Gigantic Vintage Gets Intimidated By Jerry's Pizza Thug - By N.L. Belardes
I was wondering why I saw Alex of Gigantic at the Montgomery World Plaza last night at the Thursday Night War. I knew there was supposed to be a kickin’ show down at the BIG clothing store downtown. So why wasn’t Alex mingling with his polka buddies? Ok—they weren’t polka buddies but a bunch of great Indie bands. And though I am making light for the moment, there are some serious issues going on in the downtown Bakersfield music scene that everyone knows about but no one will speak about, until now…
There is a music explosion waiting to happen in Bakersfield. It’s building up. It’s gaining momentum. The forces are at work in the ethereal fog of band and music venue uncertainty; but it’s working in a positive manner. The explosion will peak; it will happen. And thank god, but I predict it’s not going to explode from Jerry’s Pizza. I think Alex of Gigantic knows what I’m talking about. He’s apparently a visionary who sees the scene for what it is—gaining momentum at a furious pace. Let me just say this: why would any city want a great music scene to explode from a venue like Jerry’s, one that is as dirty as any underground cesspool there ever was? Jerry’s is no Whiskey-A-Go-Go and I think any talent scout would be hard-pressed to put up with such a venue to watch any potentially great band. What a laughing stock Bakersfield would be to the nation were some band to rise from the dark pizza-stained underground ashes of Jerry’s bowels. I can just hear Johnny Carson’s ghost giggle as it poofs away, “I was right after all, such streets are worthy of joke-making!”
I was at work the other day when this guy said, “I’ll never go back to Jerry’s again. I saw too many cockroaches scatter from the tables. It was disgusting.” And that was at lunchtime. Who knows what bugs creep from Jerry’s during the midnight hour when the pizza has been left on the cellar floors for hours on end. Maybe because the pizza is the crusty floor down in its blackened trash-strewn cellar. The way things are going these days, one of those scattering bugs might have been this slime ball I keep hearing about who’s been shafting local bands, out-of-towners and downtown businesses left and right. What kind of camaraderie is this? I have ignored such de-banding and given props to the bands and venues who have a unified vision. I know the true eyesore and stain on the city; and I know Jerry’s Pizza’s strategy. It’s called divide and conquer. Unfortunately for Jerry’s, this time they’re going to fail.
Maybe it’s time good folks reach out to the media and say, “Hey, there’s this hellish pizza joint where your kids hang out at night that smells like a sewer. Shut it down.” Who will say that? You? Me? Alex? Well I’m saying it right now…
There’s more. Here’s what I just read on the Gigantic website:
all shows @ gigantic vintage will either be canceled or moved to another venue, most likely the montgomery ward plaza on F st.
why? well because mr. NATE BURG of jerry's pizza felt that we were competition to his shows and decided to contact our landlord and make a bunch of complaints against us (probably total lies about bad stuff that wasn't even happening) in order to stop the shows. we know this is true because we heard that he went around bragging about it. he has been trying to get our shows closed down for about a month now because he feels it threatens jerry's pizza shows.
so you can all thank nate burg for having one less thing to do in bakersfield until we can get the shows moved and what not! we'll keep you updated, and thank you all for supporting gigantic vintage.
Well how disgusting is that? I immediately went down to Gigantic this evening and heard more of the story. Apparently this Nate Burg character recently threatened the good folks of Gigantic with a baseball bat. Now if that isn’t bad business topped with a psychotic attitude problem. Maybe Dwight Yoakum would just say “this is the streets of Bakersfield for you”; but I say different. I’d like to see this guy try to do that to Marky Pope, security thug extraordinaire for CK Entertainment. I’m well aware of the old Tule Fog stories about the theft of the mascot and Marky’s own prowess with a Louisville Slugger. Ask him that story sometime. We hockey players, fans of the Condors (a team that doesn’t take intimidation from anyone, and a very clean venue I might add) play the same brand ourselves. Try to intimidate us and we’ll play twice as hard, and beat you by three goals.
The point here is intimidation. It doesn’t work. It fuels desire. It fuels passion. Didn’t England attempt to intimidate the colonies? Didn’t Hitler try to intimidate Europe and then America? What about the result of intimidation caused by America on some Middle Eastern country. You know that oil-filled country. There are people fighting back there too. And our good soldiers die in part because of our government’s all-too-inflated intimidation factor. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a patriot. But I’m also one that doesn’t stand for intimidation of any kind. I’m the first to be in a hockey fight and take a swing at a guy twice my size for a cheap shot. But then, that’s on the rink. And it’s all handshakes after the game. But then, we’re not talking about a game, are we? I’d like to see Nate Burg and Alex of Gigantic shake hands after this mess. Not a likely ending to the story.
Tonight, I believe is a sign of the demise of Jerry’s Pizza. Tonight is the night that the city heard the writer speak for the musicians and business owners of intimidated streetsville. Didn’t I say in my ‘Rock and Roll Farm’ article that it would take a new generation of rebellious punks to rebel against the punks? Yes, well Alex and Gigantic aren’t giving up. These guys are just rebellious and avant garde enough to pull away from the downtown scene to attract the kids who need Gigantic to thrive, who need the Indie music scene to stay alive, and who aren’t afraid to help the scene explode, not in a downtown where it’s supposedly all happening, but in a city and valley and in homes; that’s where the music explosion is about to happen...
