RTP-area local music and culture

["Glenn Boothe / Local 506" <gboothe2 AT earthlink.net>]

>It is a private club. Last week, they DID let in young people...don't know 
>if they always do or not.

As a private club (ie: bars that serve liquor sans food,) you CAN allow
in 18+.  Local 506 does.  Now, I will admit this was against the
recommendation of both the Chapel Hill police and the Alchohol Law
Enforcement (ALE,) but I remember what it was like being the kid who
couldn't get into rock shows, and it sucked...so that's why I do it.
Along those lines, I'm a firm proponent that the ages of 16-22 are such
a formative time period for one's music taste...and can name countless
shows I saw before turning twenty-one.

And yes, we do charge $3 to anyone under 21, primarily because we don't
make any money from the bar off them.  However, it also costs me over a
$1000 extra in insurance because I allow in kids younger than 21.  And
yes, rarely a night goes by where someone underage doesn't give our
door person shit for this policy (not knowing that the only other
option would be to be 21 and up, ruling out their attendance entirely.)


Of course, in re-thinking this policy last year, I proposed to my
employees (and not to sound like a broken record, but there is not a
single policy at Local 506 that my employees do not approve of - as
they're musicians) that instead of the $3 surcharge to the kids, we
just take this amount out of the door price.  Meaning, the kids would
pay the same door price as everyone else, but the band would make a
little less for each person under 21.  I personally think this is a
better way to do it and would probably increase the under 21 attendance
at shows (as three dollars can be alot to some student) but was vetoed
by the employees.  I'd be interested to get other points of view on
that.

glenn