Sparkie et al: Red Rooster Club System [Archive] - Our DJ Talk

sparkieg

05-05-2008, 03:30 PM

Greg,

Is the place closed down now?

Yes Patrick, it is. Allow me to copy and paste from the story I posted several months ago. You can find the thread in the archives, but here it is for those that missed it the first time:

The Whole Story

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My friends - it's time I told the WHOLE story behind my former club employer The Red Rooster. It's been a long time coming, only because of so many aspects. Be advised, this a VERY long thread post, so if you don't have time to read it in one sitting, you may want to just bookmark it for a later read.

I'll preface the story with a history lesson:

The space that The Red Rooster occupied had been several nightclubs over the course of about 5 years previously, and yes, I did spin at those clubs several times. The previous owner of those clubs was a high school buddy and we played prep and high school football together, so it was just a natural progression that we worked together in later years.

His club closed in the same space, sometime in 2004, and was vacant for approximately 10 months before Marc Jacobs (the owner of The Red Rooster)rented it.

In October 2005, the country night club I was spinning for (Music City) was getting ready to close it's doors due to low attendance. I had worked for them since they opened in January of that year. Bad management decisions were to blame for the way the club was run and subsequently closed.

During September of 2005, I started hearing these really HOT radio ads for The Red Rooster. I decided to check it out one night with a friend that knew the owner, and the rest is pretty much history. I started working for him in Ocotber of 2005, and within a month and a half, we had the hottest club property in the entire region. This next sentence is not meant to sound elitist, but it is 100% truth. When I started in October, the average door tally per night was around 200 on both Friday and Saturday nights. By late November, the door tallys were pushing past the 600 number mark, and the owner said it was entirely because of me. (I choose to believe it was a combination of me, the location, the nightly drink specials and the in-your-face radio ads)

We enjoyed a great run of success, largely because we were offering a VERY different brand of entertainment that this city had never experienced before. We were the ONLY country music club within 30 miles and of the 4 clubs that did offer country music, we were the only one offering an Ultra Saloon atmosphere with state of the art L.E.D. and intelligent lighting, REALLY hot looking girls that teased the sex and skin element tastefully, and a music format that mixed new upbeat country, country-rock & Top 40, and as the night got later, the music got hipper and hotter.

In August 2006, a Wild Wing Cafe opened just up the street from our club and overnight just about transformed the nightlife landscape as we knew it.
Our door numbers went down the tubes, and the owner was forced to try new things to entice people to come back.

Before you read this next part of the story, please keep in mind that up until February of 2007, we had had almost zero problems with fights or disturbances - mostly we dealt with the manager of the BP convenience store next door to the strip shopping center where the club was located complaining about broken beer bottles in the parking lot, or drunks coming in from the club late at night buying sundries or gas. This was because of our clientele - and because our bouncers and staff employed a ZERO tolerance policy on disturbances.

Now, this is where the story turns VERY ugly -

On February 23rd 2007, Marc rented the club space out on a Thursday night to a promoter of a Rap concert that was only advertised to the two local black colleges in the area. I wasn't aware he had done this until breaking news stories started coming into the news studio around 630am that next morning about some disturbance on Jonestown road in Winston-Salem. I started thinking without knowing at the time, that that was awfully close to the club. As it turns out, a huge fight broke out inside the club after a song called "Shoot The Club Up" was played by the DJ and gang signs were flashed by those in attendance. The bouncers told the DJ to cut the song immediately, they turned on the lights and tried breaking up the fight that seemed to get larger and worse. The fight spilled into the parking lot, and the officers working security called for backup.

As this was going on, one of the first officers to respond to the call was a 15 year veteran of the force, and as he ran toward the club entrance thru the parking lot, a shot was fired in his direction and he was hit in the face. He died 23 hours later. More shots were fired as a large contingent of officers arrived to restore order.

This incident has had a detrimental effect on this community and served to make the race issue even worse than it already was.

I am including a link here so that you can read the stories written in the local paper before making comments.

The owner of the club has been the victim of a witch hunt by the city leaders and police department and he now stands as an emotionally and financially broken man.

Here is the link to the first story that ran the next day in the local paper:

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Sa...=1149193358471

Please make sure you read thru ALL the stories before commenting. I would greatly appreciate it.

Marc is still and always will be a good friend.

Thanks for listening.


