Sunday, April 26, 2009

SFLNC gets a NEW look

After about 3 years being dormant (trying to live our lives like normal peeps) we have re-designed the SFLNC website. Why? Two reasons; we needed a new look and the ABC. The old site was the love child of the dot com boom and the enthusiasm of one great guy, Mike Migurski. He created a state-of-the-art data base site that served us for the last 7 years and NEVER broke down. My hat is off to you Mike where ever you are and may the late night Goddess give you what you want whenever you want it. But the real reason for the new site is that we have a new cause.

Today, the California department based in Sacramento that has the state wide responsibility for regulating alcohol distribution, has become the latest “law enforcement” agency to “attack” popular culture venues. The ABC, Alcoholic Beverage Control, recently launched investigations and filed charges against eleven of San Francisco’s premier live music venues. This direct threat to the live music scene has become so voracious that we have had no other choice than to offer our experience and services to “live music” just as we did for “electronic music” ten years ago. There is an entire section of the site devoted to this struggle and you can find it by clicking here.

Its respect that prompts me to remember a few key peeps in the effort to save nightlife in San Francisco, don’t look for too much deep story line, it’s just that we couldn’t press the re-start button without giving kudos to those who helped make us what we are today. Let’s start by saying that we are a group of regular people who value the tremendous options available to us in San Francisco, especially when it comes to late night entertainment. That is how we started (there will be a future story about all that starting up stuff as it is really fascinating) and that is pretty much how we have remained until today. The “power of the people” who wanted lots of choices in their late night entertainment is what gave us the resolve, strength and money to carry the water for the culture of late night. Now the venues that host those events need our help.

It would be wrong to launch into tomorrow without giving a shout to the a bunch of peeps (remember there will be a lot more on this part in the later mini-series about how we did the start up thing) whose role can’t be understated in telling the SFLNC story. Sunshine and Moonbeam (who couldn’t get a permit for their parties out of the SFPD), Stephanie Tucker (who really loved the scene and is such a looker that it was hard to say “no” to her), Leslie Ayres (whose writings kept our supporters feeling like they were right there shoulder to shoulder with us pushing that rock up the hill), Kari Grey (love your ability to keep us organized and on point), David Cutler (young attorney who got us set up legally), Arkay Kahn (tireless keeper of the records), Mark Rowley (long time volunteer webmaster and founder of Wicked DJ collective), Red Bull (who as a startup company invested money and sponsored the famous Ascension fundraiser parties), John Wood (one of the few who was there in the early days and has been active every day since) and yours truly, Terrance Alan (the guy who spent his NYE in 1995 in the drunk tank for throwing an AIDS benefit without a police permit). There are many more in the cast of characters who you will get to know, but I couldn’t write another word without acknowledging these key peeps.

We are now parents, school teachers, attorneys, small business owners, web company moguls, producers of events, psychiatrists and always lovers of music. The work of the SFLNC has been our gift to this great city so that popular culture will always be front and center when you think San Francisco.

The new site contains all of the historic information that we have collected about our effort to “save San Francisco Nightlife” and more. If you have photos, stories, news articles, random remembrances from yesterday and today, please email webmaster@sflnc.com and we will make your contribution a permanent part of this story. Terrance Alan

1060/1070/Loitering - CALL TO ACTION!

IMMEDIATE CALL TO ACTION!

There has been much press in the past several weeks about nightlife, the ABC, violence and the Entertainment Commission’s legislation requests. This Monday, April 27th, the City Operations Committee will meet at 10:30 in room 263 to recommend (we hope) that the full Board pass the amendments to the Place of Entertainment (1060) the Extended Hours Premises (1070) and the Nighttime Loitering Ordinance we have been working on since the Nightlife Safety Summit a year and a half ago.

You don’t need to attend, we already did that over a month ago, but in the next few days I am asking that you send an email to each of the Supervisors. I have listed the email addresses for you to copy and a simple email for you to use as a sample but don’t get stalled by not knowing what to write, the important thing is that they receive a lot of emails with “SUPORT” in the subject line.

Again, the most important thing is that your email has in the subject field the words “SUPPORT – 1060/1070/Loitering”. When they are received, the emails will be tallied and the totals of those in support and against will be given to the Supervisors. We want to make sure that the Supervisors remember that the industry wants these changes.

Respectfully,

Terrance Alan, Chairman