Last night I had good intentions to go to the Event Center task force meeting. But I decided to paint instead, so I suck. I had several questions for the group. Like why hasn’t anyone from the group or the mayor’s office released data on how much our current entertainment facilities are booked and attendance (because this would not help their cause). I did some rough googling about six months ago and what I could see was this:
Percentage of days in a year facilities are booked:
Arena: 50-60%
Wash Pav Great Hall: 40-50%
Orpheum Theater: 50% (This has increased significantly)
Belbas theater: 10-20% (rather pathetic considering this is a fantastic small acoustic hall)
This doesn’t take into account all the private college theaters and Brandon’s performance hall.
Now remember, these are DAYS not attendance. These facilities only sellout about 5% of the time (combined). What am I getting at? THE NEED IS NOT THERE and the numbers don’t add up, that is why NO one will talk about it.
We will need a new facility in about 10 years. I think another task force should be organized in about 6-7 years. In the interim, the city and state legislators should work to totally overhaul our tax code in SD. Which would include:
– Eliminating Video Lottery
– Eliminating the tax on food and clothing
– Instituting a corporate entertainment tax (this tax could be municipal optional)
– Instituting an advertising tax
– Instituting a luxury tax
Once a clear way to pay for the facility is available, then we can move forward.
I don’t miss Robert Morast
Since one of the worst entertainment writers the Gargoyle Leader has ever seen has left I’ve been hearing mumblings and rumblings about how he is missed (mostly from his nerdy friends who played video games and drank Yahoo with him). Even Scott Hudson shed a few tears today.
I have told several of them that it has improved the LINK significantly because now they have a person who actually INTERVIEWS the bands, and is a musician. Yeah, Jay may not be as young as Robert, but at least he doesn’t have to ask his wife about a band every time he has a story to write (yup, Boberta’s dirty little secret, his wife was his main source).
I’m sorry, his editorials may have been funny, I even got a kick out of his slam on me in his last column, but he couldn’t interview to save his life. I’m glad the LINK is finally covering local music, those of us who get out of the house on the weekends and go see local music appreciate the coverage. Sure, I’m disappointed that I don’t hear about some national acts as much as I used to, but like Scott said in his post today, that’s the job of the promoter, not the newspaper. Local musicians who have limited resources and play for next to nothing deserve the coverage a Hell of a lot more.
Robert Morast, good riddance. I hope there is an angry little man giving you Hell in Fargo.
l3wis 
