Members nat whilk II Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 So you've been booking rap acts at your club for a while. The other night, one of the acts booked in front of the headliner is late, really late. So you put on the headliners, and they do their thing until closing time approaches. The late guys show up just shy of closing time. Want to perform. You say sorry guys, too late - the main guys are on, and we're closing up as soon as they wrap it up. The late guys say no way man, we want ON NOW. PULL THE HEADLINERS OFF AND PUT US ON. These guys are mad. You say, look, sorry, but you're really too late - I'd have put you on earlier like we agreed. So the late guys seem to calm down and accept this, and they split. Later, when the crowd is filing out, the late guys show up and start shooting people in the crowd. Eight people are shot. And guess what? It really happened last Saturday night on Sixth Street here in Austin. Read about it HERE: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/30/0530shooting.html I have a hard time assimilating such incidents into my generally positive worldview... nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cooterbrown Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 So you've been booking rap acts at your club for awhile. FAIL began and ended with that one sentence. The fact that it went on " a while" is amazing luck. I noticed this line from the article: In 2008, officers responded 172 times to incidents at Spiros, police said. The calls included those for violent crimes and nonviolent incidents, such as break-ins and personal injuries. That reminded me that we recently had a local hip-hop club finally shut down after repeated "incidents", like that. That single club usually took twelve officers off the street that should have been patrolling the city. My old band often played the rock club that used to be right next to this place.The owner put the stage right on an exit door. From the stage to the curb was about 25 feet, at most. We used to line up, bucket brigade-style, passing gear from the stage to the van with police on either side of our little line, while the thugs would cruise by slowly....all the while eyeballing our gear. Not fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jotown Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 Well I hate to generalize....but......... In the metro Detroit area I know of 4 studio owners/engineers who were shot by artists who record in the rap genre. Two of them fatally. I had a couple of situations in a studio that I worked at in the late 90's in Detroit where I had a gun pulled on me by artists in this genre; one wanted his masters (even though he hadn't paid all of his bill) and one wanted his money back because he couldn't afford to finish the project. Again; I hate to generalize, but I don't know of any other kinds of artists who have shot engineers in my market. Maybe its the gun culture, maybe its because many of the financiers of these projects are gang/drug related, but in any case it does happen way too often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bongfodder Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 And of course you three realise you're railing against capitalism here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 But that's the usual proceeding in the US, isn't it? I mean when everybody walks around with a colt and nobody uses it, then what is the weapon good for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chevybusa Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 Well I hate to generalize....but.........In the metro Detroit area I know of 4 studio owners/engineers who were shot by artists who record in the rap genre. Two of them fatally. I had a couple of situations in a studio that I worked at in the late 90's in Detroit where I had a gun pulled on me by artists in this genre; one wanted his masters (even though he hadn't paid all of his bill) and one wanted his money back because he couldn't afford to finish the project.Again; I hate to generalize, but I don't know of any other kinds of artists who have shot engineers in my market. Maybe its the gun culture, maybe its because many of the financiers of these projects are gang/drug related, but in any case it does happen way too often. +1,000,000 It's the same here in CT...every time you hear about some shooting or whatever at a club or similar type venue on the news it is always a rap/hip hop oriented place...I honestly cannot recall any instance where this was not the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 Here we shoot only when we are in the Army and every village has a shooting range. Send this rapper boy to Afghanistan, or drop them out of an airplane over Iran with nothing else then a Cola bottle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted May 30, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 I can feel the heavy gravity pulling on this thread towards a digression on gun control.....which could only be a ritualistic repetition of things said billions of times already. I can understand a macho culture where any perceived slight is an invitation to duking it out. Not approve of such a culture, mind you, but I can understand it. I mean there have been lots of cultures over the ages like that. If I followed my testosterone and adrenalin where they would like to take me, I'd be a violent asshole supreme. But when the patterned response to perceived disrespect is to just pull a gun - that takes a dark and deadened heart and mind, not just a young, dumb kid with a chip on his shoulder. nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 But when the patterned response to perceived disrespect is to just pull a gun - that takes a dark and deadened heart and mind, not just a young, dumb kid with a chip on his shoulder. Yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 I agree this isn't about gun control, it's about a mindset. If it wasn't a gun, it would be something else. It's about time the message got out that if the only way you can think of to resolve a dispute is to pull a gun, you're both a mental and physical coward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 Guess what? I used to perform at that club in the 90's, when it was called THE NAKED GRAPE. I played piano and sang, when it was imagined that the place might host a debonair clientele. For a while, it did. Only later did the building surrender its hopeful gentility to Rap and its concomitants. Rumor has it, that place is cursed.... and I don't mean figuratively. Woes have dogged every "incarnation" of club that went into that building. Nat, correct me if you know the story better than I do, but it's like this: In the mid-1980's, an Englishman-- a Mancunian-- moved to Austin, where he proceeded to amass quite a dope-ring for himself. Cocaine, mostly. Then he started--- ahem--- "managing escorts". He built himself a sort of "Playboy mansion" in the Austin hills, where all was merry, and nonstop sex and drugs and rock and roll reigned... for a time, anyway. He also used his dope money to build a really beautiful nightclub just off the entertainment drag of Sixth Street. No expense was spared to outfit the inside, which was done up in kind of a high-class Western saloon motif, with real Italian marble counters, exquisitely carved walnut bars, beautiful authentic