Friday, October 23, 2009
Bars / Tonight Tonight In this City
Posted by Grant Brissey on Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:10 AM
If you're out in the city tonight and the music stops at precisely 11:30 pm, it's because the bar you're at is participating in "The Night the Music Died." Here's the press release:
THE NIGHT THE MUSIC DIED: SEATTLE NIGHTLIFE TO OBSERVE A "MINUTE OF SILENCE" IN FEAR OF TOM CARR'S RE-ELECTIONSeattle nightlife establishments from throughout the City are scared of what will happen if Tom Carr is re-elected on November 3. How scared? In an effort to raise awareness of City Attorney Tom Carr's anti-nightlife policies — and to emphasize the importance of a safe and vibrant nightlife — bar, live music venue and nightclub owners will observe a "minute of silence" on Friday, October 23, 2009, at 11:30 PM.
For one minute, nightlife as we know it will cease to exist in Seattle. Participating establishments will use a portion of this minute to inform their patrons of Carr's anti-nightlife policies and the importance of electing his opponent Pete Holmes. Carr, a longstanding opponent of the nightlife industry and the mastermind behind Operation Sobering Thought — a botched "sting" operation that cost the taxpayers over $50,000 and resulted in zero convictions — has continued his efforts to hamper nightlife and the arts as the election approaches.
Many in the nightlife community believe it is the ultimate goal of Carr's office to shut down bars and nightclubs in the City of Seattle, thereby decimating an industry that employs thousands of people and generates nearly $100 million in annual tax revenue.
The Stranger and the Seattle Times over the past week have been giving extensive coverage to the issue of nightlife. The bar, venue and club owners have been particularly fearful in the wake of blistering attacks from Carr's office that occurred at a meeting on October 6 on Capitol Hill. At that meeting, a member of Carr's office threatened to stop pedestrians on the street to find out where they were drinking and then use the information collected to issue citations and possibly revoke the licenses of those nightlife establishments.
"A vote for Carr is a vote against nightlife," said Crocodile Café owner Marcus Charles. "If you want someone who is pro-consensus, pro-music, and pro-arts then Pete Holmes is the only choice." Charles has decided to join the event and to take it one step further: The Crocodile will close down for the entirety of Friday night.
Participating in the Minute of Silence will be the Crocodile Café, Neumos, Moe Bar, Havana, The Saint, Trinity, The Sunset Tavern, Tractor Tavern, Cha Cha Lounge, Bimbos, Baltic Room, Rendezvous, Del Rey, Shorty's, Spitfire Grill, Venom, Amber, Funhouse, Nectar, High Dive, The Red Door, ToST, Skylark Café and Club, Trinity, Cowgirls inc., Tractor Tavern, Sunset Tavern, Lock and Keel Inn, War Room, Century Ballroom, R Place, Seattle Eagle, Quinns Pub, and many others.
"Music and nightlife makes a city great, plain and simple," said Havana owner Quentin Ertel. "Nobody wants to live in a ghost town."
As a show of support, the marquee at Showbox Market will be dark all night.
Read more about Carr vs. Bars here.
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7
I think you have Tom Carr posting here .... sure sounds like him. Read it for a mini intro .. now you know why you should support Mr. Holmes.
Good idea, get some unity.
Carr has been part of many attempts to fuck with gay bars and cops walking thru making inspections and taunting customers and bartenders. One Hispanic bartender, 3rd generation American, was asked for his "papers."
Shit.
DO NOT VOTE FOR TOM CARR.
Signed: Jesus Gomez
Carr in office with a weak incoming Mayor (which is, no matter who's elected, what they'll be) would mean effectively unapposed anti-nightlife agendas from the City Attorney's office. "Dom's" recent article not only hits the nail on the head, it's only the tip of the iceberg.
12
Please let us know the statistics you used to reach this zero hypothesis, because I find it's nearly impossible to come up with a monetary value unrealized gains. Consider, perhaps, that your unproven assumption has no basis in fact and might indeed be wrong. But more importantly, I'm not sure why this matters to music fans. We have the choice to vote for candidate A or B, and A turns out to be quite a jerk towards the music and communities, so those communities are asking you to vote for his opponent. That's not paranoia or irrational.
You can put other people down really well, but what are the facts to defend YOUR case. Why is it that the entire music community is wary of Carr?
Show us how Carr is pro nightlife and pro music.
18
What's that? You go to a night club? No no no, those will definitely go away. Night clubs are frequented by sexual deviants, loose women, and the Negro. Tom Carr will abolish these dens of opium smoking and jazz music; making the city safe again for children, land-owning males, and white women.
20
It's great you think you're smart, instead of how I see you, as someone namecalling, overly-dramatic, and failing to put a logical argument together. It boils down to who do you think is worse for the music community, Carr or Holmes. Nightclub owners and The Stranger have put forth their argument for voting for Holmes, why not instead of whining about why they don't like Carr, you tell us why we should vote for him?
21
But the molded rubber nipples? Those are the same.
The final outcome??? We are running the exact same business we were before the crack down. There were no citations, and they found nothing wrong with our operation in the end, but their attack on our business daily, cost us 60k over a 6 - 8 week period.
Capital Hill Business.
his approach is unfair, unbalanced and 100% unsupportive of nightlife establishments. he sees seattle nightlife as a hindrance instead of the vital asset that it is to seattle culture.
good, honest business people fall under carrs personal agenda. like i said, his approach is aggressive and threatening. he hurts good businesses and their efforts at producing a safe, vibrant nightlife. in turn, he's negatively affecting that very notion by stifling the responsible business owners. go away tom carr. you suck and make good business owners question whether or not they want to be in the nightlife business any longer. the businesses go away... so will our killer, world renowned nightlife. go pete holmes!!!!
mahalo
What pisses me off most about Carr is that he talks about Operation Sobering Thought as a success. ZERO convictions. It was 100% intimidation... and it fell flat! On top of his disingenuous arguments for his record, he has an anger problem. Go fuck yourself, Tom.
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