There is a music explosion waiting to happen in Bakersfield. It’s building up. It’s gaining momentum. The forces are at work in the ethereal fog of band and music venue uncertainty; but it’s working in a positive manner. The explosion will peak; it will happen. And thank god, but I predict it’s not going to explode from Jerry’s Pizza. I think Alex of Gigantic knows what I’m talking about. He’s apparently a visionary who sees the scene for what it is—gaining momentum at a furious pace. Let me just say this: why would any city want a great music scene to explode from a venue like Jerry’s, one that is as dirty as any underground cesspool there ever was? Jerry’s is no Whiskey-A-Go-Go and I think any talent scout would be hard-pressed to put up with such a venue to watch any potentially great band. What a laughing stock Bakersfield would be to the nation were some band to rise from the dark pizza-stained underground ashes of Jerry’s bowels. I can just hear Johnny Carson’s ghost giggle as it poofs away, “I was right after all, such streets are worthy of joke-making!”
I was at work the other day when this guy said, “I’ll never go back to Jerry’s again. I saw too many cockroaches scatter from the tables. It was disgusting.” And that was at lunchtime. Who knows what bugs creep from Jerry’s during the midnight hour when the pizza has been left on the cellar floors for hours on end. Maybe because the pizza is the crusty floor down in its blackened trash-strewn cellar. The way things are going these days, one of those scattering bugs might have been this slime ball I keep hearing about who’s been shafting local bands, out-of-towners and downtown businesses left and right. What kind of camaraderie is this? I have ignored such de-banding and given props to the bands and venues who have a unified vision. I know the true eyesore and stain on the city; and I know Jerry’s Pizza’s strategy. It’s called divide and conquer. Unfortunately for Jerry’s, this time they’re going to fail.
Maybe it’s time good folks reach out to the media and say, “Hey, there’s this hellish pizza joint where your kids hang out at night that smells like a sewer. Shut it down.” Who will say that? You? Me? Alex? Well I’m saying it right now…
There’s more. Here’s what I just read on the Gigantic website:
all shows @ gigantic vintage will either be canceled or moved to another venue, most likely the montgomery ward plaza on F st.
why? well because mr. NATE BURG of jerry's pizza felt that we were competition to his shows and decided to contact our landlord and make a bunch of complaints against us (probably total lies about bad stuff that wasn't even happening) in order to stop the shows. we know this is true because we heard that he went around bragging about it. he has been trying to get our shows closed down for about a month now because he feels it threatens jerry's pizza shows.
so you can all thank nate burg for having one less thing to do in bakersfield until we can get the shows moved and what not! we'll keep you updated, and thank you all for supporting gigantic vintage.
Well how disgusting is that? I immediately went down to Gigantic this evening and heard more of the story. Apparently this Nate Burg character recently threatened the good folks of Gigantic with a baseball bat. Now if that isn’t bad business topped with a psychotic attitude problem. Maybe Dwight Yoakum would just say “this is the streets of Bakersfield for you”; but I say different. I’d like to see this guy try to do that to Marky Pope, security thug extraordinaire for CK Entertainment. I’m well aware of the old Tule Fog stories about the theft of the mascot and Marky’s own prowess with a Louisville Slugger. Ask him that story sometime. We hockey players, fans of the Condors (a team that doesn’t take intimidation from anyone, and a very clean venue I might add) play the same brand ourselves. Try to intimidate us and we’ll play twice as hard, and beat you by three goals.
The point here is intimidation. It doesn’t work. It fuels desire. It fuels passion. Didn’t England attempt to intimidate the colonies? Didn’t Hitler try to intimidate Europe and then America? What about the result of intimidation caused by America on some Middle Eastern country. You know that oil-filled country. There are people fighting back there too. And our good soldiers die in part because of our government’s all-too-inflated intimidation factor. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a patriot. But I’m also one that doesn’t stand for intimidation of any kind. I’m the first to be in a hockey fight and take a swing at a guy twice my size for a cheap shot. But then, that’s on the rink. And it’s all handshakes after the game. But then, we’re not talking about a game, are we? I’d like to see Nate Burg and Alex of Gigantic shake hands after this mess. Not a likely ending to the story.
Tonight, I believe is a sign of the demise of Jerry’s Pizza. Tonight is the night that the city heard the writer speak for the musicians and business owners of intimidated streetsville. Didn’t I say in my ‘Rock and Roll Farm’ article that it would take a new generation of rebellious punks to rebel against the punks? Yes, well Alex and Gigantic aren’t giving up. These guys are just rebellious and avant garde enough to pull away from the downtown scene to attract the kids who need Gigantic to thrive, who need the Indie music scene to stay alive, and who aren’t afraid to help the scene explode, not in a downtown where it’s supposedly all happening, but in a city and valley and in homes; that’s where the music explosion is about to happen...
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Friday, March 18, 2005.
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way to go "CATHOLIC BOY!" still keeping a watch on you. you KNOW who i am. trying hard to get in touch with you. nothing but negative stuff. i like that.you made a good "FIRST IMPRESION", and now i'm trying to just....."LIVE MY LIFE".........HOSS
SPELLED IMPRESSION WRONG, HOPE THAT DOESN'T COST ME POINTS!
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