Saturday, July 14, 2007
Illinois Legislature Sells Out to Utilities - No Price Roll-Back Planned As Utilities Rape Illinois
OK, if you have been following the saga of Faces you know that the Illinois State Legislature allowed Ameren and ComEd to more then double their utility rates since Janaury 2007. Both utitities have been pouring money in the legislator's pockets to insure that they (the utilities)will collect over $8 billion in additional profits over the next 3 years. Small businesses like Faces have been crippled by these utitity increases. One of the primary reasons that we were forced to close was because our electric bills would have exceeded $8000 to $10,000 a month this summer. Illinois legislators have failed the people and it looks like there will be no relief in sight. According to Stltoday, both utilities will be allowed to continue to charge the increased prices with no roll back or freeze. Their concession to the people of Illinois will be some sort of credit or rebate over 3 years of less then one billion dollars. So to be clear...the utitilites have bought the legislature like cheap whores and will be allowed to continue raping the people of Illinois to the tune of over $7 billion. Without some sort of fair and equitible roll-back of these prices, it becomes that much harder for us to develope a business plan that would insure that Faces could survive or prosper. We do not see how any Illinois small business will be able to survive without doubling or tripling the prices that they charge their customers.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Former East St. Louis Official Guilty of Environmental Violations in Building Demolition Case
Regular customers may have noticed the tall,vacant building a few hundred feet from our front door, The building, known as the Spivey Building, has some historic significance as the tallest building in southern Illinois. It was set for rehab a few years ago but sadly got caught in the middle of political corruption and EPA enforcement cases. If you read our previous postings on our recent closure, we told you about the money we spent on lawyers to force the clean-up of a collapsed building next door. The owners of building next door hired a demolition crew owned by a local politician people to clean up their property as well as ours. According to Robert Patrick's article in ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH on Saturday, Jun. 16 2007
" A former local political boss faces the possibility of 15 or
more months in prison — on top a 21-month sentence for election fraud — after
admitting Friday that he committed federal environmental violations.
Charles Powell Jr., former East St. Louis councilman, St. Clair County Board
member and head of the Democratic Party in East St. Louis, pleaded guilty in
U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to a conspiracy charge and a charge of
failing to notify authorities before removing asbestos.
Powell admitted that he had been hired to renovate the Spivey Building, at 417
Missouri Avenue in East St. Louis, and that he had hired a man named Isaiah
Newton, court documents say.
Although both men knew the building contained asbestos, they improperly removed
and disposed of hundreds of feet of asbestos-covered pipes and other
asbestos-containing material in early 2002, documents say...Workers, who were paid in cash, threw building materials out the windows, scattering debris down Missouri Avenue, and were told to lie and tell anyone who asked that they were not tearing out walls and removing pipes, the indictment says.
Prosecutors agreed not to charge Powell for "activities concerning violations of the Clean Air Act for demolition procedures at the Roy Weiss Building . . . and the facility at 17th and Broadway (sometimes referred to as the 'Cahokia Common Fields')," both located in East St. Louis."
" A former local political boss faces the possibility of 15 or
more months in prison — on top a 21-month sentence for election fraud — after
admitting Friday that he committed federal environmental violations.
Charles Powell Jr., former East St. Louis councilman, St. Clair County Board
member and head of the Democratic Party in East St. Louis, pleaded guilty in
U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to a conspiracy charge and a charge of
failing to notify authorities before removing asbestos.
Powell admitted that he had been hired to renovate the Spivey Building, at 417
Missouri Avenue in East St. Louis, and that he had hired a man named Isaiah
Newton, court documents say.
Although both men knew the building contained asbestos, they improperly removed
and disposed of hundreds of feet of asbestos-covered pipes and other
asbestos-containing material in early 2002, documents say...Workers, who were paid in cash, threw building materials out the windows, scattering debris down Missouri Avenue, and were told to lie and tell anyone who asked that they were not tearing out walls and removing pipes, the indictment says.
Prosecutors agreed not to charge Powell for "activities concerning violations of the Clean Air Act for demolition procedures at the Roy Weiss Building . . . and the facility at 17th and Broadway (sometimes referred to as the 'Cahokia Common Fields')," both located in East St. Louis."
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Illinois EPA Cleaning Up Illegal East St. Louis Dumps
From Belleville.com:
BY CARA ANTHONY
News-Democrat
EAST ST. LOUIS --State crews on Tuesday began cleaning up areas in the city that have been used as illegal dumps.
The workers are concentrating on the 5500 block of Summit Ave. Crews will be in that area until June 29.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency initiated the cleanup that targets trustee property, alleys and ditches. Areas used as illegal dumping sites often contain household garbage, abandoned vehicles and tires.
"The cleanups happen all across the state of Illinois," said Jill Watson, a spokeswoman for the IEPA.
A recent state cleanup in nearby Venice collected 1,306 tons of waste and nearly 67 tons of abandoned tires. Improperly managed used tires provide a breeding ground for mosquitos, which carry the West Nile virus.
"We are making the effort to turn East St. Louis around and make it a cleaner town," said Joe Zappa, a project manager for the Illinois Removes Illegal Dumps program. Washington Park also will be included in the I-RID program's cleanup efforts.
The state hires local contractors to clean up the illegal dump sites after the responsible parties cannot be located or areas that present imminent threats, such as fires or hazardous waste, are identified.
"Illegal open dumping around Illinois can potentially pose health and safety hazards to both people and the environment, but the I-RID program has begun to tackle those environmental eyesores," IEPA Director Doug Scott said.
The I-RID program became law in 2005 and gives the IEPA additional authority to combat open dumping and clean up existing dumps.
BY CARA ANTHONY
News-Democrat
EAST ST. LOUIS --State crews on Tuesday began cleaning up areas in the city that have been used as illegal dumps.
The workers are concentrating on the 5500 block of Summit Ave. Crews will be in that area until June 29.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency initiated the cleanup that targets trustee property, alleys and ditches. Areas used as illegal dumping sites often contain household garbage, abandoned vehicles and tires.
"The cleanups happen all across the state of Illinois," said Jill Watson, a spokeswoman for the IEPA.
A recent state cleanup in nearby Venice collected 1,306 tons of waste and nearly 67 tons of abandoned tires. Improperly managed used tires provide a breeding ground for mosquitos, which carry the West Nile virus.
"We are making the effort to turn East St. Louis around and make it a cleaner town," said Joe Zappa, a project manager for the Illinois Removes Illegal Dumps program. Washington Park also will be included in the I-RID program's cleanup efforts.
The state hires local contractors to clean up the illegal dump sites after the responsible parties cannot be located or areas that present imminent threats, such as fires or hazardous waste, are identified.
"Illegal open dumping around Illinois can potentially pose health and safety hazards to both people and the environment, but the I-RID program has begun to tackle those environmental eyesores," IEPA Director Doug Scott said.
The I-RID program became law in 2005 and gives the IEPA additional authority to combat open dumping and clean up existing dumps.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Where We Are Today - You Can Help Us
Thank you to everyone who has completed our Faces online survey. The survey is still open and we could still use your help. Ask your friends to complete the survey too. We need everyone's thoughts on St. Louis nightlife to help us decide on the future direction for Faces. We will share the results a little later but one thing that we find a little disconcerting...70% of our respondents said "I generally know what is going on at Faces before I walk in. I keep up with Faces events." Our own experience, while anecdotal, doesn't really support that. On any given night, I would estimate that as many as 75% of our customers do not know what event is going on when they walk into Faces. I base this estimate on interaction between customers, our door man, and myself as well as participation in events. There is rarely a night when customers don't come to the door and ask what is going on that night, ask why we are charging the cover, or ask me if there was something special going on. These are not the questions of people who know what is going on when they walk in. One of our most popular events according to your survey answers is our Lights Out/Underwear Party, yet our last few parties have been poorly attended with very little participation. When asked why people weren't participating, most answered that they didn't know it was an Underwear party and hadn't worn underwear or hadn't worn nice underwear. Basically, it appears that the people answering our survey think they know what is going on at Faces but they don't, which means we have a problem we didn't know we had. If you think you know what is going on, then you probably aren't going to read our ads, visit our website, or read our emails. You won't know when we do something new or do something that you will enjoy if you don't check up on us occasionally.
Our impression is that many of the surveys responses are coming from people who have not been to Faces in years. While we are interested in their thoughts, their impression of Faces seems frozen in time, their answers based on the way Faces was the last time they were here, rather then on how it is now. This makes it kind of hard to evaluate the responses.
It has been a little more then a month since we closed our doors and we have to say that we miss you guys. We miss the people, we miss the music, we miss entertainers, we miss the nightlife and we hope you miss us.
We wanted to let you know that we are still reviewing the online survey results, still considering our options, and still formulating our plans. We don't know when we will be back yet but we wanted to let you know that we won't be ready by Pride Weekend. We encourage you to keep us in your thoughts as you celebrate St. Louis Pride Weekend in Tower Grove Park on June 23 & 24.
Our impression is that many of the surveys responses are coming from people who have not been to Faces in years. While we are interested in their thoughts, their impression of Faces seems frozen in time, their answers based on the way Faces was the last time they were here, rather then on how it is now. This makes it kind of hard to evaluate the responses.
It has been a little more then a month since we closed our doors and we have to say that we miss you guys. We miss the people, we miss the music, we miss entertainers, we miss the nightlife and we hope you miss us.
We wanted to let you know that we are still reviewing the online survey results, still considering our options, and still formulating our plans. We don't know when we will be back yet but we wanted to let you know that we won't be ready by Pride Weekend. We encourage you to keep us in your thoughts as you celebrate St. Louis Pride Weekend in Tower Grove Park on June 23 & 24.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
More Alice in Wonderland from Bush: Surgeon General Nominee Says Gay Sex is Hazardous - Supports Gay "Cures"
From HRC:
For Immediate Release:
Monday, June 4, 2007
HOLSINGER’S ANTI-GAY VIEWS MAKE HIM ‘UNWORTHY’ OF SURGEON GENERAL POST
‘It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology,’ said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.
WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign spoke out today in opposition to President Bush’s nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to the position of surgeon general. Among other things, the U.S. surgeon general is charged with educating Americans about public health.
“Dr. Holsinger has a record that is unworthy of America’s doctor,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “His writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans. It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology.”
In a document titled “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,” Holsinger opined, in his capacity as a physician, that biology and anatomy precluded considering gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality in his denomination. The opinion very clearly states that this is his scientific view, stating that theological views are separate.
Additionally, Holsinger and his wife were founders of Hope Springs Community Church which, according to the church’s pastor, ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian. The pastor, the Rev. David Calhoun, said that the church has an “ex-gay” ministry. “We see that as an issue not of orientation but a lifestyle,” Calhoun said. “We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle.” This type of “ex-gay” conversion therapy has been condemned by almost every major, reputable medical organization — including the American Psychological Association, which issued a condemnation more than 10 years ago.
“Although the church’s theology isn’t being nominated, this discredited practice purports to be a psychological and medical service, and if Dr. Holsinger is involved in any way, it conflicts with his duty to accept and promote sound science in the interest of public health,” continued Solmonese.
“We are hopeful that during the hearing process Congress will fully examine Dr. Holsinger’s background and part of that examination will include issues affecting our community, including his stance on conversation therapy. Too often, we have seen President Bush send nominees to Congress that have proven their inability to separate their personal beliefs from their professional duties. As the nation’s chief medical doctor, the office of surgeon general is an extremely important position that has an impact on the lives of gay and lesbian Americans and the hearing process should involve a discussion about where Dr. Holsinger stands on medical issues relating to our community,” Solmonese concluded.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
For Immediate Release:
Monday, June 4, 2007
HOLSINGER’S ANTI-GAY VIEWS MAKE HIM ‘UNWORTHY’ OF SURGEON GENERAL POST
‘It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology,’ said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.
WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign spoke out today in opposition to President Bush’s nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to the position of surgeon general. Among other things, the U.S. surgeon general is charged with educating Americans about public health.
“Dr. Holsinger has a record that is unworthy of America’s doctor,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “His writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans. It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology.”
In a document titled “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,” Holsinger opined, in his capacity as a physician, that biology and anatomy precluded considering gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality in his denomination. The opinion very clearly states that this is his scientific view, stating that theological views are separate.
Additionally, Holsinger and his wife were founders of Hope Springs Community Church which, according to the church’s pastor, ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian. The pastor, the Rev. David Calhoun, said that the church has an “ex-gay” ministry. “We see that as an issue not of orientation but a lifestyle,” Calhoun said. “We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle.” This type of “ex-gay” conversion therapy has been condemned by almost every major, reputable medical organization — including the American Psychological Association, which issued a condemnation more than 10 years ago.
“Although the church’s theology isn’t being nominated, this discredited practice purports to be a psychological and medical service, and if Dr. Holsinger is involved in any way, it conflicts with his duty to accept and promote sound science in the interest of public health,” continued Solmonese.
“We are hopeful that during the hearing process Congress will fully examine Dr. Holsinger’s background and part of that examination will include issues affecting our community, including his stance on conversation therapy. Too often, we have seen President Bush send nominees to Congress that have proven their inability to separate their personal beliefs from their professional duties. As the nation’s chief medical doctor, the office of surgeon general is an extremely important position that has an impact on the lives of gay and lesbian Americans and the hearing process should involve a discussion about where Dr. Holsinger stands on medical issues relating to our community,” Solmonese concluded.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Gay.com Parent Company May Run Out of Money
Verne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer
After becoming the dominant media company for the gay community, PlanetOut Inc. is now just trying to survive.
The San Francisco owner of Gay.com, along with the Advocate and Out magazines, disclosed this week that it will run out of money before the end of the year without an infusion of cash.
The dire situation is a consequence of PlanetOut's declining subscriptions for personal ads, a shortfall in advertising revenue and trouble booking passengers on its gay-oriented cruises.
A dismal first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday hammered the reality home. Virtually every piece of the business needs fixing, according to management.
In the report, PlanetOut said it lost $6.9 million in its fiscal first quarter, compared with a $132,000 loss a year earlier. Revenue totaled $16.8 million, down from $17.6 million during the same period a year ago.
Spooked by the results, investors sent PlanetOut's shares tumbling 33 percent over two days to close Friday at $1.64, the lowest point since the company's initial public offering three years ago.
