I wonder why they wouldnt just blog about it. If it's not true facts and just whining people won't pay attention.

Nyoka, thank you for coming to my defense and to the Rouge's defense.  After speaking with the journalist a second time, it doesn't appear that any personal attacks will come through in this article.  But she did appreciate the emails sent in my behalf from local musicians and stated it was helpful for the article.  I don't trust this guy and wouldn't put it past him to have thrown any of the same daggers into this interview that he did to me personally in email and phone conversations.  I also agree with you that should this article take this turn, I doubt Matt would publish it.  That's not his style.  However, if the journalist submits the article written based on his original complaint... I think it should be published.  It boils down to this:  Ultimately, it is the venue's (or agents of) decision to make as to what type of entertainment they wish to allow in their establishment.  If the venue or the agent doesn't want to risk potential damage to their property, regardless of offers to repair such potential damage, that should be their rightful decision to make and they shouldn't be attacked for it.  This band did write a blog or bulletin about mine and his altercation but this was back in May (in response to msjosey).  But apparently, his complaints were not just towards me/ Le Corusse Rouge.  I found out he is upset at many different local venues/ agents and apparently they returned the same type of responses as I did.  Doesn't look good for this guy.. he really should settle down and rethink his attitude because like I told the journalist, he is ultimately only hurting himself and the band he represents.

Anyway,  I just wanted to thank you for your support.... musicians like you are the reason I do what I do.

Much love and respect to you and everyone else who jumped to the defense of myself and venues.

-Jacque

I haven't seen any articles about Le Carousse so the only reason we know there was a disagreement was because of this blog! LOL 

Jaque.. I wouldn't really lose sleep over it. You can't please all of the people all of the time. You can only please most of the people most of the time. Or something like that.

No.. IF the article even makes it.. I just answered the interview questions on Tuesday so of course noone has seen it or heard of it quite yet.  : )

As for losing any sleep over it, you are right!! Can't make everyone happy.  No sleep has been lost over this whatsoever. They haven't damaged me at all.  They're only hurting themselves and honestly, the band's who's opinions matter to me are bands that wouldn't act in such a way. I just didn't want to take a chance of having someone try to put stains on my good reputation that I have worked hard to have amongst the local music scene.. at least not in a local magazine without some sort of defense plan!  I had forgotten about these guys until this came up.. and just as quickly as before, they will be forgotten again.  I kind of don't like writing blogs about such... I prefer to chat in person with those with whom I have issues.  But I wanted to comment on Nyoka's blog because she always speaks it how it is and I love her for that!  What she said needs to be taken in by a lot of musicians/ bands out there.. not just this one.  

Anyway- thanks again and hope everyone has a great day!

No, I didn't mean YOUR article, Jaque.. I meant any articles from any disgruntled bands. LOL 

Anyways... Nyoka... you're an artist extraordinare, hu? I didn't know you were in a band. 

:D Multi-faceted.I Love it! 

You totally nailed this one square on the head, Nyoka.  Spoken like a true leader! 

1.) No member from Dead Aisling came to me to write this story. I was never asked to write it, and Dead Aisling even had some concerns about publishing it. I found it myself. It was intended to be an article about a band’s reputation, not an apparent issue between a group and a venue. The issue was, in fact, unknown to me until I talked to my contact from Le Corruse Rouge – the same contact that seemed so concerned that my article was going to be a smear campaign and who has apparently started her own here.

2.) Dead Aisling did not, at any point, single out Le Corruse Rouge or any other venue. He told me, on the record, that he considers all of the venues the same, and Le Corruse Rouge happened to be the one I could most easily contact.

3.) This piece is not, and was never intended to be, a slander piece. I did receive several emails from band members supporting Le Corruse Rouge who commented on issues I had no interest in writing about or taking part in, but had apparently been brought to their attention by someone else.

4.) As made evident by my article, the only slander that has been committed has been on this blog – slander of my work, my integrity, and Dead Aisling. I had nothing to gain from writing this article other than the chance to tell an interesting story, and maintain a professional relationship with Dead Aisling.

