I need
to interrupt my normal blogging activity for some underground
breaking news. --- A good portion of you probably know about The
Broken Record closing down via their MySpace announcement just
yesterday. I for one thought that sucked, and like most of you,
didn't see that one coming at all. Especially after having some
really good shows over the past couple months and asserting
themselves as one of the last places left to find hard rock in the
city. And of course after hearing the brief announcement
on MySapce, I had to know what happened. I got a hold of the
talent booker Kory to find out the details behind the
closure. I also tried to get ahold of the manager Mason, but
have not heard back from him yet. When I do, I'll add his
responses.
Kory Quist
Gavin:
Hey, first off tell everyone who you are and what you do.
Kory:
Hi there, my name is Kory Quist, I was in charge of booking live
music/shows at The Broken Record for the last two and half
years.
Gavin: Let’s get right to it.
Broken Record is closed right now. My understanding is it was a
financial issue. Without going into specifics, what
happened?
Kory: The New owners/investors (not
Mason) did not pay their taxes on the bar, and so I was closed
down for 30 days. That was just the tip of the ice burg with all the
problems the new owners brought to the bar. They we going to through
the place trying to change everything like remodeling,
employees, rules, normal crowd, just about everything about the
place. Having many employees that have worked there for years, and
kept the place open, and alive, the new owners were now trying
to change all that.
Gavin: What was the first
warning sign that things were going south?
Kory: When
the new owners tried to turn The Broken Record dive rock-n-roll bar
in to a hip club.
Gavin: I understand part of the
closure involved Mason taking away the bar’s liquor license.
What lead to that decision?
Kory: Mason being the badss
and really good boss that he is, just got sick of all the crap with
the new owners trying to change everything. He decided it wasn’t
worth it anymore, so he walked with the liquor license,
meaning it would be until 2009 when the new owners could get a new
liquor license.
Gavin: What’s happened to the
guys who were backing the bar?
Kory: I have no idea. I
think they will try to re-open it when they get a new
license.
Gavin: What’s going on with all the
shows that are currently booked, as well as future bookings?
Kory:
This is a hard question. As of now all the shows have been canceled.
We are going to try to move the bigger shows to the Trapp
Door.
Gavin: I’ve heard you’re going to try
to reopen. Can you give us some details on that?
Kory:
I don’t know anything about a re-open. If Mason is involved, then I
will totally go back to work there.
Gavin: Are
the staff still employed for down the road, or are you going to have
to start from scratch?
Kory: I would think that the
employees would come back, its like family over there.
Gavin:
Anything you wanna say to fans of the bar and bands out there?
Kory:
Thanks sooo much for all the years of good times, friends, and good
music!!!