"This is deeply disappointing and concerning to me and the rest of the management team," Karen Magee, PlanetOut's chief executive officer, said in a conference call with analysts Wednesday.
"We've got major work to do at PlanetOut to generate the healthy revenue growth and solid earnings performance that I believe this company is capable of producing."
Magee, who joined the company in 2006, described the problems as years in the making. A turnaround, she said, will take up to 24 months, during which the company plans to fix creaky technology, reorganize and sell some assets, including its adult publishing business.
Allen & Co., a consulting firm, has been hired to explore various options.
PlanetOut is under the gun to come up with an additional $15 million to meet the terms of an existing loan, or face default.
If it's unable to get the financing, the lender could foreclose on PlanetOut's assets, a potential death knell.
The company, which had $11 million in cash and short-term investments at the end of the first quarter, said it would run out of money by year's end without additional financing.
Magee laid part of the blame for PlanetOut's poor performance on its RSVP travel agency, which offers cruises to destinations such as the Caribbean.
Passenger occupancy has been less than expected and, as a result, the company has had to offer steep discounts to attract travelers and pay penalties to cruise lines.
Separately, PlanetOut's advertising sales, both online and in print, have been disappointing. Subscriptions to online personals have also lagged amid growing competition from other gay-oriented Web sites in addition to social networking giants MySpace and Facebook.
In a note to investors, Richard Ingrassia, an analyst for Roth Capital Partners, said it's possible that PlanetOut would sell its travel business. Overall, he said, the company is still unchallenged in terms of reaching the gay demographic.
After becoming the dominant media company for the gay community, PlanetOut Inc. is now just trying to survive.
The San Francisco owner of Gay.com, along with the Advocate and Out magazines, disclosed this week that it will run out of money before the end of the year without an infusion of cash.
The dire situation is a consequence of PlanetOut's declining subscriptions for personal ads, a shortfall in advertising revenue and trouble booking passengers on its gay-oriented cruises.
A dismal first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday hammered the reality home. Virtually every piece of the business needs fixing, according to management.
In the report, PlanetOut said it lost $6.9 million in its fiscal first quarter, compared with a $132,000 loss a year earlier. Revenue totaled $16.8 million, down from $17.6 million during the same period a year ago.
Spooked by the results, investors sent PlanetOut's shares tumbling 33 percent over two days to close Friday at $1.64, the lowest point since the company's initial public offering three years ago.
"This is deeply disappointing and concerning to me and the rest of the management team," Karen Magee, PlanetOut's chief executive officer, said in a conference call with analysts Wednesday.
"We've got major work to do at PlanetOut to generate the healthy revenue growth and solid earnings performance that I believe this company is capable of producing."
Magee, who joined the company in 2006, described the problems as years in the making. A turnaround, she said, will take up to 24 months, during which the company plans to fix creaky technology, reorganize and sell some assets, including its adult publishing business.
Allen & Co., a consulting firm, has been hired to explore various options.
PlanetOut is under the gun to come up with an additional $15 million to meet the terms of an existing loan, or face default.
If it's unable to get the financing, the lender could foreclose on PlanetOut's assets, a potential death knell.
The company, which had $11 million in cash and short-term investments at the end of the first quarter, said it would run out of money by year's end without additional financing.
Magee laid part of the blame for PlanetOut's poor performance on its RSVP travel agency, which offers cruises to destinations such as the Caribbean.
Passenger occupancy has been less than expected and, as a result, the company has had to offer steep discounts to attract travelers and pay penalties to cruise lines.
Separately, PlanetOut's advertising sales, both online and in print, have been disappointing. Subscriptions to online personals have also lagged amid growing competition from other gay-oriented Web sites in addition to social networking giants MySpace and Facebook.
In a note to investors, Richard Ingrassia, an analyst for Roth Capital Partners, said it's possible that PlanetOut would sell its travel business. Overall, he said, the company is still unchallenged in terms of reaching the gay demographic.
HRC Announces 08 Dem Candidates Unanimously Support Extending Federal Benefits to Gays
For Immediate Release:
Saturday, June 2, 2007
’08 DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES’ RESPONSES TO QUESTIONNAIRE ON GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ISSUES RELEASED
Human Rights Campaign Issues Report Card for Pro-Equality Voters
WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign released its 2008 Democratic presidential candidate questionnaire outlining where the announced candidates for president stand on issues important to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil rights organization, released the questionnaires along with a report card based upon the candidates’ responses in order to assist pro-equality voters in determining the public policy positions of the candidates.
For the first time ever, all of the announced Democratic candidates stated their support for extending federal benefits and equal tax treatment, currently only available to heterosexual married couples, to same-sex couples who are parties to a union legally recognized by their state. Additionally, the candidates express unanimous support for extending federal benefits for same-sex couples and their children.
This groundbreaking and unified position of all Democratic candidates would override Section 3 of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” which provides that for federal purposes, "The word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” (1 U.S.C. Section 7)
“These candidates have expressed a unified belief and echoed the majority of the American people by stating that same-sex couples deserve federal recognition,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “It is extremely encouraging to finally see the focus of the debate around the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans center around extending the American value of equality to all people. 2008 is not 2004, and the American people have already put out the warning that divisive, wedge politics that pit neighbor against neighbor will not be tolerated.”
The questionnaire focused on the following questions of importance to the GLBT community:
Federal recognition of state-level same sex unions
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Federal hate crimes legislation
Support for marriage equality
Support for civil unions
Extend federal benefits to same-sex couples and their children
Extending coverage of the Family and Medical Leave Act
Extending access to survivor benefits
Equal tax treatment
Domestic partner benefits for same-sex employees
Adoption/foster parent issues
Immigration equality;
Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
HIV/AIDS funding
Comprehensive sex education
2008 Democratic presidential candidates responding to the questionnaire include: Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
View the report card showing where the candidates stand on these important issues.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
-30-
Saturday, June 2, 2007
’08 DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES’ RESPONSES TO QUESTIONNAIRE ON GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ISSUES RELEASED
Human Rights Campaign Issues Report Card for Pro-Equality Voters
WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign released its 2008 Democratic presidential candidate questionnaire outlining where the announced candidates for president stand on issues important to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil rights organization, released the questionnaires along with a report card based upon the candidates’ responses in order to assist pro-equality voters in determining the public policy positions of the candidates.
For the first time ever, all of the announced Democratic candidates stated their support for extending federal benefits and equal tax treatment, currently only available to heterosexual married couples, to same-sex couples who are parties to a union legally recognized by their state. Additionally, the candidates express unanimous support for extending federal benefits for same-sex couples and their children.
This groundbreaking and unified position of all Democratic candidates would override Section 3 of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” which provides that for federal purposes, "The word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” (1 U.S.C. Section 7)
“These candidates have expressed a unified belief and echoed the majority of the American people by stating that same-sex couples deserve federal recognition,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “It is extremely encouraging to finally see the focus of the debate around the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans center around extending the American value of equality to all people. 2008 is not 2004, and the American people have already put out the warning that divisive, wedge politics that pit neighbor against neighbor will not be tolerated.”
The questionnaire focused on the following questions of importance to the GLBT community:
Federal recognition of state-level same sex unions
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Federal hate crimes legislation
Support for marriage equality
Support for civil unions
Extend federal benefits to same-sex couples and their children
Extending coverage of the Family and Medical Leave Act
Extending access to survivor benefits
Equal tax treatment
Domestic partner benefits for same-sex employees
Adoption/foster parent issues
Immigration equality;
Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
HIV/AIDS funding
Comprehensive sex education
2008 Democratic presidential candidates responding to the questionnaire include: Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
View the report card showing where the candidates stand on these important issues.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
-30-
Monday, May 28, 2007
Something to think about - CD Sales Plunge 20% From Last Year
From NYT:
May 28, 2007
Plunge in CD Sales Shakes Up Big Labels
By JEFF LEEDS
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the Beatles album often cited as the greatest pop recording in music history, received a thoroughly modern 40th-anniversary salute last week when singers on “American Idol” belted out their own versions of its songs live on the show’s season finale.
But off stage, in a sign of the recording industry’s declining fortunes, shareholders of EMI, the music conglomerate that markets “Sgt. Pepper” and a vast trove of other recordings, were weighing a plan to sell the company as its financial performance was weakening.
It’s a maddening juxtaposition for more than one top record-label executive. Music may still be a big force in pop culture — from “Idol” to the iPod — but the music business’s own comeback attempt is falling flat.
Even pop’s pioneers are rethinking their approach. As it happens, one of the performers on “Sgt. Pepper,” Paul McCartney, is releasing a new album on June 5. But Mr. McCartney is not betting on the traditional record-label methods: He elected to sidestep EMI, his longtime home, and release the album through a new arrangement with Starbucks.
It’s too soon to tell if Starbucks’ new label (a partnership with the established Concord label) will have much success in marketing CDs. But not many other players are.
Despite costly efforts to build buzz around new talent and thwart piracy, CD sales have plunged more than 20 percent this year, far outweighing any gains made by digital sales at iTunes and similar services. Aram Sinnreich, a media industry consultant at Radar Research in Los Angeles, said the CD format, introduced in the United States 24 years ago, is in its death throes. “Everyone in the industry thinks of this Christmas as the last big holiday season for CD sales,” Mr. Sinnreich said, “and then everything goes kaput.”
It’s been four years since the last big shuffle in ownership of the major record labels. But now, with the sales plunge dimming hopes for a recovery any time soon, there is a new game of corporate musical chairs afoot that could shake up the industry hierarchy.
Under the deal that awaits shareholder approval, London-based EMI agreed last week to be purchased for more than $4.7 billion by a private equity investor, Terra Firma Capital Partners, whose diverse holdings include a European waste-conversion business. Rival bids could yet surface — though the higher the ultimate price, the more pressure the owners will face to make dramatic cuts or sell the company in pieces in order to recoup their investment.
For the companies that choose to plow ahead, the question is how to weather the worsening storm. One answer: diversify into businesses that do not rely directly on CD sales or downloads. The biggest one is music publishing, which represents songwriters (who may or may not also be performers) and earns money when their songs are used in TV commercials, video games or other media. Universal Music Group, already the biggest label, became the world’s biggest music publisher on Friday after closing its purchase of BMG Music, publisher of songs by artists like Keane, for more than $2 billion.
Now both Universal and Warner Music Group are said to be kicking the tires of Sanctuary, an independent British music and artist management company whose roster includes Iron Maiden and Elton John. The owners of all four of the major record companies also recently have chewed over deals to diversify into merchandise sales, concert tickets, advertising and other fields that are not part of their traditional business.
Even as the industry tries to branch out, though, there is no promise of an answer to a potentially more profound predicament: a creative drought and a corresponding lack of artists who ignite consumers’ interest in buying music. Sales of rap, which had provided the industry with a lifeboat in recent years, fell far more than the overall market last year with a drop of almost 21 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (And the marquee star 50 Cent just delayed his forthcoming album, “Curtis.”)
In other genres the picture is not much brighter. Fans do still turn out (at least initially) for artists that have managed to build loyal followings. The biggest debut of the year came just last week from the rock band Linkin Park, whose third studio album, “Minutes to Midnight,” sold an estimated 623,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan data.
But very few albums have gained traction. And that is compounded by the industry’s core structural problem: Its main product is widely available free. More than half of all music acquired by fans last year came from unpaid sources including Internet file sharing and CD burning, according to the market research company NPD Group. The “social” ripping and burning of CDs among friends — which takes place offline and almost entirely out of reach of industry policing efforts — accounted for 37 percent of all music consumption, more than file-sharing, NPD said.
The industry had long pinned its hopes on making up some of the business lost to piracy with licensed digital sales. But those prospects have dimmed as the rapid CD decline has overshadowed the rise in sales at services like Apple’s iTunes. Even as music executives fret that iTunes has not generated enough sales, though, they gripe that it unfairly dominates the sale of digital music.
Partly out of frustration with Apple, some of the music companies have been slowly retreating from their longtime insistence on selling music online with digital locks that prevent unlimited copying. Their aim is to sell more music that can be played on Apple’s wildly popular iPod device, which is not compatible with the protection software used by most other digital music services. EMI led the reversal, striking a deal with Apple to offer its music catalog in the unrestricted MP3 format.
Some music executives say that dropping copy-restriction software, also known as digital-rights management, would stoke business at iTunes’ competitors and generate a surge in sales. Others predict it would have little impact, though they add that the labels squandered years on failed attempts to restrict digital music instead of converting more fans into paying consumers.
“They were so slow to react, and let things get totally out of hand,” said Russ Crupnick, a senior entertainment industry analyst at NPD, the research company. “They just missed the boat.”
Perhaps there is little to lose, then, in experimentation. Mr. McCartney, for example, may not have made it to the “American Idol” finale, but he too is employing thoroughly modern techniques to reach his audience.
Starbucks will be selling his album “Memory Almost Full” through regular music retail shops but will also be playing it repeatedly in thousands of its coffee shops in more than two dozen countries on the day of release. And the first music video from the new album had it premiere on YouTube. Mr. McCartney, in announcing his deal with Starbucks, described his rationale simply: “It’s a new world.”
May 28, 2007
Plunge in CD Sales Shakes Up Big Labels
By JEFF LEEDS
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the Beatles album often cited as the greatest pop recording in music history, received a thoroughly modern 40th-anniversary salute last week when singers on “American Idol” belted out their own versions of its songs live on the show’s season finale.
But off stage, in a sign of the recording industry’s declining fortunes, shareholders of EMI, the music conglomerate that markets “Sgt. Pepper” and a vast trove of other recordings, were weighing a plan to sell the company as its financial performance was weakening.
It’s a maddening juxtaposition for more than one top record-label executive. Music may still be a big force in pop culture — from “Idol” to the iPod — but the music business’s own comeback attempt is falling flat.
Even pop’s pioneers are rethinking their approach. As it happens, one of the performers on “Sgt. Pepper,” Paul McCartney, is releasing a new album on June 5. But Mr. McCartney is not betting on the traditional record-label methods: He elected to sidestep EMI, his longtime home, and release the album through a new arrangement with Starbucks.
It’s too soon to tell if Starbucks’ new label (a partnership with the established Concord label) will have much success in marketing CDs. But not many other players are.