At no point did I violate any journalistic ethics – those put forth by the law or myself. However, now that it is a comment on a blog as opposed to a piece of journalism, I feel comfortable, and even a bit amused, to write what happened throughout the last week as I was putting this piece together.

Enjoy the piece.

----------------------

Anyone who has been to a Dead Aisling show knows the performances aren’t always predictable. If it feels right, members of Dead Aisling have been known to climb on tables, smash guitars, and take an occasional dive into the drum set. The crowd is always happy. The owners of the clubs are not. While not all shows end with splintered guitars dusted with cornstarch or bloody foreheads, the band’s reputation has kept the band members from playing at certain spots in town.

Though many of the clubs don’t flat-out refuse to let them play, they do refuse to let the band’s members do what they do.

"Some of them have a problem with us breaking gear and some of them don't dig the cornstarch,” said front man Adam Richmond, 24. “As far as I'm concerned, if they have a problem with how we perform, they can get another band. Besides, we never break anything that was working like it should've. And we never break stuff we don't own."

Jacque Staver from Le Corusse Rouge on White Lane heard of the Dead Aisling’s reputation and had some concerns about booking the band. She contacted Richmond.

“I did explain to him that I would have to require the band to refrain from doing anything that would cause damage at Le Corusse Rouge,” she said.

Staver said she doesn’t have a problem with the kind of performance Dead Aisling is known to put on, but she was out of town on the night the show was scheduled and wouldn’t be able keep an eye on things.

“I actually came to their defense in stating that they are not the first band to break a stage,” Jacque said, referring to an incident in which Dead Aisling caused a small hole in the stage at Vinny’s Bar on South Union Avenue.

But Richmond told her he wasn’t going limit his band’s performance. "This is who we are,” he said, “and if you have a problem with any of it, don't book us. I won't tell my guys, 'hey, just stand there tonight. Let's give these people half-assed energy because the promoter can't make it tonight.'"

The damage to Vinny’s stage was an accident, said Luke Richmond, 18, Adam’s brother and the drummer for Dead Aisling. “It’s not like we meant to break Vinny’s stage. Shit like that happens.”

Not every band has had the same experience with Le Corusse Rouge.

“We have played several shows at Le Corusse Rouge since Jacque has been the booking agent and have not had any problems,” said Gwyn Sims of Missing Autumn. “The concerts went smoothly and the stipulations set by the venue have never been an issue.”

Adam Richmond said he offered to sign a statement promising to pay for any damages, but didn’t receive a call back.

In fact, Dead Aisling has paid for damages before. After accidentally damaging the stage at Vinny’s, members of Dead Aisling made a metal plate to cover the hole and relinquished their cut of cash collected at the door.

“At first there was an issue, but communication does wonders and we are all good now,” said Scott Weaver, who runs the sound at Vinny’s Bar.

Dead Aisling has been playing problem-free at Vinny’s for about a year, and the band’s performance at a recent show there landed Dead Aisling in the center of a lengthy debate on a blog at http://people.bakersfield.c... in which the members of the band are called dangerous and Satanists, among other things.

"I consider Christianity a problem, so I sure hope they view me as one of theirs. The songs are about a lot of stuff and most of it is just me trying to figure things out,” said Adam Richmond, who writes all the songs. “It's much more personal, and in a lot of ways, darker, than some cheesy black-metal 'Satan' thing."

But that’s not how the blog’s creator sees it, and she even calls for a boycott of Dead Aisling and venues that allow the band to play.

That list is pretty short already.

Dead Aisling is unofficially blacklisted from several clubs in Bakersfield, Los Angeles, and Fresno that refuse to work with the band for various reasons.

For example, many venues require bands to sell pre-sale tickets in order to play. That means in order to perform, bands must sell a certain number of tickets before the show, and if they don’t, they’re off the line-up. But Richmond says selling tickets is the venues’ responsibility.

“I wouldn't be opposed to doing a tour buy-on or something like that,” he said. “But what I won't do is become an unpaid employee for some lazy promoter. It's their job to sell the tickets."

