In Defense of Last Call
Thursday, November 15, 2007
In the 11/14 edition, a certain local paper that I won't name (because they pay me and it's the Lawrence Journal-World), ran a story titled, "Fight at Last Call leads to homicide". It entails the story of a poor bastard who was shot in a road side brawl, on I-435. The 435 in Kansas City. So, why does the title of the piece include Last Call? To give it a local flare? It doesn't make any sense to me. A more proper title would've been "Fight at Last Call, who totally did their job and broke it up and the kids got kicked out of the club and since kids that are into R&B or hip hop don't really have anything else in this fucking town they went back to Kansas City, happens a few hours before brutal road side homicide in another state." But I guess that doesn't really grab the eye.
Why do people still have such a hard-on for closing down Last Call? It's a good club, frankly the only dance club I know of that plays truly indie label hip hop, run by the fans of the music. Trust me, if you want to know what is going to be on the top 40 charts in 6 weeks (hint: you won't hear Hey Ya!), check out what their DJ's are playing. It's 18 and up, letting kids in that scene have a place to go. They're open until 4am, and obey the law to the letter. They can't afford to run things wrong, since they're open too late and to too many people.
But still, Last Call is getting a rep. For what, exactly? A bunch of people in their parking lots have guns? I dare you to go dig around the parking lot of Abe & Jake's, or Brother's, or Liquid, or any other dance / pick up club only open on weekends. You will find plenty of contraband. Or think about how many houses in the neighborhood have guns. I don't see any difference.
Or is it because somebody shot off a gun inside last year? I'll remind you, no one was hurt in that incident, but meanwhile, weren't there stabbings at the three other clubs I just mentioned, plus the Moon Bar back when it was open? Saying that you think Last Call should be closed down because it caters to or creates violent people is like saying that McDonalds should be shut down for catering to or creating fat people. Sure, a few people abuse it, but the vast, vast majority of people would never think of it.
That being said, there are a lot of things that Last Call could change to make things easier on themselves.
1) Get rid of the armed security guards. It doesn't help to have your patrons confronted by them on their way in. Think about it from the club goer's point of view. You KNOW that men with shaved heads and chips on their shoulders are standing between you and your leisure time. They have guns, tear gas, and are actively looking at you and your friends for a reason to go off, just to make their night worth it. What do you do, subject yourself to God knows what humiliation from armed men with your two bare hands? You don't bring a knife to a gun fight. Get rid of the pair of Oakley's checking ID's, and you strip off a fat layer of paranoia on the front of your club.
2) Stop charging $14 for Incredible Hulk's. I know they're popular, but Jesus bar hopping Christ, that's retarded. Fad drinks are ridiculous enough as it is (What?!? $10 for a Red Bull and Vodka?), charging the same prices that Diddy's club doesn't make you big time, it just makes you out to be a rip off artist. Plus, you add machismo into the equation, and that's a recipe for pissed off people. Also, stop topping off people's Coronas with Hennessy. That's just gross.
3) Get rid of the tow trucks. Again, in the idea of security you're just victimizing people. I'll stop parking my roofie and rifle laden Jetta in the Border's parking lot after 12 when they stop selling Big Trouble in Little China for $24.
The idea that closing down Last Call, but not looking into any other dance club, is akin to talk of building a fence along the Mexican border, but leaving our docks and Canada unmentioned. The racism is so uncovered, so nude, that most people avert their eyes quickly, relying on a knee jerk reaction to form their opinion. I've never heard Last Call referred to as a "Dance Club", or "Night Club" from people describing it to others. Only as a "Black Club". The headline of this story read "Fight at Last Call leads to homicide", but in context was saying, "See? We knew black kids in Lawrence was a bad idea." It's just a crime blotter piece with a misleading headline to bolster the case against a local business, one that doesn't have the right customer in the city's eyes. Start here, my ass.
-m@
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Posted by dolores2175 (April Fleming) on November 15, 2007 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great blog - I'm with you on the airport security outside of the club, too.
Weren't there shots outside of Brothers remotely recently? And years ago, a door guy got stabbed in the face... the face! at my favorite bar by someone he was kicking out. I never heard a word about shutting those places down. Lawrencians are paranoid.
Posted by lazz (anonymous) on November 15, 2007 at 12:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
whoa ... ya got yerself on a roll there, eh?
