Missing the old days........

I know you folks here have heard me go on and on like a broken record about how large the crowds used to get at my previous club The Red Rooster here in Winston (before the owner changed the format). I finally found a pic that I took one Saturday night when we were packin' em in like sardines....

When they would come to dance to my music and partake of the 1,2,3 drink specials. It didn't matter if the band sucked, (which they did on a regular basis) people came to dance and party the night away.......and this picture is a perfect example......it's also a perfect example of what happens when you start listening to your employees instead of the people that support your club and pay your bills.....and you start making changes that don't jive with what those loyal patrons want.

In this region (the south) country folk are very fickle and very loyal. Once you piss them off, and stop giving them what they want, they'll go somewhere else and won't return.

This is what the owner of the club is dealing with now, with an average attendance of 25 to 30 people total on a regular weekend.

Just thought I would share.

Sparky,

You are describing a common occurence in the club industry.

Times change, and formats change.

Places get sold, and or close for good.

I sometimes miss the "Old Days" (Friday nights at the club gig), but now have decided its more fun to cuddle up with the Mrs at home! ;)

Well Matt, when you are single and don't have a missus to cuddle with, the club patrons become your missus. But alas, I digress - those days are long gone.

I hear ya there, Greg. Those were the days.

Can't speak for dance clubs or bars... but it was a rip-roaring good time when the line dancers came through town and danced at the Moose or VFW back in the '90s. Sawdust on the floor. Man, they'd stomp that floor and the place would rock. Ladies in pleated shirts and white boots, men in stovepipe bluejeans.

I'd put on Uncle Pen and the caller would get the mic. He'd blow a whistle and call the figures. We had round dancers and 2-steppers. These folks knew their stuff. It was impressive to watch.

Had a group of 'em pass through the street festival one year. A lady handed me a CD and said play this track for us. I did and the street filled ~ they were all out there high-kickin' and right in line. When they were done, the lady came for her CD, thanked me with a hug and they were gone.

Haven't seen any of that in many years. I sure miss the days when people remembered how to have fun. :)

I hear ya there, Greg. Those were the days.

Can't speak for dance clubs or bars... but it was a rip-roaring good time when the line dancers came through town and danced at the Moose or VFW back in the '90s. Sawdust on the floor. Man, they'd stomp that floor and the place would rock. Ladies in pleated shirts and white boots, men in stovepipe bluejeans.

I'd put on Uncle Pen and the caller would get the mic. He'd blow a whistle and call the figures. We had round dancers and 2-steppers. These folks knew their stuff. It was impressive to watch.

Had a group of 'em pass through the street festival one year. A lady handed me a CD and said play this track for us. I did and the street filled ~ they were all out there high-kickin' and right in line. When they were done, the lady came for her CD, thanked me with a hug and they were gone.

Haven't seen any of that in many years. I sure miss the days when people remembered how to have fun. :)

That makes two of us Fred. Cotton Eyed Joe always seemed to fill the floor for me. I was in Charlotte this weekend spinning and the late night crowd wanted Cupid Shuffle - it was like a page out of the old book - they were all on the floor line dancing to the song.........

Well Matt, when you are single and don't have a missus to cuddle with, the club patrons become your missus. But alas, I digress - those days are long gone.

That blonde no longer in the picture, Greg? I noticed the posts stopped.

That blonde no longer in the picture, Greg? I noticed the posts stopped.

I suppose an explanation to Chucks question is in order:

Jenny and I are going stronger than ever. You just have to remember that it's a long distance relationship - but one that actually works because it's what we both want. Jenny lives in Belpre, Ohio (just across the river from Parkersburg, West Virginia) and works for Ohio University in Athens as an I.T. programmer.

I'm 4 1/2 hours south of her in Winston-Salem, NC and due to my career obligations with the TV station and my business, and her involvement/obligations/committments to high school wrestling, school age beauty pageants and the West Virginia Fairs and Festivals board of directors, we only see each other when our schedules allow. Sometimes that means spending more than a month apart. In those instances, we communicate via phone, email and computer.

I hope this clears the air somewhat.

Oh and by the way - Jenny said to say hi to all the guys and gals here - she knows most of you by name already because she knows how passionate I am about this forum and my business.

Cheers!

Thanks... Not that it was my business... I just remembered the posts / pics. Good luck with it!

Greg,

I totally understand....its frustrating. I can only speak from my experiences. My wife and I joined a Country club To party, dance, drink, and occasionally play some golf.

It's not just in your venue's that things have changed....When we joined this club 15 years ago, there would be 5-6 dinner/dances a year, Next year there are "0" on the Calendar. I really believe the "Dui" dilemma has shut down the "party animals".

The fear of getting busted for being intoxicated has shut down dancing and parties in general. Unless you have a designated driver, you are a fool to be on the road above .08. So consequently people stay at home when they drink...If they are smart people.