Richmond said he doesn’t have a problem playing simply for the love of music as long as the venue isn’t making a profit from his fans.

But he is sticking to his guns and the notion that when it comes to certain venues, it doesn’t pay to play by their rules.

I don't write much about the music scene these days. Although I should point out I found it fun to run into two guys from Lost Ocean working at Starbucks this morning. When art doesn't make you money, you gotta still pay the darn bills.

I've seen my share of drama from writing about the scene. A lot of times it seems caused by miscommunication. Looks like this is an article about a band who just wants to stay to their rowdy roots. I don't know Dead Aisling other than this article.

I've been unofficially blacklisted before though. It's a weird feeling.

But if I knew a band were known for breaking stuff, the old guy in me wouldn't want them in my business.

I don't know about blogging as a preemptive strike though. Makes you have to read the whole story backwards. What stands out in the article is what has always bothered me. And just because it bothers me, doesn't mean my thoughts have ever changed anything about many venues not paying bands. I can only blame the scene for that. As long as bands are willing to play for beer, then that will happen. To each their own.

With that said, it's good to see the scene is still the scene: lots of hard working bands, promoters and venues -- all trying to have fun, make a buck (or a beer) and celebrate art.

Hello all,

Just checking in.

I just went to read the debate about Dead Aisling on Bakersfield.com.

Pretty interesting and kind of funny. I'm not making fun of anyone's beliefs, but I thought that hysteria went out with Ozzy and Motley Crue?

Oh well. I hope you all come to an understanding through all this.

I know Jacque, Dead Aisling, and our beloved Nyoka. All good talented people in my eyes.

I don't like doing a lot of moderating, I'd rather you discuss and work things out.

If you're all cool with the way things are going here, I'm cool too. Let's all try and uplift our scene...

Peace, Matt...

Megan,

If you scroll up and actually read my blog, you'd see that the only people I named were myself and Jacque.  To save you some time-  what I said was "A word of advice to the band in question: (I don't know who they are, nor do I care.)"   You named yourself and the band.  (Is it possible to slander yourself?)  I didn't say ANYTHING about you or your "journalistic integrity/ethics/anything."  In fact.... if you hadn't gotten on here and posted the ill-fated article, you could have left much of that to people's imaginations. 

Perhaps, as Nick suggested, this blog was a little preemptive considering I wrote it before I knew who the band was or even if the story would ever see the light of day.  But I feel what I had to say needed to be said, and not just because of ONE band or ONE article.  So, I still stand by my original rant.

I want to be clear about one thing first. I don't care what you, or anyone else, thinks about that band or any venue. I don't care which side you're on. I'm not on any side. My article is written and it speaks for itself. But you should know that if the situation had been flipped and someone from the band or the band's friends said something in regards to my questioning for the article that were false, I would've stated the same allegations of slander in their direction.

Now, I'd like to think the slander committed here was a simple over-sight because, as you've said, the entire story was not out in the open. But by definition, it is slanderous to state things like " ... a local band is trying to have an article published in Bakotopia in which they attempt to disgrace the good name of of the booking agent for Le Corruse Rouge, Jacque." As I mentioned in my note, the band wasn't trying to have the article published and, in fact, the person I spoke to from the band didn't mention Le Corruse Rouge or Jacque until after I talked to her and gave him a chance to respond to some of the allegations she brought forth against him.

In addition, not only are those statements false, but they bring into question my ethics as a journalist. Again, I'm aware you didn't have the full story at the time because, in fact, I was the only person to have the full story the entire time, but by stating that, you're assuming that I would not only write an article attempting to disgrace anyone, but that I would do that for a band that, as I've stated, I am merely in a professional relationship with.

I would never write an article that "amounts to nothing more than trash talk." In fact, that's why I didn't use most of what my contact at Le Corusse Rouge gave me.

