Top 10 Shows I Promoted Part Four

1989 - 2010

John Zorn - Nov. 9, 1996 - Barristers

Poster art by Michael Haaga; Layout by Andria Lisle; Star Trek font by Chris Walker

The weekend of November 9, 1996, is one that I will remember forever. The stars aligned and weird, interesting things happened that day. Two major sports stories happened:

• Evander Holyfield defeated Mike Tyson. This wasn’t the ear bite fight.

• The University Of Memphis upset Peyton Manning and the #6 ranked University Of Tennessee. I remember people coming to the show saying they were dragging the goal posts down East Parkway.

I contributed to the cosmic alignment by booking a never-before-or-since appearance in Memphis by avant garde New York jazz artist and saxophonist, John Zorn and his radical jewish musical group, Masada, which was Joey Baron on drums, Dave Douglas on trumpet, and Greg Cohen on bass. The music that Zorn was going to be playing at Barristers that evening is starkly different than his band, Naked City, the first jazz thrash band ever created, which is how I came to know Zorn’s art.

I was in my thrash metal phase when Naked City ended up on my radar after appearing on the 1991 Earache Records Grind Crusher - The Ultimate Earache sampler with bands like Napalm Death and Carcass. Their song, “Osaka Bondage” was one of my favorite tracks on the record and I had to hear more. I purchased the self-titled album from Shangri-La Records and fell in love with it. I wanted to book them but Naked City doesn’t tour. Just random one offs here and there, usually in New York or Europe. I spent the next few years familiarizing myself with Zorn’s catalog.

Me and John Colpitts aka Kid Millions, drummer of Oneida - photo by unknown

This story isn’t possible without the kindness, patience, and grace of John W. Colpitts and Andria Lisle. John booked Masada with me at Barristers and Andria helped promote the show and served as a Memphis tour guide for Masada on show day whilst I prepared the venue. I’ve spoken to them over the past week to revisit this show and dust off the cobwebs. We don’t recall everything but both of them reminded me of some things I did not and would not recall had we not chatted.

I came to know John fairly early in my Barristers tenure when he was part of a band called Super Hussy, who opened for the band, Low, on Wed. June 21, 1995. I only have one memory of that show that we both share:

Low come as advertised and are notoriously quiet. You could talk over a live performance. After 15-20 minutes of playing and all 30-40 patrons are almost asleep, the guitar player unslung his guitar over his head and slammed it down on the stage, making an explosion of noise and feedback, then he stormed out the door into the alley. About 20 seconds went by, which felt like 20 minutes, and we all looked at each other with mouths agape and the rest of the band looking at each other. Then, the guitar player walked back in with purpose, picked up his guitar, slung it, leaned into the mic and said “Sorry, everybody…” and they picked up where they left off, which made me wonder if it was a put-on. It wasn’t.

John and I recalled this story on the phone in 1996 after he got a job working as the booking agent for the Knitting Factory and the artists on their label. He was making contact to let me know he’d probably be calling me with potential shows in the near future, which he did. We booked Chris Cochrane’s Suck Pretty and probably discussed booking other band dates that didn’t materialize.

Last week, I asked him if he would contribute to the story and he was kind enough to assist.

I had questions, he had answers:

Me: Who approached you about booking this tour and what were the stipulations?

John W. Colpitts: My memory is that I was doing a good job booking tours for Knitting Factory artists and I started to have a reputation. This opportunity may have come from my immediate boss Mark Perlson or the owner, Michael Dorf. John Zorn's Masada was a very big deal in NYC. I think everyone recommended that Zorn work with me on a tour. Zorn met with me and gave me a few small requirements. I thought it was a minimum fee of 2k but we both think that's too low... Maybe it was 4-5k. My memory was the only restrictions was the band was gonna fly everywhere and it was a limited amount of time. Maybe ten days. I can't remember how many shows I booked. I had no restrictions but it wasn't until I confirmed a show in Montreal that I learned that Zorn refused to play Canada. Aside from that I had no restrictions. I just had to find the money.

Me: How much discretion did you have regarding which markets the tour played?

JWC: Pretty much full discretion. There was nothing about having to play certain markets, it was just about money which is why I reached out to you.

Me: Why did you pick Memphis?

JWC: We talked a little bit about this...you and I were friendly. My band had played Barristers and we would shoot the shit on the phone a bunch and I got to know your taste. I think you were a fan of Zorn and I thought not only you would be psyched but it would be a special show for Memphis. I was in my early 20s and had a naïve view of the business and different regions. I was enamored of certain places for eccentric reasons. I was fascinated with Pittsburgh before I'd visited because of George Romero for instance. But I think you had communicated through your being a certain aura of the city. I'd been there and experienced how unusual, weird and special the city was and I also was a fan of the Grifters and had some revelatory experiences at Graceland. I realize this sounds so dumb now but I just had a sense that this show would be historic and I was excited to bring it to you. I knew you would understand that this was a huge deal.

