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CAN I OPEN A DIY VENUE? (continued)
these expenses could very well offset a business’ tax liability the first year of operation.
The panel addressed other important legal considerations for a DIY venue. There was
vast agreement that maintaining a valid liquor license was vital. A lack of or defect in
the venue’s liquor license is the number one reason DIY venues run into trouble and
eventually get shut down. “Kiss it every morning, make love to it, and tuck it in every
night,” as panelist Nathan Clearley of Silent Barn said. In addition to this, get insurance
and pay the premiums every month. Without doing so your lease may be invalid and
the business may have to relocate.
The DIY owners on the panel acknowledged that making a space legal is not always
easy but it is doable with persistence and help. The interest of cultivating a community
where artists are supported and nurtured is one that many people are willing to get
behind and is what makes places like Silent Barn so special.
RIP SUMMER. IT’S BEEN REAL!
By: Mike Lawrence
As fall arrives we all find ourselves asking one another,
“What happened to summer?” “How did the time pass us
by so fast?” If you’re like me, you put together a list some-
time before Memorial Day marking down which outdoor
concerts, movies and other events you’d attend during the
June, July, and August months. Some of them you went to,
some you didn’t for whatever reason: weather, lack of in-
terest from friends, or life in general intervening. Every
summer in NYC there is an abundance of outdoor
concerts to choose from. This year was no different.
I saw shows from bands I really like, bands I am indifferent too, and bands I don’t much
care for. To be clear I love summer weather, I love music, and I do enjoy a lot of sum-
mer concerts. So I don’t hate summer concerts per se. The summer shows I am really
talking about are of bands I really love who I’ve seen play club shows at the top of their
game in front of their most die hard fans. It’s hard to have seen a band in a club setting
and be satisfied at an outdoor show played to a portion of the audience that may not
be there to see that band. Strangely, the summer concerts I enjoy the most are of
bands that I like but whose show I’m not that invested in. Go figure.
Continued