What's important (was Re: the Jeremy beef)

[Mordant Productions]

--- manny at telerama.com wrote:

> You're flogging the same bullshit and lies, Jeremy. I don't owe you a damn
> thing.

[snip]
> I'm glad Joe was conscientious and showed
> up
> early, but let him show up early 200 times a year without a hitch and then
> we'll see.

Manny, I appreciate that you have congratulated me on a job well done. That
does mean a lot to me. However, I don't appreciate my name being dragged into a
fight that you have with someone else. Even if you're completely correct, I
consider it personally embarassing. I also don't understand why you do it. You
want me to use your space, but you drag my name into a public fight, which I
want nothing to do. If the only space I can use is one which is going to cause
me the grief of being included in a public fight, than I'd rather not do shows.

All I wanted to do with my comment about the bands is to highlight that
ThouShaltNot and Bella Morte are bands that care more about the scene than
about the money. That was obvious from the very beginning of this project, when
they agreed to do the show, up to the very end.

All the talk about money and breaking even misses the most important point: THE
SCENE PULLED TOGETHER FOR THIS SHOW AND IT ROCKED. This wasn't -my- effort or
even -my- show. It was a scene effort.

This is true for the people who were willing to listen while I fleshed out
ideas. It's true for the people who were willing to tell me what bands they
were excited to see and what they want from a venue. It's especially true for
the many people who offered their help for nothing more than satisfaction from
a job well done. If nothing else happened from the show, I'd cherish the
friendships I've developed and the people that I've met.

The truly amazing thing is that we can do even better, and I look forward to
seeing that happen. The bands did an amazing job, but what truly rocked my
world was seeing the audience dance. I couldn't take my eyes off the crowd. I
had to fight back tears of joy Sunday morning, before I even got to the Oakland
Cafe, when I thought about how much the scene pulled together for the show. I
had to fight back tears of joy for days afterwards when I thought about how
much the blood, sweat, and tears shed by so many people paid off.

I don't like to talk about finances that much. I think it's a little
inappropriate to do so in public. I will talk about it a little bit because
it's already been dragged out into public. If the show had gone as planned, we
would have made a little money. It wouldn't have been much but it would have
been appreciated. As it was, we absorbed the cost of the one drink minimum
because we didn't want to ask people to pay more money at the door than they
were expecting, even if they would've understood considering the circumstances.
I also increased my lost at the end of the night, which occurred mainly because
the cost for sound was no longer included with the rent, by agreeing to pay TSN
and Chuck Owston. I think the bands would've understood if I didn't pay, but I
really think it was the right thing to do. It was something I could do and I
was happy to do it. I had the cash on hand because I decided to pay Jerry out
of my paycheck.

So please, instead of getting worked up over audience size and break even
points, I'd like everyone on this list to take a moment and pat themselves on
the back. You really deserve it and I look forward to working with you in the
future. Don't be afraid that I'll stop doing this; we already have things in
the work for July. I'm hoping to make some announcements next week.

Joe
Mordant Productions