…and it was a huge deal to me. So huge, that I couldn’t see around it. Like the way you can’t see around an 18-wheeler when you’re driving.

What I couldn’t see was the end of Barristers.

In the beginning, it seemed like something amazing was happening every week. But starting around December of 1995 (exactly one year later from my opening), things started getting harder. Those amazing things started happening once a month instead of a week. Some shows I depended on to pay bills cancelled. We were broken into and burglarized. I didn’t make the guarantee on some shows. The winter weather didn’t help.

In my financial desperation, I took on, what appeared to be, a successful and well heeled business partner and Barristers moved from the downtown 147 Jefferson location to the old Antenna location at 1588 Madison Ave. That lasted 3 months before a cornucopia of bullshit climaxed into me being served an eviction notice. I did manage to book a few awesome shows in that time, though.¹

I still had commitments. I still had some great shows lined up. Fortunately, I still had a back-up venue at 147 Jefferson and I took all my shows back there. Of course, we didn’t make enough money to cover rent at both venues, so I was in the hole with just enough money to buy stock to stay open. I was living show to show. The Jesus Lizard happened at old Barristers. My son was born. Something was off with him but we couldn’t tell what.

Then John called offering me the Zorn gig. Neither John nor I recall when the actual request-for-hold phone call for the Zorn date occurred. We’re guesstimating August or September 96. Even though I wasn’t in a position to be booking a show with a guarantee like Zorn was asking², there was no way I was going to pass it up. I led John to believe that everything was a-ok and let’s put on a big show.

We confirmed for Saturday, November 9, 1996

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Let’s stop for a second.

John reached out to me when I started this series of posts recollecting my favorite shows since we’re Facebook friends and wanted to know if the Zorn show made the cut. I said it did and asked if he would like to participate. He said he would. I got really excited over that prospect since I’m a huge fan of his and his band, Oneida, and his drum work, plus, he had a perspective that could really help fill out the story.

I only had broad, fond memories of the Zorn show but John’s perspective ended up kicking me in the guts. There was something I had forgotten and still don’t remember but it must be true.

When John and I spoke about this show last week, he asked me:

JWC: Do you remember trying to cancel the show?

Me: What?!?

JWC: You don’t remember that?!?

Me: Why would I do that?!? It was great!

JWC: You were freaking out about the guarantee! You didn’t think you were going to be able to cover it.

Me: I have absolutely zero recollection of that.

JWC: I had to get stern with you. I was really upset. If you had cancelled, it would have disrupted the entire tour. The plane tickets were already bought connecting to each date. I had given you that date specifically because I know how much it would’ve meant to you. I was not going to let you cancel.

…and he didn’t. Thankfully.

My biggest concern is my mental health. How do I not remember that?!? The part that bothers me the most is that I traumatized someone I care about. This wasn’t some rando booking agent that I’ll never meet who could care less about me. This was someone I consider a friend and had shaken my hand. Someone I deeply respect who is gifted in many ways. Someone that saw my hometown for the beautiful freakshow that it is and appreciated it.

I tried to remember why I would’ve done that. I have only accomplished what I have because of my reputation for being easy to deal with, accessible, and doing what I say I’ll do. The act of cancelling this show would be a large black mark against that.

I picked up my old Barristers calendars from back then and tried to make sense of it. This is what came back to me:

• I was in the financial hole. When I took on a partner, I was about shin deep. By the time I got John’s call, I was waist deep.

• Usually, shows of this magnitude have a healthy bit of marketing assistance from the artist’s label in the form of ad buys, ticket buys, in-stores, radio promo, etc. That was not the case here. All I had was John Colpitts. He confirmed this in our interview. While he did an outstanding job (see the clips below), it was not certain that anyone was going to write anything.

• Remember when I said there was something wrong with my son? Right about the time I may have made that phone call trying to back out of the show was when we were finding out about my son’s condition. There were more doctor’s appointments on my calendar than profitable rock shows.

• The very real possibility of standing in front of John Zorn and telling him I didn’t have his money was probably as terrifying as the thought of telling him that his tour just fell apart because he put his faith in you.

After about 48 hours of processing this new perspective on a memory that I’ve held in high regard, I’m ok with it. Especially when you hear how it ends.

I’m more concerned about my potentially defective kitchen equipment.

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Back to our regularly scheduled programming…

Time to promote the show!

I asked my talented artist friend, Michael Haaga, lead singer of dead horse, if he would be interested in designing a show poster for me. He wrote a response:

Mike sent over some layout ready artwork to be used in the Zorn photo. Remember, all this is through snail mail. There was no emailing files. There wasn’t Photoshop.

I had AndriaShop.

