A little more than a month since we opened and there is still absurd turmoil behind the scenes. Most notably, Music Licensing Fees.
Before I get into my extreme displeasure (that's a gross understatement) with having written checks to the big three (ASCAP, BMI, and Sesac) let me say that I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with paying for the rights for something I use. Being something of an artist myself (music, graphic design, photography, etc.) I'm more than happy to pay someone for the use of something they created. In fact, I *WANT* to pay them for it. In no way do I want to screw other artists out of money they are due.
However, ASCAP, BMI, and Sesac do just that.
Music Licensing Fees are little more than extortion. And here's why. These companies take a survey of music played on the radio in the US and distribute licensing fees based on extrapolated total airplay from that survey. Sounds alright, eh? But there's a problem. They only sample a whopping 1% of *all* radio airplay. (To be fair, sampling much more than that would be an overwhelmingly daunting task.)
If an artist's song is never played in that 1% of sampled airtime, they will never, ever see a check from these companies. And that's where The Phoenix comes in.
Because of its size and thanks to the Sonny Bono-introduced "Fairness in Music Licensing Act" from, I believe, the mid-1990's, The Phoenix is exempt from paying music licensing fees provided we only use music off the radio or over the television. And that seems fair. I'm fine with that. But, when we throw in karaoke or CDs or Internet Streaming music, we "have" to pay. (And paying for internet streaming music seems redundant; the internet stream has *already paid* these companies.)
The chances are very, very good that the music we use during karaoke never see the light of day on the radio anymore much less in that 1% sample these companies survey. When was the last time you heard "The Sound of Music" on the radio? Or "My Way"? Or, "Born Free"?
In other words, these three companies take money that is owed to an artist and give it to someone else. Rob the poor and give to the popular.
And the demand for money from these three companies amounts to mafia protection money. These companies sometimes send in spies to make sure a business isn't using unlicensed music that is in their company's catalog and then threaten the business with fines totaling thousands of dollars for *EACH AND EVERY* song that hasn't been "properly licensed" from their company. So they "advise" businesses to pay the "reasonable" license fees to avoid being threatened with a business-closing lawsuit. In other words, Mafia Protection Money.
If these companies sue a business and win, they won't send the money to the artists whose copyrights were violated; they'll use the money to sue other businesses. So, even if these companies win, the artist is *still* screwed out of money that is owed them.
There's a story on the Interwebz of BMI trying to sue an artist for using his own copyrighted arrangements of traditional Irish music in his performances. It was astounding. BMI claimed they owned the rights to all Irish music; even Irish music in the public domain. The artist eventually won the suit but it was a long time getting to that point and lost the artist at least one client and major source of income and goes to show the lengths (and arrogant stupidity) of at least one of these Big Three.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Happy Birthday!
Hey! We've been open for four weeks now and some of you have been asking, "Where's the blog!?" (That's why I posted the earlier really, really short blog post.)
Well, we've been obviously busy getting the bar up and running smoothly and we're pretty close to achieving that. In fact, today is the first time I've actually had two days in a row I haven't had to be at the bar to do something. And, frankly, I don't quite know what to do with myself....
We've been asked how business is and it's going as expected. Yes, really. My pull-a-number-out-of-my-ass sales projections from four months ago have been met or vastly exceeded every week since we opened.
There is still much to do, too. First and foremost, getting a sign out front so people know we're open. We still get people coming in saying, "I didn't know you had opened yet." We think a sign out front will help a great deal with that. After that is probably getting music out on the patio. It's just too quiet out there. We don't want loud music outside but we need *some* background music out there. Then we got to trim the tree up a little; it'll eventually lean on the power supply wires again and that makes us nervous (as well it should). And then we gotta get our walk-in cooler working right; I don't think it *ever* turns off. And then we gotta get a cover over the outside "hallway". And then we gotta get the front window better insulated. And then.... And then..... And then.... It's never gonna stop.
We're still working on getting decorations up in the bar. We've got to find places for the mirrors and other assorted stuff. Seems everybody loves the diamond plate aluminium on the bar, too. And that makes me happy.