I just go to Vegas Jim!!

Greg I feel for you but I say lets have a hell of a time and if the ship sinks our last breath above water was a great one with a smile on our faces and both speakers Blastin!!!

Jon's been in the mushrooms again folks.......

My Fridays and Wednesdays are my best nights, and still rockin' and rollin'- and keeping me sane. I have come to a point where I don't feel 100% me unless I'm working, and the night is good. I could be having the worst week of my life during the day, but when I hit my Friday venue, I'm truly home. The feeling of goodwill that my regs radiate fixes everything...

Unfortunately, Saturdays have slowed, as Spark pointed out, due to owner "dumb". Whatever happened to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

I miss old times only because of music.70s,80s and first half of 90s!Wow that was music and im not crying because i was young than.Music was fantastic!!!

Hang in there my friend. Marie and I lived in two different cities for over a year just after we were married.

After we met and got married, she wanted to move closer to her mom in Northern MN. We bought the house, and I moved everything up here.

Marie was a toddler teacher at General Mills headquarters in the Cities, and didn't want to leave her group of kids, till they graduated from her class. She stayed down there during the week for over a year.

You do what you gotta do. If you both can get closer... GREAT, if not, make the drive, and more power to you!

Well folks, I just found out - my old stomping grounds (Red Rooster) now known as Big Cans, is closing forever after this Friday night. They just couldn't make it work.

Oh well.....at least I have my memories.......

Geeze, Greg... that bites. I'm saddened to hear. :(

Well folks, I just found out - my old stomping grounds (Red Rooster) now known as Big Cans, is closing forever after this Friday night. They just couldn't make it work.

Oh well.....at least I have my memories.......

It sure dosen't seem like the gave it a whole lot of time to work

It sure dosen't seem like they gave it a whole lot of time to work

Perhaps - but with an average of 20 to 30 people total per friday and saturday nights, it was going downhill fast. Besides, Marc had too much competition from Wild Wing Cafe just up the street. That's where everybody goes these days - and for several very good reasons:

I mean let's face facts - No cover charge, great food with a huge menu, every bottled and on-tap beer one could possibly imagine, top notch bands on stage every weekend with a DJ in between sets rockin' the house and a fun sports-bar type atmosphere.

Recipe for success in my book.....

It's amazing how some people can take the simple and complicate it....Especially bar owners

It's amazing how some people can take the simple and complicate it....Especially bar owners

Oh I completely agree with you, Jeff. You can't imagine how many people have said the same thing to me about the change in format - "Why did he change the format? Now the country music lovers don't have anywhere to go"...... All I could do was shrug without an answer. I continue to hear the same thing to this day. And many of the original clientele ask me why I don't open up my own place?

If I had the money to do so, I would. I already have the building in mind, and complete game plan laid out, including the caterer that I want as the exclusive food provider for the venue. Matter of fact, I have enough club sound and lighting equipment (except for a 48 channel mixing board for bands) stored in the basement right now to do a complete start-up.

It all comes down to money - which I don't have very much of right now. :sqfrown:

I hear you Greg...Its always the money thing. The ones who have it can't seem to get it together and the ones who don't always have the great ideas and would be able to manage it.

I don't know anything about your market but with a solid business plan do you think you could find investors? Would it be worth your while to bother? You obviously know how to attract a crowd and what they want it might be worth onsidering

I'm way ahead of you Jeff - I'm working on bringing together all the right investors as we speak. Everything else is already in place.

Thanks Greg

Keep us posted. It's actually something I would like to do some day also when I get a few irons out of the fire

I dunno.. If I have a really slow night, I'll put on the 'Electric Slide' and start line dancing all bye my self.

Most people will look at me like I've lost my mind, but I have yet to have an occasion when I haven't gotten AT LEAST 10 other people to dance with me by the end of the song!

take care

-James :sqerr:

The End Of An Era......

I stopped by Big Cans (formerly The Red Rooster) this past Friday night with a buddy of mine, and we stood around with about 50 other people listening to the 1st of 4 bands, tune up...

I got a chance to sit and talk with my former boss and still a very good friend, Marc (Boomer as he is known to those that work for him)....and it was just sad - you could see the sadness in his eyes....the look of defeat was just paramount.....it was like the life had been sucked out of him.

As we talked about old times, and the good memories, he opened up about some of the things he's dealing with:

The Myrtle Beach club that I helped build and design, that opened with a bang in July of 2006 and was closed by August of 2007 - he still owes huge amounts of money to the owners of the building.

He is dealing with problems with the Winston Salem city leaders that were so adamant about shutting the club down last year.

Apparently, some of the people that worked for him that he always thought were so close to him, turned out to be not so close.

