Mea Culpa: How We Probably Got Dame Dash's Under 100 DIY Concert Venue Shut Down

By Zach Baron Thu., Dec. 17 2009 at 12:15 PM

Categories: Certainly the End of Something or Other, One Would Sort of Have to Think, Featured, Saying Sorry, Under 100

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Now Max B will never be able to break out prison and play Big Buck Hunter with Bradford Cox. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.

Well, it's not that complicated, really. A phone call from Under 100 promoter Ariel Panero broke the news yesterday: two letters from the community board, a soon-to-be irate landlord, and a beyond irate Damon Dash, whose reaction upon reading our article about his venue yesterday was apparently to shut the whole place down. Other people we talk to say the place will be back, quietly, after a month or two time-out. Our guess is the truth of that prediction is very much in the air right now. Real sorry about this.

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I could go after comments I dont agree with, but I do not search the absence of the opinion of these with whom I do not agree.
Just a question. Do you think you could add a little more in the way of content here? I think youve got some interesting points, but Im just not sold. If you really want to get the crowd behind you, youve got to entertain us, man. Maybe you could add a video or two to drag the message home.
Just a question. Do you think you could add a little more in the way of content here? I think youve got some interesting points, but Im just not sold. If you really want to get the crowd behind you, youve got to entertain us, man. Maybe you could add a video or two to drag the message home.
You guys are blowing this out of proportion. It was pretty awesome of Dame to let bands and rappers perform in his basement. Surely not the first time this happened, and definitely not the last time. I fuck with it Dame.
I was an intern at the Chicago Reader, and I learned that there are ways to report on these kinds of things without totally blowing up a spot...at the Reader, the music folks were as discreet as possible even when writing about more typical DIY spaces like warehouses and basements. Leave out a few crucial details so that readers have to at least do SOME snooping to figure out where the spot is. This is often enough to throw the city or the cops off the trail. Could've said "in the basement of a hip hop mogul's townhome..." instead of throwing his name around left and right. You could've also, you know, run this by more than the one source before running with it. Then again, given the personalities involved, this couldn't help but get blown up...imagine being some 20something plucked by Dame Dash to hang in his townhouse and book shows. I know I couldn't keep that shit to myself. And how could you help but report on this? Anyway, if nothing else, there would've been noise complaints. Just because it didn't become an institution unto itself doesn't make this some kinda crime against DIY.
I found this from NahRight as well, but I think the criticism of Zach here is nuts. Dame Dash was obviously out of his mind to do this. The idea that the only entrance/exit was through a shoddy set of stairs is insane. Can you imagine if there had been quick spreading fire (the place was apparently covered with wood and sound proofing foam) with 125 people down there? I'm all about a nice DIY venue, but this one sounded like an accident waiting to happen. Add to that the naive 20 year from pitchfork (showing Dash's impeccable taste in character, surly) who is proud of this fire hazard makes the whole thing even more unbelievable. If it wasn't the Voice, it would have been something else that got this place shut down. Dash can scapegoat his anger about this all he wants, but he only has himself to blame.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ hell yeah Ryuk, I totally agree. its extremely frustrating when these little suburban kids use hip hop as a gimmick, thinking its a game, dude, wait until Dame or someone from the community run up on you. I hope to see a proper letter of retraction in about a week.
These People (Zach) kill me with the whole " I'll take from the hip hop community, but as soon as thing go south, I'll throw shots." attitude. Kill yourself, kid.
yeah you dry snitched for sure
This whole thing and Dame's recent moves looked promising for music as a whole.... and then the Pitchfork kid was stupid enough to open his mouth to the fuckin Voice. and Zach? I gotta agree with the above couple posts... somehow you managed to convey hip-hop as the inferior part of this equation... when in truth it's the fucking foundation of this little love-in Dame's been cultivating as of late. Show some fuckin respect. Shit, the Max B joke miight have even been funny if he were even affiliated with Dame (nope) and if dude wasn't doing football numbers in maximum security right now.
Yeah Zach, I agree with Carlito. I actually got the link to this article from one of the biggest hip-hop blogs out there (NahRight) The tone of the whole things feels very tongue in cheek. Its like dry snitching, realizing you dried snitched, then making a snarky remark for it. Not a way to make fans. I coulda liked you more! lol -Oscar Beside that, I hope Dame keeps doing his thing. Really proud of his work and efforts, the dude is definitely not 'to be fucked with'
Dame will find a way to bring it back, he's from Harlem, we all about hustle up here. Hey Zach I don't like these little sarcastic shots your throwing at hip-hop man. Bring the respect level up a little bit, your links to your articles aren't only posted on " indie rock " sites you know. Some food 4 thought, you do the dishes.
No way is this your fault, as a journalist you were simply doing your job. The fault lies with Greg Finch, a reckless (and frankly stupid) individual who thought it would be a great idea to broadcast the goings on of an illegal DIY organization to the public. This is irresponsibility at its finest, and one must wonder if he bothered to consult his "co-owner" or Dame before granting said interview. I doubt he did. Thanks for ruining the fun for all of us, Greg Finch.
I'm just happy somebody likes my captions.
But throughout this whole ordeal - the photo captions? Priceless.
yes... you simply say "no". Unless you are a press whore like Todd P. The only reason these people are trying to be D.I.Y. "kingpins" is for the prestige. This idiot kid even admitted to selling liquor with no liquor license. It ain't like the old days. By the way... there is a reason why the building dept. exists. Building, fire, electrical codes are not arbitrary "red tape."
knocking these kids for trying, and then calling then morons for giving online interviews is all pretty silly. the venue and the press coverage are all things that landed in their laps. they didn't seek them. what, were they supposed to say no? would you have?
not your fault. pitchforks fault.
this is not your fault zach. it's indicative of the kind of operation they were running, when a 20-year-old doesn't have the common sense to turn down an interview from a major new york publication about his illegal d.i.y. venue in tribeca, a neighborhood where rich people live. indicative of much, when a prominent businessman thinks that it's remotely a good idea to let a bunch of strangers into the basement of a multi-million dollar building he merely rents from and doesn't even own. people were smoking cigarettes down there and flicking the butts, the electricity situation was dubious, and the "stairs" they installed were so fucking steep that it was only a matter of time before someone hurt himself anyway--or worse before the whole fucking place goes up in smoke, just so currency could rap over the steady clicking sound of knyfe hyts's strobe light emptying the room. what kind of solipsistic bubble do you have to live in to believe everyone's 'cool' with this kind of thing. there is a place for d.i.y. in nyc, but in d.i.y. there is no place for the kind of arrogant rush to become the next todd p, giving interviews to newspapers with the hope of improving your brand (or whatever), or even worse, blaming other people (like newspaper reporters) for the repercussions of your own event-planning idiocy.