Well, we've been obviously busy getting the bar up and running smoothly and we're pretty close to achieving that. In fact, today is the first time I've actually had two days in a row I haven't had to be at the bar to do something. And, frankly, I don't quite know what to do with myself....
We've been asked how business is and it's going as expected. Yes, really. My pull-a-number-out-of-my-ass sales projections from four months ago have been met or vastly exceeded every week since we opened.
There is still much to do, too. First and foremost, getting a sign out front so people know we're open. We still get people coming in saying, "I didn't know you had opened yet." We think a sign out front will help a great deal with that. After that is probably getting music out on the patio. It's just too quiet out there. We don't want loud music outside but we need *some* background music out there. Then we got to trim the tree up a little; it'll eventually lean on the power supply wires again and that makes us nervous (as well it should). And then we gotta get our walk-in cooler working right; I don't think it *ever* turns off. And then we gotta get a cover over the outside "hallway". And then we gotta get the front window better insulated. And then.... And then..... And then.... It's never gonna stop.
We're still working on getting decorations up in the bar. We've got to find places for the mirrors and other assorted stuff. Seems everybody loves the diamond plate aluminium on the bar, too. And that makes me happy.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Heavy Sigh... Deep Breath....
Wow.
Today's the day. Nine long, painful months speckled with joy have lead up to tonight. In case you've been under a rock, The Phoenix is opening tonight at 4:00pm with Karl and I behind the bar. (Mostly Karl.)
I don't really know what to say now. I don't think I'm too often at a loss for words (some of my blog posts are a testament to that) but I'm not sure what to say at this point that hasn't been said before. So many people have to be thanked for making this possible for us: David, Red, Ray, Bradley, Vern, Paul, Lalo, Richie, Dwight, and George and probably more than a few others that I'm forgetting. Thank you all.
It's been an amazing ride. And one I'm not sure I'd want to get on again; but we'll see. Thank you for coming along with us; it has meant more to us than you might possibly know.
Today's the day. Nine long, painful months speckled with joy have lead up to tonight. In case you've been under a rock, The Phoenix is opening tonight at 4:00pm with Karl and I behind the bar. (Mostly Karl.)
I don't really know what to say now. I don't think I'm too often at a loss for words (some of my blog posts are a testament to that) but I'm not sure what to say at this point that hasn't been said before. So many people have to be thanked for making this possible for us: David, Red, Ray, Bradley, Vern, Paul, Lalo, Richie, Dwight, and George and probably more than a few others that I'm forgetting. Thank you all.
It's been an amazing ride. And one I'm not sure I'd want to get on again; but we'll see. Thank you for coming along with us; it has meant more to us than you might possibly know.
Friday, June 17, 2011
It's All on Us
I have an item on the schedule for tomorrow. When I made the schedule, I figured we'd be ready for it this weekend; the weekend before our opening day. It was "Panic." Well, as of last night, we were ahead of schedule; we had a panic last night with our water heater for the bar not working. But, a quick run to Lowe's solved the problem.
And, among the other items for this weekend was "Address Health Department concerns". That's something else we don't have to do. The Health Department inspector was satisfied that we had met all her requirements and signed off on a "Temporary Permit to Operate". And, combined with the earlier sign-off on our building inspection, we have finally cleared the last Magical Hoop™ to opening.
We.
Are.
Done.
Now, it's all on us to get the bar ready for Monday at 4:00pm when we fling the doors open and welcome the patient throngs of people at the door. (Ok, there will probably only be one or two at four pm...) And there's much to do. There's a lot of cleaning and putting up televisions and assorted A/V equipment and getting all that inventory sorted and properly tagged and probably a few more things I'm forgetting after today.
The tremendous feeling of unfathomable relief after so much consummate anguish is often overwhelming.
And, among the other items for this weekend was "Address Health Department concerns". That's something else we don't have to do. The Health Department inspector was satisfied that we had met all her requirements and signed off on a "Temporary Permit to Operate". And, combined with the earlier sign-off on our building inspection, we have finally cleared the last Magical Hoop™ to opening.
We.
Are.
Done.