So, I think if you look up the definition of slander, those statements would qualify. I, too, agree with Nick and you that the blog was preemptive because you (as well as everyone else) didn't know all the facts. After the article was refused, I felt it necessary to post here to hopefully put an end to all this, which, in my opinion, was only started because not everyone knew the facts. There they are. Please, feel free to stand by your original rant. Now that the story is actually here for everyone to read, they can actually accurately judge at will.

Oh, and I would never want to leave my journalistic integrity to other people's imaginations. Look at what happens.

Well, cheeez whiz.. I guess this is what blogs are for, right?  To rant and rave and leave opinions?  Megan, I'm sorry if you feel your name or ethics have been slandered.  I actually think the piece you wrote was very well written and would have been a good article.  I feel obligated, however, to correct a few statements in your last entry:

1)"As I mentioned in my note, the band wasn't trying to have the article published and, in fact, the person I spoke to from the band didn't mention Le Corruse Rouge or Jacque until after I talked to her and gave him a chance to respond to some of the allegations she brought forth against him."  This is NOT true.. Actually, you contacted me with questions.  Here is what your first email said:

"Hi Jacque, this is Megan. I’m writing an article on Dead Aisling for Bakotopia Magazine. In talking with Adam Richmond of Dead Aisling, it was brought to my attention that he doesn’t like playing at many venues in town. I asked him about La Rouge, and he said that was one of those places. So, I wanted to give you the opportunity to respond to some of his allegations."

So as you can see, apparently you brought Le Corusse Rouge into the mix, he made his allegations first then you contacted me to "respond to his allegations".  Not the other way around as you stated in your last entry. I expressed my concern about some of the questions along with my answers.   When I expressed this concern to you, that is when you informed me that the band/ band member did not single me or the venue out.  I informed you that there may be some bands emailing you in my defense just in case because there was a lot of conversation between this band member and myself.  I didn't want to take a chance of answering your questions blindly without haveing a backup defense plan in my behalf.  Who better to have come to my defense than the many great bands and musicians that have worked with me over the years?

2) "Jacque Staver from Le Corusse Rouge on White Lane heard of the Dead Aisling’s reputation and had some concerns about booking the band. She contacted Richmond.

“I did explain to him that I would have to require the band to refrain from doing anything that would cause damage at Le Corusse Rouge,” she said.

Staver said she doesn’t have a problem with the kind of performance Dead Aisling is known to put on, but she was out of town on the night the show was scheduled and wouldn’t be able keep an eye on things."

My response was this: (they were originally booked to play an earlier date in May but contacted me to reschedule that show for a different date instead)

"... However, circumstances changed for the date they were wanting to play the Rouge which would have lead to them playing without my being present. (it was the date our wedding party decided to throw our bachelor/ette parties). This concerned the venue and myself so that is when I brought a few things to their attention. I didn't feel comfortable with any potential damage or other aggressive behavior taking place during a time that I am not there to be responsible for MY booking." ... "I did explain to him that I would have to require for the band to refrain from doing anything that would cause damage at Le Corusse Rouge mostly due to the fact that I wasn't going to be there but also because The Rouge is a different type of venue.  Le Corusse Rouge is a family restaurant offering the lounge as a place for weekly entertainment to include jazz workshops, karaoke and bands booked through me for Saturday nights. What may be okay behavior at one venue may not work so well for another."  ...  "In addition, I explained to Adam that since he refused to agree to a non-aggressive performance, I would feel more comfortable rescheduling this show for a date when I am present to be responsible for the show...."

And just for clarification: "“I actually came to their defense in stating that they are not the first band to break a stage,” Jacque said, referring to an incident in which Dead Aisling caused a small hole in the stage at Vinny’s Bar on South Union Avenue."

I have attended many of shows at Vinny's Bar and even booked for them for about 2 years.  In that time, I saw at least 2 other bands go through that stage, 1 of them went through it twice, at two different times!  I wasn't actually referring to Dead Aisling, I was referring to these other bands.. my exact words were: "I actually came to their defense in stating that "they are not the first band to break that stage!" Plus, that particular venue is capable of housing pretty much any type of entertainment that walks through their door. They can get away with it."

