Rhapsody Barrel Bar
179 King Street West N2G 1A9 Kitchener, ON, Canada

Raise a Glass to our lost Venues, Part 2. In the last article I wrote, I wanted to bring attention to the effect of closing venues on all of us. The owners who ...lost their life savings and investments, the employees who lost their jobs, the musicians who lost their gigs, and us as the audience, who lost our social experiences. This is a pandemic within the pandemic. Our nightlife is dying at an alarming rate and although some people might say nightlife isn’t like saving lives or anything, I would argue that for a good number of people, these places of public gatherings are what a lot of people look forward to in life. Enough of the what’s happened, let’s look at where the solution lays. To do that, we need to better understand the cause of this inner pandemic. I will do my utmost to not politicize this conundrum, but politics has played a major part in the root of our industry’s closure. When it was advised by our medical advisors to limit contact from person to person, the province made an executive order to shut down non-essential businesses. If you ignore the debate that could ensue about this, can I just remind everyone of the purpose of politicians. It’s to provide diplomatic solutions to societal problems. To do that, they negotiate with opposing perspectives, and write laws to make a fair society. Usually those laws are there to protect everyones well being, property and industry. No matter your political position, this is at least fundamentally something we can all agree on. So a law was implemented to protect our well being. Safety first. It was probably a tough decision, knowing there would be monumental blow back but a necessary step. In an effort to salvage the industries affected they provided several bail out programs. Lease compensation, employee wage subsidy. The feds coughed up CERB and an interest free loan that, if paid back in time, was gifted $10,000. And here we are, 7 months later and venues are still closing, every day, province wide. Not due to poor product or displeasure from their customers. Not due to bad value or anything that the industry did to deter people away from them, and to be honest, not from Covid-19. It was from a law change. I agree with the change to protect everyone’s health, however if you can change a law to protect the citizens well being, why haven’t you made changes to other laws to protect the industry? The restaurant and music nightlife depends on 2-3 max capacity days a week with at least one turn over. If you can do this, usually you can stay afloat. If you can have a venue full 4 nights a week, then you finally start to make some money. With the new law, a venue can never achieve this. They can never make enough money to turn a profit. I’m not saying money is more important than our safety but I’m a realist. We live in a world that revolves around money and if you don’t bring home the bacon, you have no shelter, heat, hydro and bacon! Here’s a suggestion that I hear and I really think it would help. A little late in the season but this approach needs to be considered. A brown bag policy. This could allow patrons to buy food or drink from a venue, and leave. They can continue walking or move to an area away from the crowd. They can then return for another or move on to the next venue. The purpose of the new law to protect everyone is to prevent congregating. So how do we prevent crowds from building AND permit the venues to serve an adequate amount of people? Easy, take out. I’ve heard the debates. This will encourage public drunkenness is a big one but let’s face it. You can have a couple of wobble pops at home and go to a friend’s house. Have some there, some at the restaurant, the bowling alley, the theatre, coliseum, the bars, the night clubs, the private clubs. You can have drinks everywhere, except the sidewalks to get there. If you’ve had 2 drinks and punch someone, you’re a problem. If you have 14 drinks and do nothing to anyone, you’re fine. The no drinking in public places is more of a law to protect business than anything else. It stops people with a food cart from opening up shop outside a venue that pays a massive premium for location. It stops people from byob, but if you really wanted to, it’s not tough to have a flask and serve yourself right now anyway. I’m not saying a brown bag law policy is the solution. I’m saying, now that the government has taken authority over the way the nightlife does business, it should also be accountable for it. After all, authority without responsibility breeds destruction. We see that in the demise of all things affected by these law changes. The government has done half their job, and made it safe. But if we don’t have financial freedom to support our industry well what happens to anybody in this day and age who has no money in a city? You changed a law to protect the people, now change a law to protect the businesses. You can - no, you must - do both.

Phil Naro Benefit Show - Saturday October 17th, 2 - 5:00pm Heated back patio - Shore Grille and Grotto... 71 Lake Shore Road E, Mississauga Join us as the community comes together to support our precious Port Credit Icon, Phil Naro in his battle with cancer. John Rogers and Enzo Lapadula duo along with special guests, Port credits finest musicians along with John and James Naro. Bring a blanket to keep warm.