antiques, and authentic, costly dark wainscoting. It was, and is, one of the most visually impressive bars in Austin, on the inside. But the Chinese have a saying: "You can never truly enjoy ill-gotten gains." And in this case, it's been more than true: this building has a helluva feng shui. Bad luck and unpleasant incidents have dogged this building since day one. The Englishman and his partner were thrown into the bing. He lost all his appeals and committed suicide behind bars. But his bar/nightclub remained, where it has changed hands repeatedly over the last 20 years. Whatever the "theme" of the bar, no-one has had the heart to dismantle the stunning wainscoting, carvings and brass appointments, though. When I was there, they threw a foam party. Some of you will know what this is: Huge billows of white soapy foam are poured into a room, all the way up the ceiling. Records spin, and people dance in their swimsuits, underwear, or nothing at all. In this case, the foam party was held out back on an enclosed patio. One young man came out to the patio from the inner bars... He spied the billows of foam, and suddenly had the impression that the foam was floating atop a swimming pool. So he ran and took a long swan-dive into the foam, thinking water would break his fall. There was no water, and he slammed headfirst into the cement floor. It was ghastly to watch, as I saw him coming but didn't have time to warn him. He didn't die, thank God, but he royally smashed his whole face in and wrenched his neck terribly. Where all had been white, one now saw red blood and the day-glo yellow of EMT jackets. Needless to say, the Foam Party was over before it had even begun. I had heard about the club's Curse... and this nasty incident kind of proved it to me. Those of you who know Sixth Street know that the strip starts out classy enough, at the downtown intersections. But as you follow it all the way down to Highway 35, the clubs--- and their denizens and hangers-on--- get increasingly more creepy and unkempt and, uh, "alternative". By the time you get down to Red River, the streets, by 11:00pm, are already clogged with thugs, hoes, dealers, pimps, junkies, trannies, con artists, etc. It won't be long before the lower Sixth will be in need of a clean-up, legally and otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted May 30, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 Those of you who know Sixth Street know that the strip starts out classy enough, at the downtown intersections. But as you follow it all the way down to Highway 35, the clubs--- and their denizens and hangers-on--- get increasingly more creepy and unkempt and, uh, "alternative".By the time you get down to Red River, the streets, by 11:00pm, are already clogged with thugs, hoes, dealers, pimps, junkies, trannies, con artists, etc.It won't be long before the lower Sixth will be in need of a clean-up, legally and otherwise. Yeah, it's too bad Emo's is right there at 6th and Red River - my son goes there with some frequency for the alt/indie stuff. At 2am the whole area is crawling with (in addition to the forms of life you listed) college and even high school kids and clubbers. And there are always police all over the place. Still, it's gotta be 20,000 to one kids to cops ratio. The only 6th St place I've performed in is The Parish which is further away from the chaos further east towards I-35. That's a nifty little venue. Downtown Austin has gone through a number of up and down cycles since I got here in '73. Overall, it's cooler now than it's ever been - so many people living downtown now has helped a lot, and shopping is returning, the place is looking good. A long way from the old days of the Armadillo, the Triple Hook lounge, and the warehouse district - all that's gone, rebuilt into shops and condos and offices. Except for the weirdness in the extremes of 6th St, about the only thing I miss from the old days is the free parking. nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cooterbrown Posted May 30, 2009 Members Share Posted May 30, 2009 I can feel the heavy gravity pulling on this thread towards a digression on gun control... Not from me...I'm totally against gun control.I am for thug control, however.Sometimes I think if more responsible people would arm themselves, these genetic U-turns would think twice before unloading into a crowd, mugging you, or breaking into your house.I also know this can create a potential escalation of violence, but I am not trying to lob a grenade into the thread...just stating my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Theres a lot of misplaced anger in our society. Anger is a normal human emotion but its how we vent it that has led to violence. Thats the first issue. The second issue is that guns do not help the situation. I understand we have a right to own arms, but I can`t say I agree with that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 are you guys still here or all killed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jotown Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Theres a lot of misplaced anger in our society. Anger is a normal human emotion but its how we vent it that has led to violence. Thats the first issue. The second issue is that guns do not help the situation. I understand we have a right to own arms, but I can`t say I agree with that one.I don't really think that anger or guns is the issue in this case. The question is why is it that a certain subset of Americans (rappers) seem to be more prone to dying by gun violence and committing gun violence? There is no other artistic community that has this same problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Don't book Gangster Rappers. Most of them TALENTLESS NON-MUSICIAN WANNABE HACKS. When do you have of singer songwriters or any other genre musician's doing this? {censored}ing sickening. Please stop it with the {censored}ing Gangster rappers who only do it for ho's and cash. Did you learn your lesson? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Not from me...I'm totally against gun control.I am for thug control, however.Sometimes I think if more responsible people would arm themselves, these genetic U-turns would think twice before unloading into a crowd, mugging you, or breaking into your house.I also know this can create a potential escalation of violence, but I am not trying to lob a grenade into the thread...just stating my opinion. I agree but you can't escape that humans are violent. Banning guns so that law abiding citizens CAN'T defend themselves against the pieces of {censored} that will get them and prey on the rightious is counterproductive. All this stuff does is reinforce that i SHOULD be armed and I continue to arm up more and more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beck Posted June 1, 2009 Members Share Posted June 1, 2009 Dumb & Dumber, to be sure. On a positive note, Big Hutch and Lil Hutch are great prison names Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Richard King Posted June 1, 2009 Members Share Posted June 1, 2009 I think they are about to learn what "tough guys" are REALLY like, and they will be squealing like the pigs that they are. Thankfully, they won't have a chance to try this again, and, it gets another pair of rap "artists" off the street which isn't all bad.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.