Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/super-cool-ad-inserter/inc/scaip-shortcode-inserter.php on line 37
Frank Malta never wanted to drop all-ages shows from the lineup of live performances at Cattivo in Lawrenceville. And an argument can be made that it wasn’t him who made the call.
“The insurance company doesn’t allow me to do them anymore,” says Malta, Cattivo’s owner.
“Basically, my insurance company dropped me. … I had to sign a waiver with my new insurance company [stating] that [it] won’t cover me if I have any all-ages shows.”
All-ages concerts are on shaky ground in Pittsburgh after long helping form the foundation of the city’s live-music scene. The trend is especially concerning for college undergrads, around half of whom are under 21.
Cattivo staged all-ages shows four of the past five years, but Malta was facing a doubling of his previous rate from a new insurance company if he kept with the practice.
“So, it’s kind of dumb to pay an extra $10,000 a year to have shows that don’t bring any money in,” he says. “Basically, we were covering our expenses. It was more a courtesy thing to the minors and to the promoters.
“They’re all young kids. They don’t buy a lot. They don’t have a lot of money.”
Lack of money for young concert goers isn’t the only factor forcing a squeeze on venues such as Cattivo, Mr. Smalls, and The Smiling Moose. Pennsylvania’s liquor codes can make a rat’s nest out of putting on all-ages shows. Logistics are difficult for venues serving alcohol, since each is required to have a different section for alcohol-consuming patrons when minors are allowed entry.
Even without an incident or infraction — and Malta says there was neither at Cattivo (“not even band members were allowed to bring alcohol on stage [with] minors [present],” he says) — the convoluted stipulations put venue owners in a no-win situation when it comes to all-ages shows.
Malta is concerned other venue operators may face similar challenges that lessen the likelihood of all-ages shows. But Leigh Yock, of Spirit Lodge, has no intention of halting all-ages shows at her venue. She is keen on creating for this generation the memory-making evenings that existed for previous Pittsburghers.
“Everyone remembers those epic nights at Laga,” Yock says, referring to a now-closed all-ages venue in Oakland.
“Venues that can pull it off logistically can literally influence an entire generation’s memories and help rally the scene.”
Mr. Roboto Project may serve as the hub for rallying the all-ages scene. The DIY venue in Bloomfield is all-ages for every show because it doesn’t permit alcohol. It took on an upcoming show from Frankie Cosmos that was dropped by Cattivo because of that venue’s new policy.
“Live music should be accessible to everyone, and if you want to cultivate and nurture a music scene, you have to start with the youth,” says Brett Shumaker, booking coordinator for Mr. Roboto Project.
“They are quite literally the future. For me, personally, going to shows as a teenager changed my life and gave me a place I felt I belonged. Everyone deserves to feel that.”
This article appears in August 29, 2018 – Pittsburgh City Paper.
Every now and then a terrible article comes out about all-ages shows in the City Paper or Pitt News, etc, and this is the latest iteration. Eli Enis did not do adequate research, and the editor did not help shepherd his results towards comprehensively factual reporting, either. Its premise, that all ages shows are on “shaky ground” in Pittsburgh, is totally incorrect. There are more all-ages venues now in Pittsburgh than there have been for a while. The article’s print version mentions only seven in a red-colored side bar: Roboto, Stage AE, Rex, PPG Arena, KeyBank Pavilion, Smalls/Funhouse, and Smiling Moose, but there are many more: Spirit (sometimes), Glitterbox, Black Forge, Carnegie Museum Hall/Lecture Hall, Warhol Museum, City of Asylum, 3577 Studios, Fallout Shelter, Carnegie Hall of Homestead, and at least a couple more I don’t care to mention by name. None limit attendance by age. Even Hambone’s (being a restaurant) is all-ages with accompanying parent. And of course there are tons of house shows which is where the hippest kids seem to go anyway.
The article also fails to address the main problem with making many shows all ages here: the under-21 audience is drastically underinformed about music. They just don’t know about anything other than a few ‘herd-instinct’ bands. Making a show all ages costs extra money in terms of security and room dividers because of PA alcohol laws which forbid the kind of 18+ wristbanding that OH and WV allow (in PA there’s no such thing as a 18+ show). Only one local venue takes advantage of the ‘chaperone rule’ venue (I won’t say which) – the others are too afraid to do so because of potential huge fines if they get the procedure wrong.
And you can’t make a show all ages when less than 2% of the potential audience is over-21, because that tiny number can’t justify the extra costs. I have a show tonight where one person complained on the Facebook event about it not being all ages. When you stack that up against the 150 people who are over 21 going to that show, that one person doesn’t measure up. I remember doing a show for Swans at the Rex – 400 people attended, and less than 10 of them were under 21. Only *certain* shows need to be all ages – the ones that have clearly 25% or more under-21 component, where the draw more than covers the extra costs. And those shows are almost always still all-ages.
Hence, there are no issues or problems with any of this, unless the problem is with PA’s antiquated and arcane alcohol laws. Simply implementing the same wristbanding that OH and WV have would solve this, but is that ever going to happen in Harrisburg? Some energetic young legislator would have to make it his or her personal crusade, or the status quo will never be changed.
“you can’t make a show all ages when less than 2% of the potential audience is under 21”, is what that sentence should have said – thanks!