One thing he said to me really showed how hard he's had it - Marc asked me if I knew anyone that wanted to buy a system. That system includes 9 QSC amps, a JBL amp, an identical JBL system to the one Tyrone bought from Bernie, 10 JBL stage monitors, (2) two 48 channel sound boards, various mics and cables....

I told him that if I had the money, I'd buy it. I didn't bother to ask how much he wanted for it - it didn't matter at that point.

I'll close by saying that I offered him whatever help I could give if he ever did anything else. He thanked me for all the help I had given him over the years and told me - "you know - you're the only employee that worked for me that stood by me thru the bad times"....

Thanks for listening.......:sqfrown:

It can be hard on any owner who has put alot into a business to admit defeat. It happend here also with a club I use to work at.

I guess I am lucky as the company I work for now has something like 10+ bars and clubs. When they admit defeat they will shut down assess the situation and see what market they can service next.

Example. I worked at a club that was nothing but Hip Hop/top 40/House.. That club went downhill after bad press and things happening. They closed looked at what our city has to offer and now operates the busiest country bar in Southern Ont. We have people from Detroit, Port Huron, Toronto all over that come to party at our club. When we did it we did it right and now are getting our rewards.

Here are some pic of what the club I work at is like. Similar to Sparkieg's old club. We have live bands every friday night and I play in between the sets of the band. The bands we get are good bands that get the crowd moving all night along. The first 2 photos are from my DJ booth which is elevated above the dance floor and the other is of Laura Rose who was the entertainment for the night.

I have more photos if anyone is interested..

i played at this one bar for 6 years we started at 10 ended at 2, crowd would start showing up about 11 always had a great time, then new owners took over like they say if its not broke leave it alone kind of a biker bar and they the new owners wanted to go country they don't do any entrainment anymore

I know you folks here have heard me go on and on like a broken record about how large the crowds used to get at my previous club The Red Rooster here in Winston (before the owner changed the format). I finally found a pic that I took one Saturday night when we were packin' em in like sardines....

When they would come to dance to my music and partake of the 1,2,3 drink specials. It didn't matter if the band sucked, (which they did on a regular basis) people came to dance and party the night away.......and this picture is a perfect example......it's also a perfect example of what happens when you start listening to your employees instead of the people that support your club and pay your bills.....and you start making changes that don't jive with what those loyal patrons want.

In this region (the south) country folk are very fickle and very loyal. Once you piss them off, and stop giving them what they want, they'll go somewhere else and won't return.

This is what the owner of the club is dealing with now, with an average attendance of 25 to 30 people total on a regular weekend.

Just thought I would share.


Greg, could have had something to do with the cop shot in the parking lot.. and now even "BIG CANS" is closed as well...I saw all of their equipment on craigslist

Holy Crap! Marc was supposed to be storing the equipment in Charlotte with his buddy Mike that owns Buck Wild.

If I had the cash, I would have purchased everything he had in the club.........there was something like 9 brand new QSC amps, 4 of the older QSC amps, a JBL amp, various JBL stage monitors, 4 JBL dual 18" subs, 4 JBL 15" horn loaded mains cabs........2 48 channel stage boards....various snakes......various LED lighting.....8 MX-4's.......

Dammit...........

Holy Crap! Marc was supposed to be storing the equipment in Charlotte with his buddy Mike that owns Buck Wild.

If I had the cash, I would have purchased everything he had in the club.........there was something like 9 brand new QSC amps, 4 of the older QSC amps, a JBL amp, various JBL stage monitors, 4 JBL dual 18" subs, 4 JBL 15" horn loaded mains cabs........2 48 channel stage boards....various snakes......various LED lighting.....8 MX-4's.......

Dammit...........

i dont know if he ever sold it because it was to all go as one big system he wasnt piece gooding it out..I just looked for the post and couldnt find it maybe he pulled it down

These stories are sad, but common. The place wifey and I met closed, but reopened about a year later with the same everything save the name.

We celebrated our 9th anniversary in November, and went by there to dance a few for old time sakes. Closed. Only open on Fridays and Saturdays for country (18 and over), and Wednesdays is hip hop.

Strange. I'd rather be at home with the little ones and wifey instead anyway.

i guess what they say is true, nothing last forever

Well, I’m in the same boat. I’ve been a DJ since 1978. What’s really ruined my life is the terrible quality MP3s, iPods, and now the equivalent of Internet Radio; i.e. songs on demand. It all sounds like AM radio on any respectable PA.

My worst insult was a 20-something who was literally yelling at me because I didn’t have a wireless connection active on my laptop. She wanted to hear {place tonight's #1 pop title here}, and HEAR IT NOW! The bar management backed her up when she complained.

OMG it was ugly. I won’t go back there. The young clientele have seriously been tainted.

I’m going back to the VFWs, Mooses, Elks and Biker bars where they want real, quality, music. Still having a great time otherwise, though.

-Dennis Wiggins