HarrisburgNightlife

It’s really pretty simple. Like the Million Dollar Man used to say “everyone has a price.” They. Sold. Out.

Left by Mike on January 23rd, 2008

Okay here we go, I can’t keep reading these posts without responding. Smalls never saved the scene.

Did you ever actually come to the shows? Did you know we would do sometimes 4 shows a week?

Have you ever asked the countless bands that thanked me constantly for having a room they fit into? Did you notice other bars like the jazz club on Walnut or The marysville tavern closed?

Did you realize we are moving to a bigger room.
It just boggles me the negativity. I haven’t read once that it is cool that someone like myself has constantly for little or no money tried so hard to do something for Harrisburg. I started with Mars programming a room like no other when there was like 3 bars downtown. To NOMA and the The District at Dragonfly. It’s like the old addage If you chase the buick you will drive a rolls royce. If you chase the rolls royce you will drive a buick. To me trying to help Harrisburg have some culture I chase Rolls Royces
and end up in the Buick.

And for you to think Smalls sold out is as far from the truth as it can get. It’s real easy to sit behind your computers and criticize people that take risks.
Instead of supporting people trying to diversify
our city. I will always try and bring stimulus to Harrisburg because I love this town.
jamie

Left by jamie pascotti on January 23rd, 2008

So glad you responded, Jamie.

You already know that you and Smalls have the support of the people that actually were at the shows, really did see things happening and heard the appreciation from bands - both local and national - for the venue, the atmosphere and the reception that they received here. We are looking forward to the larger space, and for the time when the stars align and bring it all back home. Since no one else seems to want to say it, thank you, Jamie, for trying.

Left by Gabrielle on January 23rd, 2008

Jamie, most of us raved about the venues you mentioned. Mars was awesome. Noma, in its original incarnation (pre-Privado, pre-Prive, pre-Remixed, pre-Cabana), was awesome. The District, while not exactly my format, was awesome (and I even went so far as to get you a mention in Club Systems International). And I know for a fact that most of us bloggers have been giving Smalls almost entirely positive publicity. Just to be sure I’m not losing my mind, let me search … yep. 8 articles mentioning Smalls in a good light on my blog alone. I think the “worst” comment I ever made was that Smalls doesn’t deserve the “scary” reputation some people have assigned it. We’re not complaining about Smalls as a venue, and nobody’s calling it a failure.

What we *are* bitching about is the revolving door of venues downtown is going to be the end of it all. Closing a venue only to reopen it after a handful of ventures of varying success is one of the big reasons downtown Harrisburg’s reputation is slipping. A few years ago we had niche venues and real variety. Along came a few swaps, closings, and re-openings, and soon every venue had the same playlist, the same 300-point sans font (yellow), and the same crowd. Smalls was a big step away from that. Even though I’m not a fan of live music, it’s 5000% better than hearing the Exact. Same. Songs. over and over everywhere else. Niche-driven nightlife is awesome, and downtown Harrisburg desperately needed Smalls.

But it’s gone. Why? Does it really matter? We’ve had so many closings, re-inventions, failures, re-namings, re-openings … The reasons don’t matter anymore. Smalls will be remembered for what it was, and will always hold a special place in our fondest memories — even those of us who could only manage to get down there every other month — but in the end, it just became another boarded-up flavor-of-the-week soon-to-be-Wandas-East that will become Cabana Remixed by the end of 2009.

Left by floor9 on January 24th, 2008

I understand your position. But do you realise there are at best 3 bars downtown that are not coming out of pocket to pay the bills? Downtown is kind of dead right now. I read a zillion blogs slamming Ron Kamionka for making changes. I never read positive comments.

Growing up in the city I remember when the only nightlife downtown was cars cruising the circuit every night and that was it.

The break thru downtown was Fisaga with open garage doors. It created a festive atmosphere downtown. The Vault was an icon but not enough to launch downtown. Dragonfly opened Then Kamionka
opened next door. He has been really instrumental in the 2nd street growth. He has probably paid more tax dollars to the city then anyone else.
And he works his ass off more than anyone I know.
The difference between him and alot of the other bar owners is he takes risks and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Reminds me of a bigger city. Take for instance the Limelight it has been numerous things sometimes working sometimes not. But do you think New Yorkers are putting up blogs saying they suck?