Interesting to read about the club's indie play lists ... and i was really with ya for the first few graphs ...
but, c'mon you toasted your own arguments with the rant. which is it? You want to have a real discussion about the Last Call scene, or you want to scream at the rest of us who don't go there and are sick and tired of the crap that happens downtown?
Just to cut to the chase: It isn't racist to hate violence downtown. Yeah, the newspaper made a leap with that headline, but I've never heard, in my white-bread world, anybody ONCE refer to Last Call as a black club, anymore than they'd refer to Replay as a white club. It's a club. With a lot crap spilling out onto our streets. Some people are sick and tired of it. Doesn't make them racists. Get over yourself.
can't resist: What's an Incredible Hulk?
Posted by matt (Matt Armstrong) on November 15, 2007 at 1:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Read it again, and think about just who I'm addressing. You see what I did there? Covering both sides of an argument, in order to find resolve, and thusly grow towards a common goal, doesn't mean you don't believe what you're saying. I'm saying I think everyone is wrong, in their own special way. I'm sure I'm misunderstanding on plenty of aspects in this. Learning what way that is, and identifying how to address that to everyone's eventual satisfaction, is what I call citizenship. You're playing "Gotcha" and trying to put me into a clique, when you should be examining other people's perspectives beside your own for once. I think that's the definition of being over yourself.
And a hulk is 2 shots of Hypnotiq, and 3 shots of Hennessy in a short glass over ice. I also call it groadie.
Posted by dulcinea47 (anonymous) on November 15, 2007 at 2:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Fourteen dollars for five shots of liquor... that doesn't sound overpriced, if you buy individual shots you'd be paying $3 each or more for them.
Nevermind the fact that no one needs a drink like that.
Posted by matt (Matt Armstrong) on November 15, 2007 at 3:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well reasoned! Still gross.
Posted by synapsis (anonymous) on November 15, 2007 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm not sure I agree with your statement about the headline being totally off or inappropriate. As a journalist myself, I see it as being accurate, locally focussed (this DID run in the LJW, not the Star), it caught people's attention (especially yours), and it wasn't biased one way or the other. It stated a fact:
A fight that started at Last Call ended with a homocide on a highway leading those involved back to another town where they live.
The deck (summary) explains the headline to me quite clearly.
It's important that it mentions Last Call, because otherwise it doesn't have local relevance, nor would it be the whole story.
It's important that you bring up the fact that a MURDER essentially started at a place in town that's gotten a LOT of attention because of the frequent threat of violence -- whether you think it's racially motivated or not, that's a fact and I'm only talking facts here, which is what Good Journalism should be about. What you read into it is your own baggage, and I'm not saying that you're wrong. But calling out this headline for being biased, racist or inaccurate? That's how you're reading it, not what it says.
Had the rest of the article been a steaming pile of racism, innuendo, inaccuracy or any other journalistic sin, I'd have been right with you in calling it out, but THAT's what would have won me over with your argument (had you gone that route), rather than playing the race card.
And your argument that a few bad apples are spoiling the bunch is a bit inaccurate also. According to this article, there were at least 12 people involved in this one incident and they are charged with over 20 FELONIES, including 2nd degree murder. I'd say the few bad apples are actually a significant percentage of the attendance that night -- moreover, I'd say that's NEWS.
I live DIRECTLY behind Last Call. I see and hear the flashing lights and sirens every weekend, and the thump, thump-thump of bass every night they're open. They're open until 4am some nights and yes, it annoys me sometimes when I have to create my own noise polution to compete with thiers. But that would be rediculous to complain about. I chose to live there, so that's on me.
(cont)
Posted by synapsis (anonymous) on November 15, 2007 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
HOWEVER, if I have any gripe with that club, (and it would be the same gripe with any other club or ethnicity) is that I've seen way more police action there than anywhere else, and I'm forced to argue that the police in this town have dealt with the situations pretty well. More to the point, I'd argue that they know better how to deal with potentially armed (precedent) and obvious racial tensions than you or I). I'm not going to ask police to go there without putting their own safety first, and nor should you. Of course, they don't have to block off an entire block downtown every weekend for any other club either. Hell, they're being very generous and considerate to the club, making every effort to help prevent potentially HUGE problems for the club that would -- oh wait, HAVE happened in the past. Can you say hit and run anyone?