Despite costly efforts to build buzz around new talent and thwart piracy, CD sales have plunged more than 20 percent this year, far outweighing any gains made by digital sales at iTunes and similar services. Aram Sinnreich, a media industry consultant at Radar Research in Los Angeles, said the CD format, introduced in the United States 24 years ago, is in its death throes. “Everyone in the industry thinks of this Christmas as the last big holiday season for CD sales,” Mr. Sinnreich said, “and then everything goes kaput.”
It’s been four years since the last big shuffle in ownership of the major record labels. But now, with the sales plunge dimming hopes for a recovery any time soon, there is a new game of corporate musical chairs afoot that could shake up the industry hierarchy.
Under the deal that awaits shareholder approval, London-based EMI agreed last week to be purchased for more than $4.7 billion by a private equity investor, Terra Firma Capital Partners, whose diverse holdings include a European waste-conversion business. Rival bids could yet surface — though the higher the ultimate price, the more pressure the owners will face to make dramatic cuts or sell the company in pieces in order to recoup their investment.
For the companies that choose to plow ahead, the question is how to weather the worsening storm. One answer: diversify into businesses that do not rely directly on CD sales or downloads. The biggest one is music publishing, which represents songwriters (who may or may not also be performers) and earns money when their songs are used in TV commercials, video games or other media. Universal Music Group, already the biggest label, became the world’s biggest music publisher on Friday after closing its purchase of BMG Music, publisher of songs by artists like Keane, for more than $2 billion.
Now both Universal and Warner Music Group are said to be kicking the tires of Sanctuary, an independent British music and artist management company whose roster includes Iron Maiden and Elton John. The owners of all four of the major record companies also recently have chewed over deals to diversify into merchandise sales, concert tickets, advertising and other fields that are not part of their traditional business.
Even as the industry tries to branch out, though, there is no promise of an answer to a potentially more profound predicament: a creative drought and a corresponding lack of artists who ignite consumers’ interest in buying music. Sales of rap, which had provided the industry with a lifeboat in recent years, fell far more than the overall market last year with a drop of almost 21 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (And the marquee star 50 Cent just delayed his forthcoming album, “Curtis.”)
In other genres the picture is not much brighter. Fans do still turn out (at least initially) for artists that have managed to build loyal followings. The biggest debut of the year came just last week from the rock band Linkin Park, whose third studio album, “Minutes to Midnight,” sold an estimated 623,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan data.
But very few albums have gained traction. And that is compounded by the industry’s core structural problem: Its main product is widely available free. More than half of all music acquired by fans last year came from unpaid sources including Internet file sharing and CD burning, according to the market research company NPD Group. The “social” ripping and burning of CDs among friends — which takes place offline and almost entirely out of reach of industry policing efforts — accounted for 37 percent of all music consumption, more than file-sharing, NPD said.
The industry had long pinned its hopes on making up some of the business lost to piracy with licensed digital sales. But those prospects have dimmed as the rapid CD decline has overshadowed the rise in sales at services like Apple’s iTunes. Even as music executives fret that iTunes has not generated enough sales, though, they gripe that it unfairly dominates the sale of digital music.
Partly out of frustration with Apple, some of the music companies have been slowly retreating from their longtime insistence on selling music online with digital locks that prevent unlimited copying. Their aim is to sell more music that can be played on Apple’s wildly popular iPod device, which is not compatible with the protection software used by most other digital music services. EMI led the reversal, striking a deal with Apple to offer its music catalog in the unrestricted MP3 format.
Some music executives say that dropping copy-restriction software, also known as digital-rights management, would stoke business at iTunes’ competitors and generate a surge in sales. Others predict it would have little impact, though they add that the labels squandered years on failed attempts to restrict digital music instead of converting more fans into paying consumers.
“They were so slow to react, and let things get totally out of hand,” said Russ Crupnick, a senior entertainment industry analyst at NPD, the research company. “They just missed the boat.”
Perhaps there is little to lose, then, in experimentation. Mr. McCartney, for example, may not have made it to the “American Idol” finale, but he too is employing thoroughly modern techniques to reach his audience.
Starbucks will be selling his album “Memory Almost Full” through regular music retail shops but will also be playing it repeatedly in thousands of its coffee shops in more than two dozen countries on the day of release. And the first music video from the new album had it premiere on YouTube. Mr. McCartney, in announcing his deal with Starbucks, described his rationale simply: “It’s a new world.”
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Good News! Newly Elected Mayor & Volunters Are Cleaning Up East St. Louis
From KSDK:
By Rebecca Wu
(KSDK) - The city of East St. Louis is trying to clean up its image in more ways than one. Every Saturday through the end of summer, volunteers will clean up the streets.
Newly elected mayor Alvin Parks, Jr. isn't afraid to make cuts in order to keep weeds from growing in downtown streets.
"When they're high, you have people who want to hide in the weeds and do something not healthy for the citizens," Parks said. "When you have a lot of weeds, it could block stop signs and street corners so cars can't see around them."
An estimated 100 volunteers helped clean up downtown Saturday, including East St. Louis native Dorian McCorkle. If he weren't whacking weeds, he'd be at home beating his drums. But he volunteered after seeing the mayor asking for help on TV.
"I occupy my time to keep me from being in trouble and to show the little kids how to get out and clean up your neighborhood and not destroy your neighborhood also," said McCorkle.
Cleaning up the city is one of two priorities for the mayor. The other is to keep citizens safe by increasing police patrol and stepping up criminal investigations. Those were the things Parks heard over and over again during his campaign for office.
Mike Makhlouf, the manager at Crown Food Mart on Colinsville Street, where volunteers were picking up trash, said he'd never seen anyone cleaning up trash before.
"That's something nice, something different, actually a surprise for everybody," said Makhlouf.
Makhlouf was so happy to see people cleaning the area around his gas station and food mart, he brought them water. He believes the trash keeps away potential customers unfamiliar with the area.
"They think it's a bad area, it's not a nice area. They don't like to stop by. That's why we like to see it clean."
After cleaning up the trash, Parks wants to beautify the city with flowers, trees and fountains. That way East St. Louis not only looks good but feels good.
"There's a sense of pride that you have to reestablish by cleaning up your community," said Parks.
Volunteers estimate they picked up 11 truckloads of trash in just four hours.
They started cleaning downtown but will eventually clean up different parts of East St. Louis throughout the summer. Parks hopes residents will step up when volunteers clean their neighborhood.
The Saturday clean up events will continue each weekend through the summer, except Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.
By Rebecca Wu
(KSDK) - The city of East St. Louis is trying to clean up its image in more ways than one. Every Saturday through the end of summer, volunteers will clean up the streets.
Newly elected mayor Alvin Parks, Jr. isn't afraid to make cuts in order to keep weeds from growing in downtown streets.
"When they're high, you have people who want to hide in the weeds and do something not healthy for the citizens," Parks said. "When you have a lot of weeds, it could block stop signs and street corners so cars can't see around them."
An estimated 100 volunteers helped clean up downtown Saturday, including East St. Louis native Dorian McCorkle. If he weren't whacking weeds, he'd be at home beating his drums. But he volunteered after seeing the mayor asking for help on TV.
"I occupy my time to keep me from being in trouble and to show the little kids how to get out and clean up your neighborhood and not destroy your neighborhood also," said McCorkle.
Cleaning up the city is one of two priorities for the mayor. The other is to keep citizens safe by increasing police patrol and stepping up criminal investigations. Those were the things Parks heard over and over again during his campaign for office.
Mike Makhlouf, the manager at Crown Food Mart on Colinsville Street, where volunteers were picking up trash, said he'd never seen anyone cleaning up trash before.
"That's something nice, something different, actually a surprise for everybody," said Makhlouf.
Makhlouf was so happy to see people cleaning the area around his gas station and food mart, he brought them water. He believes the trash keeps away potential customers unfamiliar with the area.
"They think it's a bad area, it's not a nice area. They don't like to stop by. That's why we like to see it clean."
After cleaning up the trash, Parks wants to beautify the city with flowers, trees and fountains. That way East St. Louis not only looks good but feels good.
"There's a sense of pride that you have to reestablish by cleaning up your community," said Parks.
Volunteers estimate they picked up 11 truckloads of trash in just four hours.
They started cleaning downtown but will eventually clean up different parts of East St. Louis throughout the summer. Parks hopes residents will step up when volunteers clean their neighborhood.
The Saturday clean up events will continue each weekend through the summer, except Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Location, Location,Location - Some Early Thoughts on Our Survey Results
You can still tell us what you think of St. Louis' nightlife. You can tell us what direction you think Faces should take in the future. Our online survey is still open and we are still listening. Some of you wrote to us with concerns about the survey, we listened, and we tried to re-organize it to make it easier to complete. The survey is anonymous. we cannot track who completed it or link specific answerers to specific people. We aren't collecting information to use against you or hurt you. We know the survey is long. We felt that we only had one opportunity to ask your questions so we asked as much as we felt we needed to know. We hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to give us your thoughts and concerns and not use the survey to engage in personal attacks. The survey questions must be completed in order..you can't cherry pick the questions you want to answer because the survey will display an error message if you skip questions. There are questions that do not require an answer but you will find that out as you answer the questions. We thank you for taking the time to complete our survey.
There is a danger in talking about a survey while people are still completing it. Sometimes the results of the survey can unintentionally change because of what someone says.
With that in mind, we will try to confine our early comments to some of the more anecdotal comments rather then the actual numbers.
One topic that has come up in the open ended (essay) answers to some of our questions can be classified as "location, location, location". Some of our survey respondents have suggested that the answer to Faces problems is to move...to move from East St. Louis...to move to someplace "closer to the other bars", to move to St. Louis. All options are on the table at this point. No idea is being thrown out. We have considered the idea of moving. With that preface, we'd like to give you something to think about. Faces has served St. Louis in the same location for nearly 30 years. Many of those 30 years were booming times, with large crowds partying until dawn. Tens of thousands of people have patronized Faces in East St. Louis. To move from East St. Louis would mean to end our ability to be an after-hours nightclub. There are a handful of communities in Illinois that allow bars to be open and serve drinks all night. None of those communities are particularly desirable or entirely safe.
Gay bars in general are not in the best parts of town, even the ones in St. Louis. Drive (we would not advise walking) a block in any direction from the Manchester strip and you will probably not feel safe. Park under the unlit overpass by the local leather bar and tell us how fast you run to the bar's front door. Drive a few blocks north, south, or east of the CWE and see how many stop signs you run to get to safety. The fact is that people don't like to live next to nightclubs. Bars and nightclubs are noisy, they generate traffic late at night, trash (beer bottles), the customers take up parking, they frequently make noise and get into trouble as the bars close. To get a liquor license in St. Louis, a potential bar owner has to go through a costly and often difficult ritual of obtaining signatures of approval from all their neighbors. In areas that already have bars, like the Manchester Strip, existing bars can and frequently do block new bars from opening by withholding their approval. One unfriendly neighbor can prevent any bars from opening nearby. Gay bars are even more controversial. Even if a gay bar owner were able to meet all the requirements to get a license, communities can block them or get them closed down quickly by enforcing obscure laws like ones that were used for years to run gays out of the CWE by requiring bars with dancing to get a special license and making it a law that dancing could not be visible from the street. Missouri's liquor laws are very different. St. Louis' rules are very different on your behavior as well as what is acceptable entertainment. There is a reason that none of St. Louis' gay bars have strippers. Two stories may help illustrate the point. After a very popular lesbian/girl's bar opened in St. Louis, they were busted by St. Louis Liquor Control and forced to shut down because a customer who had just had her nipple pierced, exposed her breast to another customer to show the piercing. While this was in no way the bar's fault, the bar was closed for a period of time as punishment.
The former manager of a popular St. Louis gay dance bar told me the story of how his bar had hosted an event where the bar staff was dressed in swim wear. Liquor control was prepared to bust the bar and the bar staff for wearing underwear in the bar until the manager proved that they were wearing swim wear. He told me that they have gotten in trouble for customers on their dance floor even showing pubic hair or a brief bare butt. They must monitor their customers behavior with security cameras to insure that no one gets carried away and drops their pants on the dance floor and to insure that any PDA does not become too hot and heavy. He also explained that they had to monitor their ambient video..the videos sent by record companies and gay marketing companies because they were not allowed to show video with nudity or simulated sex in St. Louis bars. A popular leather/bear bar always includes a disclaimer in their event ads stating that costumes worn must be "street legal".
While some might argue that this is a good thing, making gay bars PG-13, the majority of our survey respondents do not agree. We have been able to provide the entertainment that we did because of our location.
We would not be able to stay open and serve all night in Missouri. Our location allows us to continue the party all night long.
Is our location really so far off the beaten path? Mapquest states that we are 6.1 miles from Freddie's, 5.3 miles from JJ's, 5.1 miles from The Complex, 2.84 miles from Busch Stadium, and 2.3 miles from Rue 13. We are probably closer to major highway on and off ramps then any other gay bar. We are a block from the police station, a block from an SIU branch, a few blocks from the Federal Courts building, and a few blocks from a thriving and expanding casino.
We agree that when you go to any other bar, you need to be careful. Don't talk to strangers outside. Don't loiter outside. Don't leave valuables in your car. and park near the crowd, not on some desolate street. That is all just basic common sense. Anyplace that attracts large groups of people with money is also an attraction for bad people. We want every customer to have a safe experience at Faces. We are always reviewing our customers security needs and have made adjustments to keep you safe. Some things are beyond our control. We don't own the parking lot across the street. We think it is the safest place to park because it is lit and visible from the Metrolink station as well as our front door. When everyone parks in the same area, it is easier to watch. Unfortunately, customers still park blocks away, on dark side streets or behind the abandoned Spivey Building and we frankly don't know how to discourage that. We have noticed this same problem on the Manchester Strip. When customers park further from the center of things, on those dark side streets, they are frequently preyed upon. The Manchester Strip continues to wrestle with the problem every day just like we do.
When we bought Faces 14 years ago, we accepted the fact that there were some people who would never patronize our bar. East St. Louis' reputation for lawlessness over the past century has been passed down from generation to generation. East St. Louis had a reputation of being controlled by mob bosses as far back as prohibition. We realize that for many, their minds are made up and they will never drive over, no matter what we do. So, our goal has been to cater to, to market to those who were adventureous, to those will to take a walk on the wild side, to those willing to leave their comfort zone for something different, for something more. it has been a trade-off. If customers want cutting edeg, raw, adult entertainment..if they want strippers, slightly raunchy theme parties, all night dancing, and events like lube wrestling, then they usually find their way to Faces.
