Blind item! What downtown venue was behind screwing over yet another band? We never did like blind items, so we'll just tell you through part of this letter we received from the disgruntled band behind the latest booking botch-up:
We had a really bad experience at the Annex, on Orchard St. last night. Basically we showed up for a 5:00 load in to find out that our show had been canceled. The two other bands on the bill faced the same problem. One of the bands had driven 5 hours through the rain from Boston just for this show, only to find out that it had been canceled. None of the bands had been called.
No one in the club had any answers or solutions. No managers seemed to be available to answer any questions. The booker was not there and was not answering her phone. The people left at the club were clueless and disinterested in our problem.
While we'd have to agree with their view on The Annex, the band goes on to say that nearly all New York venues are "disinterested and disorganized" and that this city has a reputation "for being a terrible place to play." And now they seek revenge through (presumably, New York) blogs!
A little digging and we find that the band, The Milwaukees (pictured) from New Jersey, recently trashed New York, its concert-going residents, and its bands to The NY Times, saying they are "better prepared than their urban counterparts. 'We show up in a van, and guys in New York don’t have a van, so they want to borrow all our equipment.'” New York music fans...The Milwaukees think you sort of suck, too, saying “In the city everybody has their guard up — no one admits when they like something, and that rubs me the wrong way." Finally, they add that being in a band from New Jersey associates you with "a toughness." Well boys, toughen up, as old blue eyes once said, "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." And he wasn't referring to his home state of New Jersey.
