{"id":253087,"date":"2018-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/turning-down-the-music\/"},"modified":"2018-04-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T07:00:00","slug":"turning-down-the-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/turning-down-the-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning down the music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Sara Butler | Editor<\/p>\n

Normal Heights venue halts concerts, shifts focus to community events<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lestat\u2019s West \u2014 a local music venue that has been operating for over a decade \u2014 announced that it will no longer host live concerts. John Husler, co-owner of its parent company Lestat\u2019s Coffee House, confirmed the news to Uptown News on April 4.<\/p>\n

Husler described the situation as \u201ccomplicated.\u201d Rumors of Lestat\u2019s West\u2019s closure began to swirl in early March. However, though the concerts are ending, the venue itself is not closing. It will continue to operate without live music, shifting its focus to community-centric events.<\/p>\n

\"Turning
Molly Jenson (center) performing with local musicians at \u201cThe Last Show Probably, Maybe\u201d event at Lestat\u2019s West on March 28. (Photo by Chuck Lapinsky)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lestat\u2019s West is based in Normal Heights, located at 3343 Adams Ave. next to Lestat\u2019s Coffee House. Lestat\u2019s Coffee House \u2014 a 24-hour cafe which has been open since 1997 \u2014 also has locations on Park Boulevard and University Avenue, which opened in 2010 and 2016, respectively. Husler and his partner Jamie Jerkowski run all three mom and pop shops.<\/p>\n

Out of the three businesses, Lestat\u2019s on Adams is the only location that had an accompanying live music facility. Though Lestat\u2019s West has been open for approximately 10 years, the cafe started hosting concerts 20 years ago inside of the coffee shop next door.<\/p>\n

Husler said the main reason behind decision to end the live music was that the expenses \u2014 including labor costs, music and cabaret licenses \u2014 became too high to maintain the operation. He noted that the venue cost about $50,000 more than it made.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re stuck with all of the expenses of running the theater in an environment where people don\u2019t want to pay for music,\u201d he said. \u201cMillennials get their music for free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Husler conducted a two-year study to see if the venue could cut costs and sustain itself. He found that his two other locations were growing faster and able to reinvest at a more rapid rate than the Normal Heights cafe, which was forced to burden the concert expenses.<\/p>\n

\"Turning
Lestat\u2019s West performers with Louis Brazier (center), the venue\u2019s former booking manager and soundman (Photo by Dan Chusid)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf [live music] still brought in customers, it would have value,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut the problem is that it\u2019s really hard to justify its advertising when you\u2019re only having shows with two to six people [performing] in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

A social media post from Lestat\u2019s West\u2019s Facebook account, posted by an employee on March 5, hinted the news and began community speculation about the venue\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is it folks, come out and support the venue. Lestat\u2019s West Music Venue [is] closing at the end of March,\u201d the post read, which attached a photo of a written statement about the importance of supporting small venues.<\/p>\n

Though the Facebook post has not been removed, it has been edited since its original upload. (View the full post at bit.ly\/2q4SQ1l<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

On March 23, the Facebook page \u2014 which often posts promotions for upcoming shows \u2014 added an event coined \u201cThe Last Show Probably, Maybe.\u201d The concert was organized by Molly Jenson, a local musician who got her start at the venue in 2005 and continued to perform there throughout the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed like all the San Diego musicians I knew were playing at Lestat\u2019s, so it was the first place I thought to go when I started playing shows,\u201d Molly Jenson said.<\/p>\n

Jenson reached out to other musicians who had found a second home on the stage and invited them to participate in the event. Though some were out of town or already had different shows booked, Jenson said that every person she contacted responded.<\/p>\n

\"Turning
(Photo courtesy of John Hancock)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Held on March 28 at 8\u201311 p.m., the show featured dozens of musicians, including Gregory Page, Jeff Berkley, Veronica May, Saba, Get Back Loretta, Evan Bethany, Josh Hall, Dallas McLaughlin, Alex Woodard, Annie Bethancourt, Nena Anderson, Derren Raser and Jenson herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I heard the venue might close, my first thought was that we needed to have one more big night where all the old \u2018family\u2019 got together to play some songs,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly had no idea if anyone would be there or if it would be packed,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe only had a week to promote the show, but the room was full and it ended up being a really special night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each performer played a couple songs, and many offered an on-stage tribute to Louis [Lou] Brazier in the form of short speeches or dedicated numbers. Brazier, a long-time Normal Heights resident, was the booking manager and soundman of Lestat\u2019s West. Tickets for the event cost $10 and all proceeds were given to Brazier.<\/p>\n

\"Turning
Lestat’s West has hosted live concerts in Normal Heights for over 10 years. (Photo by Chuck Lapinsky)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt was so great to see so many old friends and to have a chance to show Lou how much we love him,\u201d Jenson said. \u201cI know Lestat\u2019s [West] is closing [live music] but Lestat\u2019s isn\u2019t Lestat\u2019s without Lou.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to Brazier hiring, Husler handled all of the concerts. Once the decision to end live music was confirmed, Husler said that he offered a job at Lestat\u2019s Coffee House to Brazier, as well as another employee who worked at the venue, but they both declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to be fiscally responsible to all of the people that this place employs and all the people who enjoy coming to this place,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd if the theater continues at that rate, it will bleed that dry. At a certain point I have to say, \u2018This has to end.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Husler said he is committed to rebuilding the venue with free and low-cost community, culture-oriented events that bring in a higher attendance. The open mics, comedy nights, poetry nights, book club and writers\u2019 group previously hosted will continue. These events are all run and advertised by independent organizations.<\/p>\n

Husler also plans to add other events to the roster that have been suggested by millennials, such as potential game nights. Additionally, he is open to the idea of renting out the space to outside groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think music is important, but the focus of this room [that houses Lestat\u2019s West] has lost its audience, and without an audience you\u2019re not doing any good for anybody,\u201d Husler said.<\/p>\n

\u2014P\u00f3ngase en contacto con Sara Butler en sara@sdcnn.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Sara Butler | Editor<\/p>","protected":false},"author":864,"featured_media":253088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Turning down the music","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/864"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}