Here is the lnk to the survey:
Click here to take survey
There is a danger in talking about a survey while people are still completing it. Sometimes the results of the survey can unintentionally change because of what someone says.
With that in mind, we will try to confine our early comments to some of the more anecdotal comments rather then the actual numbers.
One topic that has come up in the open ended (essay) answers to some of our questions can be classified as "location, location, location". Some of our survey respondents have suggested that the answer to Faces problems is to move...to move from East St. Louis...to move to someplace "closer to the other bars", to move to St. Louis. All options are on the table at this point. No idea is being thrown out. We have considered the idea of moving. With that preface, we'd like to give you something to think about. Faces has served St. Louis in the same location for nearly 30 years. Many of those 30 years were booming times, with large crowds partying until dawn. Tens of thousands of people have patronized Faces in East St. Louis. To move from East St. Louis would mean to end our ability to be an after-hours nightclub. There are a handful of communities in Illinois that allow bars to be open and serve drinks all night. None of those communities are particularly desirable or entirely safe.
Gay bars in general are not in the best parts of town, even the ones in St. Louis. Drive (we would not advise walking) a block in any direction from the Manchester strip and you will probably not feel safe. Park under the unlit overpass by the local leather bar and tell us how fast you run to the bar's front door. Drive a few blocks north, south, or east of the CWE and see how many stop signs you run to get to safety. The fact is that people don't like to live next to nightclubs. Bars and nightclubs are noisy, they generate traffic late at night, trash (beer bottles), the customers take up parking, they frequently make noise and get into trouble as the bars close. To get a liquor license in St. Louis, a potential bar owner has to go through a costly and often difficult ritual of obtaining signatures of approval from all their neighbors. In areas that already have bars, like the Manchester Strip, existing bars can and frequently do block new bars from opening by withholding their approval. One unfriendly neighbor can prevent any bars from opening nearby. Gay bars are even more controversial. Even if a gay bar owner were able to meet all the requirements to get a license, communities can block them or get them closed down quickly by enforcing obscure laws like ones that were used for years to run gays out of the CWE by requiring bars with dancing to get a special license and making it a law that dancing could not be visible from the street. Missouri's liquor laws are very different. St. Louis' rules are very different on your behavior as well as what is acceptable entertainment. There is a reason that none of St. Louis' gay bars have strippers. Two stories may help illustrate the point. After a very popular lesbian/girl's bar opened in St. Louis, they were busted by St. Louis Liquor Control and forced to shut down because a customer who had just had her nipple pierced, exposed her breast to another customer to show the piercing. While this was in no way the bar's fault, the bar was closed for a period of time as punishment.
The former manager of a popular St. Louis gay dance bar told me the story of how his bar had hosted an event where the bar staff was dressed in swim wear. Liquor control was prepared to bust the bar and the bar staff for wearing underwear in the bar until the manager proved that they were wearing swim wear. He told me that they have gotten in trouble for customers on their dance floor even showing pubic hair or a brief bare butt. They must monitor their customers behavior with security cameras to insure that no one gets carried away and drops their pants on the dance floor and to insure that any PDA does not become too hot and heavy. He also explained that they had to monitor their ambient video..the videos sent by record companies and gay marketing companies because they were not allowed to show video with nudity or simulated sex in St. Louis bars. A popular leather/bear bar always includes a disclaimer in their event ads stating that costumes worn must be "street legal".
While some might argue that this is a good thing, making gay bars PG-13, the majority of our survey respondents do not agree. We have been able to provide the entertainment that we did because of our location.
We would not be able to stay open and serve all night in Missouri. Our location allows us to continue the party all night long.
Is our location really so far off the beaten path? Mapquest states that we are 6.1 miles from Freddie's, 5.3 miles from JJ's, 5.1 miles from The Complex, 2.84 miles from Busch Stadium, and 2.3 miles from Rue 13. We are probably closer to major highway on and off ramps then any other gay bar. We are a block from the police station, a block from an SIU branch, a few blocks from the Federal Courts building, and a few blocks from a thriving and expanding casino.
We agree that when you go to any other bar, you need to be careful. Don't talk to strangers outside. Don't loiter outside. Don't leave valuables in your car. and park near the crowd, not on some desolate street. That is all just basic common sense. Anyplace that attracts large groups of people with money is also an attraction for bad people. We want every customer to have a safe experience at Faces. We are always reviewing our customers security needs and have made adjustments to keep you safe. Some things are beyond our control. We don't own the parking lot across the street. We think it is the safest place to park because it is lit and visible from the Metrolink station as well as our front door. When everyone parks in the same area, it is easier to watch. Unfortunately, customers still park blocks away, on dark side streets or behind the abandoned Spivey Building and we frankly don't know how to discourage that. We have noticed this same problem on the Manchester Strip. When customers park further from the center of things, on those dark side streets, they are frequently preyed upon. The Manchester Strip continues to wrestle with the problem every day just like we do.
When we bought Faces 14 years ago, we accepted the fact that there were some people who would never patronize our bar. East St. Louis' reputation for lawlessness over the past century has been passed down from generation to generation. East St. Louis had a reputation of being controlled by mob bosses as far back as prohibition. We realize that for many, their minds are made up and they will never drive over, no matter what we do. So, our goal has been to cater to, to market to those who were adventureous, to those will to take a walk on the wild side, to those willing to leave their comfort zone for something different, for something more. it has been a trade-off. If customers want cutting edeg, raw, adult entertainment..if they want strippers, slightly raunchy theme parties, all night dancing, and events like lube wrestling, then they usually find their way to Faces.
Here is the lnk to the survey:
Click here to take survey
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
The Faces in My Mind
First, we welcome all responses to our survey. We disagree with some..we love others, and many have confused us but we thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. Some of the comments on the survey border on personal attacks..some seem to have their own agendas..and some seem to remember some bar other then Faces.
When I first went to kindergarten, I thought my school was immense..it was so big I was afraid I would get lost..time passed and my junior high (now called middle school) was huge with moving walls and a modern look like Mexico circa 1965 (you know what I mean if you ever took Spanish and used an older text book that included pictures of Mexican buildings). When I finally reached high school, it's three stories, multiple gyms and locker rooms and it's several thousand students made my first grade school seem like a one room school house. The things I remember..my perceptions at the time, were all subjective...all the result of my own life experiences and my own "mind's eye".
The Faces that I remember, the one I used to patronize as a customer 4-5 nights a week, the one I bought 14 years ago, the one I owned and operated, does not seem to be the same Faces that some of our online survey respondents are remembering and commenting on.
I felt comfortable at the Faces that I drank at. There was no judgement about who you were, what you looked like, how old you were...everyone was welcome.
The Faces that I used to drink at was empty most of the time. My weeknights at Faces were usually spent with 5-10 of the same customers...we all knew each other...we knew the bartender (usually Rosee or Danny) and we knew the bar was on it's last legs. The cabaret had closed long ago, the main floor was only open on Saturday night and was even empty at midnight on New Year's Eve. There was a competing gay bar a block away that seemed to be on the verge of forcing Faces to close. Liquor laws had changed in St. Louis. Bars in St. Louis used to have to close by 1:30 AM on weeknights and close at midnight on Sunday (if they served food, other wise they had to close on Sunday). First, there was only one gay bar in St. Louis allowed to get a 3 AM license...a bar next to Union Stations that occupied the two stories of what is now a hotel. Before the laws changed, Faces was truly a melting pot, gays and straights together. As the St. Louis laws changed, more bars got 3 AM licenses, and Faces crowd started to thin out. At the same time, our community was decimated by the AIDS epidemic. We lost thousands of friends, family, lovers, and wonderful customers. As Faces struggled to find it's place, the original owner/creator of Faces, Jerry Edwards came back. He took the bar back from Harry and Jim, who had been running it for years and he tried to save it. He kept the doors open, installed a new AC unit for the dance floor, and sought out Petrina Marie. He asked her to come back to work at Faces. I had watched all this from a customer's point of view. I knew the end was near, I loved the bar..I guess I saw the potential of the bar, so I started talking to the owner. I told him I was interested in buying the bar. He ignored me for several months as he tried to bring back the magic. By fall of that year, he grew tired of the fight and wanted to move back to Florida. He made me an offer and I bought the bar.
The bar that I bought was on the verge of closing. To quote Jerry (the former owner) you could roll a bowling ball across the dance floor at anytime on a Saturday night and not hit a customer. I feel the need to repeat this..the Faces I bought was on the verge of closing. Had I not worked full time as a theatre manager, working 8-10 hours in a theatre then spending the night working at the bar, I would not have made it until my first NYE..it was that bad. I used my experience in marketing movies, combined with my own instincts as a customer. My goal was to keep the melting pot part of Faces..to make everyone feel welcome..and to try to make Faces like a gay amusement park with as many rides as possible. I wanted to give people a reason to come over and reasons to stay. I calculated that if a customer didn't like one of our "rides", that the would like something else. I knew that our customers were diverse..old, young..pretty, plain, rich, and poor..I knew from my own experience that some of our customers hated drag..hated the idea of men dressing up as women...but I also knew that drag queens were an integral part of our community...they raised the money for AIDS before it was "in" to do it..they were on the front lines of fight for gay rights..So, I met with Petrina and told her that I wanted the best drag show in town. I told her that I wanted all the best queens, that I wanted production numbers..that I wanted a real show. We delivered that show. I installed new AC units for the cabaret my first year because for years, the cabaret closed all summer due to broken AC.
I knew that we had to offer more then drag, so I started scanning gay magazines and newspapers for gay entertainment. I booked gay comedians (Advocate Magazine's Gay Comedy Jam), I booked porn stars, I booked male dance revues, I booked by puppeteers, I booked recording artists. We hosted show tune nights before Loading Zone or Freddie's. We hosted huge Oscar parties before anyone else did. We delivered a cutting edge gay club experience to St. Louis. i poured every dime the bar made back into the business. We struggled to compete with the gay bar around the corner. That bar went through three sets of experienced club owners but we were still able to survive.
The Faces of my mind was hard to turn around but we did it. We went from handfuls of customers on Saturday night to 600-700 on an average Saturday..I need to stress this again..we went from near zero to 600-700 on a Saturday under my ownership..under my management. We managed this despite having a competing gay bar a block away. We did it despite being in East St. Louis.
Even as we achieved great success on Saturday, we still struggled with an empty bar on weeknights. We tried drag shows with older queens (the late Tracy hosted Tuesday and Thursday nights), we tried country line dancing lessons on Wednesdays, we tried show tunes on Mondays, we tried NTN on line trivia games, we tried Direct TV sports, we tired older DJs in the basement, we tried a piano bar in the basement, we tried karaoke on Sundays, we opened one of St. Louis' first martini bars with lounge/martini music, we tried strippers on weeknights, we tried 25 cent rail drinks, yet we could not attract a weeknight crowd. Petrina used to host Sunday drag shows in the cabaret and would perform for a handful of people every week. Our success on Saturdays basically paid for the losses on the rest of the week. Finally, we tried making Sundays 18+..We were the first gay bar to welcome 18+ customers and it was an immediate success. We went from 25-50 people on a Sunday to several hundred but we also experienced backlash and complaints from our over 30 year old customers. It seemed odd to me..I was there nearly every night...I never saw these adult customers on Sunday before we were 18+ but they still complained about it and claimed that it was why they didn't come on Sunday...it might be part of growing older..some don't like being around younger people because it makes then feel old..but honestly, the same kind of complaints come from the 18 year olds who don't like to be around older people..it always seemed sort of silly to me..the minors paid a higher cover, helping to pay for the entertainment, and they brought a level of energy to bar that we only saw on a packed Saturday...they seemed to enjoy the shows more then our older customers, they came early and left before 3 AM so most of our adult customers barely saw the minors..there were very few problems with our minor customers other then the complaints about them being there. I remodeled the basement several times because the rings (sales) were never as high as the rest of the building..in one of it's incarnations, I tried to use 1960 pop culture and comic books as inspiration...painting the walls, floors, and ceiling in "SuperMan" colors, we covered the walls with posters, art, and autogrpahs from superheroes of the 60s...trying to convey the fun and homoeroticism of superherores. The resaction was a immediate..our older customers, who had in fact grown up on these comic book icons, were certain that I was caterng to the "twinks"..that I was ruinning the bar with decor aimed at our18 year old customers...usually when I explained it, many of them "got it"..that the art work was aimed at them and thier childhoods, not our 18 year olds (since they weren't allowed down there in the first place). Every change we made was because the basement was usually the least profitable part of the building but changes were percieved as some sort of desecration of a shrine.
More baffling to me has been the response from older customers to women. When I bought the bar, there was a urinal in the middle of the basement. The urinal was there so that women could be denied access to the basement. It seemed like one of the Faces traditions that was funnier then it was serious but it always created problems. Male customers would leave female friends alone upstairs while they went to the basement. It was rude and something between them, but it always ended in a drama of the girls trying to find their friends or trying to sneak in the basement, or crying upstairs because they were left alone. I built a new "in between" bar in the basement..the martini bar with food, and some seating so girls could stay and wait for their friends. It was successful but it still seemed out of touch with today's world. I felt that gay bars should not discriminate against our own and finally tore the wall down that separated the bars in the basement. There were complaints but the sales for both bars increased after we tore the wall down. There were probably never more then 5 females who wanted to go in the basement and they drank, spent money, played pool, and didn't cause any problems. I find it sad that there are still people who can't get past that..who really seem to hate women or maybe feel embarrassed by their own sexuality who think a gay business should cater to their prejudices. Where do we draw the line..when does the Faces that I love, the Faces that welcomes everyone start to discriminate...
So, the Faces in my mind is not the same Faces that some of our customers remember. They remember a bar that was packed every night before I bought it..they remember lower covers and drink prices and more fun before I bought the bar..they remember better music and no women before I bought the bar..they remember better drag shows before I bought the bar...and they remember Faces being less sleazy and sexual before I bought the bar...In my mind, I was there..I paid the bills, I placed the ads, I booked the entertainment, and I created the concept...I made the decisions that kept the bar open and turned it around. I would love to own the bar that these people remember. It sounds like it was a lot of fun. I am willing to take the blame for every decision I made in the last 14 years old as long as we can agree that some of those decisions are responsible for keeping Faces open, turning it around, and delivering more then any other gay bar in St. Louis has to our community.
