331 Club goes dark November 15th?

[David]

This just in from Jarret at the 331 Club:

Dear Community Member:

As of November 15, 2006, the City of Minneapolis will require the 331 Club to cease providing amplified music and entertainment. We are asking for your support in fighting this ban by the City. With your support, the 331 Club can continue to provide an exciting and progressive music venue in North East.

The city’s concern is that it needs to regulate businesses impact on their communities (ie noise, traffic etc). And amplified entertainment is considered to have an unacceptable level of impact to the community. We think that, rather than harming the community, the music programming at the 331 Club is providing an important opportunity for local musicians and performers and is making the North East community a richer place.

We are asking you to write a letter to your city council member and to Mayor Rybak in support of the 331 Club. Please tell them how the developing scene at the 331 Club has had a positive (or negative) impact on the local community. Your feedback will be important to the City Council’s decisions regarding the future of North East.

Thank you for your support,

Jarret Oulman
General Manager
331club
jarretoulman@331club.com


Note:

Diane Hofstede can be reached at
Minneapolis City Counsel – 3rd Ward
350 S. 5th St. Rm 307
Email: diane.hofstede@ci.minneapolis.mn.us
Phone: 612-673-2203


Mayor R.T. Rybak’s office can be reached at
Room 331, City Hall
350 South Fifth St.
Minneapolis, MN 55415
jared.nordlund@ci.minneapolis.mn.us
(612) 673-2100 phone

[wendyandlisa]

my emails have been sent
and i also past it on

amazing.

[rachac]

Hope it doesn't go that way -- 331 is my home away from the Turf Club. Coolest bar this side of the river.

[liveintown]

Un-fucking-believeable. The first live venue in NE to host popular-outsider music and they're getting flack from the man. Anybody remember the bar that USED to be at that location? A totally fucking depressing call-the-cops fight-every-night dive bar. This was before Erte, before the Ritz re-opening, before much of anything was happening in that area. I've known the Modern owners and several employees for over a decade now and have heard story after story.

So the 331 folks clean up the whole frigging building (the apartments upstairs were ALSO filled with asshole alcoholics), an eyesore for years and years, and now the city wants to shake them down for music? I've never seen a single incident or unruly behavior while at the 331. It reminds me more of a West Bank crowd, minus any rowdy college kids. 2 opposite corners of the street contain businesses which would be supportive (restaurants) or are closed at night (school/community center). The kitty corner is a 2-family apt building. The other 2 sides of the 331 is a parking lot (no residences within 100s of feet). Who the hell is unhappy with this situation?? Let's string THEM up.

I'm all over this. Please pass this info on before we lose what little ground has been gained here in beautiful, independent and still unique NE Minneapolis.

-live

[Shannon]

I remember the bar that used to be there. Ick. I'll write a letter. Is it still true that actual letters carry more weight than emails? If so, I'll happily spend the 39 cents.

[andrea]

Mayor R.T. Rybak
Room 331, City Hall
350 South Fifth St.
Minneapolis, MN 55415
jared.nordlund@ci.minneapolis.mn.us

Dear Mayor Rybak:

It is with great concern that I write this letter. I understand that one of the city’s beloved local music venues, the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis, is in danger of losing its ability to play amplified music. I also understand that there is reasonable concern about the club’s impact on its surrounding neighborhood. However, as an active participant in the city’s local music scene, you must understand that shutting down music at this club would cause an incredible amount of harm to the community.

The 331 Club has a record of providing a place to showcase some of the city’s best developing musicians. Because of the club’s location, warm atmosphere and lack of a cover charge, the venue is one of the more accessible places to see live music in Minneapolis. The music fans and patrons of this establishment deserve to continue having a place to see music of high caliber, and manager Jarret Oulman has done a fine job developing a reputation for musical excellence.

There are many, many supporters of the 331 Club living in Minneapolis. Just this morning, I received two separate forwarded copies of Mr. Oulman’s letter to the community asking for support, and within a few hours I received several more emailed letters and saw handfuls of bulletins go up on public forums like MySpace and local music blogs. This is an important issue to many of this city’s citizens, and I hope you take that into account when making future decisions about the club.

Live music plays a vital role in developing a cultured, close-knit community. Please think carefully about the impact that the 331 Club has on Minneapolis and the importance of retaining our ability as citizens to support each other in our art and in our lives.

I will also be posting a copy of this letter to my local music-oriented blog and encouraging other concerned citizens to contact you with their thoughts on this matter.

Sincerely,

Andrea Myers
Editor of HowWasTheShow.com
Concerned citizen of Minneapolis

[andrea]

Does anyone else find it funny that the mayor's address at City Hall is room 331?!?

[David]

Maybe the 331 coincidence is a good omen.

Thanks for writing that letter to Mayor Rybak, Andrea. Maybe he'll remember HWTS from the link from his Wikipedia article to the pictures of him crowd surfing at First Ave a couple years ago.

[Staciaann]

Mayor Rybak -

We write to you this evening regarding a matter of utmost importance. It has come to our attention that there exists an order for the 331 Club in North East Minneapolis to cease providing amplified music and entertainment as of November 15th, 2006. As voting members of the Twin Cities community we strongly oppose this order.

The 331 Club is a place of relaxation and good music not only for those who live in the North East Minneapolis area, but also those who reside in the suburbs or St. Paul. Many times we have taken friends to the 331 for their first time and inevitably we are asked, "When do we get to go back?" No, it's not just for the ridiculously good grilled cheese and fries (or taco nights), but for the open atmosphere. The acceptance. The music. We have seen many local, independent artists at the 331 such as High on Stress, Beight, Darren Jackson, Martin Devaney and many others. There is no cover for this entertainment, but inevitably the "tip pitcher" for the band fills with donations in appreciation of the artistry that we are allowed to witness.

This is a family-owned soon-to-be institution that must be allowed to flourish! I can honestly say that there are many music clubs in Minneapolis, but none like the 331. Please reconsider the order to ban music at the 331.

Sincerely,

Stacy and Jeff Sandstrom
stacy.sandstrom@wmitchell.edu
jeffrey.sandstrom@spanlink.com

[Eclectone Records]

Dear Mayor Rybak, Councilwoman Hofstede, and those concerned,
As I am sure that you are becoming inundated with pleas from those of us in the local music and arts community, I feel that I, too, must weigh in. I am a songwriter and co-owner of a local record label (Eclectone Records) that has found a great home in the 331 Club. Over the past two years or so, the Oulman family has taken a bar that was formerly a fight-ridden cop magnet and transformed into a cozy, classy venue for live music. They are at the forefront of the resurgence taking place in that slice of Northeast, including the reopened Ritz theater and various art galleries. While I understand the concerns surrounding things such as noise complaints and congregations of people, I must point out that Northeast Minneapolis is more than peppered with neighborhood watering holes (including the music venue Mayslack's--just around the corner) and few of them are as welcoming and well-run as the 331. I am also concerned as an artist and small business owner that if music is taken away from the 331, it is likely that their business is in jeopardy and the musicians that call it home will be displaced, as happens all too often (The Viking Bar being a sad, recent example). I know that you are a supporter of the arts, Mr. Rybak. Please find a way to look into this matter and save the 331.

thank you for your time,
Martin Devaney
songwriter, founder, and co-owner, Eclectone Records