Your arguments for the removal of metal detectors and armed security is laughable, when in the very next sentence you remind everyone that yes, a gun was fired inside... but nobody got hurt. I'd say once again, you've handed both the bar and the police a precedent and justification for metal detectors and armed security (who work pretty well with the police from what I've seen firsthand).
Sandbar kids aren't looting convenience stores on their way home. Replay kids aren't the ones being associated with guns in their cars -- even if they're there -- they're not the ones getting CAUGHT with them, so we'll never know, will we? Hell, I know for a fact that there are members of the city and police force that would love to shut the Replay down as well, just because it's got that "undesirable" stigma to it, but the Replay isn't giving nearly as many justifications for it.
I'm just about the least xenophobic or racist person you'll ever meet... but hopefully the next time you argue a case for a club, you reconsider the harm your own argument might cause. Hell, it's this argument that has our city council thinking up ways to put their fingers on my bar scene, and THAT pisses me off most of all.
Sorry if this is shocking or upsetting, but hopefully you'll say "well reasoned" and we can dig into the real issues here.
Posted by matt (Matt Armstrong) on November 15, 2007 at 10:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh my God. I have to say it twice in the same article? Go back and read it again. You're not getting it yet.
Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on November 15, 2007 at 11:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with the first part, but not the second. Last Call has been on the shit list in this town, and it sounds to me like they are doing what needs to be done. With a crowd that big, security necessarily involves a strong dose of intimidation. Let them do their job, prove it can be done, and maybe get the city off the bar owner's asses. Whatever happens to Last Call is going to happen to everybody. How about breathalysers at the exit to every parking lot downtown? That'll clear things up pretty quick, make the city some money, support the towing companies, and keep our streets safe. Then everybody can sleep nice and sound.
And drink prices? I'm not with you there. If anybody wants to drink that garbage, power to them, but that would have been a $15 drink 30 years ago. Not that I would know.
What is really happening at Last Call is the one thing that is scarier to people than almost anything they are used to seeing in this town.
It's called success.
Posted by gavon (Gavon Laessig) on November 16, 2007 at 1:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Damn, synapsis...for someone too frightened to use their real name, your condescension is fairly ballsy.
"Well reasoned" argument? Maybe if I had any inkling what you were arguing for, I'd overlook your rhetorical hubris, but I ain't got a clue what you're saying here other than, "I'm not a bigot." And, frankly my anonymous friend, I think you doth protest too much.
Whenever you have to begin a sentence with "I'm just about the least xenophobic or racist person you'll ever meet... but...," you might as well finish it with "but I'm just about the most xenophobic or racist person you'll ever meet."
"Can you say hit and run anybody?" Aside from being another snide bit of undeserved stylistic bravado, this statement also struck me as "laughable" (your word, which is an odd example of the civility in tone you feel your own unassailable proclamations deserve). There was a pedestrian hit in front of the Bottleneck a few months ago, as well. Shall we expect to see your completely equal-opportunity umbrage fall upon that establishment? You say your "gripe" would be the same "with any other club or ethnicity," but you seem to be fixated on Last Call.
And, by the way, you just admitted you have a "gripe" with an "ethnicity" in that comment. Say, are some of your best friends "ethnic"? And, if so, are they some of the good ones? The half-assed, Freudian psychobabble writes itself. You're making my armchair analysis way too easy, pal.
Matt asks a perfectly legitimate question: Why is it that bars like Brother's, Sandbar and Abe & Jake's (Christ, even Thai House had a shooting) are held to different standards? He's not saying that everyone who criticizes Last Call is a torch wielding Klansman right out of "Birth of A Nation." Racism is often far less subtle than Dog the Bounty Hunter or a Michael Richards Tourette's soliloquy. It looks more like reflexively locking your doors when you drive through a Mexican neighborhood, or saying things like "I'm just about the least xenophobic or racist person you'll ever meet... but..." (Sorry...it was low hanging fruit)
If I really wanted to be simultaneously egotistical and cowardly, I'd end this post by hiding behind some cynical call to reason like, "Sorry if that's shocking or upsetting, synapsis, but hopefully you'll say 'well reasoned' and we can dig into the real issues here." But I'd never say that, because I'm at least honest about being an asshole.
Posted by OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) on November 16, 2007 at 2:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
gavon, thanks for that. someone had to do it.
Posted by synapsis (anonymous) on November 16, 2007 at 3:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well that was as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow.