When I first went to kindergarten, I thought my school was immense..it was so big I was afraid I would get lost..time passed and my junior high (now called middle school) was huge with moving walls and a modern look like Mexico circa 1965 (you know what I mean if you ever took Spanish and used an older text book that included pictures of Mexican buildings). When I finally reached high school, it's three stories, multiple gyms and locker rooms and it's several thousand students made my first grade school seem like a one room school house. The things I remember..my perceptions at the time, were all subjective...all the result of my own life experiences and my own "mind's eye".
The Faces that I remember, the one I used to patronize as a customer 4-5 nights a week, the one I bought 14 years ago, the one I owned and operated, does not seem to be the same Faces that some of our online survey respondents are remembering and commenting on.
I felt comfortable at the Faces that I drank at. There was no judgement about who you were, what you looked like, how old you were...everyone was welcome.
The Faces that I used to drink at was empty most of the time. My weeknights at Faces were usually spent with 5-10 of the same customers...we all knew each other...we knew the bartender (usually Rosee or Danny) and we knew the bar was on it's last legs. The cabaret had closed long ago, the main floor was only open on Saturday night and was even empty at midnight on New Year's Eve. There was a competing gay bar a block away that seemed to be on the verge of forcing Faces to close. Liquor laws had changed in St. Louis. Bars in St. Louis used to have to close by 1:30 AM on weeknights and close at midnight on Sunday (if they served food, other wise they had to close on Sunday). First, there was only one gay bar in St. Louis allowed to get a 3 AM license...a bar next to Union Stations that occupied the two stories of what is now a hotel. Before the laws changed, Faces was truly a melting pot, gays and straights together. As the St. Louis laws changed, more bars got 3 AM licenses, and Faces crowd started to thin out. At the same time, our community was decimated by the AIDS epidemic. We lost thousands of friends, family, lovers, and wonderful customers. As Faces struggled to find it's place, the original owner/creator of Faces, Jerry Edwards came back. He took the bar back from Harry and Jim, who had been running it for years and he tried to save it. He kept the doors open, installed a new AC unit for the dance floor, and sought out Petrina Marie. He asked her to come back to work at Faces. I had watched all this from a customer's point of view. I knew the end was near, I loved the bar..I guess I saw the potential of the bar, so I started talking to the owner. I told him I was interested in buying the bar. He ignored me for several months as he tried to bring back the magic. By fall of that year, he grew tired of the fight and wanted to move back to Florida. He made me an offer and I bought the bar.
The bar that I bought was on the verge of closing. To quote Jerry (the former owner) you could roll a bowling ball across the dance floor at anytime on a Saturday night and not hit a customer. I feel the need to repeat this..the Faces I bought was on the verge of closing. Had I not worked full time as a theatre manager, working 8-10 hours in a theatre then spending the night working at the bar, I would not have made it until my first NYE..it was that bad. I used my experience in marketing movies, combined with my own instincts as a customer. My goal was to keep the melting pot part of Faces..to make everyone feel welcome..and to try to make Faces like a gay amusement park with as many rides as possible. I wanted to give people a reason to come over and reasons to stay. I calculated that if a customer didn't like one of our "rides", that the would like something else. I knew that our customers were diverse..old, young..pretty, plain, rich, and poor..I knew from my own experience that some of our customers hated drag..hated the idea of men dressing up as women...but I also knew that drag queens were an integral part of our community...they raised the money for AIDS before it was "in" to do it..they were on the front lines of fight for gay rights..So, I met with Petrina and told her that I wanted the best drag show in town. I told her that I wanted all the best queens, that I wanted production numbers..that I wanted a real show. We delivered that show. I installed new AC units for the cabaret my first year because for years, the cabaret closed all summer due to broken AC.
I knew that we had to offer more then drag, so I started scanning gay magazines and newspapers for gay entertainment. I booked gay comedians (Advocate Magazine's Gay Comedy Jam), I booked porn stars, I booked male dance revues, I booked by puppeteers, I booked recording artists. We hosted show tune nights before Loading Zone or Freddie's. We hosted huge Oscar parties before anyone else did. We delivered a cutting edge gay club experience to St. Louis. i poured every dime the bar made back into the business. We struggled to compete with the gay bar around the corner. That bar went through three sets of experienced club owners but we were still able to survive.
The Faces of my mind was hard to turn around but we did it. We went from handfuls of customers on Saturday night to 600-700 on an average Saturday..I need to stress this again..we went from near zero to 600-700 on a Saturday under my ownership..under my management. We managed this despite having a competing gay bar a block away. We did it despite being in East St. Louis.
Even as we achieved great success on Saturday, we still struggled with an empty bar on weeknights. We tried drag shows with older queens (the late Tracy hosted Tuesday and Thursday nights), we tried country line dancing lessons on Wednesdays, we tried show tunes on Mondays, we tried NTN on line trivia games, we tried Direct TV sports, we tired older DJs in the basement, we tried a piano bar in the basement, we tried karaoke on Sundays, we opened one of St. Louis' first martini bars with lounge/martini music, we tried strippers on weeknights, we tried 25 cent rail drinks, yet we could not attract a weeknight crowd. Petrina used to host Sunday drag shows in the cabaret and would perform for a handful of people every week. Our success on Saturdays basically paid for the losses on the rest of the week. Finally, we tried making Sundays 18+..We were the first gay bar to welcome 18+ customers and it was an immediate success. We went from 25-50 people on a Sunday to several hundred but we also experienced backlash and complaints from our over 30 year old customers. It seemed odd to me..I was there nearly every night...I never saw these adult customers on Sunday before we were 18+ but they still complained about it and claimed that it was why they didn't come on Sunday...it might be part of growing older..some don't like being around younger people because it makes then feel old..but honestly, the same kind of complaints come from the 18 year olds who don't like to be around older people..it always seemed sort of silly to me..the minors paid a higher cover, helping to pay for the entertainment, and they brought a level of energy to bar that we only saw on a packed Saturday...they seemed to enjoy the shows more then our older customers, they came early and left before 3 AM so most of our adult customers barely saw the minors..there were very few problems with our minor customers other then the complaints about them being there. I remodeled the basement several times because the rings (sales) were never as high as the rest of the building..in one of it's incarnations, I tried to use 1960 pop culture and comic books as inspiration...painting the walls, floors, and ceiling in "SuperMan" colors, we covered the walls with posters, art, and autogrpahs from superheroes of the 60s...trying to convey the fun and homoeroticism of superherores. The resaction was a immediate..our older customers, who had in fact grown up on these comic book icons, were certain that I was caterng to the "twinks"..that I was ruinning the bar with decor aimed at our18 year old customers...usually when I explained it, many of them "got it"..that the art work was aimed at them and thier childhoods, not our 18 year olds (since they weren't allowed down there in the first place). Every change we made was because the basement was usually the least profitable part of the building but changes were percieved as some sort of desecration of a shrine.
More baffling to me has been the response from older customers to women. When I bought the bar, there was a urinal in the middle of the basement. The urinal was there so that women could be denied access to the basement. It seemed like one of the Faces traditions that was funnier then it was serious but it always created problems. Male customers would leave female friends alone upstairs while they went to the basement. It was rude and something between them, but it always ended in a drama of the girls trying to find their friends or trying to sneak in the basement, or crying upstairs because they were left alone. I built a new "in between" bar in the basement..the martini bar with food, and some seating so girls could stay and wait for their friends. It was successful but it still seemed out of touch with today's world. I felt that gay bars should not discriminate against our own and finally tore the wall down that separated the bars in the basement. There were complaints but the sales for both bars increased after we tore the wall down. There were probably never more then 5 females who wanted to go in the basement and they drank, spent money, played pool, and didn't cause any problems. I find it sad that there are still people who can't get past that..who really seem to hate women or maybe feel embarrassed by their own sexuality who think a gay business should cater to their prejudices. Where do we draw the line..when does the Faces that I love, the Faces that welcomes everyone start to discriminate...
So, the Faces in my mind is not the same Faces that some of our customers remember. They remember a bar that was packed every night before I bought it..they remember lower covers and drink prices and more fun before I bought the bar..they remember better music and no women before I bought the bar..they remember better drag shows before I bought the bar...and they remember Faces being less sleazy and sexual before I bought the bar...In my mind, I was there..I paid the bills, I placed the ads, I booked the entertainment, and I created the concept...I made the decisions that kept the bar open and turned it around. I would love to own the bar that these people remember. It sounds like it was a lot of fun. I am willing to take the blame for every decision I made in the last 14 years old as long as we can agree that some of those decisions are responsible for keeping Faces open, turning it around, and delivering more then any other gay bar in St. Louis has to our community.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Illinois Licensed Beverage Association Presents Facts on Smoking Ban Impact
A complete smoking ban in a community would result in hospitality businesses experiencing a severe decline in sales, and problems with neighbors as patrons would be outside smoking and making noise at all times of the night. Many of our member businesses are located in mixed-use districts adjacent to residential buildings.
Anti-smoking groups continue to make claims that smoking bans either have no negative economic impact on bars and restaurants or they actually improve the business in these venues. If this were true, the hospitality industry would be leading the charge to pass complete smoking bans-or at a minimum, business owners would have voluntarily banned smoking in their establishments.
The economic studies conducted by anti-smoking advocates conveniently conclude smoking bans are not bad for our industry. This is logical as they include establishments that don't hold a liquor license. This is also logical as they funded the studies. What is illogical is that they discount the studies funded by our industry stating that they are biased because we funded these studies-using this same logic; their studies are biased and should be discounted as well.
The integrity of the studies cited by these groups is questionable. For example, anti-smoking advocacy groups boast of recent statistics from Pueblo, Colorado citing a dramatic decrease in heart attacks since the inception of their ban. These groups consistently point to the reduction in heart attacks in Pueblo, Colorado and Helena, Montana as incontrovertible proof that secondhand smoke is doubling the heart attack rate among non-smokers.
These two studies comprise a population base of roughly 200,000 people. However, when you look at the 70 million people that comprise the non-smoking states of California, New York, Florida and Oregon-the heart attack rate has either not decreased at all or decreased such a small amount as to be statistically insignificant.
Researchers can deliberately sift through enough small local jurisdictions with smoking bans to find a few aberrations in heart attack rates and then claim that elimination of exposure to secondhand smoke will dramatically reduce incidents of heart attacks. Please don't be taken in by misleading claims based on very select data samples.
All-out smoking bans have a severe negative economic impact on hospitality venues that serve beverage alcohol for consumption on-premise. Some people view the information from anti-smoking groups as credible when the pocketbooks of these groups are not impacted, yet the economic forecast of the industry that will be directly impacted is viewed skeptically. Again, if a complete smoking ban would benefit the businesses in our industry, the ILBA wouldn't care about this issue. Of particular concern are independent, small, family owned businesses. These businesses will fold first.
If hospitality industry businesses lose revenue, cities will also lose revenue. On average in Illinois, hospitality businesses generate 1 of every 8 sales tax dollars. Can cities, towns and villages really afford to lose this revenue?
We urge the City Councils to pass a compromise proposal to ban smoking in all public places, with some limited exceptions for bars, bar areas of restaurants, lounge areas of bowling centers, fraternal clubs and limited areas in retail tobacco stores. Concurrently, require businesses to use a uniform sticker public notification system on all entrances to inform customers of their smoking policy.
For establishments with a fair share of smoking customers, banning smoking would cripple their business. To deny hospitality business owners the right to make market-based decisions on issues that affect their bottom line is a slap in the face of free enterprise.
Patrons of bars and other hospitality venues make an active choice in entering such establishments. Those who do not wish to be subjected to secondhand smoke can choose to visit one of the thousands of venues that have voluntarily gone smoke-free. The free-marketplace takes care of itself in these matters-there is no need for draconian government intervention.
The businesses in our industry have worked very hard to achieve a compatible existence with our residential and business neighbors. This will spiral out of control when patrons are hanging outside at all times of the night creating noise and litter because they cannot smoke in the establishment.
In addition to crowds, noise and litter-a complete ban would cause other problems including creating an environment that invites underage drinking. Bars work very hard to keep underage persons from entering their establishments. An all-out smoking ban would create a perpetual revolving door situation at bars and taverns-making it nearly impossible to maintain control over the persons coming in and out the doors.
A complete smoking ban will induce consumers to spend their money in neighboring communities. Smokers will continue to smoke. The claim that a smoking ban will cause people to quit smoking is without basis in fact. The only logical comparison would be the effect Prohibition had on alcohol consumption.
The highest rate of alcohol consumption per capita in our nation's history was during Prohibition. Clearly, that experiment was a failure.
A compromise smoking ban proposal creates a comprehensive smoking ban in the vast majority of public places in communities, while simultaneously preserving the fabric of a community's personality, providing economic stability for one of Illinois' largest industries-and preserving the integrity of neighborhoods in mixed-use districts. Again-this is the logical and reasonable course to pursue in this matter.
Municipalities should allow this compromise proposal to work for a period of time. If stronger measures are warranted down the road, the Council can always re-visit the issue. This would be much more realistic than imposing an all-out draconian ban and then trying to pull it back after businesses have closed and employees have lost their jobs.
Anti-smoking groups continue to make claims that smoking bans either have no negative economic impact on bars and restaurants or they actually improve the business in these venues. If this were true, the hospitality industry would be leading the charge to pass complete smoking bans-or at a minimum, business owners would have voluntarily banned smoking in their establishments.
The economic studies conducted by anti-smoking advocates conveniently conclude smoking bans are not bad for our industry. This is logical as they include establishments that don't hold a liquor license. This is also logical as they funded the studies. What is illogical is that they discount the studies funded by our industry stating that they are biased because we funded these studies-using this same logic; their studies are biased and should be discounted as well.
The integrity of the studies cited by these groups is questionable. For example, anti-smoking advocacy groups boast of recent statistics from Pueblo, Colorado citing a dramatic decrease in heart attacks since the inception of their ban. These groups consistently point to the reduction in heart attacks in Pueblo, Colorado and Helena, Montana as incontrovertible proof that secondhand smoke is doubling the heart attack rate among non-smokers.
These two studies comprise a population base of roughly 200,000 people. However, when you look at the 70 million people that comprise the non-smoking states of California, New York, Florida and Oregon-the heart attack rate has either not decreased at all or decreased such a small amount as to be statistically insignificant.
