ATTN: Bands/Promoters playing/booking or planning to play/book at the Middle East in Cambridge.[views:1878][posts:7]_____________________________________ [Dec 16,2010 10:49am - RichHorror ""] http://mideastclub.com/lettertobands.html December 16, 2010 All Bands Playing The Middle East & ZuZu in the Near Future Any Town, MA 02139 Dear Bands, As of today, until further review, The Middle East Nightclub’s official stance on posting flyers is this: We do not in any way endorse or encourage the posting of bills anywhere in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Any posting of bills with “Middle East Upstairs, Middle East Downstairs, ZuZu, Middle East Nightclub, Middle East Club” or any variation thereof are not sanctioned, nor deemed necessary, by the Middle East Nightclub. The Middle East Nightclub promotion has moved to a digital set up. Online marketing and social media outlets (twitter.com/mideastclub, fb.me/mideastclub, ticket links on ticketweb.com & many more) are to be the focus of promotion for your shows. Why are we making such move? Fines. Hefty fines. Fines that we accept no responsibility for. Fines that will be charged to any band or promoter cited by law enforcement. Fines that will keep your band from being booked at the Middle East. Fines that could pay for your space rental for a month. Fines that could buy a nice guitar. Fines that could pay rent at your apartment. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts deems your show flyers as graffiti. That stinks. There’s some beautiful art being created on your flyers! Cambridge has it’s own strict subset of these laws. Your community does, too (We’re looking at you, Allston!). Recent citations are not less than $300 per violation. If you put up two of the same flyer in the same neighborhood, that equals $600. Law enforcement must stop there, right? No. Fines are per instance. Imagine having to pay $1500 for 5 flyers! That, sadly, could be you. What can you do? Reach out to me, I’ll give you a digital workflow to promote your show. It works. Send me a .jpg of that flyer, I’ll get it on our web properties. Get us 4-6 nice 11x17 flyers to hang up on our walls, they are pretty! Color or black and white. No reason to print 1000 of these. Just a couple for us and one for your practice space wall. Make a hundred or so 1/4 page flyers. I can help you set that up and you’ll know how for life! Spark a conversation, shake a hand, get a phone number and hand them one of these little guys. Making friends is awesome. Making enemies of city officials and venues is not quite as awesome (not awesome at all). Sincerely yours, Clay Fernald Middle East Nightclub and ZuZu Publicity mideastclub.com @mideastclub @zuzubar fb.me/mideastclub fb.me/zuzubar |
| _______________________________________ [Dec 16,2010 10:52am - the_reverend ""] I was just coming to post this. |
| _______________________________________ [Dec 16,2010 10:53am - the_reverend ""] btw, clay rules. |
| _____________________________________ [Dec 16,2010 10:54am - RichHorror ""] This reminds me of the early 2000s. I remember the same thing happening back then and getting told if you put up flyers you could get fined or blacklisted from a club. |
| _____________________________________ [Dec 16,2010 10:55am - RichHorror ""] Yeah he does. I don't blame the clubs at all, just sad and pathetic that the city is doing this. I got a similar e-mail from O'Briens recently but it wasn't as severe. |
| _____________________________________ [Dec 16,2010 11:03am - RichHorror ""] And on a similar note-- http://www.projo.com/news/content/Post_No_...s_12-14-10_HUL3AQL_v51.315d23d.html PROVIDENCE — Yard sales, junk cars wanted, apartments for rent, music shows, siding and replacement windows for houses. Stickers and posters for anything and everything pop up on utility poles and other public fixtures, creating an unsightly mess around the city. But who does anything about it? That is what the City Council is asking. And now the members want action. They have dusted off a 1914 ordinance that makes it illegal to post notices and advertising in the public right of way, and they have tweaked the law to make it explicit that the police enforce the ban and the Department of Public Works removes the stuck-on litter. Unaffected are any signs allowed by the building code or zoning ordinance. The sponsor is Councilman Nicholas Narducci Jr., a Democrat who represents Ward 4 in the North End. “I just got tired of seeing what I was seeing,” Narducci said. “It’s disgusting.” Council impatience with what they perceive as buck-passing by city departments led to the tweaking, to make it clear who is responsible for what. “The Police Department and DPW have been fighting about this for years,” City Solicitor Adrienne G. Southgate said at a recent meeting of the council’s ordinance committee. “Fundamentally, it wasn’t clear whose responsibility it was,” she explained later. The issue briefly sharpened during the election year of 2008, she recalled, when there was a behind-the-scenes quarrel about whose duty it was to remove leftover political campaign signs in compliance with a related ordinance on those signs. John Nickelson, who was DPW director at the time, personally went out and collected a bunch of signs well after Election Day. The campaign sign ordinance says a candidate has 30 days after an election to take down his or her signs, but some don’t obey. As for other kinds of advertising and notices posted illegally on poles, posts, fences and trees, Narducci pointed out that those offering to buy or sell a service or an item always contain a telephone number. “I respect what the police do,” Narducci said. But he wondered aloud, “Why is it hard to call up” and hound the advertisers into compliance. Maj. Hugh T. Clements Jr., commander of the Police Department Uniformed Division, said the police are willing to act. “Our focus is on violent crime, nuisance crimes and quality-of-life crimes,” Clements said. “If this has become such a nuisance, then this is something else that we’ll put on our radar and try to enforce.” Narducci said the illegal posting is a public safety hazard, not just an eyesore. He recalled an accident in which a motorist emerged from a side street onto Charles Street and nosed his car out too far to see around a wide sign that was attached to a pole and was blocking his line of sight. Another vehicle collided with his and the motorist suffered broken ribs. The council passed the amendments and Mayor David N. Cicilline signed them into law Thursday. |
| _______________________________ [Dec 16,2010 12:22pm - blue ""] Using real promotion to spread word about your shows: highly discouraged. |
| _____________________________________________________ [Dec 16,2010 12:26pm - RustyPS should be working ""] That sucks big time |