It’s gone from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal and Bond Buyer magazine; now, it’s global. The Harrisburg debt crisis was featured in a piece on the BBC World News yesterday.
And here, my friends, is the clip.
James Gordon reporter, copyright BBC.
Just as I suspected, there were around three hundred people in front of City Hall for about forty five minutes today at noon.
I would safely estimate that around one hundred of them were actually there to “rally” and the other two hundred were onlookers.
For the thirty minutes that I was there, I heard one actually audible chant, saw about half a dozen signs and figured there was probably one press or media person for every ten attendees.
Linda came to the window and waved and mouthed the words “I’m staying”.
And she is.
I won’t discredit that what happened today was a good *showing* of the growing frustration with local government, but will maintain that the entire event was poorly organized, misguided and potentially dangerous.
Oh, and did I mention it was a mostly white crowd? In a city whose demographic makeup is 54.83% black/African American?
There was no unified message being delivered to City Hall today. Other than the obvious: that a percentage of the citizenship of Harrisburg is unhappy with it’s leadership.
But I also wonder: where was all of this fire on election day? And I wonder how many who attended stayed home last election?
That’s what this really boils down to. Voter apathy.
Face it, kids. She’s here for another thirty five months. Unless she melts down or is indicted.
James Ellison pulls the levers anyway.
Sort of feel like I’m coming out of political-blogging retirement by even typing this post, but I feel strongly enough about the gravity of what’s about to occur that I cannot stand by without expressing my thoughts on this.
So I’ll make this quick…
1. Consider the source.
This “rally” is being spearheaded by Lisa Paige. For the uninitiated, Lisa Paige is a long time Reed supporter, apparent former strategist with Triad Strategies and former Communications Director with the Harrisburg School District who “resigned” after being faced with an unpaid suspension stemming from violating a previous PAID suspension of her sixty two thousand dollar per year salary. She claims it was because of her support of Gerald Kohn.
2. On the Triad tip…
Consider this: Triad Strategies co-owns a building with Jacob Frydman who is still patiently waiting in the wings to purchase our parking garages and meters.
Just last week, Thompson tried to sneak in an audible change of council to have Rhoades and Sinon represent the Harrisburg Parking Authority. (James Ellison’s law firm…the James Ellison who is also Linda’s puppeteer and campaign treasurer…who is also facing an investigation about shady corporate campaign contributions to Linda’s campaign.)
So all of this considered – combined with Lisa Paige’s Letter to The Editor today where she says “…I implore your writers and bloggers to stop kicking former Mayor Steve Reed, who doesn’t even bother defending himself (never did even while in office) because he is quite aware that self-defense is wasted breath. Reed’s dedication and accomplishments simply weren’t acknowledged by most city residents”- makes me wonder what the real motivations are for this “rally”.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that some sort of civil uprising against the current Mayor isn’t justified, I’m saying that it IS. But an effective, safe and successful rally will be spearheaded by either a small committee or a leader with experience in organizing such events. What we have the potential for on Monday is an angry mob with no clear voice.
“Demand The Resignation of Linda Thompson”?
Please. Why don’t you demand the repeal of all taxes while you’re at it? Or the legalization of the recreational use of cocaine. Or allowing drunk driving? Because all three of those causes have the same chance of happening as Linda Thompson “resigning”.
Without proper leadership, a rally of this kind – fueled by anger and high emotion – has the potential to turn violent mighty quick.
Action DOES need to be taken to clean up the clusterfuck that has become of City Hall, but a rally on Monday isn’t going to do us any good.
Especially considering it has been organized by someone so closely tied to the old guard, Reed administration.
If you DO decide to rally at City Hall on Monday, please be smart and be peaceful.
I won’t be attending.
Huey Lewis (with or without The News) should play a club show. And somewhere on the East Coast. But not New York City, Philadelphia or Atlanta. Maybe Pittsburgh. Or Cleveland. But definitely not DC. Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City – not a chance. They’re too big. And it would be too expected.
Perhaps the old boy really IS barely breathing. Which is why he only plays to the 40+ set in Performing Arts Centers, Casinos, soft-ticket college gigs and county fairs.
He comes through Lancaster to the American Music Theater probably every twenty-four months, but how’s THAT spreading the power of love when tickets are over seventy five bucks a pop?
At the pinnacle of his career (1986) tickets were less than twenty bucks. 
New York, New York really IS everything they say. Especially when you’re charging $106 BEFORE fees for a Gramercy show. With fees and travel and hotels, that’s a $500 trip for a couple. Because who goes to see Huey with his guy-friends?
Seems like a couples-heavy kind of show.
Wasn’t there a settlement about the Ghostbusters debacle with Ray Parker Jr? That surely must have been seven digits.
And when Spielberg came knocking for a tune for Back to The Future, didn’t Hugo opt to do it so he wouldn’t have to go through the Ghostbusters bullshit again?