Researchers can deliberately sift through enough small local jurisdictions with smoking bans to find a few aberrations in heart attack rates and then claim that elimination of exposure to secondhand smoke will dramatically reduce incidents of heart attacks. Please don't be taken in by misleading claims based on very select data samples.
All-out smoking bans have a severe negative economic impact on hospitality venues that serve beverage alcohol for consumption on-premise. Some people view the information from anti-smoking groups as credible when the pocketbooks of these groups are not impacted, yet the economic forecast of the industry that will be directly impacted is viewed skeptically. Again, if a complete smoking ban would benefit the businesses in our industry, the ILBA wouldn't care about this issue. Of particular concern are independent, small, family owned businesses. These businesses will fold first.
If hospitality industry businesses lose revenue, cities will also lose revenue. On average in Illinois, hospitality businesses generate 1 of every 8 sales tax dollars. Can cities, towns and villages really afford to lose this revenue?
We urge the City Councils to pass a compromise proposal to ban smoking in all public places, with some limited exceptions for bars, bar areas of restaurants, lounge areas of bowling centers, fraternal clubs and limited areas in retail tobacco stores. Concurrently, require businesses to use a uniform sticker public notification system on all entrances to inform customers of their smoking policy.
For establishments with a fair share of smoking customers, banning smoking would cripple their business. To deny hospitality business owners the right to make market-based decisions on issues that affect their bottom line is a slap in the face of free enterprise.
Patrons of bars and other hospitality venues make an active choice in entering such establishments. Those who do not wish to be subjected to secondhand smoke can choose to visit one of the thousands of venues that have voluntarily gone smoke-free. The free-marketplace takes care of itself in these matters-there is no need for draconian government intervention.
The businesses in our industry have worked very hard to achieve a compatible existence with our residential and business neighbors. This will spiral out of control when patrons are hanging outside at all times of the night creating noise and litter because they cannot smoke in the establishment.
In addition to crowds, noise and litter-a complete ban would cause other problems including creating an environment that invites underage drinking. Bars work very hard to keep underage persons from entering their establishments. An all-out smoking ban would create a perpetual revolving door situation at bars and taverns-making it nearly impossible to maintain control over the persons coming in and out the doors.
A complete smoking ban will induce consumers to spend their money in neighboring communities. Smokers will continue to smoke. The claim that a smoking ban will cause people to quit smoking is without basis in fact. The only logical comparison would be the effect Prohibition had on alcohol consumption.
The highest rate of alcohol consumption per capita in our nation's history was during Prohibition. Clearly, that experiment was a failure.
A compromise smoking ban proposal creates a comprehensive smoking ban in the vast majority of public places in communities, while simultaneously preserving the fabric of a community's personality, providing economic stability for one of Illinois' largest industries-and preserving the integrity of neighborhoods in mixed-use districts. Again-this is the logical and reasonable course to pursue in this matter.
Municipalities should allow this compromise proposal to work for a period of time. If stronger measures are warranted down the road, the Council can always re-visit the issue. This would be much more realistic than imposing an all-out draconian ban and then trying to pull it back after businesses have closed and employees have lost their jobs.
Quick Thinking Illinois Legislature Passes Bill that Will Cost the State Hundreds of Millions
From Belleville.com:
Casinos fear losses; others study options
BY SCOTT WUERZ
News-Democrat
Metro-east casino, bar and restaurant operators say they expect a 20 percent loss in business if Gov. Rod Blagojevich signs a smoking ban passed Tuesday by the General Assembly.
Representatives of the Casino Queen in East St. Louis and the Argosy Alton Casino referred calls to Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, which represents eight of nine state gambling establishments.
Swoik painted a bleak picture of smokeless Illinois casinos.
"It could be as much as $166 million lost," Swoik said, based on the 20 percent figure. "The Casino Queen and Casino Rock Island estimate that 60 to 70 percent of their patrons are smokers. And while there is a lot of loyalty amongst casino patrons, people who live near the border will be awfully tempted to make the short drive to a place where they can smoke."
The House on Tuesday approved the smoking ban, which will take effect in January if Blagojevich signs off on it as he is expected to do.
Backers said the law was needed because 2,900 Illinoisans die each year from secondhand smoke, and it's unfair that not only customers but also people who work in the service industry, including waiters and bartenders, have no choice now but to be exposed to the smoke. Blagojevich has indicated that he plans to sign the bill into law.
Scott Schmelzel, co-owner of Big Daddy's 618 in Belleville isn't a smoker. But he said he is disappointed about the ban because he thinks it will hurt his business.
"I know it's going to slow things down, at least initially," Schmelzel said. "Smoking is part of the bar atmosphere. That's part of the reason they come here, and I don't want my customers to be unhappy."
Schmelzel said he thinks he has an advantage over most bars in the metro-east, however. He has an outdoor patio where people can still hang out while puffing away.
Jessie Zirkelback, manager of Randy's 6-4-3 restaurant and bar in Troy, said she is planning to have a patio built to appease smokers.
"We were waiting to see if this passed," said Zirkelback, who estimated that 40 percent of her customers smoke. "Now that it has, we're definitely going to put a patio on."
Bob Graham, commander of American Legion Post 365 in Collinsville, said he plans to talk with the organization's board of directors about turning the establishment into a private club to get around the new law.
"We're definitely going to discuss that at our next meeting," Graham said. "We need to talk to legal counsel to see what we can do."
When asked how the smoking ban would affect the American Legion's business renting out its hall for wedding receptions, parties and other events, Graham was more optimistic.
"People are going to still need a place to hold those big events," Graham said. "The only difference I suspect you will see is a lot more cigarette butts on the parking lot."
Larreen Presson, a smoker from Collinsville, said she goes out to eat about once a week.
"I guess I'm going to go over to St. Louis more often," Presson said. "This is definitely going to affect where I go out for dinner."
Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or 239-2626.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Casinos fear losses; others study options
BY SCOTT WUERZ
News-Democrat
Metro-east casino, bar and restaurant operators say they expect a 20 percent loss in business if Gov. Rod Blagojevich signs a smoking ban passed Tuesday by the General Assembly.
Representatives of the Casino Queen in East St. Louis and the Argosy Alton Casino referred calls to Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, which represents eight of nine state gambling establishments.
Swoik painted a bleak picture of smokeless Illinois casinos.
"It could be as much as $166 million lost," Swoik said, based on the 20 percent figure. "The Casino Queen and Casino Rock Island estimate that 60 to 70 percent of their patrons are smokers. And while there is a lot of loyalty amongst casino patrons, people who live near the border will be awfully tempted to make the short drive to a place where they can smoke."
The House on Tuesday approved the smoking ban, which will take effect in January if Blagojevich signs off on it as he is expected to do.
Backers said the law was needed because 2,900 Illinoisans die each year from secondhand smoke, and it's unfair that not only customers but also people who work in the service industry, including waiters and bartenders, have no choice now but to be exposed to the smoke. Blagojevich has indicated that he plans to sign the bill into law.
Scott Schmelzel, co-owner of Big Daddy's 618 in Belleville isn't a smoker. But he said he is disappointed about the ban because he thinks it will hurt his business.
"I know it's going to slow things down, at least initially," Schmelzel said. "Smoking is part of the bar atmosphere. That's part of the reason they come here, and I don't want my customers to be unhappy."
Schmelzel said he thinks he has an advantage over most bars in the metro-east, however. He has an outdoor patio where people can still hang out while puffing away.
Jessie Zirkelback, manager of Randy's 6-4-3 restaurant and bar in Troy, said she is planning to have a patio built to appease smokers.
"We were waiting to see if this passed," said Zirkelback, who estimated that 40 percent of her customers smoke. "Now that it has, we're definitely going to put a patio on."
Bob Graham, commander of American Legion Post 365 in Collinsville, said he plans to talk with the organization's board of directors about turning the establishment into a private club to get around the new law.
"We're definitely going to discuss that at our next meeting," Graham said. "We need to talk to legal counsel to see what we can do."
When asked how the smoking ban would affect the American Legion's business renting out its hall for wedding receptions, parties and other events, Graham was more optimistic.
"People are going to still need a place to hold those big events," Graham said. "The only difference I suspect you will see is a lot more cigarette butts on the parking lot."
Larreen Presson, a smoker from Collinsville, said she goes out to eat about once a week.
"I guess I'm going to go over to St. Louis more often," Presson said. "This is definitely going to affect where I go out for dinner."
Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or 239-2626.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're Listening & Want to Hear From You!
Faces on Fourth Street needs your help. We're interested in what
you have to say about St. Louis nightlife, gay bars, what you
think is important, what you would never change, and what you'd like to see at Faces on Fourth Street in the future. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey.
Thank You From Faces on Fourth Street
Click here to take survey
you have to say about St. Louis nightlife, gay bars, what you
think is important, what you would never change, and what you'd like to see at Faces on Fourth Street in the future. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey.
Thank You From Faces on Fourth Street
Click here to take survey
A Sense of Where We Are (and how we got there)
As we consider our options and plans for the future of Faces on Fourth Street, we felt it might be helpful to clear the air so everyone understands where we are now and how we got here.
First a cautionary note; many false rumors and myths have surfaced about Faces. Much of what the public thinks they know about us is not true. We were not evicted by the landlord. We own the building and it's contents. We have not "skipped town". The fact that we own the building and have operated it as one of the best known (infamous)nightclubs in the country for 14 years makes that rumor sound kind of silly and insulting. The owner is not wealthy, did not run off with all the money, did not bleed the bar to pay for his drug habit, his harem of boys, his swimming pool, his doll collection, or any other diversion. The owner and his family have not collected pay or money from the club in at least 4 years. They (the owner and his family) have in fact loaned money, morale support, and provided sweat equity to try to turn things around. We have not declared bankruptcy. The Bush Administration has basically eliminated that option for a small business trying to survive. We have not sold the building although if you ask any bar owner in town, they would answer the same way, everyone has a price and we would consider a sale for the right price if it meant the bar could survive.
Given a choice, we would have rather kept the club open as we worked to improve it ourselves. Unfortunately, we are faced with a perfect storm of events with some common themes that make that choice nearly impossible. The problems that have drained our cash reserves include several acts of god and several outrageous actions by government officials.
Several years ago, the abandoned building next door (now a vacant lot) collapsed onto our building, parking lot, and street. The owner of the property did not clean up the collapsed building, leaving it on our parking lot, patio, street, and roof. The resulting mess impacted our business as it looked like our building collapsed as well as rendering critical street and lot parking unusable for months. We were forced to hire lawyers to sue the owner to clean it up. The clean up was slowed by corrupt government officials (later sent to prison) who put greed and personal gain over public safety. The building was left to literally crumble around us (and on top of one of our employee's cars). We paid tens of thousands of dollars to lawyers who never reached a settlement or collected damages. Basically they were really good at sending us bills. We ended up cleaning most of the debris and brick up ourselves as well as attempting to protect our customers by securing the site with barricades and concrete barriers. Our lawyers couldn't even get the owners to secure the site or post warning signs. We were forced to drop the suit because it was bleeding our cash reserves.
We invested in a $100,000 liquor control system seven years ago. The system paid for itself in less then two years by reducing losses (through over pours of liquor). While controversial when we installed it, most large bars have similar systems, including the casinos and our neighbors, Pop's and Oz. Two years ago, our building was struck by lightning, destroying the liquor control system as well as damaging AC units,TV monitors, lighting, and sound equipment. Our insurance company refused to pay off on the claim. We were stuck with an unusable $100,000 liquor control system that we had leased. We had to pay off the lease even though the system was destroyed. We could not afford to replace the system so we were back to losing thousands of dollars a week in liquor sales while we settled and paid the lease. We were forced to pay to repair the AC units but left other equipment damaged because we could not afford to repair it. We hired a new lawyer to take this case on a contingency but nothing has been done yet.
Last year, someone climbed onto our roof from the abandoned Walgreen’s building next door. The Walgreen's building owners had failed to secure their property. The thieves gutted two of our AC units for the copper. Both units were for our cabaret. Our insurance company again refused to pay (nearly $8,000 to repair), leaving us unable replace the AC units and making it impossible to use the cabaret for 5-6 months out of the year.
Several years ago, a newly elected mayor went on TV and announced to the world that he would close all the East St. Louis bars at midnight on New Year’s Eve unless the city council gave into his demands. He tried to use the bars, one of the city's only revenue sources, as a bargaining chip with the city council. We were forced to hire a lawyer to prepare a suit against the mayor and to file a complaint with the Illinois Liquor Commission to obtain an order to keep our doors open. Our success was never reported in the news. The headlines and TV reports stating that all the bars would close, broadcast over several weeks in December resulted in our NYE business dropping in half.
Last Summer’s storm and power outage forced us to close for several days, causing us to lose thousands dollars of much needed revenue. Our power was restored in one day but the rest of East St. Louis was still without power so the mayor ordered a curfew, forcing us to stay closed. We never made that money back.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/07/23/st.louis.blackout/
Late last Fall, the Illinois State Legislature and the Governor allowed Illinois utility companies to be deregulated, resulting in a huge windfall for Ameren and ConEd as they more then doubled their prices for both gas and electricity. To put it bluntly, the utility companies bought and paid for the legislature. No action has been taken to roll back or reduce these crippling utility rates. Our gas and electric rates have more then doubled since December. The utilities are making no effort to work with their customers (even though they testifed under oath that they would not disconnect anyone's service). Our electric bill was $2,500 to $3,000 a month last summer. We expect our electric bill to reach $7,000-$8,000 a month or an increase of over $350 to $400 a day this summer unless the legislature passes some relief.
While the legislature has basically said a big "fuck you" to small businesses being raped by the utility companies, they did manage to pass legislation reminiscent of the prohibition era. This week, both state houses passed a complete and total smoking ban in public places. Last year, Illinois allowed cities to pass their own smoking bans, while few cities actually passed the bans, small businesses in every town that passed the bans were hurt. Many were forced to close as they saw their sales drop. Now, the legislature has taken it a step further, taking away all personal choice..all rights as an individual to decide for themselves whether to support bars that ban smoking. Clearly that did not happen...the people voted by refusing to patronize bars with smoking bans so the legislature took the right to choose away. Our customers will be able to smoke in most bars in St. Louis but will be subject to arrest and fines if they smoke across the river in Illinois. We have no way of knowing how much this ban will hurt us but evidence from other cities that passed bans while their neighbors allowed smoking indicates that this will hurt.