I don’t recall whether Andria was a current employee of Kinko’s at this time or former but she was a graphic design ninja. Especially, compared to me. We sat down at Kinko’s and I watched her put it together and I remember feeling like a total dope. She made it look so easy. The Star Trek font was my choice and I regret it.

I lined up ticket dealers. I also needed a drum sponsor because, Joey Baron, the drummer, was flying in and not bringing his own kit. The Memphis Drum Shop were outstanding to work with. They sold tickets for the show and loaned Joey a kit in trade for having their name on everything pertaining to the show and some tickets for themselves. The Memphis Flyer sponsored the show with free ads.

The week of the show, we’d sold enough tickets, taken enough phone calls, and talked to enough record store clerks to gauge that we were probably going to be ok. Even if I was short at the turnstiles, I should make enough at the bar to cover the losses. I shouldn’t have to be calling The Bank Of Mom And Dad for an emergency loan.

Memphis Flyer, Thursday, Nov. 7, 1996

(Lack of) Memory Nuggets:

• I don’t remember picking them up at the airport or taking them to their hotel which was in Olive Branch, MS. Andria reminded me of that fact when we spoke and I couldn’t remember why I would lodge them so far from the venue. Then I remembered that football game I referenced at the beginning of this story.

• I loaned her my mother’s car to drive Masada around.

• She didn’t have a driver’s license. She got none other than Luther Dickinson to chauffeur Masada around.

• One thing that John impressed upon me when we booked this show was that feeding the band was an important aspect to their visit and to make sure they were to consume the food native to the town’s culture:

  “In terms of food - I feel like my boss Mark Perlson was coaching me on this. He advised me that Zorn was really into interesting food. . .local, unique cuisine. So for dinner - the promoters were asked to find a few interesting options for the band to check out. I think I emphasized Asian cuisine - but this was before I had a deeper sense of regional food. I was told to really focus on making the tour a pleasant experience for the band - and to especially insist that the promoters take care of them in this way. . .not just pizzas and other bullshit. And it wasn't meant to be pricey. . .just great authentic food.”

• They went on a Memphis BBQrawl (this, I did know) and hit all the local’s favorites, not the tourist’s. Mission accomplished!

• We opened doors for the first show and we had such an eclectic mix of people attending. Landing on the front page of the daily paper’s entertainment section helped bring in people who would never go to Barristers otherwise. I’ll never forget seeing septuagenarian jewish couples standing together next to crusty punks.

• It’s interesting to look back now and think about how it was a big deal that this show was a “non-smoking” show. I remember my smoking customers harumphing about this in-between coughs. Someone tried to light one up and Zorn publicly smote him. Bill Ellis, of The Commercial Appeal, mentions this in his review of the show below.

My trusty big brother filmed the show. I uploaded a piece:

It ended up being perfect. Masada performed acoustically. No P.A. No audio engineer. The only thing on that stage resembling a microphone was Joey Baron’s head. The combination of the quality acoustics of Barristers, a room full of people, and highly skilled musicians led to an immaculate sounding show. Bill is a better writer than me, so I’ll let him explain what the show was like:

Bill Ellis, Commercial Appeal

So it all worked out. I covered the guarantee and Zorn had no idea of the teeth gnashing that transpired. Somehow, John understood my situation and didn’t hold it against me and we’re friends to this day. I visited with John in New York City a couple of years later at the Knitting Factory when Zorn was playing with some people that night. John found Zorn and re-introduced me and reminded him of Masada’s performance at my venue in Memphis, TN.

Zorn shook my hand. Looked at me in the eyes. Squinted and said…

“I vaguely remember that.”

When I reminded John of that last week, he said that made sense. His response:

JWC: I loved asking the artists about different cities. I was excited about Memphis because my sense was that you went out of your way to make it special and you were excited about the MUSIC. I think I chatted with Joey and Greg afterwards. Maybe they liked Andria and thought she showed them a good time, but also I was struck at how these musicians were just doing gigs and they seemed genuinely puzzled why I would ask. They might have paused for a moment and said, "oh yeah, it was pretty fun" - but I was struck at how the excitement I had about regions and cultures of various US cities was not really shared by these guys. I don't know that it made the impression I thought it would. There's something in my mind that they might have found the grungy nature of the bar and the scene interesting and amusing. But it was also the equivalent of a shrug. Maybe slightly beyond a shrug.  They might remember it differently but that was one of the many disillusionments I experienced at this job.

Again, thank you to John and Andria for still being there.

Oneida has an awesome new record out called “Expensive Air”.

They’ll also be playing Gonerfest in Memphis on Sunday, Sept. 29

Next week: Top Ten Shows I Promoted Part Five

1. Examples: Napalm Death/At The Gates; Tortoise/5 Style/Sea & Cake; Jay Reatard’s first show ever; Zeni Geva/Today Is The Day; Voivod; etc.

2. After some back and forth between John and I, we agreed that the guarantee was $4K.