Next week!! On Oct 22nd at 9am eastern, we’re releasing something special that we’ve been working on. These last 7 months have not only been tough on the music... community, but also all the venues we play. Some are big and some are small, but everyone has their favourite place to go and cut loose, visit with friends and hear some live music. We don’t want you to miss it. Be sure to head over to our YouTube page and subscribe so you can be the first to see it. https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWSAmusic #thisoldbar #musicvideo Curve Music / Cerberus Management

Raise a Glass to our lost Venues, Part 1. Got your drink? Rhapsody Barrel Bar, Timeless Cafe, Riffs Lounge, Chainsaw, B @ the Museum, Starlight Social Club, The... Village Well, Death Valley’s Little Brother and Patent Social. Here’s to staying positive and testing negative. *Drink. That’s the tally of lost music venues forever. Until yesterday. Now Abe Erb has closed all of its locations. So have another. It’s one thing to read about that venue you used to go to and hear that it closed during this pandemic but I’d like to take a minute to examine the reality of a venue closing and it’s impact on our culture. Before I start this, let me say, every venue on this list is worthy of remembrance and a eulogy. We’re almost at war on our society and it feels like a once loved place is now simply being regarded as a casualty. A word used to disassociate what it was into a pleasing audible form more palatable to our conversations. When Abe Erb closed Waterloo’s location, obviously the owners of these establishments are now no longer proprietors of industry. It was before it came to fruition, a dream. That dream took years of work, bureaucracy, financial investment, time and courage to make it a reality. That dream is gone, that creation is gone, that life is gone. The people they employed are now jobless. At Waterloo I’m guessing 20-30 people on staff. A mix of full time and part time. The musicians they employed there 2-3 times a week now have one less venue to play at. That’s 100 less shows a year. The lost shows is what I want to highlight here. It’s not just a lost gig for a musician, it’s a lost show for us to go to. Social Kindred was built because I would hear the same complaint, There’s nothing going on in town. I made this because I knew that wasn’t true and what we needed was awareness of what is really going on. Now let’s tell those people, there’s 400 less shows to go to a year because Abe Erb closed its 4 locations. But Venues like Rhapsody and Chainsaw had live events everyday and sometimes twice a day. At least 350 events are gone a year for each of those venues. Starlight, and Riffs both were mainly music venues as opposed to a pub or restaurant with live music. 250 less for both those venues. There’s over 1500 less events a year from this list. It doesn’t stop there. The Duke of Wellington is still open, but they had music 7 days a week and often twice on Saturdays. They have 1-2 things now. Sometimes none. Another 300 less things to do. There were 88 venues in town that had something going on at least once a week before the Covid crisis. Only 24 places now hold anything. By my count, we’ve lost over 5000 Live shows, DJ nights, Trivia games and more. If you thought you had nothing to do before Covid came to town, try swallowing the 5000 less things to do now pill. There is a light however. We still have stuff happening. We can still call up friends within our bubble and go to the venues that are doing some of these things. The venues are isolating areas, scrubbing tables with disinfectant and wearing masks for your protection. If you need a dose of companionship, its still there when you need it, you just need to know where to look.

New Album Alert!!! Give Cheryl a shout or head on down to Encore Records for CD’s.

All the good vibes coming your way Phil! and Fuck cancer!

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Nice to see the City of Toronto working on this. I’d like to see what Waterloo Region is working on. Dark Days for Toronto's live music venues: New study finds venues at risk of business failure Study calls for immediate action to support live music venues in Toronto...Continue reading

Independent music venues all over the country are closing permanently. The smaller music venues and the ones that are really struggling are not only culturally ...important they are emotionally important... Tune into #SOSFEST October 16-18 to catch all new, original performances from Foos (acoustic) and many other artists - all coming to you live from 25 independent venues across the country and directly benefitting the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund. Subscribe, set a reminder and help us #SaveOurStages: yt.be/music/SOSFest Presented by NIVA - National Independent Venue Association, YouTube and Bud Light Seltzer.

Come join us tonight as we embark upon our maiden voyage in our new venue The Huether Hotel! We're ready to deliver some powerful music with a little help from ...our friends This is our "JAM Night at THE JAZZ ROOM" #1. Doors open at 6pm. Music starts at 7pm. Bring a smile, come with style & lets have fun! Thanks Brass Ring Imagery for the aesthetic vibe you brought to this picture. Love you MJ See more

Tickets still available!

SuperNatural Tributo Santana Playing Sunday September 13th at The Duke of Wellington, Waterloo. Tickets still available! https://vimeo.com/366097453

Who’s doing guitar lessons in Kitchener for a beginner? Mature female, learning just for fun and hobby. She prefers a female. I’ll send her your contact info if you leave it with me. If you give lessons male or female leave a note below. Several people looking for lessons. What instruments you teach and your contact info.