Hey All'yall . . . thanks for putting on the greatest shows ever--keep on rockin'!Lisa fought the law and the law won. |
They're zealously stomping on her dead body! Give it a rest, boys.
STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS!
OK everybody, now for the truth, which obviously won’t be in the newspaper. I just finished reading the slanderous Press Democrat article, the sound of which precisely parrots Mike Reynolds, Santa Rosa senior building inspector/code enforcement officer, and his revised history.
On Tuesday, Lisa called the Press Democrat leaving a message with Doug Wilkes, along with her cell phone number to apprise him of a potential story, intending to tell him about the Cease and Desist Order For All Entertainment signed by Eric Major, fire inspector, and posted that day on our front and back entrances. The Cease and Desist Order was based on our being an Assembly Occupancy. We are not an Assembly Use business and do not want to be. We have done nothing to change our occupancy status.
She received no return call.
Wednesday evening, Lisa, a friend, and I were playing music after business hours when the cops came to the door and demanded entry. She asked to see their warrant to which they responded they didn’t have one and they didn’t need one. They said she was in violation of the law if she had an assembly EVEN OF ONE! While this was going on more police and their vehicles continued to arrive and they surrounded the building. Now they said they would break down the door so she opened it, at which point they handcuffed Lisa while others immediately fanned out through the building and entered every room. I’m still not certain of the charges that evening. Hours later, she returned to the store after being bailed out. Shortly thereafter, a repeat scenario occurred, only this time they replaced the Cease and Desist Orders with Condemned Building notices. As far as I know, a building is condemned when it is structurally unsound and that's it. They also removed the copy of our zoning clearance which was posted on the window for the public to see. I’m still shaken up by this whole thing and will post more on the police fiasco later.
Now, I want to set the record straight as to the newspaper article. Nothing has been going on for four years. All of the trouble began with the shows. All of it. Prior to the shows, we had a signed and finalled permit for the recording studio. At the very inception of the shows, we were threatened with being closed down; one police officer in particular named Cregan made the threat more than once.
Our first communication from the City of Santa Rosa by way of Mike Reynolds was the letter threatening fines of $500 a day for having live music in front of the store, citing several codes that don’t exist and some that do. Upon research, we discovered our zoning clearance included the music, that several of the referenced codes did not exist, and that the city had re-designated zoning clearance classifications. So we went to Community Development to get a copy of our clearance, which we posted in the store to avoid confusion for anyone interested in our status, including law enforcement.
That tactic not working led to the involvement of the Fire Department. They came in to do an inspection and came up with a punch list involving life safety issues. We immediately complied with the items on their list. They re-inspected and came up with another list. They re-inspected and came up with another list. They tried to trick us into applying for an assembly permit. Again, we researched exactly what that would entail and determined we did not want to change our occupancy.
Those of you who attend concerts here know how serious we are about maintaining a clear, wide path from the front to back of the store. You can see we installed lighted exit signs and emergency lighting and panic hardware on the rear door. It’s impossible to be locked in. The night they came to take photographs of the roll-away in front of the back door, everyone had left for the evening (it was 11:45 PM) except for two kids from one of the bands and their dad, and they were on their way out. By the way, we have signed statements from all of them, along with their personal contact information. We’ve had Security at every single show and we’ve kept the number inside at any one time to 49, including the band members.
The supposed “violations†they accuse of apply to an Assembly Occupancy only. They’re furious we didn’t fall for their ruse and have resorted to Mafia style strong arm techniques. They feed a bunch of lies to Press Democrat reporter Mary Callahan who negligently prints it without checking the facts, claiming Lisa Reed was unavailable for comment. Most likely, Mike Reynolds fed her that also, assuming Lisa would be jailed through the weekend. NOT. We bailed her out. She was available for comment. The Press Democrat had her cell phone number from the Tuesday night she called them. No one ever called.
More later. This isn't totally complete, but I wanted to get some of the real story out there as soon as possible.
Epiphany Music & Recording is a music store and recording studio with a small space to host live music. It is the greatest place to check out the band/s you like because of the intimacy--you're on the same level just steps away from the performers for a seriously up-close and personal experience. Some bands prefer playing right in the midst of everyone on the floor and ignore the stage completely. Epiphany provides this space for all bands--including the ones no one is willing to take a risk on because they're too loud, or too punk, or too whatever!, and those unable to get a spot at a club because no one knows who they are or they haven't the money or they're just too young. They play here, and then, step back! The same places and people rejecting them last week clamor for the very same line-up the bands already knew rocked!
We like it when the bands return to play after they become big shots. ;)
We stand firmly against requiring demo tapes or try-outs to play here; the audience clearly rates the bands by their presence. The band members take on the sculpting of the entire evening, from promotion to line-up to encore. If we can help you with your show, we'd love to do so--but if you want us to stand back, we can do that, too.
If you like this, you'll need to convince your elected officials at the Santa Rosa City offices that you are an essential component of their drive to bring "the arts" to downtown. From all sources that I've spoken with, the general consensus from the noisy opposition is that kids downtown cause trouble and they don't want them there.
We did have some trouble with a few kids drinking in the past, but now, we believe that the vast majority of the kids understand that this is about music and that behaving in any manner other than neighborly will only cause their own demise. They've stood by as we've addressed Life Safety issues pointed out by the Fire Department, they've helped out as we clean up far beyond the scope of these events, and they've watched the constant, steady changes made toward the goals of satisfying the city authorities, being a vibrant and productive neighbor, and presenting a more professional demeanor. It's extremely important to us that parents feel Epiphany is a place in which they can put their confidence regarding their child's safety.
Kids need a place to go and music is life.
Remember . . . the City Council are elected; have them represent you. This is your town. This is your parents' town. The only stories reaching them are fabricated tales fed to them by certain members of the PD and, I'm fairly certain, Community Development. The stories cannot be validated and don't need to be, because they can send the Fire Department over to selectively enforce ordinances that no business on Fourth Street is in compliance with. As long as they are convinced you're a nuisance engaging in illegal activities, they'll spend a ridiculous amount of taxpayer dollars in the quest to rid downtown of this blight. Or will it be necessary? It may take just 2 shakes for everyone to roll over.
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To the kids who attended Plug-A-Palooza:
Please let your parents know you were videotaped without their permission.
This is illegal!!
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We'd like to meet all the folks out there who give as much as they take, the musicians who need a place to play and the ones who don't, people who allow themselves the freedom to create, the ones who respect thaMothaEarth . . .
. . . and we'd also like to meet all of you who need your demo NOW. Don't forget--we're a retail store with musical instruments and a full service recording studio, complete with five isolation rooms. Talk to Lisa about recording with the whole band to get a fresh, spontaneous, charged sound. Suddenly all that layering feels heavy and stagnant, almost false.
Do you have your own engineer? Rent the studio, use your engineer, and save money!
Special order anything on the planet--we can match all of 'em.
Book shows through this site. Address email to Annie. Please be patient with me if I lag replying to you; it just means an inundation of work other than booking and myspace. I promise to go through the emails in the order received--if you send a date you want (and a couple backups) and it's open, I will write you in and later send you the info.
Check our calendar, if the date you want is not listed,
then, it's available!
