Popular perception these days is that small music venues are under attack. At the end of a year that saw the imposition of a very, very quiet 55dB noise ordinance in some neighborhoods (thanks to Bel Rio), the shuttering of music operations at Random Row Books (which, don’t forget, still sells books and hosts other events), the fear isn’t entirely out of place.
Fears have flared since the Fire Marshal visited the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar on November 11, when Birdlips played at the restaurant. “Someone had called the Fire Marshal and informed them that we were going to have a show that might go beyond capacity,” says Gwendolyn Hall, who owns the Tea Bazaar.
The Marshal arrived unannounced before the concert and recommended that whoever was manning the door had to have a clicker, to count the number of patrons entering the restaurant, which filled to its 50-person capacity. “We were within our legal limits, so they looked around and left.”
The Fire Marshal, of course, is in the business of ensuring that buildings are safe, and not in the business of mediating conflicts in the music community. “It is because of this potential for loss of life that the Fire Marshal has a responsibility to this community and he takes it seriously,” read a letter to C-VILLE from Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner, Director of Neighborhood Development Services Jim Tolbert and City Director of Communications Ric Barrick. “His visits to area venues should be applauded and not criticized.” (Paragraph added Friday, December 3, 2:07pm)
To the community, the question of who directed the Fire Marshal to the Tea Bazaar appears, in some ways, to be tied to the loss of Random Row as a vital venue for punk and metal concerts. So the question became—since it’s so farfetched that the authorities might find listings for shows at nonvenues on local blogs, or in the calendars of area newspapers—who’s the rat?
Fear loves a villain, and with its good friend rumor, it has found one in the form of Andy Gems of The Southern Café and Music Hall. In an e-mail thread between WTJU DJs planning a dance party, one DJ mentioned the possibility of boycotting events at the Southern, pending proof that Gems has been turning the authorities on small venues.
I called Gems and asked him if it is true that he’s been alerting the authorities about shows that might exceed capacity in smaller venues. "I can assure you. I did not call the Fire Marshal," Gems says. He followed up in an e-mail that he wanted to “emphatically state for the record that I did not call the Fire Marshal on either the Tea Bazaar or Random Row Books.”
As far as the rumors go, the idea that Gems has it out for small spaces is rooted in the notion that, in bringing The Southern up to code after it was converted from the Gravity Lounge, he had to jump through hoop after hoop to be classified as a music hall. Doing so—as the rumors go—got him in bed with the folks up at city hall. Most mentioned has been Gems’ relationship with Jim Tolbert, the director of neighborhood development services, through whom Gems is believed—again, rumors—to have sicked the authorities on the Tea Bazaar and Random Row Books.
I asked Tolbert over the phone whether he had a hand in sending the Fire Marshal to check on the Tea Bazaar or Random Row Books. “You’d have to talk to the Fire Marshal," he says. “I haven’t talked to the Fire Marshal in a couple of months.”
Updated, December 2, 9:35am: WTJU Rock Program Director Colin Powell in an e-mail clarified the WTJU thread. "[One] individual expressed his reluctance to attend the Southern as a result of his conviction that Andy was the culprit. I must emphasize that the conversation ended there – no WTJU-sanctioned boycott was ever discussed, and we hold no ill will toward Andy or the Southern."
Updated, 3:42: I just got off the phone with Fire Marshal William Hogsten, who clarified his department’s policies. "I look at your magazine, The Hook, any of the other papers or fliers that I find around every week to see where venues might be," says Hogsten. "The other side of that coin is this: When I pick up my phone in the morning there’s usually one, two, sometimes three or four anonymous phone calls that are on our voicemail filing complaints. I have to follow up on each and every one of those. It doesn’t say that the Fire Marshal can; it says that the Fire Marshal shall enforce the letter of the Fire Prevention Code. That is the way we do things."
But there’s no way to know who provided a tip. Hogsten adds that he and a team will take pre-emptive measures to make sure local venues don’t get too packed. "Most of the time we go out before the crowds get heavy and we tell them, listen, we know you’re having an event tonight. It would be a good idea just to keep your crowds under control."
"We’re not trying to be a bad guy with the venues here. If anything, I love the music—I love live venues regardless of the type of music. But we’re charged with keeping a safe environment."
Will the fear of losing small venues hurt a small venue?