He said he's not a racist, so he must be a racist.
Figures.
OH, and just to point out that the Bottleneck is practically NEXT DOOR to the Last Call. That was the hit and run I was referring to. But I guess since the homocide took place on I-435 and the hit and run happened directly in front of the Bottleneck and not Last Call, neither of those have anything to do with Last Call.
I'll shut up now. I made my point and spoke my mind. I knew it was a bad idea as soon as I hit the post button, but fuck it, I did.
Flame on.
Posted by gavon (Gavon Laessig) on November 17, 2007 at 2:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, synapsis...you keep teeing them up for me to whack out of the park with my massive, self righteous dong.
The "hit and run" you initially attributed to the ethnic-y types at Last Call was in fact a strictly Caucasian affair. The woman who got hit was a drunk gal stumbling out of Neon on a Thursday night. She was hit by an equally non-Last Call related driver from the Bottleneck...and there was no "run" involved in that "hit." I was there. The driver was cooperating fully with the police and was not at fault.
I'd like to point out again that this incident had nothing to do with Last Call or any of their unsavory ethnicities.
The I-435 homicide is a Rorschach test you have to grapple with on your own. Do you see a tragic act of violence that only tangentially relates to Last Call and happened on the other side of the state line? Some sinister minorities who threaten to distill Lawrence's purity? Or a bunny frolicking on a cloud? Dig deep...
Ignore your better judgment, synapsis...keep firing 'em off. I need the target practice when I'm drunk and bored...kind of like Dick Cheney when he's hunting old men.
Posted by synapsis (anonymous) on November 17, 2007 at 4:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry. Can't help ya, floppy. I've got better things to do. :)
But just so you have all the facts...
Here's the one you're talking about:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/jun/30...
And here's the one I was talking about:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/jul/04...
The fact that there were two on the same block within 5 days of each other might... oh wait... I gotta go. Nevermind.
I'll let you get back to your drinking and boredom. I have shit to do.
Posted by OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) on November 17, 2007 at 12:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
synap,
you make a better argument for a new crosswalk than you do for shutting down a business.
Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on November 17, 2007 at 2:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks for the links, synapsis.
She was "walking towards Last Call." I see you're right. Shut that place down. People walking towards it. What's next? People are going to think they can just walk towards anything. I'm not racist, BUT I feel intimidated just thinking about all those black people walking towards things.
This is the key I've been looking for in all of this. Outlaw pedestrian activity, and we can make this town safe for drunk drivers everywhere.
Posted by mtoplikar (anonymous) on November 17, 2007 at 8:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I worked downtown for over six years and walked by Last Call almost every Saturday night around midnight on my way home. I never saw any violence and never felt Last Call was a threat.
My personal opinion is that this "issue" has more to do with a fearful racism than anything else. Yes there are people who come to Last Call and bring guns to town with them. There are also people who go to Coyote's and bring guns along. As long as the Last Call owners keep the inside of their bar under control, it's up to the city to take care of what goes on outside. I doubt we'd see a restaurant that catered to politicians and C.E.O.s shut down if the clientel was arrested for white collar crimes later on in the day.
The headline seems deliberately misleading to me. I could be wrong about this, but it seems pretty obvious that the small connection between Last Call and the homicide was overemphasized to grab people's attention by playing on their fears. Racism might not be as obvious as it once was, but it's still a very real thing and I don't support any news reporting that takes advantage of ignorant fear.
Posted by jusanotherblackperson (anonymous) on December 12, 2007 at 1:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow! Just had the pleasure of reading all of the wonderful comments posted about last call night club (which I have attended on several occasions). I would just like to say that yes this club may be a stomping ground for random violence but not all people go there for that reason. Sorry, if this club is so called cramping the style of this little white town that lots of black people live in. Yes, thugs attend this club and act stupid. But it is not fair to stereotype all people that attend this club. When I have attended this club I do not appreciate people fighting and bumping into me spilling my incredible hulk that I paid $14 for.
As for the incident that happened on I-435 that was not directly related to last call. I think those people had met before seeing each other at last call that night. But like it was stated earlier one less thug to waste tax dollars on.
I will keep your comments in mind next time I turn on CNN in the morning and some little depressed, picked on, socially outcasted white kid shoots up a mall or school and kills innocent people, but one less person to waste tax dollars on.
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