Now, it's all on us to get the bar ready for Monday at 4:00pm when we fling the doors open and welcome the patient throngs of people at the door. (Ok, there will probably only be one or two at four pm...) And there's much to do. There's a lot of cleaning and putting up televisions and assorted A/V equipment and getting all that inventory sorted and properly tagged and probably a few more things I'm forgetting after today.
The tremendous feeling of unfathomable relief after so much consummate anguish is often overwhelming.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Why Us?
Maybe it's just the sheer number of contractors we've had to have dealings with. But we're running about 75/25 good to bad.
Our electrician, Max, has been spectacular. He will be getting business from us in the future. If you need an electrician, ask us; we'll give you his contact information.
Our roofer was great. Depite delaying starting on our roof for about a day, he was fantastic. Cleaned up all his debris and left the job done right and both Karl and I completely satisfied. (We're happy to give you his contact information, too.)
Our drywall guy was great, too. Came in on a Saturday to do some work and, over all, did a nice and professional job. (Need drywall? Let us know; we'll give you his info, too.)
Our A/C guy was darn good, too. His crew went above and beyond what they were supposed to do and helped make us satisfied customers. (Yeah, you know....)
On the other hand, our roofing framer (you know, the one who left us without a roof for a week in the rain...) I simply can not recommend at all. He can't even be counted on to hammer in a nail properly. (Literally.)
And, now most recently, our refrigeration guy for the walk-in cooler. He doesn't follow (or doesn't remember) directions well. He tromped around on our roof in the heat potentially damaging some of the brand new shingles beyond repair. (Roofer guy is coming to take a look at it to give us his opinion; hopefully tomorrow.) Claims to never leave a job without being paid right then and there for the work. (The first I'd heard of it was when he was demanding payment in full after the job was done.) Seems to have been offended that I found several problems with his work (which, if he had done it the way he had been directed by Karl, wouldn't have been a problem). He freaked out when we called him today asking about the damage to the roof threatening to come back and rip the condenser unit off the roof. (Which, by the way, is now ours since we paid him for the equipment yesterday. In other words, he threatened to steal my equipment; not exactly professional.)
And perhaps the cause of most concern is the fact he did not return our phone calls for three days. (Granted, one of those days was a Sunday.) We had expected the unit to be ready on Thursday. We called on Thursday afternoon and left a message. Left at least two messages on Friday; no call back. Same for Saturday. And one message on Sunday. Finally, on Monday, he called back saying that he'd be able to come Tuesday to install the unit. Communication does not seem to be this guy's strong point.
Honestly, I think the poor guy is just completely, utterly overwhelmed by having been handed the business by his father. He doesn't seem to have the business sense needed to run a business well (or at all). He volunteered that he had lost his credit because of the economy. I think the guy has a major cash flow problem and a major problem with listening to his customers. (Is it my fault he doesn't follow directions or take care to not damage the roof he's tromping on?)
Regardless, all the stuff needed for the fire repair has been done. (Aside from a little plumbing work I'm going to have to do on the roof tomorrow.)
You read that correctly. The fire repair is complete.
We have the county Health Department coming on Friday. I know we'll have some concerns to correct. Most likely having to do with clean up of the dust and assorted construction debris. And we'll take care of that over the weekend with a final inspection to take place on Monday. (Now that I'm reading all of this, I think I should have them come on Monday instead.... Meh! I'll think about that tomorrow!)
Our electrician, Max, has been spectacular. He will be getting business from us in the future. If you need an electrician, ask us; we'll give you his contact information.
Our roofer was great. Depite delaying starting on our roof for about a day, he was fantastic. Cleaned up all his debris and left the job done right and both Karl and I completely satisfied. (We're happy to give you his contact information, too.)
Our drywall guy was great, too. Came in on a Saturday to do some work and, over all, did a nice and professional job. (Need drywall? Let us know; we'll give you his info, too.)
Our A/C guy was darn good, too. His crew went above and beyond what they were supposed to do and helped make us satisfied customers. (Yeah, you know....)
On the other hand, our roofing framer (you know, the one who left us without a roof for a week in the rain...) I simply can not recommend at all. He can't even be counted on to hammer in a nail properly. (Literally.)
