Sidewalk Update
Fri, 03/11/2011 - 11:28am
Hey everyone,
Since all sorts of rumors regarding the Sidewalk's demise have been spreading around this week, I thought I'd post some updates about what is actually happening here. I'm not going to put post anything on the Sidewalk site since technically the site is still accurate: the club is closed for renovations and is scheduled to open in the spring. The scene is a huge rumor mill, though, so...
There have been some major changes at the club.
In a nutshell, due to recent events and mediocre business at the Sidewalk, Pini has been forced out of managing the club and one of the other three partners, Amnon, is going to manage the Sidewalk for a few years. Amnon has let all counter, waitstaff and bartenders go, no exceptions. I have no idea what his rationale is for this. The exact wording I was emailed from Katie the assistant manager was "Pini doesn't believe that Amnon will invite any of the existing staff to come back once the renovations are done. [including her]" So maybe some people will eventually come back. Not sure. Everyone was advised to start looking for work. Except me.
I spoke with Pini (and am setting up a meeting with Amnon). No one really wants the back room and music situation to change at all. It looks like I have my job and autonomy. If/when everything is up and running, the sound crew will have their jobs as well if they want them.
I will know more after I meet with Amnon. If he doesn't want things to change and is open to suggestions, it could actually be a very good thing for the performers at Sidewalk. My first priority is my job (for my family's sake), and my close second priority is the is the scene at the club. If for any reason it looks like the Sidewalk won't be a good fit for the AF scene any more, I have a few other options that I'm working on. However, it seems like managements main concern is the restaurant and bar area. I'm basically spending the next week or two being a squeaky wheel for the back room budget while management is focusing on the sections of the club that they've demolished and need to rebuild.
We have been doing the Monday nights at Tribes on Avenue C and 3rd. It will continue there until the club reopens.
I'm going to try and get Carrie back (for Mondays at least) if I can. Regardless, I think Carrie will be fine. Derek seems financially secure and I think he'll be fine as well. I don't know much about the other staff members.
I should know by this time next week how stable the music situation is. Pini didn't give me any reason to worry. If there is anyone who has been hit hardest by this, emotionally at least, it's definitely him.
Bee K
Fri, 03/11/2011 - 2:52pm
#2
Derek and Carrie
Since they have essentially fired Derek and Carrie I commit to not playing Sidewalk Cafe for one year, maybe longer, maybe for the rest of my life.
The fact that the others have decided to replace Pini I am pretty unimpressed with as well.
Caravan of Dreams was once a pretty neat restaurant. Then they fired everybody and got new wait staff that all wore black. The decorations that used to be unique were replaced with commercial boring shit and the food became salty and unimpressive.
Souen on 13th Street is doing the same thing I believe.
If Sidewalk Cafe's legendary status is about to be destroyed so be it.
They should have changed the menu instead.
PS Can we have a party/show for Pini and the staff at another venue and collect tips or door money and give it to them as a thank you for their service and in some cases friendship over the years?
Fuck man, Derek rocked the back room.
Fri, 03/11/2011 - 3:44pm
#3
Pini will still be around.
Pini will still be around. He's a partner, so he's still connected with the club even if he isn't allowed to make any decisions regarding it any more.
Derek didn't like/understand any of the antifolk acts when he first started there. He grew to love what was happening back there. I remember when he first started some people would bemoan the fact that he was "not the same as Carrie." Now he has dinner and Bernard's house.
Now there will be a new wait staff who grows to love what happens in that back room as well. They will be good people, struggling just like the rest of us. They will have a new job, they'll probably be actors and/or artists trying to pay their rent. The old staff members will have new jobs somewhere else, and the strong recommendations that Pini and Katie are giving all of them will help. People will be moving on and happy having adjusted to the change.
I think the best thing you can do, Barry, is the most positive thing at all times. I think it's more important that people hear you. Next week there will be new performers with interesting things to say who want to hear other great people, who still want to become connected to this scene and I'll greet them at Tribes until I know what's up with SWalk.
If you think there is an action that creates love over hate, or communication over disconnect, I think that's always the way to go. If I'm given my job back and the freedom to do pretty much what I was doing before and maybe take it to a higher level, my choice seems obvious.
Fri, 03/11/2011 - 3:57pm
#4
but like I said earlier...
...when I meet next week I'm going to try and get Carrie and Derek back.
Fri, 03/11/2011 - 4:11pm
#5
Reply
Derek and Carrie will be fine, but that does not excuse those that fired them.
Just like I do not recommend they replace you, even if the new guy would eventually get the hang of it, I am not cool with them firing good workers.
People vacate positions on their own terms. Being fired isn't one of them.
You said nothing of Derek and you said Monday nights in regard to Carrie.
Even if you get them back what is up with the person that fired them in the first place?
Did all the kitchen staff suck?
Did all the bartenders suck?
You fire shitty workers.
You reward good ones.
Unless they are going to be a raw food restaurant (or sushi bar) and have a juice bar instead of alcohol, I don't see the reason to change the whole staff.
Ben, they'll let you go in a heartbeat.
You know that.
We'll see how it plays out.
For now I am out - as a form of solidarity with Derek, that blond haired lady whose name I forget, and Carrie.
If (I say if) the new controller is money focused they will be totally glad that I won't be playing there.
