Here we go again-one of Iowa’s most historic venues is closing, only to re-open again in a few days under a different name (maybe) and under new ownership. Gabe’s Oasis was a loveable shithole that-if you’ve followed this blog for any length of time-you’ll remember when Gabe’s closed its doors, it got bought by new owners, it got “remodeled”, and then it re-opened as The Picador.It may have still been thought of Gabe’s, but there was no denying that for a while The Picador managed to use their bargaining power (the owner has another venue in Kansas) to bring some decent bands through the area.
Like many other venues, The Picador fell on tough times competing with the attention deficit youth and a poor economy. The first step the owners took was to dismiss Doug Roberson-a man who was/is one of the most consistently familiar faces both on an off stage. Doug was responsible for booking a ton of great shows before The Picador took over, but when the new owners took over the booking chores for national act, Doug was left to pick up the slack of booking local acts-which in his defense, is only good as the talent he can pick from.
The owner’s felt that they weren’t getting what they were paying for and they felled the declining attendance squarely on Doug shoulders. After unceremoniously letting Doug go, there was an even more noticeable decline in The Picador’s calendar. Curiously, the venue that Roberson ended up booking shows for, found their attendance increasing because of the draw of their acts.
I still don’t believe that a venue in our area can’t support itself-that it really comes down to the way the venue is managed and in the approach the venue takes with live music. The Picador started to change into an attic of metallic gutturals, where everyone knew everyone else while little was done to attract new faces.
In short, the venue lost more than a familiar face when Roberson left, it lost its identity. It turned into a clique, one with a shitty attitude at that. It shouldn’t be that difficult to break away from a conversation to get me a drink should it? But it was, it seemed. And the drag of it all was that I drove down from Cedar Rapids to be shunned and I’ve been known to be a nice tipper, even when nursing a soda.
It appeared that once Roberson was canned, a funk loomed over the club (not the Parliament kind) and nobody seemed to give a shit. From the guy at the door to the guy behind the bar, your presence was a nuisance and no one seemed to get that each paying customer was essentially an opportunity to turn the ship around.
Whether or not the new owners can actually do that is yet to be seen.
3 comments:
I've heard the "cliquishness" of PicaGabe's cited before and the "It'll always be Gabes to me" Facebook group is rife with comments pleading the same, but I have to admit, I just don't see it. For me, the great thing about that place was how it seemed to pull in some of the trashiest people in IC along with the hipster poseurs the music acts invariably drew. It was an exciting mix and I would be secretly delighted when one of the drunken regulars would start shit with someone and the wait staff had to be brought in to throw someone out. Unfortunately, a few weekends ago I visited during a Friday night and found 2 regulars sullenly watching the TV while the bartender busied herself cleaning and the waitress quietly read a book at the bar. It was one of the saddest fucking thing I've ever seen. I guess it's The Mill for me now.
A bar whose snobbishness really gets on my nerves nowadays and never gets called on it is the Deadwood. It used to be that the staff turnover kept things nice and loose there, but recently it seems to be run completely by the same douchy losers year after year. I went there one weekend and came back from the bathroom to find my coat had been thrown on the floor by some asshole who objected to my presence on their end of the bar. It used to be that they only skipped songs that were being played on the jukebox that were too long or because some wise guy played "Revolution 9". Now they skip songs because someone had the audacity to ruin the Widespread Panic set they had going.
Maybe you should send them a subscription to the Saturday Evening Post, funnyman
Since becoming the Picador, the only good things I can think of are the improved women's room downstairs and the new staircase out back that the bands load in and out on.
I completely agree that since Doug left, the booking has sucked. There's been nothing there that I absolutely went crazy about seeing there, the same venue where I saw Link Wray, Mike Watt, and the Reverend Horton Heat.
Hopefully it will get better under new ownership, it certainly can't get any worse!
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