And Sports is heralded as one of the best-selling pop albums of all time.
So why the hell is The News so damn expensive?
Every act is doing it these days. Especially the old-heads. $100+ dollar tickets, $40+ dollar tee shirts. $10 beers at the gig. And they’re missing the target that got them where they are today…the kids in the clubs.
I know, I know. By no means am I saying that Huey Lewis should go back to playing only clubs. That would be crazy. But two or three surprise gigs a year in a tiny, 500-or-less capacity venue in a non-major market could be good for the same guy who played harmonica on Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous AND with Umphrey’s McGee in 2005.
You see, it’s not that I can’t afford to see Huey Lewis and The News at the Gramercy or American Music Theater or some other casino for a triple-digit-ticket. I can. That’s not the point.
It’s the principle.
Jane’s Addiction just did two nights at Belly Up! in Aspen. (Capacity 400). Springsteen plays the Stone Pony and the Count Basie Theater once a year. (Both with capacities of under 1,000). Shit, the Rolling Fucking Stones played a surprise club date in Toronto for a five dollar cover!
Again – he doesn’t have to do a club TOUR. Just a show or two. One of them preferably at my club.
It’s cool, Huey. We’re all working for a living. And it IS hip to be square. But if you REALLY THINK that it don’t take money or a credit card to ride this train, you’ll push those boxes onto a tiny little stage and rock the shit out of four hundred people on seventy two hours notice.
THAT would be the heart of rock and roll. And something I’d pay a hundred bucks to see.
We have a “radius clause” for bands at The Abbey Bar. If you wish to play a show with us, you may not book another show in the city of Harrisburg or immediate surrounding area for three weeks prior to and three weeks after your date with us.
I’m writing this post to clear up some recent misconceptions about the radius clause that’s in place for The Abbey Bar and bands who wish to play it.
Seems like some of you are reading too deep into this and I want to clarify some bullshit that’s been floating around out there.
First- since I began booking The Abbey Bar over five years ago, I have had the “radius clause” rule on the books. Only recently, however, have I had to enforce it.
You see, it seems like a simple-enough thing. But clearly, some of you like to hypothesize and sensationalize every bit of information that gets incorrectly disseminated.
A band – regardless of their stature – should not ever play the same city more than once every six to eight weeks- minimum. When I was booking Herbie a few years ago, we all agreed that they should not be playing Harrisburg more than once every three months or-so. The reason for this is simple: there aren’t enough people in this region to support you playing two or three bars in the same town every month.
And you know what? For virtually every single local Herbie show, there were no less than a hundred and fifty people out for it.
Certainly, there are exceptions to this rule. Specifically, cover bands. Many of the small taverns and pubs have acoustic duos or cover bands that are on a seemingly monthly loop in their room. Those bands are generally playing to the regulars at the establishments who frequent the place and don’t necessarily need to bring a crowd.
Also, from time to time we will host a “residency” which is designed to break a band in a market. Remember J Roddy and The Business? Remember Cabinet? Now, whenever they play Harrisburg, the room is packed.
Original acts, on the other hand, are presumably trying to break out of the region and (hopefully) become able to tour the national circuit. And while it’s necessary to hone your craft on your home turf by perfecting your live show, you’re not doing anyone any good by playing the G-Man on the 1st, Ceoltas on the 13th and Gullifty’s on the 22nd. I don’t care how great you (think you) are, your fans aren’t going to see you three times a month.
Bands need to create demand for their product. And by making your show available in every bar in town nearly every weekend, what incentive does your fanbase have to go and see you tonight? They think – “man, it was a long week. I don’t really want to go out tonight. Plus, they’re playing next weekend too right down the street. I’ll catch them then.”
Whereas if you only have one area show planned per quarter and have been promoting it as such, there’s that much more urgency for your fans to make it to that show.
And then there are numbers – if you play a different bar in the city three times per month and get thirty people out specifically to see you at each, wouldn’t it make much more sense to play ONE place every two months and get over a hundred out to that one show? Especially if you’re playing for the door.
A radius clause for any venue just makes sense. While I have a great relationship with nearly every other venue in the city, we have all agreed that we don’t see the value in booking a band who’s already on someone else calendar that month.
Believe me – I LOVE working with the local bands. And we have always paid them well, treated them well and promoted them well. But why would I, as a booker or promoter, want to water down my efforts by knowing that we’re not going to get the turnout that we should because the band wants to scoop up every hundred dollar gig they can?
This post can go off into several directions (loyalty, integrity, dedication) but I’ll save those lessons for another time. If a band wants to get paid well and be treated like the business that they are, they need to ensure the venue which is booking them is going to get the most bang for their buck. If I book a local band for a show in January, I want to see it being promoted in November. I don’t want to be just another room they’re playing in the city.
And if a band sees it differently, that’s fine as well. There are plenty of other bars they can play.