The K-ZAP Short Tail (A Blog) – Save Our Stages

The K-ZAP Short Tail (A Blog) – Save Our Stages

#SaveOurStages is a hash tag you probably saw appearing all over social media in April 2020. The life lockdown we faced in such an incredibly dramatic fashion beginning March 13, 2020 jolted the music industry. 100% shutdown of all live music venues was immediate. For independent venues, the clubs, coffeehouses, taverns and listening rooms owned by people you know in your town, it was devastating, and many rooms/events did not survive these past two years. And while deep-pocket conglomerates like Live Nation could better weather the shutdown, independent venues, festivals, and promoters around America found their collective voice and power by forming NIVA (The National Independent Venues Association). NIVA was the driving force behind lobbying and grassroots efforts to pass the bipartisan Save Our Stages Act, which was signed into law as part of the second COVID-19 Relief Bill on December 27, 2020. The program allocated $16 billion in federal emergency relief via the Small Business Administration, saving the indie industry from mass collapse. Remember this 2020 streaming fundraiser ?

Here in Sacramento some live music venue owners managed, and with neighborhood moral support, stoicism (and streaming) found a new “vocation”:
“Politics, I guess that is my new hobby,” says Jim Cornett owner/GM of Harlow’s and The Starlet Room in Midtown. “My initial reaction was to look at how to reopen, but it didn’t take long to realize that I had to accept’ it was out of my control. So, we cut back on all the expenses we could and began looking for help–City, State and Federal loans and grants.” Cornett and several staffers then formed the California Capitol Venue Coalition (CCVC) here, to make music fans and government officials aware of their neighborhood-knitting function and economic value of live music venues.

Two and ½ years on and the stone is beginning to roll again.  “We aren’t just people who sell tickets for all the great bands we bring in” he says—"we help build up neighborhood communities with surrounding businesses–restaurants, hair salons, clothing stores and hotel rooms. For every $1 spent on a ticket at small venues, a total of $12 in economic activity is generated.”  The Crest, the Torch Club, Laughs Unlimited, Café Colonial and The Boardwalk are all members. (At blog press time, the once shuttered rock venue Boardwalk has found new owners and are planning an October 2022 grand re-opening. More on this to come!

Thanks for doing your part for the local music community It is coming back with your help–#SaveOurStages!

All this spirit brings me to the venerable 32 nd Annual Chalk It Up! Festival in Midtown, set to roll in person again on the Labor Day weekend, Sept 3-5. One of the last family-friendly festivals that is still 100% free to the public, there will be artists creating works of chalk art on the sidewalk around the park, local food and craft vendors inside the park, and live music on the Chalk It Up Stage from Noon
to 6 pm over the three-day festival. Come by our friendly K-ZAP booth, say hey, talk music [I am loving the new Jack White opus, “A Madman in Manhattan.” What do you think?].

Pick up some new Tubby swag! We will be there Noon-6pm every day. Detailed schedule of all the area bands playing is here on our K-ZAP Events Page:
https://k-zap.org/event/32nd-annual-chalk-it-up-3-days-sept-3-5/

Thanks for reading. What’s between your ears?

– Mindy Giles

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Here’s the winner of the “K-ZAP Best Car” at the UTI Car Show last Saturday! A boss 1963 Dodge Dart!