As for Nyoka's blog- I think that there are a lot of bands out there that should take those suggestions to heart.

As for Matt's comment "If you're all cool with the way things are going here, I'm cool too. Let's all try and uplift our scene..."

That's why we all love Matt!

And this freedom of speech and expression is why we are all here ranting.. because we all love music.

So that's it for me.. hope everyone has a great weekend.

Let me start this by introducing myself, My name is chad. I am the guitarist for Dead Aisling, and although this is far from my first band, I have to say that its by far the best I've been in. The musicianship, professionalism, and friendship is beyond most.

I'm not here to bash anyone or to call them out to the playground , to fight, like two 12 year olds. But i have to say, I am disgusted by the banter and defamation of character thrown around by certain members, who in the midst of it all, still has found time to plug her band during her complaining.

For those of you who do not know the Lead Singer/Founder of Dead Aisling, i do not believe that you have the right to assume any types of characteristics based off of word of mouth. He is a very fair, trustworthy, and honest, and professional person. He speaks it as he feels it, and tolerates no BS, I have much respect for that and I am honored to share the stage with him and my other two brothers.

Now at no time, has anyone from this band directly trash talked anyone specifically, (well, except the intro to this blog, but what can i say, I'm a D**K).  We are in this for the music and our fans, we have no time or desire to waste any energy by trash talk or drama, facts were spoken about the inability to play certain bars here due to our over the top show, not about our thoughts or opinions of anyone in general. Yes, we are aggressive, but hey, its called a rock concert right? If you wanted to sit back and listen to passive, low key music while you sip on your drink, then stay home and put in a CD. But we know that those who come to see us, want nothing of the sort.  I know when I was growing up, and even to this day, I love the shows where the band is into it, jumping around, being  wild and having fun all the time having  crowd interaction, , and you look up and say "damn, that's a hell of a show" Thats a rock concert.

 Hell, parents wanted to crucify Elvis for those gyrating hips,  devil messages were in stairway to heaven, Jimi Hendrix lit his guitar on fire, hell, Vince Neil lit Nikki Sixx on fire every night at the whiskey, yes, we occasionally get a bit aggressive with our equipment and each other,  but are nowhere near, dangerous or disgruntled.  Hell, our fans are more safe at our shows than on the streets or a bar down town. We have a very energetic show and are proud of it.

Id like to thank Megan for the very professional, unbiased article. She at no point has taken sides, or tried to belittle anyone and I completely respect that. She has gathered facts, and as a professional writer,  put it out for all to see  Wait, Ive heard of this, hmmmmmm wouldnt that be part of the First Amendment?

Now I have nothing against any of the venues in town, I have played them all with one band or another, and if any of them do not wish to have us play their venue, that's their choice, no hard feelings. We do have allot of other areas that welcome us. We support the local music scene completely and as often as possible we go to other bands shows to show support. Its what the bands here do, or should do anyways.....................

The thing I don’t think you understand about journalism is a journalist isn’t a broker between two sides in a pissing match. It is not my job to be a go-between for anyone shit-talking. I didn’t tell Adam everything you said and I didn’t tell you everything he said because honestly, I didn’t give a shit about most of it. I asked you, him, and all other contacts questions based on what I was planning on writing about. In fact, most of the things you told me didn’t have much to do with anything relevant to the article I was writing, which was an article about a band’s reputation.

Here’s the thing, Jacque. Adam said there were several venues in which he would never play. I listed several venues where I knew Dead Aisling had previous performed, and Le Corusse Rouge was one of them. So yes, I did bring Le Corusse Rouge into it in the sense that it was included in a list of several other venues in town. He refused to elaborate on why he would never play at Le Corusse Rouge other than to say it was one of the places that voiced concerns about the band’s gear-smashing. That’s as far as he would elaborate on any of the venues. I knew about the incident at Vinny’s, and assumed that had something to do with it and since the article was about the band’s reputation, that’s where I directed my questions to all parties.

