viva vera? how about viva be a better venue?

Like Communism, Seattle's all-ages venue, the Vera Project, is a good idea in theory and on paper, yet it's actual existance is nothing but a bloody mess.

Recently, The Stranger's all-ages columnist, Megan Seling, wrote about the Vera's new venue, which moves it from the crack-addled streets of Belltown to the tourist-friendly Seattle Center and while I'm game for any new music venue in Seattle, I'm not particularly stoked on going to Vera Project shows, especially since I've avoided (read: lazily boycotting) shows there for a few years now.

You see, the Vera does all this cool stuff like have music workshops and clinics on promoting your band, making shirts, and other things that keeps kids away from putting their stupid fliers on my car, but with that, the Vera is also notorious for their exclusivity. I have found, through personal experience, that whenever you try to book your band to play at the Vera, you're most likely going to get denied unless, that is, you're friends with someone who is involved or that you are a volunteer there yourself. And for that, I call bullshit.

It's ironic, if not a little sad, that the Vera is based on the ideal of community, yet if a ragtag band of kids who happen to be "outsiders" from their little hipster scene want to play their venue, they are given the gas face.

Am I a little bitter? Of course. Am I taking this rejection from years ago personal? Of course. See, here's the thing: they are still taking on this persona of being a youth-based community project and promoting to whoever wants to listen and yet, they turn those same kids away. So exactly what kind of example have they been setting? The asshole kind.

But this is where I'll be the bigger person. So far the Vera has raised a little over a million bucks for their new digs and I say, give them more money. While I don't agree with the way that they run their show, the reality is that there aren't a lot of all-ages venues in Seattle, which is a damn shame, if you ask me. Besides, who is to say that the Vera will be run by the same boners who ruined it the first time around? Although it's likely that it'll attract the same wannabe hipster 15 year old, it's still better than those douchebags bugging me to buy them cans of Sparks at the 7-11.

So to recap: I dislike the Vera, but I'll support their cause, half-assed. I'll be prompted to use my whole ass if they step up their game and not use their venue to promote THEIR OWN BANDS.

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Viva Vera