If you are really about the nightlife it would be easier to say hey you know what, here is a guy who is constantly getting blasted for being a risk taker
and has no life out of bars,Is as low key as one can get. Most people don’t even know what he looks like. I remember one night sitting outside of Smalls and someone was talking shit about the Hardware bar and he was sitting with me and they didn’t even know it was him! He pumps tax dollars into our city and has helped get people downtown. Some of his places are not my scene
and don’t appeal to me. I challenge any of the naysayers to go out and open there own club and see how long they can last it’s real easy with no risk to be judgemental.
Jamie

Left by jamie pascotti on January 24th, 2008

wow, this is kind of shocking news and a bit not shocking at the same time, but r.i.p.

as someone who has seen it in its infancy to its maturity as a thriving center for a lot of musicians and rock fans, i am definitely sad to see it go but excited at the ability to host larger acts in another location, even if it’s not in harrisburg. the idea that one club with 100 person capacity could save one city in a little over one year is naive, but i think the repercussion of smalls will be felt in harrisburg for years to come. what other venue hosts the music that smalls hosted? who would take a chance? the ability to see what other bands could do was beneficial for harrisburg, i certainly had no idea there were so many gifted musicians in and around the city. it would have been difficult to imagine how much the rock landscape would change in just 15 or 16 months before smalls.

i don’t think there is one singular person to blame for its closure; and though it’s sad and it sucks, it’s business. this is the end of smalls at 400 n 2nd, but not the end for the movement that smalls has set into motion.

the queen is dead, long live the queen.

Left by cosby on January 24th, 2008

As a musician who played at Smalls, I too appreciate the venue you provided.

That being said, I can’t wait for the no smoking law to be passed. My wife & I went to Philly last month (smoke free town). We walked into a club at 9pm and heard live music….at 9pm!!!! The place was PACKED! The next morning, I pleasantly awoke without the stench of Camel in clothes & hair.

Restaruant & bar owners are worried about losing business if people can’t smoke. It’s just the opposite. Earlier music…no smoke. If you build it, they will come.

Left by cds on January 26th, 2008

cds, that is because Philly is a real big city with real big city choices. Harrisburg, on the other hand, is not; what works here in Philly would never work in HBG.

I moved away from HBG before Smalls so I can’t really comment either way. But from what I have heard it was a breath of fresh air and I am sure this will put a dent in things.

RE: Ron K., I can’t fault him for appealing to the masses. HBG has shown time and time again that the people there, generally speaking, are a classless bunch that would rather drink way too much, fight and listen to the same crap over and over (and over). To survive on 2nd St., one must appeal to this demographic.

Left by dskillz on January 28th, 2008

I Have been waiting to say something since I had the news given on me. I’m not the type of person to “blog” or stir things up online. I booked smalls in harrisburg for a about a year. I booked the marysville tavern for a little under a year. I keep seeing word “scene” being throw around like it means something to people who own these bars or clubs. Its about the bottom line. The sooner you learn this and get over it the better. I’ve been playing and booking bands since I was old enough drive. I have played from the east coast to the west coast a million times. playing everything from small shitholes to well established clubs. They all come and go. There might be a handfull of those clubs open anymore. In the past year I booked over 200 shows. Some really good some really bad. There is a scene for music in harrisburg. Its not the room your in or the club that give u place to go its the people within the scene. Its about us. Its about the people who give a shit about orginal music. Aslong is theres rooms tohave orginal bands thats what matters. Jamie gave us a room for year in harrisburg now its in york. Give the motherfucker some props for doing what he can for orginal music. The rooms come and go you should all know this by now. So we got a year out of smalls thats longer then some other place I have had to go to. As long as theres aplace willing to give there room up for a nite the scene will stay alive. The scene about people working together to create a movement or place to belong to. People with the same concerns. So if you feel that you need to support orginal music then do so. Show up to those shows. Don’t talk smack on other people trying to do so. Work together. Why is this so hard for people to understand. I book bands for the love of music. If i make some cash doing even better. I think if anyone who books orginal bands does it for cash that won’t be around that long. If i did for the cash i would have stoped a long time ago.
I feel like i’m just repeating myself over and over. As long there is a kid pist off with a guitar rock and roll won’t die. As long as there are people that want to give this kid a place to play a scene can and will can mantain it self. So to all the promotersin area stop fighting each other and work together if you give a shit. To all the people within the scene. Come out to the shows with orginal music and support them. The rooms will come and go but the people will stay the same.
Watch out for CCUP shows cuz this mother fucker isn’t done yet.
love XOXO
josh
sorry for all the miss spellings
dropouts don’t care.

