What a crazy night last night.

I rolled into the venue about 10:15. The line was around the block. What can I say? it's always a good party with the Do Lab.

The do lab had lost their venue last minute about a week ago. They did a good job of finding a new place. Sadly, it didnt have the same capacity as the previous place. It was permitted, so the fire marshall was strict on capacity. And, really, whether there is a fire marshall or not, none of us wants to throw an event where we overload the venue.

The bassbins in the main room started blowing the power right around the time a certain friend of mine went on the decks. Im not naming names, but lets just say "bass" is part of his name.

OH- Hipgenesis is throwing a thursday night monthly called REVERB at the king king on feb 28th. Come down and check it out, its going to be a blast!

PHOTOS UP FROM LUCENT LAMOUR- HTTP://WWW.DJWOLFIE.COM


So, the do lab party.

One thing we as party goers must understand, and cut promoters slack on is how difficult it is to pull off an event of such a large scale.

There is so much love that goes into creating these events for you. Believe me, we do the absolute best we can. We want everyone to be able to get into the party. We also have to watch our budgets, and make sure if the party gets cancelled, we’re not going to loose the car and the house because of it.

If something goes wrong, thats totally part of the package at underground happenings. Things go wrong at every single party I have been to for the last 10 years. Sometimes its a large effect, sometimes a small one. Either way, its part of the experience. As promoters we plan the best we can, we charge the least amount for tickets and drinks we can, and we use volunteers instead of paying people to set up the events. All the while passing our hard work off to your wallet.

Know then, when you complain, that you’re complaining about the group of people that year after year beg borrow and improvise to take care of you. We are the only promoters in town that don’t want you to feel ripped off. We’re the promoters when we see you, we’re actually glad to talk to you. Unlike mainstream promoters that just see you as a dollar sign walking through the door.

Take a moment, and seriously think how you would feel if tomorrow, Blue, The Do Lab, Hipgenesis, Pocket and the Ninjaskillz all stopped throwing parties.

Consider these factors:

-underground venues with nice security are hard to find.
-underground venues get shut down without notice- which happened to the do lab this last week, which resulted in a smaller venue than originally planned.
-the do lab got the right permits so the party wouldn’t get busted. However, that comes with a fire marshall, enforcing the capacity limits.
-that means, the fire marshall stood at the door and only let one person in as one would leave- which created a huge wait to get in the event.
-venues cost many thousands of dollars. the larger the venue, the more expensive it is.
-even if you know 3000 people are coming, you may only have enough cash on hand to rent the 1200 person venue.
-if for some reason the party cannot happen, promoters must be prepared to eat all the cost of the event.
-these events cost 15 to 20 grand to throw, at a minimum. For a 3000 person event, budgets can easily soar to 30 or 40 grand. Thats a lot of cash to think about loosing.
-The more mainstream venues that are suited to handling that kind of crowd, people hate, and refuse to attend.

This is a list of things the do lab should be acknowledged for:
-finding a venue in one week, after loosing the first venue.
-negotiating lower drink prices than the venue wanted to charge. Yes. those expensive drinks were originally MORE expensive.
-Hiring a computerized ticketing system, that did work much faster than previous parties.
- getting permits so that it was a legal party, not in danger of being shut down.
-obeying the firemarshall and not putting you at danger by overloading a venue with people.
-staying within the community with vendors where ever possible.
-doing their best to pay musicians and performers their rates. this meant charging more money for tickets.
-offering a good discount on presale tickets, and NOT capping them at a small number like many places. Instead, they LOST money by selling 600 presales. ( do the math. 300 presales at 25, 900 door sales at 40 vs 600 presales at 25, and 600 door sales at 40)
-Spending months creating deco, planning, and getting permits.
-spending so much time setting up and tearing down.

So at the end of the day, cut promoters slack when things don’t go as planned.

So we’ll start training the large venues to have better security. We’ll carefully pick the main stream venues that are friendly, and let us do our decorations and rent out the whole place for the night.

It’ll mean less hassle for you. The price may be a buck or three more for drinks.

We’ll still hunt for good underground venues. When we find them, know that sometimes, the power may cut out.

We know the standard complaints. We hear them all the time. We do things about them all the time. Many of the solutions result in higher ticket prices, which the community then either refuses to pay and turn out to events suffer, or they pay and gripe loudly about.

We know that sometimes these things suck:
-the ticket price
-the long wait to get in
-the fact the party got busted
-why did we have to take a shuttle
-why were security such jerks
-why did the power cut out
-why drinks were so expensive

Believe me. We as promoters care, ask, and push to get these things handled. And sometimes, it comes down to "okay, drinks and tickets will be expensive, but thats the best we can do. Here's the evening we can offer."

If its going to be a sold out night- buy presales,or if doing cash- show up to the venue before doors open, but please don’t complain when you didn’t plan properly.

I send out multiple “buy presales now” emails. I am always straight with people in my emails about when you should show up early, or plan for a shuttle.

You are fortunate to have these handful of promoters who actually care about you as a human being, and choose to work so hard to create a space for your culture to exist. remember that these are people, fellow community members, just like you.

Remember that none of them are millionaires, with plenty of cash to “do the party right”. We squeak by on a shoe string budget, that comes out of our own pockets, not from corporate sponsors. We rarely can pay the people who work and toil for months making videos, decorations, and spend 48 hours around the event night working non stop to create the space.

Meet us half way in throwing these events. Help set up and tear down. Pay full price for tickets instead of always asking to be on a list. You’re special to us. You don’t need to be on the list for us to prove it. If the parties are worth it, pay for it.

We’re fine to hear feedback. In a polite way, email us personally to make suggestions. Come help us create the space. Help decorate once in a while. Don’t start a complaint section on tribe. Acknowledge the good parts of the events as well as the negative if you must comment in public.