|
| by steve sobel (steve) | |
- What's a kid to do?
Naysayers and complainers please hold your breath: Champaign-Urbana is an area with a great music scene. There's loads of talent living and playing here, and lots of outside talent stops by on tour - we're the perfect geographic center between Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis.
The problem is - it could be so much better than it is. There's a load of "borderline" shows that just can't get booked because there is not an appropriate all-ages venue to handle it. Your choices of all ages venues in C-U are all DIY. There's the IMC, the IDF, the Channing-Murray, and depending on who's working that day, the Courtyard Cafe (don't count on getting in there all the time, kids, they're stepping up enforcement of the 18+ rule).
Each of these venues has a sub-1000 person capacity - the largest being the Courtyard Cafe, which technically can have 450 people in it for a concert, though we've witnessed 600 and seen room to breathe. The IMC, IDF, and Channing-Murray all hold around 200 or less.
Concertgoers for your average independent band typically fall into the high school through college age group - 14 to 22. There's certainly your 23+ folks, but it's safe to say the majority of people interested in live music, especially in this area, fall under that category.
While Urbana's 18+ bar entry laws allow most college students to get into bars such as the Canopy Club - Champaign's 19+ laws eliminate most college freshmen for the better half of their first year here. According to the Division of Management Information - there were 4,447 students enrolled who were definitely under 19 (born in 1983 or later). There were also 6261 students enrolled who were born in 1982. Assuming there's a uniform distribution of birthdays, it's safe to take 1/3 of those and assume that at the time school started, 2087 more students were also under 19. That's 6534 college students who can't get into a concert at a venue such as the Highdive. According to Census 2000, Champaign had 19,714 people between 15 and 19 years of age, and Urbana had 5,346. There's another 25,060 people excluded for a total of 31594.
For a concert big enough to attract a paltry 1% of those excluded people, that's 316 concertgoers turned away at the door. A significant source of revenue for a concert venue. At $5 a head, it's $1,580 that venue will never see, and cannot figure into its potential turnout when assessing the possibility of booking a given band or tour package.
Shows in the $1,500 to $7,500 range are exactly the kinds of shows that venues such as the Canopy Club and Highdive go after - but it's hard to risk $3,000 or even just $1,500 when you've already got a huge demographic cut out of your potential audience - not just a random chunk, but the prime age for interest in live rock music.
So, why are there no all-ages shows?
First of all, it's important to note that the laws between Urbana and Champaign are independent of one another. However, it is my understanding that all-ages shows are possible in both cities. The catch is - the venue has to lock up or remove all of the alcohol on the premesis.
Anyone with any idea about the business of concert venues knows that like it or not, alcohol is what keeps them afloat. Live entertainment isn't too profitable - the managers of bands who can draw crowds know how much they can earn, and they'll ask for all of it. So why bother having it? Because it enriches the artistic culture of the cities, and because it's something people enjoy. In order to sustain that, however, something else must be sold so that the venues can pay the salaries of their employees, not to mention their sound and lightning equipment costs and power bills. It is for this reason you don't see all-ages shows. If the alcohol has to be locked up - you may as well lock up the venue, too, because with rare exception, paying for it to be open will most likely put them at a loss.
But hey, I'm 24, why do I care about all-ages shows?
I care because there's a lot of bands that people would like to see around here that simply can't be paid for when between 40 and 60% of the people who would come to the concert can't even get in.
I care because it's when kids have nothing to do on weekends that they find things like drugs, criminal activity, and yes, even underage drinking.
I care because the economy of places like downtown Champaign could be assisted by the parents driving their kids from nearby towns like Mahomet, Rantoul, even Danville for a 6:00 concert that's over by 9:00. They'll probably park here, shop here, and eat here.
I care because I was a kid once, too, and I hated nothing more than when my favorite band was playing an 18+ show while I was 16.
I want to see a change in the way things work here. Why can't the laws allow a venue like Highdive to do what the Metro does in Chicago? At the Metro, there's often an all-ages show at 6:00. Alcohol is still served, but you will, as you would at any show, have to present ID to buy it. The shows are over by 8:30 or 9:00 so that curfew isn't an issue with the venue - they clear everyone out of there after the gig is over. At 10:00 the same night, they'll have an 18+ show that they know will do okay with only the older crowd.
You might be thinking "Why on earth would parents want their 15 year old at a place that now serves alcohol around them?". The answer to that is simpler than you might think: If the venues check IDs diligently, there's not going to be anyone under 21 getting alcohol unless they've got a well made fake. Believe it or not, a decent number of kids get fakes just to go see bands they want to see because they're that into the music. If you're going to get a fake - why get one that says you're 19 when you can go the whole nine yards and get one that allows you to purchase alcohol? For those kids - the need to bother with a fake ID is eliminated, and they won't have one anyhow.
I think that a promise from the venues to be extra diligent about carding those who purchase, and those they see drinking, should be enough to allow this to happen. However, should anyone else have ideas on further means of compromise, by all means please let us know.
I think that a change in this policy could vastly improve the quality of live music in this city, in addition to giving kids something constructive to do and even helping out the local economy. I'm ready to write letters, speak with city council members in person, and work hard to try and find some sort of a compromise. I hope that you are too.
|  |
|
|
Features