And, now most recently, our refrigeration guy for the walk-in cooler. He doesn't follow (or doesn't remember) directions well. He tromped around on our roof in the heat potentially damaging some of the brand new shingles beyond repair. (Roofer guy is coming to take a look at it to give us his opinion; hopefully tomorrow.) Claims to never leave a job without being paid right then and there for the work. (The first I'd heard of it was when he was demanding payment in full after the job was done.) Seems to have been offended that I found several problems with his work (which, if he had done it the way he had been directed by Karl, wouldn't have been a problem). He freaked out when we called him today asking about the damage to the roof threatening to come back and rip the condenser unit off the roof. (Which, by the way, is now ours since we paid him for the equipment yesterday. In other words, he threatened to steal my equipment; not exactly professional.)
And perhaps the cause of most concern is the fact he did not return our phone calls for three days. (Granted, one of those days was a Sunday.) We had expected the unit to be ready on Thursday. We called on Thursday afternoon and left a message. Left at least two messages on Friday; no call back. Same for Saturday. And one message on Sunday. Finally, on Monday, he called back saying that he'd be able to come Tuesday to install the unit. Communication does not seem to be this guy's strong point.
Honestly, I think the poor guy is just completely, utterly overwhelmed by having been handed the business by his father. He doesn't seem to have the business sense needed to run a business well (or at all). He volunteered that he had lost his credit because of the economy. I think the guy has a major cash flow problem and a major problem with listening to his customers. (Is it my fault he doesn't follow directions or take care to not damage the roof he's tromping on?)
Regardless, all the stuff needed for the fire repair has been done. (Aside from a little plumbing work I'm going to have to do on the roof tomorrow.)
You read that correctly. The fire repair is complete.
We have the county Health Department coming on Friday. I know we'll have some concerns to correct. Most likely having to do with clean up of the dust and assorted construction debris. And we'll take care of that over the weekend with a final inspection to take place on Monday. (Now that I'm reading all of this, I think I should have them come on Monday instead.... Meh! I'll think about that tomorrow!)
Finally Crossing our Fingers
It's been a long day.
BUT, we have our final building inspection scheduled for tomorrow. (Well, today now.) I expect to have a few corrections -- there almost always are -- but nothing show-stopping. And, depending on the corrections the inspector potentially wants, we may get signed off tomorrow!
We still have to get the Health Department's approval and I have a call in to them to get that scheduled hopefully for Friday.
Then, if that all goes well, we'll clean like mad over the weekend, fix whatever the Health Department needs done, get reinspected on Monday and throw open the doors at 4:00pm Monday!
Could this long process finally be *that* close to being over once and for all????
BUT, we have our final building inspection scheduled for tomorrow. (Well, today now.) I expect to have a few corrections -- there almost always are -- but nothing show-stopping. And, depending on the corrections the inspector potentially wants, we may get signed off tomorrow!
We still have to get the Health Department's approval and I have a call in to them to get that scheduled hopefully for Friday.
Then, if that all goes well, we'll clean like mad over the weekend, fix whatever the Health Department needs done, get reinspected on Monday and throw open the doors at 4:00pm Monday!
Could this long process finally be *that* close to being over once and for all????
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Coming Along
Things are coming along nicely. There have been a few additional surprise delays that have the potential to throw off our carefully constructed schedule. Mainly delays that could cause our inspections to take a day or two longer than expected. We're trying to get it right the first time now rather than doing what we think will pass and correct it later if asked.
The light fixutres are up and the A/C registers are in and the walls are mostly painted. It really is starting to look like a bar! And our LED pool table light looks quite nice!
The insurance adjuster has been out for the vandalism and I believe we're only waiting for a final determination which I expect to be favorable.
This weekend, we have friends coming by to help paint the rest of the place.
Next week, there's more clean up work to do and orders to place and inspectors to call and a bunch of small touches to finish up the job. And I think you'll find all the diamond plate you see on our sites will begin to make a little more sense. (It looks pretty darn cool if ya ask me!)