I've never brought Sidewalk much regarding money.
Fri, 03/11/2011 - 4:35pm
#6
penis
i'm with barry about the sidewalk.not that it matters at all for sales if i boycott playing that place.
except as much as i love carrie and derek. the real reason i don't wanna play there is kim i will miss kim.if i had facebook or something dumb like that i would know where she is and be able to stalk her like all the normal people .i won't miss penis or his daughter one bit.
losing penis is a good part of the deal
i wish good luck to everyone involved .even penis
anyone know what ever happened to daicy
she was at that one place on bedford last time i saw her.
except for darcy and of course kim that barstaff went down hill after daicy left.
who want to have to prove themselves as regulars all over again ?
not me
i'll just go to the places i'm currently still a regualr at.
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 3:43am
#7
barry and dashan
you guys can say and act all you want about this. say all the things you say and make believe like you know what it takes to run a restaurant/bar/music venue in nyc. but the fact is, pini made the back room possible for you. he sat back there at times and looked in with adoration at great sets and loves music just like you do. he is the reason the sidewalk cafe has hosted such things as antifolk, a scene that brings in very little money for anyone, if you've noticed by your cd sales. he is the reason you've had the good fortune of having a place to play every now and again. its not because you fill the room (or don't in most cases), its because you love music, and so does he.
this disdain for pini, is disdain for yourself. and you should recognize talent when you see it. not in the mirror, or on your recordings, but in the people who appreciate you for making it.
this battle is not with pini, or the sidewalk cafe, it is with the very self. and once you realize THAT in your self minded, individual brain, you will begin to realize that music is not for one, it is for others. the ones who appreciate, coddle, cozy and betroth themselves to what you do as an artist.
your battle is not with pini, or with the sidewalk cafe, or the new management, it is with yourself. and the idea of making your art for yourself only... then what does pini or the sidewalk have to do with it?
choose to be your own, make your art for yourself. fine! but begin to separate yourself from the ones that love it and give you a place for it, then you are doing your own self a great disservice.
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 6:28am
#8
speakerb
The Pini stuff must be directed at my friend Dashan.
Whoever is in charge fired some good workers and friends so I am not interested in playing there.
Not playing Sidewalk Cafe does not mean you're playing for yourself.
It means you're not playing that one venue.
Not playing (and maybe going) to Sidewalk Cafe does not mean you are seperating yourself from the ones you love. It means you are not getting together with them at one venue.
They fired Derek.
I am just not comfortable with going there right now.
We shall see if they give me "a place for it" when they reopen, but even if they do it does not change how I feel.
PS Since 1999 I have spoken highly of Sidewalk Cafe's commitment to good original mainly singer/songwriter music. I have praised the backroom because indeed they welcomed me in a way no other venue in the world did.
Lach (and later Ben) might have been the one that believed in me, but they backed Lach up.
We will see what they do, bro. They have kept Ben, so maybe it'll contiunue going well back there.
Again, that does not change how I feel.
Derek and Carrie were backroom waitstaff. They were part of the living web of that room.
PPS People can run a club in NYC however they like, and I don't have to know how to do it to know how I feel inside.
PPPS I'm not thinking my gesture means much to anyone. It may mean nothing. Like I said, I just am not comfortable going there right now. Not that they are open.
For all I know they'll change their minds before the doors reopen.
I will feel differently when/if they do.
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 2:39pm
#9
derek
i will miss derek and carrie and kim for sure.
sometimes i let my emotions get the best of me, and i read dashan's bit and got a little fired up. i'm sure you can relate to driving with your emotions barry. but my soapbox was slanted to say the least.
most of all, i'm upset about the whole thing. i put in three years as a sound guy in the back room. i saw derek go from being everyone's least favorite waiter, to being their favorite. he and i became good friends. he became so familiar with everyone's music and we would have a good time working together and talking about the shows at the end of the night. i met carrie and she was so sweet to me at first and then she loathed me and then we became friends after all. she is truly unique in that way. the back room was a little soap opera, on and off stage. i saw kim being delivered the news and saw her cry. it broke my heart.
i respect your feelings and understand where you are coming from. your statement rings with integrity and i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings. fire comes from me sometimes when i don't know how to properly express my feelings.
peace.
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 7:16pm
#10
to brian
no one said they
to brian
no one said they know anything about running a business
i espacially don't
but i still don't want to associate my self with a place that will fire it's entire staff
especially people who do a good job for them
everyone else can do whatever they want
they can play the sidewalk everyday when it's up and running
i just do not want to
and maybe i do not like and also am angry with penis
i can feel and say whatever i want
that is what makes being human so great
p.s .
you're team is still going down
you are going to be annihilated
maria hernandez
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 7:51pm
#11
flunkin' economics.
flunkin' economics.
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 7:52pm
#12
.
.
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 8:36pm
#13
to dashan
i bet you'd play sidewalk if they let you poop on the stage...
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 9:17pm
#14
You have got to buck up, man.
You have got to buck up, man. You cannot drag this negative energy in to the tournament!
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 9:40pm
#15
maybe puke
poop that's just
maybe puke
poop that's just disgusting
Mon, 03/14/2011 - 3:37pm
#16
puke-poop
That pretty much sums it up.
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