As all these events took their toll on our finances, we began to experience a steady decline in our core business. Most events we planned did a fraction of what we expected. Nightclubs all over the country were experiencing similar drops, resulting in a steady stream of club closures. In St. Louis, the most prominent example was the closing of Velvet on Washington Avenue. It is generally agreed that this trend is in part due to the rising popularity of social networking sites. Many of our regular customers can be found on line when they used to be in nightclubs. Our community has substituted crusing on Manhunt, Gay.com, and Man4SexNow to cruising at Faces. Another factor that has decimated our community is the rising addiction to crystal meth. We have lost many friends and great customers to crystal. We kept planning events, we kept booking entertainers, we kept our shows going, hopng to excite the imagination of the community again. We tried to appeal to our customers for help, sometimes almost begging long time friends to come in for events and to bring their friends. We are grateful to everyone who did. There have been times when our own entertainers and staff went unpaid as we tried to get the crowd back. In hindsite, while we appreciate their sacrifices, efforts, and their support, we regret asking them to invest their time and effort. We are still indebted both emotionally as well as financially to several of them and we hope to repay that debt before we reopen. We are grateful to and proud of all the entertainers who have helped make Faces what it is. We have seen our entertainers and DJs grow and become incredible talents.
We have made mistakes. We admit that. Our actions sometimes met the classic definition of insanity...doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. We sometimes tried to live up to our own reputation, delivering increasingly expensive events and entertainers while the money was clearly not coming in to pay for it. We always thought that if we delivered more then the other St. Louis gay bars did and marketed it well, our customers would notice and continue to suppport us.
Acts of god, combined with the increased popularity of Internet social networking, a less the robust Bush economy, and our community's increasing addiction to crystal meth, are the primary reasons that we are in the position we are now. Basically, we were screwed by insurance companies, bled dry by lawyers, which prevented us from being able to update the bar or market it as we had in the past. The State of Illinois stepped in, rendering double blows, failing to pass utility relief while banning smoking. Our challenge now is to listen to our customers, brainstorm, and come up with a new business model that will allow us to survive these setbacks.
First a cautionary note; many false rumors and myths have surfaced about Faces. Much of what the public thinks they know about us is not true. We were not evicted by the landlord. We own the building and it's contents. We have not "skipped town". The fact that we own the building and have operated it as one of the best known (infamous)nightclubs in the country for 14 years makes that rumor sound kind of silly and insulting. The owner is not wealthy, did not run off with all the money, did not bleed the bar to pay for his drug habit, his harem of boys, his swimming pool, his doll collection, or any other diversion. The owner and his family have not collected pay or money from the club in at least 4 years. They (the owner and his family) have in fact loaned money, morale support, and provided sweat equity to try to turn things around. We have not declared bankruptcy. The Bush Administration has basically eliminated that option for a small business trying to survive. We have not sold the building although if you ask any bar owner in town, they would answer the same way, everyone has a price and we would consider a sale for the right price if it meant the bar could survive.
Given a choice, we would have rather kept the club open as we worked to improve it ourselves. Unfortunately, we are faced with a perfect storm of events with some common themes that make that choice nearly impossible. The problems that have drained our cash reserves include several acts of god and several outrageous actions by government officials.
Several years ago, the abandoned building next door (now a vacant lot) collapsed onto our building, parking lot, and street. The owner of the property did not clean up the collapsed building, leaving it on our parking lot, patio, street, and roof. The resulting mess impacted our business as it looked like our building collapsed as well as rendering critical street and lot parking unusable for months. We were forced to hire lawyers to sue the owner to clean it up. The clean up was slowed by corrupt government officials (later sent to prison) who put greed and personal gain over public safety. The building was left to literally crumble around us (and on top of one of our employee's cars). We paid tens of thousands of dollars to lawyers who never reached a settlement or collected damages. Basically they were really good at sending us bills. We ended up cleaning most of the debris and brick up ourselves as well as attempting to protect our customers by securing the site with barricades and concrete barriers. Our lawyers couldn't even get the owners to secure the site or post warning signs. We were forced to drop the suit because it was bleeding our cash reserves.
We invested in a $100,000 liquor control system seven years ago. The system paid for itself in less then two years by reducing losses (through over pours of liquor). While controversial when we installed it, most large bars have similar systems, including the casinos and our neighbors, Pop's and Oz. Two years ago, our building was struck by lightning, destroying the liquor control system as well as damaging AC units,TV monitors, lighting, and sound equipment. Our insurance company refused to pay off on the claim. We were stuck with an unusable $100,000 liquor control system that we had leased. We had to pay off the lease even though the system was destroyed. We could not afford to replace the system so we were back to losing thousands of dollars a week in liquor sales while we settled and paid the lease. We were forced to pay to repair the AC units but left other equipment damaged because we could not afford to repair it. We hired a new lawyer to take this case on a contingency but nothing has been done yet.
Last year, someone climbed onto our roof from the abandoned Walgreen’s building next door. The Walgreen's building owners had failed to secure their property. The thieves gutted two of our AC units for the copper. Both units were for our cabaret. Our insurance company again refused to pay (nearly $8,000 to repair), leaving us unable replace the AC units and making it impossible to use the cabaret for 5-6 months out of the year.
Several years ago, a newly elected mayor went on TV and announced to the world that he would close all the East St. Louis bars at midnight on New Year’s Eve unless the city council gave into his demands. He tried to use the bars, one of the city's only revenue sources, as a bargaining chip with the city council. We were forced to hire a lawyer to prepare a suit against the mayor and to file a complaint with the Illinois Liquor Commission to obtain an order to keep our doors open. Our success was never reported in the news. The headlines and TV reports stating that all the bars would close, broadcast over several weeks in December resulted in our NYE business dropping in half.
Last Summer’s storm and power outage forced us to close for several days, causing us to lose thousands dollars of much needed revenue. Our power was restored in one day but the rest of East St. Louis was still without power so the mayor ordered a curfew, forcing us to stay closed. We never made that money back.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/07/23/st.louis.blackout/
Late last Fall, the Illinois State Legislature and the Governor allowed Illinois utility companies to be deregulated, resulting in a huge windfall for Ameren and ConEd as they more then doubled their prices for both gas and electricity. To put it bluntly, the utility companies bought and paid for the legislature. No action has been taken to roll back or reduce these crippling utility rates. Our gas and electric rates have more then doubled since December. The utilities are making no effort to work with their customers (even though they testifed under oath that they would not disconnect anyone's service). Our electric bill was $2,500 to $3,000 a month last summer. We expect our electric bill to reach $7,000-$8,000 a month or an increase of over $350 to $400 a day this summer unless the legislature passes some relief.
While the legislature has basically said a big "fuck you" to small businesses being raped by the utility companies, they did manage to pass legislation reminiscent of the prohibition era. This week, both state houses passed a complete and total smoking ban in public places. Last year, Illinois allowed cities to pass their own smoking bans, while few cities actually passed the bans, small businesses in every town that passed the bans were hurt. Many were forced to close as they saw their sales drop. Now, the legislature has taken it a step further, taking away all personal choice..all rights as an individual to decide for themselves whether to support bars that ban smoking. Clearly that did not happen...the people voted by refusing to patronize bars with smoking bans so the legislature took the right to choose away. Our customers will be able to smoke in most bars in St. Louis but will be subject to arrest and fines if they smoke across the river in Illinois. We have no way of knowing how much this ban will hurt us but evidence from other cities that passed bans while their neighbors allowed smoking indicates that this will hurt.
As all these events took their toll on our finances, we began to experience a steady decline in our core business. Most events we planned did a fraction of what we expected. Nightclubs all over the country were experiencing similar drops, resulting in a steady stream of club closures. In St. Louis, the most prominent example was the closing of Velvet on Washington Avenue. It is generally agreed that this trend is in part due to the rising popularity of social networking sites. Many of our regular customers can be found on line when they used to be in nightclubs. Our community has substituted crusing on Manhunt, Gay.com, and Man4SexNow to cruising at Faces. Another factor that has decimated our community is the rising addiction to crystal meth. We have lost many friends and great customers to crystal. We kept planning events, we kept booking entertainers, we kept our shows going, hopng to excite the imagination of the community again. We tried to appeal to our customers for help, sometimes almost begging long time friends to come in for events and to bring their friends. We are grateful to everyone who did. There have been times when our own entertainers and staff went unpaid as we tried to get the crowd back. In hindsite, while we appreciate their sacrifices, efforts, and their support, we regret asking them to invest their time and effort. We are still indebted both emotionally as well as financially to several of them and we hope to repay that debt before we reopen. We are grateful to and proud of all the entertainers who have helped make Faces what it is. We have seen our entertainers and DJs grow and become incredible talents.
We have made mistakes. We admit that. Our actions sometimes met the classic definition of insanity...doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. We sometimes tried to live up to our own reputation, delivering increasingly expensive events and entertainers while the money was clearly not coming in to pay for it. We always thought that if we delivered more then the other St. Louis gay bars did and marketed it well, our customers would notice and continue to suppport us.
Acts of god, combined with the increased popularity of Internet social networking, a less the robust Bush economy, and our community's increasing addiction to crystal meth, are the primary reasons that we are in the position we are now. Basically, we were screwed by insurance companies, bled dry by lawyers, which prevented us from being able to update the bar or market it as we had in the past. The State of Illinois stepped in, rendering double blows, failing to pass utility relief while banning smoking. Our challenge now is to listen to our customers, brainstorm, and come up with a new business model that will allow us to survive these setbacks.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
So the "thumpa thumpa" continues. It always will. No matter what happens. No matter who's President.
We're Closed for Now But We'll Be Back!
We are sorry to announce that Faces on Fourth Street closed it's doors on Tuesday, May 1, 2007. We've served St. Louis' gay, lesbian, transgendered, bi, and straight community for 30 years.
We've laughed with you, cried with you, danced with you, drank with you, applauded you, watched you fall in love, and welcomed you for nearly 30 years. Now we want to say THANK YOU! While this moment is bittersweet, we hope it will result in a better, stronger Faces when we come back.
We have reached a point where we need to step back, take a hard look at our business model, see what worked and what didn't, build on our strengths, and adapt for the future. Nightclubs all over America are experiencing a downturn and we are no exception. We realize that if we are to survive, we need to adapt, evolve, and change. While we have had some tremendous successes, we have also experienced quite a few disappointments. Faced with utility bills that have more then doubled since January we have determined that without immediate relief from the Illinois Legislature and a plan to increase our attendance and revenue we cannot survive.May is traditionally one of our slowest months so it made sense to do this now. We expect to make some much needed upgrades and improvements to the building while we take some time off. We will be doing some brainstorming with our staff as well as surveying you and your friends. We need your help. We thank you in advance for giving us feedback through our online surveys. We would appreciate any help that our St. Louis bar owner friends can provide to our staff. If you can find a place for the until we reopen, we would be grateful. We appreciate our staff, DJs, and entertainers and hope that they will join us in this new adventure.
Please check back here for more updates. We will have a better idea when we will reopen after we review the survey results. We encourage you to sign up for our email updates to insure that you are the first to hear the news.
We are sorry to announce that Faces on Fourth Street closed it's doors on Tuesday, May 1, 2007. We've served St. Louis' gay, lesbian, transgendered, bi, and straight community for 30 years.
We've laughed with you, cried with you, danced with you, drank with you, applauded you, watched you fall in love, and welcomed you for nearly 30 years. Now we want to say THANK YOU! While this moment is bittersweet, we hope it will result in a better, stronger Faces when we come back.
We have reached a point where we need to step back, take a hard look at our business model, see what worked and what didn't, build on our strengths, and adapt for the future. Nightclubs all over America are experiencing a downturn and we are no exception. We realize that if we are to survive, we need to adapt, evolve, and change. While we have had some tremendous successes, we have also experienced quite a few disappointments. Faced with utility bills that have more then doubled since January we have determined that without immediate relief from the Illinois Legislature and a plan to increase our attendance and revenue we cannot survive.May is traditionally one of our slowest months so it made sense to do this now. We expect to make some much needed upgrades and improvements to the building while we take some time off. We will be doing some brainstorming with our staff as well as surveying you and your friends. We need your help. We thank you in advance for giving us feedback through our online surveys. We would appreciate any help that our St. Louis bar owner friends can provide to our staff. If you can find a place for the until we reopen, we would be grateful. We appreciate our staff, DJs, and entertainers and hope that they will join us in this new adventure.
Please check back here for more updates. We will have a better idea when we will reopen after we review the survey results. We encourage you to sign up for our email updates to insure that you are the first to hear the news.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Faces on Fourth Street Salutes 30 Years of Incredible Customers With a Party So Big, It Lasts 3 Days! Thank You!
Faces on Fourth Street Invites You to a Party So Big, It Lasts For Three Days!
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday April 27, 28, & 29 -
Bring your friends (especially the Faces virgins) to our 3 DAY SALUTE to 30 years wonderful customers!
We've laughed with you, cried with you, danced with you, drank with you, applauded you, watched you fall in love, and welcomed you for nearly 30 years. Now we want to say THANK YOU!
Faces on Fourth Street has hosted hundreds of unique theme parties from our recent Siren's U CAN DANCE, Danny Morris' UNSPEAKABLE JOY, to EXP movie and CD releases, our theme parties continue to add exciting new twists to St. Louis' nightlife. No other bar in town has brought you so much...and we were able to do it because of your support. Without our incredible customers we would never have been able to bring you all the parties, all the entertainment, all the music, and all the great times with your friends over the last 30 years.
This weekend -
Friday April 27 is Topless Friday!
Leave Your Shirts in the Car, Come In Topless & Get In Free Until Midnight or Come Topless After Midnight & Pay $2 Cover! 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Doors @ 10 PM. Show @ 11:30 PM.
Saturday April 28 Underwear Party! Leave Your Clothes in Car, Come in Your Underwear (not shorts, underwear & shoes only), get in free & get free fountain soda all night! 21+ with ID required. Doors @ midnight. Show @ 1:30 AM.
Sunday April 29 Faces Salutes
Our Drag Battle Amateurs
Candy Principle Invites Everyone Who has Ever Competed in our Wednesday Battle of the Amateur Drag Queens to perform with her show cast. Bring 2-3 numbers and all your friends for a special Sunday Salute to Our Drag Battle Amateurs
Doors @ 10 PM. Guests in Drag Get in Free. Show @ 11:30 PM. 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink.