(And, ya know what? I kinda envy you guys (and gals) who will walk into the bar and get the impact of all these changes all at once. I've (obviously) been living with it for months and months so I've seen it change over time. We really think what we've done with the place will impress you. At least we hope it does.)
The light fixutres are up and the A/C registers are in and the walls are mostly painted. It really is starting to look like a bar! And our LED pool table light looks quite nice!
The insurance adjuster has been out for the vandalism and I believe we're only waiting for a final determination which I expect to be favorable.
This weekend, we have friends coming by to help paint the rest of the place.
Next week, there's more clean up work to do and orders to place and inspectors to call and a bunch of small touches to finish up the job. And I think you'll find all the diamond plate you see on our sites will begin to make a little more sense. (It looks pretty darn cool if ya ask me!)
(And, ya know what? I kinda envy you guys (and gals) who will walk into the bar and get the impact of all these changes all at once. I've (obviously) been living with it for months and months so I've seen it change over time. We really think what we've done with the place will impress you. At least we hope it does.)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Mobile Blog Improvement
Just noticed this morning that Blogger has made improvements to the way blogs on the site appear on mobile devices! This blog is now much easier to read on them! Technology marches on!
Amazing People
We know some truly amazing people.
We're less than two weeks away from our planned opening (and still on track) and more and more friends are popping out of the woodwork to help us!
There's a guy we know who is going beyond the call of duty to help us change the look of the bar itself to something that's going to be really, really cool. (We think.) And it'll make the background of our website make a little more sense, too.
There're others who are helping just do "whatever we need". Yesterday, our ceiling got painted by one such of these. Our fence has been strengthened. A toilet was fixed (it was broken by one of two of our contractors but everybody denies it was them. Patches have been made for stucco. There are many, many examples; these are just a couple that I can think of right now.
Frankly, we could not even think about meeting our June 20 deadline without these people.
Now, back to work. The electrical and A/C guys are at the bar today finishing their work and should be done by early afternoon. Our refrigeration guy is coming tomorrow and he'll be done with his stuff tomorrow. Then, we think we're ready for our final building inspection on Friday.
(We did have a vandalism "issue" again this past Thursday night/Friday morning and again Monday night/Tuesday morning. Some donkey--and by donkey, I mean jackass--broke into the back yard and destroyed the old walk-in refrigeration roof unit as it was waiting to be put onto the roof. It should be covered by insurance (adjuster arriving this morning to check into it) but it has caused a bit of a delay; and that delay shouldn't be too bad.)
We're less than two weeks away from our planned opening (and still on track) and more and more friends are popping out of the woodwork to help us!
There's a guy we know who is going beyond the call of duty to help us change the look of the bar itself to something that's going to be really, really cool. (We think.) And it'll make the background of our website make a little more sense, too.
There're others who are helping just do "whatever we need". Yesterday, our ceiling got painted by one such of these. Our fence has been strengthened. A toilet was fixed (it was broken by one of two of our contractors but everybody denies it was them. Patches have been made for stucco. There are many, many examples; these are just a couple that I can think of right now.
Frankly, we could not even think about meeting our June 20 deadline without these people.
Now, back to work. The electrical and A/C guys are at the bar today finishing their work and should be done by early afternoon. Our refrigeration guy is coming tomorrow and he'll be done with his stuff tomorrow. Then, we think we're ready for our final building inspection on Friday.
(We did have a vandalism "issue" again this past Thursday night/Friday morning and again Monday night/Tuesday morning. Some donkey--and by donkey, I mean jackass--broke into the back yard and destroyed the old walk-in refrigeration roof unit as it was waiting to be put onto the roof. It should be covered by insurance (adjuster arriving this morning to check into it) but it has caused a bit of a delay; and that delay shouldn't be too bad.)
Friday, June 3, 2011
Chugging Along
Wow....
I just updated the status page on our website. I was struck by how damn close we are to finishing up everything that's required of us. We're nearly done!
It's been an unusual time for both Karl and me. Periods of massive stress followed by periods of major relief. Whatta rollercoaster this has been!
