF.
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DNA Lounge has been closed during January because of a BS deal they were forced into by the ABC which wanted to pull their license completely thanks to "lewd" patron behavior at over-21 nights which was immediately dealt with by staff. In other words, they were punished for actions by people not employed by them, which they handled in a responsible fashion, and labeled "a threat to public morals." They took the temporary closure so as to avoid losing the entire business, and yet the ABC has continued to harass them as documented on the DNA Lounge blog.
They put the kitchen in quite a while ago so they could comply with the "restaurant" license and get an all-ages permit, which they had to sue the ABC for when it was denied.
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