	Our DJ Talk - DJ Help and Resources Chat! > On the side > Gear Heads > Sparkie et al: Red Rooster Club System PDA Sparkie et al: Red Rooster Club System 1cdj 05-04-2008, 12:35 PM Hey Sparkie (and anyone interested in equipment) The legendary Red Rooster Night Club Sound System is back on Craigslist in Winston http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/msg/658811012.html Kkyle sparkieg 05-04-2008, 02:20 PM Dammit I wish I had the cash to buy this system. I only wish you folks could have heard this system when I was spinning at The Rooster. I honestly have never worked in any club where the bass hit you so hard in the chest that it made your guts churn. I guess I really don't have to tell any of you that use QSC amps, how great they are for BIG BASS, though. Sigh.............. Jeff Romard 05-05-2008, 02:16 AM Funny I always use one of my QSCs for my tops and a Yamaha for the subs I'll have to switch it around this weekend DJ Cam 05-05-2008, 02:58 AM From the looks of it it doesn't look like it adds up to their asking price. patrickrlewis 05-05-2008, 03:12 AM Greg, Is the place closed down now? 1cdj 05-05-2008, 08:02 AM Greg, Is the place closed down now? I'll answer for Greg, yes its closed down and not due to budget cuts or popularity, a Winston Salem Police officer was shot and killed in the parking lot 2 years ago and from that point forward it was all down hill. It was full to capacity until that weekend and then they never recovered kyle DJ Cam 05-05-2008, 11:46 AM I'll answer for Greg, yes its closed down and not due to budget cuts or popularity, a Winston Salem Police officer was shot and killed in the parking lot 2 years ago and from that point forward it was all down hill. It was full to capacity until that weekend and then they never recovered kyle Amazing. The bar that I used to work at had 7 people gunned down on the dance floor. It is now 2 years later and it's busier than ever. Travis B 05-05-2008, 12:40 PM wow, I have the money... Can't justify it with the other sound companies here in the area rockin' and rollin'. Plus I couldn't justify putting my buddies outta biz :) sparkieg 05-05-2008, 03:30 PM Greg, Is the place closed down now? Yes Patrick, it is. Allow me to copy and paste from the story I posted several months ago. You can find the thread in the archives, but here it is for those that missed it the first time: The Whole Story -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My friends - it's time I told the WHOLE story behind my former club employer The Red Rooster. It's been a long time coming, only because of so many aspects. Be advised, this a VERY long thread post, so if you don't have time to read it in one sitting, you may want to just bookmark it for a later read. I'll preface the story with a history lesson: The space that The Red Rooster occupied had been several nightclubs over the course of about 5 years previously, and yes, I did spin at those clubs several times. The previous owner of those clubs was a high school buddy and we played prep and high school football together, so it was just a natural progression that we worked together in later years. His club closed in the same space, sometime in 2004, and was vacant for approximately 10 months before Marc Jacobs (the owner of The Red Rooster)rented it. In October 2005, the country night club I was spinning for (Music City) was getting ready to close it's doors due to low attendance. I had worked for them since they opened in January of that year. Bad management decisions were to blame for the way the club was run and subsequently closed. During September of 2005, I started hearing these really HOT radio ads for The Red Rooster. I decided to check it out one night with a friend that knew the owner, and the rest is pretty much history. I started working for him in Ocotber of 2005, and within a month and a half, we had the hottest club property in the entire region. This next sentence is not meant to sound elitist, but it is 100% truth. When I started in October, the average door tally per night was around 200 on both Friday and Saturday nights. By late November, the door tallys were pushing past the 600 number mark, and the owner said it was entirely because of me. (I choose to believe it was a combination of me, the location, the nightly drink specials and the in-your-face radio ads) We enjoyed a great run of success, largely because we were offering a VERY different brand of entertainment that this city had never experienced before. We were the ONLY country music club within 30 miles and of the 4 clubs that did offer country music, we were the only one offering an Ultra Saloon atmosphere with state of the art L.E.D. and intelligent lighting, REALLY hot looking girls that teased the sex and skin element tastefully, and a music format that mixed new upbeat country, country-rock & Top 40, and as the night got later, the music got hipper and hotter. In August 2006, a Wild Wing Cafe opened just up the street from our club and overnight just about transformed the nightlife landscape as we knew it. Our door numbers went down the tubes, and the owner was forced to try new things to entice people to come back. Before you read this next part of the story, please keep in mind that up until February of 2007, we had had almost zero problems with fights or disturbances - mostly we dealt with the manager of the BP convenience store next door to the strip shopping center where the club was located complaining about broken beer bottles in the parking lot, or drunks coming in from the club late at night buying sundries or gas. This was because of our clientele - and because our bouncers and staff employed a ZERO tolerance policy on disturbances. Now, this is where the story turns VERY ugly - On February 23rd 2007, Marc rented the club space out on a Thursday night to a promoter of a Rap concert that was only advertised to the two local black colleges in the area. I wasn't aware he had done this until breaking news stories started coming into the news studio around 630am that next morning about some disturbance on Jonestown road in Winston-Salem. I started thinking without knowing at the time, that that was awfully close to the club. As it turns out, a huge fight broke out inside the club after a song called "Shoot The Club Up" was played by the DJ and gang signs were flashed by those in attendance. The bouncers told the DJ to cut the song immediately, they turned on the lights and tried breaking up the fight that seemed to get larger and worse. The fight spilled into the parking lot, and the officers working security called for backup. As this was going on, one of the first officers to respond to the call was a 15 year veteran of the force, and as he ran toward the club entrance thru the parking lot, a shot was fired in his direction and he was hit in the face. He died 23 hours later. More shots were fired as a large contingent of officers arrived to restore order. This incident has had a detrimental effect on this community and served to make the race issue even worse than it already was. I am including a link here so that you can read the stories written in the local paper before making comments. The owner of the club has been the victim of a witch hunt by the city leaders and police department and he now stands as an emotionally and financially broken man. Here is the link to the first story that ran the next day in the local paper: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Sa...=1149193358471 Please make sure you read thru ALL the stories before commenting. I would greatly appreciate it. Marc is still and always will be a good friend. Thanks for listening. 1cdj 05-05-2008, 03:40 PM Amazing. The bar that I used to work at had 7 people gunned down on the dance floor. It is now 2 years later and it's busier than ever. Its a little different when its a police officer not that the 7 peoples lives dont matter but when "one of their own" gets shot and killed the rest of them can make it very difficult for businesses if they want it to be. Also the city revoked their ABC license and made it very difficult to get it back.