However, after talking with you, I gave him the opportunity to respond to some of your comments – the relevant ones – to which he said he didn’t want Le Corusse Rouge singled out because he didn’t want the club to seem like an exceptional case. But since I was writing the article – not Adam or anyone else – and I felt Le Corusse Rouge represented the other side of the issue fairly, I included it in the story.

Jacque, if you didn’t want to be involved, all you had to do was say “no comment” and I would’ve found someone else. But you seemed more than willing to dish about your problems with Adam.

It looks as though your problem with the article was how little I quoted you. Keep in mind that 90 percent of what you said was unusable because, as I’ve mentioned, I’m not into the whole personal attacks thing.

If you’d like, we can discuss my use of your quotes and the accuracy in private, unless you’d like to do it here, which I have no problem with. You have my email address and my phone number, and I’d be more than willing to discuss my decisions at any time.

I hardly ever do this. and i mean ever. blogging, emailing, myspacing, facebooking, any of it. the only reason i have an account on here is because julia( jacque as everyone knows her) probably set it up for me. dont get me wrong i read the magazine, i just cant sit here looking up reading something unless it is porn. magazines, newspapers, books and looking at people in the face is my thing. maybe i have actually become old fashion. but because actual contact with news and reviews has become a thing of the past, it is time for me to sit down and hunt and peck my opinion here. and trust me this is agonizing. i moved down here 13 years ago. i have been playing in this local scene for the last 10 years and i have been doing sound for local bands for the last 5 years. if you have heard of me, i hope we had a good expierience together. if you actually know me, lets do it again! i am just truly sorry that this situation has brought me here.

I want to be clear. Anything that i am going to hunt and peck right now, i will tell you to your face. People know where to find me. So if i hurt anyones feelings, talk to me about it in person.

Julia does what she does, and i do what i do. We have worked together for a long time in the local scene, and we have been at each others throats many, many times over bands and payouts, and time slots, stage managements, sound, styles, production, load ins, load outs, guest lists, and every thing else you can think of.  And we do mix business with family cause in this business it is actually one in the same. And just for the record, no one understands how much time she has spent away from our 4 kids and me to sit here and take care of her bands. And how much time i have spent away from her and the kids practicing, doing sound and playing shows. And i am sure most dont care.

But I do care.  When this situation presented itself in the beginning with adam i stayed out of it. Even when he called my home phone and repeatedly cussed julia out loud enough to where i could here him 5 feet away. I tried to tell myself that this is band business and she will handle it with grace like she always does in these situations. And she did.

Unfortunately, it has raised its ugly head again.  Understand this is not julias opinion and she has nothing to do with what i say.

Seems to me there is a personal connection with the writer and the band or adam. Why else would there be false statements in the unpublished story and slander accuasations all of a sudden?  I disagree with julia that it was a good written article. i read the emails and i read the questions and i read the answers. then i read the unpublished article and it was not the same. Hey we all have our friends backs right? But throwing slander accuasations? And one of the  emails stated that the rouge was not the only venue that had the same opinion about the band. So why is the rouge and julia getting singled out in the unpublished article? I also personally know another person involved with the rouge who was interviewed by the writer. he gave his name, and status but was not mentioned either. coincedence? I think not. I honestly think this was a personal attack on julia and the venue. You know how a 2 year old throws a tantrum when he does not get his way?   This is a local band who has no fan base, and cannot book shows in town. And before anyone says vinny"s, understand vinny and sandy are part or our family. i have bled, sweated and cried with them. Ok so they can play one venue. If your that good, go out of town. there are thousands and thousands of venues all over the united states. Quit sitting here crying cause the three or four venues in bako wont let you play.  honestly, no one cares. the real bands in this town have a fan base, are humble, take care of each other meaning other bands, venues, sound guys, bartenders, bouncers, booking agents and everyone around them. This whole thing is actually absurd, and even talking about this is bringing attention to the band, and bad publicity is still publicity, so see i just helped you out.

Julia has never done anything but stand behind the venues and the bands she has worked with. that is the way she works. not coming from her husband but coming from someone who works for her also.

Thanks for your time,

Scotty