Sunday EXP Magazine & Columbia Pictures presents the official "Spiderman 3" Release Party @ Faces on Fourth Street. A limited number of screening passes and posters for "Spiderman 3" will be available as prizes.
Faces on Fourth Street Has Presented
Hundreds of Incredible Internationally Known DJs - But We're Proud of Our Resident Talent! last weekend, resident DJ Pavel pumped the dance floor and kept the crowd dancing until dawn (and we have hot shirtless customers).
Friday & Saturday April 27 & 28 Resident DJ Beezwakz (from On the Grid Music) will mix your favorite dance hits from the last 30 years with the latest hits.
Saturday April 28 Resident DJ Steve-O Brings a Deeper Mix to the Basement AFTERHOURS.
Sunday April 29 Resident DJs Charlie Buttons & Landyn Cade takes your requests before, between, and after the Sunday Show.
Be prepared to dance until dawn all weekend!
Faces on Fourth Street's Stage Has Played Host to Thousands of Incredible Entertainers - every female impersonator in St. Louis has performed on our stage. Title holding queens from all over the country have performed with our cast. Hundreds of recording artists, adult video stars, and nationally known female impersonators have entertained you @ Faces.
Share the Memories This Weekend -
Marissa Bloomingdale
Says Thank You With Shows Friday April 27 @ 11:30 PM & Saturday April 28 @ 1:30 AM -
The Legendary Candy Principle
Hosts A Special Tribute to Our Battle of the Amateur Drag Queens on Sunday April 29 -
All Our Drag Battle Amateur Contestants are Invited To Perform on Sunday in the Cabaret @ 11:30 PM.
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday April 27, 28, & 29 -
Bring your friends (especially the Faces virgins) to our 3 DAY SALUTE to 30 years wonderful customers!
We've laughed with you, cried with you, danced with you, drank with you, applauded you, watched you fall in love, and welcomed you for nearly 30 years. Now we want to say THANK YOU!
Faces on Fourth Street has hosted hundreds of unique theme parties from our recent Siren's U CAN DANCE, Danny Morris' UNSPEAKABLE JOY, to EXP movie and CD releases, our theme parties continue to add exciting new twists to St. Louis' nightlife. No other bar in town has brought you so much...and we were able to do it because of your support. Without our incredible customers we would never have been able to bring you all the parties, all the entertainment, all the music, and all the great times with your friends over the last 30 years.
This weekend -
Friday April 27 is Topless Friday!
Leave Your Shirts in the Car, Come In Topless & Get In Free Until Midnight or Come Topless After Midnight & Pay $2 Cover! 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Doors @ 10 PM. Show @ 11:30 PM.
Saturday April 28 Underwear Party! Leave Your Clothes in Car, Come in Your Underwear (not shorts, underwear & shoes only), get in free & get free fountain soda all night! 21+ with ID required. Doors @ midnight. Show @ 1:30 AM.
Sunday April 29 Faces Salutes
Our Drag Battle Amateurs
Candy Principle Invites Everyone Who has Ever Competed in our Wednesday Battle of the Amateur Drag Queens to perform with her show cast. Bring 2-3 numbers and all your friends for a special Sunday Salute to Our Drag Battle Amateurs
Doors @ 10 PM. Guests in Drag Get in Free. Show @ 11:30 PM. 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink.
Sunday EXP Magazine & Columbia Pictures presents the official "Spiderman 3" Release Party @ Faces on Fourth Street. A limited number of screening passes and posters for "Spiderman 3" will be available as prizes.
Faces on Fourth Street Has Presented
Hundreds of Incredible Internationally Known DJs - But We're Proud of Our Resident Talent! last weekend, resident DJ Pavel pumped the dance floor and kept the crowd dancing until dawn (and we have hot shirtless customers).
Friday & Saturday April 27 & 28 Resident DJ Beezwakz (from On the Grid Music) will mix your favorite dance hits from the last 30 years with the latest hits.
Saturday April 28 Resident DJ Steve-O Brings a Deeper Mix to the Basement AFTERHOURS.
Sunday April 29 Resident DJs Charlie Buttons & Landyn Cade takes your requests before, between, and after the Sunday Show.
Be prepared to dance until dawn all weekend!
Faces on Fourth Street's Stage Has Played Host to Thousands of Incredible Entertainers - every female impersonator in St. Louis has performed on our stage. Title holding queens from all over the country have performed with our cast. Hundreds of recording artists, adult video stars, and nationally known female impersonators have entertained you @ Faces.
Share the Memories This Weekend -
Marissa Bloomingdale
Says Thank You With Shows Friday April 27 @ 11:30 PM & Saturday April 28 @ 1:30 AM -
The Legendary Candy Principle
Hosts A Special Tribute to Our Battle of the Amateur Drag Queens on Sunday April 29 -
All Our Drag Battle Amateur Contestants are Invited To Perform on Sunday in the Cabaret @ 11:30 PM.
Sunday April 29 - EXP Magazine & Faces on Fourth Street Celebrate the Release of "Spiderman 3"
EXP Magazine & Faces on Fourth Street present the Release Party for Columbia Pictures "Spiderman 3". On Sunday April 29, 2007, a limited number of screening passes and posters will be available as prizes. "Spiderman 3" opens in theatres on May 4, 2007. This is the first bockbuster of the summer so get here early! Doors open Sunday April 29, 2007 @ 10 PM. Sunday is 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Candy Principle's Salute to our Drag Battle Contestants starts @ 11:30 PM. DJ Charlie Buttons & Landyn Cade spin your favorites before, between, and after the show.
Legendary Candy Principle Salutes Our Drag Battle Amateurs Sunday April 29
Sunday April 29, 2007 the legendary Candy Principle salutes our Battle of the Amateur Drag Queen amateurs. Faces on Fourth Street invites all our Drag Battle amateurs to join the show on Sunday April 29. Bring 2-3 numbers and perform along side Candy & her show cast. Sunday is 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Doors @ 10 PM. The Show starts @ 11:30 PM. Dress in drag and get in free all night. DJ Charlie Buttons & Landyn Cade take your requests before, between, and after the show.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Topless Friday @ Faces! Show some skin & get in free!
Friday April 27, 2007 Faces on Fourth Street goes topless. Leave your shirt at home, come in barechested (topless) and get in free all night. Doors open Friday @ 10 PM. Friday is 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Marissa Bloomingdale hosts the Friday Drag Show @ 11:30 PM. Enjoy our $2 U-Call-It Cocktails & beer all night (some restrictions apply).
Drop Your Pants & dance! Lights Out/Underwear Party Saturday April 28
Drop your pants & dance! The infamous Lights Out/Underwear Party returns to Faces on Fourth Street Saturday April 28, 2007. Check your clothes and party in your underwear all night or leave your clothes in the car, come in your underwear, and get in free all night. Guests in their underwear get free fountain soda all night. Doors open Saturday @ midnight. Marissa Bloomingdale hosts the Drag Show in the Cabaret @ 1:30 AM. DJ Beezwakz spins in the Main Room & DJ Steve-O spins AFTERHOURS in the Basement. Saturday is 21+ with ID required.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
EXP Magazine & Faces Present "The Condemned" Movie Release Party Sunday April 22
EXP Magazine & Faces on Fourth Street present the Movie Release Party for "The Condemned" on Sunday April 22, 2007. A limited number of screening passes will be available. Sunday is 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Doors open Sunday @ 10 PM. Candy Principle hosts the Sunday Drag Show @ 11:30 PM.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
Foam Party Friday April 6 @ Faces - Get A Preview From Our Last Party on Youtube
Faom Party Friday April 6, 2007 @ Faces on Fourth Street. Check your clothes and frolic in the foam. Doors open @ 10 PM. DJ Charlie Buttons spins in the Main Room. Marissa Bloomingdale hosts our Friday Drag Show @ 11:30 PM then the Foam Flows @ 2 AM. Friday is 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Check out some of our YouTube videos from our last Foam Party. It's good clean fun! Bring your friends!
Monday, April 02, 2007
ID Glide Lube Wrestling Returns Friday April 20 - Special Guest Wrestlers - Nine Inch Males
Bring a buddy, strip down to your jock strap or birthday suit, lube up and wrestle on Friday April 20, 2007. ID Glide Lube has provided us with lube to wrestle in as well as great prizes for the winners. You must be here by midnight to register to wrestle. Contestants must strip down to wrestle (no shirts or pants). Doors open @ 10 PM. Marissa Bloomingdale hosts our Friday Drag Show @ 11:30 PM then the wrestling starts @ 2 AM. Friday is 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Bring a buddy to wrestle or we'll pair you up with another stripped down stud. Special guest wrestlers - the Nine Inch Males return and they'll be stripped down, lubed up, and ready to wrestle each other as well as you.
Siren's U CAN DANCE Returns on a New Night - Saturday April 14 @ Faces
Without fear of being acccused of over stating our case, Siren's U CAN DANCE has become the most successful (and popular) gay club event in St. Louis. If you have been to a U CAN DANCE event you know why...if you have missed all the hype then this is your opportunity to see what St. Louis is talking about. U CAN DANCE is a non-stop dance event...combining astonishing drag performances and hot go go bois with a heart stopping dance beat. The dance floor is packed with hot, sweaty guys and girls...gays, straights, transgendered, and confused come together to dance (and drink). DJ Charlie Buttons spins all night. For this one night only, Faces welcomes 18+ guests in on a Saturday night. Doors open @ 10 PM. The event starts @ 11:30 PM. Tell your friends. If they usually head to Faces @ 3 AM then this is one Saturday night that the crowd will be @ Faces early...don't let them miss Siren's U CAN DANCE Saturday April 14, 2007 @ 10 PM.
A new night to dance- E(c)lectro Thursdays @ Faces
We're hearing from our nightlife experts that the gays are going out on Thursday nights and need a new place to dance. We've opened our Main Room (dance floor) just for you and your friends. After Loading Zone and Freddie's close, head to Faces on Fourth Street for E(c)lectro with DJ Charlie Buttons in the Main Room and DJ Steve-O in the Basement. Doors open on Thursday @ midnight. Thursday is 21+ with ID required. Enjoy our new $2 Bud Light, Bud, and Bud Select in 16oz aluminum bottles. For a limited time, there's no cover until 2 AM, then $5 cover after 2 AM.
You Can Enjoy Faces For the Entire Month of April for Only $10!
You can avoid the cover for the entire month of April...you can enjoy our Foam Party this Friday April 6, Danny Morris' Unspeakable Joy on Saturday April 7, as well as all of our regular weekly events like our Wednesday Battle of the Amatuer Drag Queens..all you have to do is come in this week (April 4 through April 8), pay the cover, fill out our VIP Registration Form, and pay $10 more..then you can enjoy Faces for the entire month of April, 2007. Tell your friends becauae they won't want to miss this deal either!
Good Clean Fun! Foam Party Returns Easter Weekend - Friday April 6
Easter Weekend - We're bringing back the Studs n Suds Foam Party Friday April 6, 2007. We fill our dance floor neck deep with foam. Check your clothes, fill out our Registration Form, then frolic in the foam to the dance beats of DJ Charlie Buttons. Dress for the pool...swim wear, flip flops..your birthday suit...foam is bad for clothes, including leather belts, shoes, wallets...as well as electronics...that means leave your watches, cell phones, and cameras at home. Friday is 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Doors open Friday @ 10 PM. Marissa Bloomingdale hosts our Friday Drag Show in the Cabaret @ 11:30 PM, then the Foam Flows @ 2 AM. Enjoy our $3 U-Call-It Cocktails & beer all night (some restrictions apply).
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
UNSPEAKABLE JOY Saturday April 7 - Special Guest DJ Danny Morris
Saturday April 7, 2007 Faces on Fourth Street Presents UNSPEAKABLE JOY with special guest DJ Danny Morris. You'll be runnin', and skippin', and jumpin' to the soaring vocals of Kim English, Kristine W., Thea Austin. Inaya Day, Simone Denny, Crysyal Waters and many more. Danny will salute the joy of uplifting dance music. Danny has been a legendary resident St. Louis DJ/VJ at Freddie's, Faces on Fourth Street, Loading Zone, Hyperspace, and Fall-Out. If you remember Danny's packed dance floors @ Faces or Fall-Out, then you'll be dancing until dawn tonight. Danny spins at Freddie's then brings the UNSPEAKABLE JOY to Faces on Fourth Street @ 1:30 AM. Marissa Bloomingdale hosts a special JOY Drag Show in the Cabaret @ 1:30 AM. Doors open Saturday @ midnight. Saturday is 21+ with iD required.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
New Pix - Last Friday's WET Lube Wrestling Contest @ Faces on Fourth Street
Faces on Fourth Street hosted WET Lube Wrestling last Friday, March 9, 2007. Check out these hot pix to see what you missed (and make plans to come next time).
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
St. Patrick's Day Weekend Drag Shows Friday - Sunday March 16-18
Faces on Fourth Street celebrates St. Patrick's Day Weekend with Drag Shows Friday, Saturday, and Sunday March 16, 17, and 18. Marissa Bloomingdale hosts the Friday & Saturday Shows. Candy Principle hosts the Sunday Show. Friday & Sunday Shows start @ 11:30 Pm & 1 AM. Saturday Show starts @ 1:30 AM in the Cabaret. Doors open Friday & Sunday @ 10 PM. Doors open Saturday @ midnight. Friday & Sunday are 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Saturday is 21+ with ID required. Cover is $5 every night for everyone. DJ Beezwakz spins Friday & Saturday night in the Main Room. DJ Steve-O spins AFTERHOURS in the Basement on Saturday. DJ Charlie Button spins Sunday.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
"Dreamgirls" Salute Wednesday March 14th @ Faces
Wednesday March 14th Faces on Fourth Street presents a Salute to "Dreamgirls". Wednesday is our 18+ Dance Party & Battle of the Amateur Drag Queens. Dayonna Nicole & Alyssa Valentino host the show @ 11:30 PM & 1 AM. Our Amateurs will perform numbers from "Dreamgirls" as they compete for cash and audience applause. DJ Charlie Buttons takes requests before, between, and after the show. Doors open @ 10PM. Wednesday is 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink. Cover is $5 for everyone.
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