I just updated the status page on our website. I was struck by how damn close we are to finishing up everything that's required of us. We're nearly done!
It's been an unusual time for both Karl and me. Periods of massive stress followed by periods of major relief. Whatta rollercoaster this has been!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Passing Gas
It's been a long damn day. But we're closer to opening.
We were up and out of the house at 7:00am this morning and got back home about 8:00pm.
We had a plumbing and mechanical inspection today. Part of the plumbing inspection is a pressure test on the line. The gas line passed inspection. And, we passed the rough electrical inspection as well as the mechanical inspection. (That's the A/C and duct work.) Indeed. We passed gas.
All we have left to do for the city is get the dry wall up and the finish work for the A/C and the electrical. Then it's Final Inspection time. And final inspection could happen as early as June 9. (There will probably be a few issues that need to be addressed so we'll probably have a final final inspection on the 13th; which still gives us some time before opening on the 20th.) Unless we're misreading something, this is the final Magical Hoop™ we have to jump through for our building permit! (Thankfully, the Magical Hoops™ have stopped moving quite so much...)
We also figured out what to do with the bar wall coverings that the health department wants us to put up on the server side of the bar. (Ok, it's not a want; it's a requirement.) And we picked the fiberglass reinforced panels we need back there today as well.
And the final milestone passed today was we got our phone line installed! Our Phone number: "A.K.A. Buzz" which is pretty darn awesome if you ask me.
We're looking forward to Pride this weekend. You'll probably see Karl and I handing out little fliers about the bar. We would have done a float or something (Karl even toyed with the idea of just walking around with signs like those you'd see at a protest) but, quite honestly, we've had other major issues on our minds lately.
And that's today in a nutshell.
(P.S. The posting I made earlier today was done with the voice recognition thing on my phone. It doesn't capitalize anything and you have to speak the punctuation. It's a little annoying but it's a little faster than the on-screen keyboard and it does work. Mostly.)
We were up and out of the house at 7:00am this morning and got back home about 8:00pm.
We had a plumbing and mechanical inspection today. Part of the plumbing inspection is a pressure test on the line. The gas line passed inspection. And, we passed the rough electrical inspection as well as the mechanical inspection. (That's the A/C and duct work.) Indeed. We passed gas.
All we have left to do for the city is get the dry wall up and the finish work for the A/C and the electrical. Then it's Final Inspection time. And final inspection could happen as early as June 9. (There will probably be a few issues that need to be addressed so we'll probably have a final final inspection on the 13th; which still gives us some time before opening on the 20th.) Unless we're misreading something, this is the final Magical Hoop™ we have to jump through for our building permit! (Thankfully, the Magical Hoops™ have stopped moving quite so much...)
We also figured out what to do with the bar wall coverings that the health department wants us to put up on the server side of the bar. (Ok, it's not a want; it's a requirement.) And we picked the fiberglass reinforced panels we need back there today as well.
And the final milestone passed today was we got our phone line installed! Our Phone number: "A.K.A. Buzz" which is pretty darn awesome if you ask me.
We're looking forward to Pride this weekend. You'll probably see Karl and I handing out little fliers about the bar. We would have done a float or something (Karl even toyed with the idea of just walking around with signs like those you'd see at a protest) but, quite honestly, we've had other major issues on our minds lately.
And that's today in a nutshell.
(P.S. The posting I made earlier today was done with the voice recognition thing on my phone. It doesn't capitalize anything and you have to speak the punctuation. It's a little annoying but it's a little faster than the on-screen keyboard and it does work. Mostly.)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Weekend Update
Opening day is three weeks and one day away and we've gotten everything done this weekend we were planning to get done! (Well, we had to adjust a few things because the schedule for yesterday was a little ambitious.)
Coming up next is finishing the stucco work and putting the siding up on the south end of the building and getting set up with vendors. We'll also continue planning our grand opening.
Coming up next is finishing the stucco work and putting the siding up on the south end of the building and getting set up with vendors. We'll also continue planning our grand opening.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Giant Silver Octopus
The bar was recently attacked by a giant silver octopus missing half of its legs.
HELP! We're being attacked!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)