Syracuse Ska Forum

Everyone at the Flamingos show at Wa-Noa tonight was talking about the strong rumor that Club Tundra is closing down as of Jan 2nd. I really hope thats not true or at least maybe its just changing ownership. We desperately need a venue that size for bigger ska shows and this venue closing will just complicate that effort.

Anyone have any hard information about this one way or the other?

Not a clue. I mean it sucks for you and all but me personally. I say good riddance. They can take the glitter walls with em.

I hear you. Never been a fan of that place either. But we did a lot of great shows at Planet 505, in spite of many problems there too. We need more live music venues in Syracuse, not fewer.

is it possible to book at the furnace?
cuz that place is kick ass

The Furnace is not a venue, it is a church; I wish people would start understanding that. Dan Rocker and Matt Dunn built a relationship with the church that allows them to book certain shows there with limitations. The Furnace is not a viable venue for anyone but Matt Dunn because of the relationship he has with them that pushes down the price and his relationship with Tundra's soundman which lowers the price(they come in for Tundra shows). Besides price, at the Furnace bands cannot swear, cannot drink, and many larger ska bands are against religion in the first place and wouldn't want to play for all those reasons.
The UCF church is different. They don't mind swearing, the room is smaller so we can handle sound, it's in a better location and it's cheaper. Likewise Danny has a relationship with them that limits the likelyhood anyone else will book there.
If people understood all it takes to find a reliable venue maybe they'd appreciate what they have much more.

I thought the Less than Jake/Big D show was going to be held at Club Tundra but I just checked Syracuse Shows and it sais venue TBA, so I don't know...

ANd yes, a ska show at the Furnace would be amazing.

I've talked to Dan Rocker before about doing ska shows at The Furnace and if something better doesn't come along after Tundra, that might be one of our few options. But like Johanna said, its not as simple as calling them up and reserving a date. Even Tundra which is a regular venue has never been that simple. Churches are very touchy and if we do anything at The Furnace, it'll be through Dan Rocker or Matt Dunn or likely not at all.

And yes, The Furnace is very VERY touchy about swearing and that's a big problem for us. Many of our bands swear and it'd be awkward for them to not to. They also want to work Jesus into their shows wherever possible and I see that as a friction point as well. The alcohol issue we can mostly work around, although you'll never see The Pietasters, for example, playing at The Furnace. That'd be a disaster waiting to happen.

I keep telling everyone in Rochester how damn lucky they are. Water Street and Milestones have been around forever and seem to make money on live music, including ska. Styleens was the last real venue in Syracuse where live music was a good money maker and they enjoyed having ska shows there. But hey, we'll keep at it and there will always be new places opening up. If our shows keep growing and we keep our squeeky clean reputation in town, we'll always have options, I'm sure.

And yes, appreciate the venues we have now. No telling how long they might last.

The Lost Horizon, as sketchy as it and the people there were, has been home to a metric ass-ton of killer shows (even ska shows!) over the years.

Can't say I've been to a decent show since they turned it all sparkley and changed the name to Tundra though.

But whatever... it'll probably change owners/names and come back as something else soon enough. Unless they're tearing it down for strip club parking or something.

Okay, I just confirmed it with the manager. The New Years Day hardcore show is the end of Tundra. All bookings past that point have been cancelled. They're making way more money on the strip club next door, with a fraction of the hassle, so they're shifting their personnel there.

I wouldn't hold my breath about it re-opening under new management anytime soon, based on what I heard. BTW, he only found out on Christmas Eve. Welcome to Corporate America.

Well it's good to know for sure.

Ironic, because I would give a couple fingers for a UCF Underground - small, cheap venues are hard to come by here. Milestones is inexpensive, but has to be booked WAY in advance (3-4 months for a weekend slot,) and Water Street, even Club-side, is not cheap.

With both, you have the problem of filling them. The November RazSum show would feel sparse in one of our larger venues, and I just don't have the nerves of steel to plunk down 4-digit guarantees yet.

And as you pointed out in the past, these venues make money off the bar, with live music as a lure. Milestones is more welcoming of younger crowds, since they run events six days a week (frequently double booked) and they have a kitchen.

That's why I'm looking forward to the Public/Axis show - finally getting away from the bar, and the break-even point is modest.

Plus it's in Gates, which is where our core audience lives (and Mike - no small coincidence )

We have the Steel, the Penny (which everyone hates), Bug Jar (expensive for the space), Parkminster Church, Gates Presbyterian, Teen Center, The Blue Room (21 +), AV Space, Milestones, that new Venue out in Scottsville, The Club and Waterstreet, I'm missing a lot of bars though...

I think they exist everywhere, but you have to work hard to find and keep them. We've had a lot of luck with that.


Well, I'm more than willing to book a show big enough to fill The Club at Water Street, except Tundra was the only place we had that size and I could never work out dates or prices with them.

Your venue mix is still better than ours. Maybe that church in Gates will fill that one hole you have.

The church seems like a great small show place. The only problems I see with it are that Twitch really has to work through me (which might be a hinderence), they really would rather give us a date than us give them a date, an the fact that we have a lot of competition for the space, so a good size notification time is in order.

This reminds me, Twitch, have to get together sometime this week to fill out the damn form for the space...

Eastman Lounge may book all-ages stuff in the future - I gather that Laura's show on Friday went well for them, and they're hurting for a draw.

That notwithstanding, I'm really not interested in bar shows at this point - the Ops/Elixir debacle left a bad taste in my mouth. If I branch out into other genres, perhaps.

Skannotto is making connections with local punk and rock bands, and I hope that will lead to more of a crossover crowd, at least for their shows. Given the chance, I think The Expired and Plead the Fifth could do well in the local punk scene.

Barring major changes, I will never run at Steel. It is hideously expensive, and it has a poor reputation with local and regional musicians.

I like the Teen Center a lot, but we're limited to a shoestring budget by the no-cover rule (did anyone ask about merch tables?)

If we raise awareness of the A\V Space's existence, I think it would work out well. They have their own PA, and they take a percentage of the door instead of a flat rate.

But that's all a moot point if we can't sell any of the curators on the bands we want to bring.