Left by josh on January 31st, 2008

Josh, nobody’s busting on Jamie. Read before you go off on a rant. And nobody is disputing that it’s about “the bottom line”. Nobody has suggested that a venue owner begin pumping money into a perpetually-failing venue. Short of being part of some divide-and-conquer marketing strategy, that’s ridiculous.

What we *are* saying — what rings louder with each passing closure — is that the cycle of “open for a year, become popular, close, repeat” is bad for downtown. It’s bad for the guests, and that’s bad for the owners. And when the excuse for every closure becomes “it’s ok, it wasn’t profitable”, then that’s a problem. Especially in a venue like Smalls — packed, unique, loved.

A favorite saying we used to throw around in my old job: “Don’t tell me about the labor, show me the baby.” That couldn’t possibly apply more to downtown Harrisburg. The customer doesn’t care about *why* Smalls (or Noma, or Mars, or Sawyer, or the many other venues that have come and gone over the last three years) closed; they just know that yet another downtown venue has failed. Closed up. Gone out of business. You want the customer to care about your financials? They won’t because they don’t.

Ron was instrumental in Second Street’s growth. I’ve been saying that since 2001. But as far as the “courage to try” and “risk-taker” comments go, well … Anyone can take a risk. Anyone can try. Those things are not noble in themselves. Taking a risk and succeeding? Trying and winning? Those are.

In other words, don’t try; win.

Left by floor9 on January 31st, 2008

I’m not into the rock scene much; but it appears the move was due to an amount of success no one predicted. I can’t hate on a man trying to shape the scene. It was “size matters” in this case, not “I hate HBG” like a lot of us are used to hearing. Good luck in York. Oh, and just think, everyone. He could come back here soon.

Left by Paul on February 2nd, 2008

Hey-yeah, it was sad to see smalls go. Actually, I never saw it as a “sell out” place..in fact, some of the most genuine people I knew went there. That being said, I’m about to say something controversial. I honestly don’t hate the fact that there are many openings and closings. It keeps things fresh for one thing, and for another it is a necessary part of the evolution of downtown and finding what “works” in Harrisburg. Which has always been an iffy prospect. I say give the “scene” time to develop. It’s only been around for a few years, and many of the people who come in to restaurant row are phony, drunken frat-boy types from the countryside who don’t give a crap where they go as long as the beer is cheap and the women are cheaper. Most people from the city that I know go to the “off 2nd street” locales like Mr. G’s on 6th or Tara Station. THIS is where the future of Harrisburg’s nightlife will be I believe. Feel free to mail me and comment…I’m at tachyon_flux2000@yahoo.com

Left by Adam on February 11th, 2008

P.S. Got nothing against anyone who hits up restaurant row regularly, God knows I do! I just like to see a more diverse crowd than what it’s currently drawing, especially at Hardware and the places around it especially in summertime. Smalls was a part of that diverse draw that I believe we need desperately!

Left by Adam on February 11th, 2008

I was very surprised when I read that Smalls was now gone from 2nd Street. I remember how happy I was to see bands like Radiohead on the jukebox the first time I visited, and always felt as though they helped give me a place to go that didn’t entail me getting drunk in order to like the music they were playing.

I wish I could have given Smalls more business, and although I am sad to see them go, I’m happy that they haven’t disappeared completely. I’m excited to travel to the new venue in York sometime soon.

Harrisburg is by far not the only city that is dealing with the issue of closing venues. I lived in Pittsburgh for a couple years and many of the old standbys - Nicks Fat City, Metropol, etc. - are now long gone. I think every city has to deal with this same issue…it’s not a problem for just Harrisburg. I’m not saying I’m happy that cool venues are closing and/or moving, but I understand that can be part of the business.

Left by Staci on February 12th, 2008