Someone Saw God

November 14th, 2009 at 924 Gilman, UGZ Presents CHRIST ON PARADE, ELDOPA (1332), ACEPHALIX, STREET WALKER, and WAR TRASH. It's been a long year of booking and promoting, and even though we (UGZ) booked fewer shows than we did in 2007 and 2008, it was more of a roller coaster ride this year because attendance at Gilman has been inconsistent, resulting in smaller draws. Last year at this time we were cruising, having already had a dozen or more huge shows, eight or nine of those having been sellouts. We went on to have one of the most successful years in the history of the club, and for all the news and worry about the economy, we really weren't fazed by it at Gilman.

In 2009 that hasn't been the case, and obviously there are all sorts of factors that don't necessarily have to do with the economy that have hurt the club, some of our own design, but there's just no ignoring the effect the economy has had on Gilman in 2009, and even though it took a little longer to reach us, it definitely has. That said, we are still doing better than when I arrived at the end of 2006. When I became Head Of Booking at Gilman in December of 2006, the club was showing a loss of (approximately) ten thousand dollars for that year alone. In one month, UGZ shows almost single handedly generated enough money to cut that loss in half, but the club still lost (approximately) $5000 for the year. Later I learned that this wasn't out of the ordinary for the decade, and that few volunteers were aware of just how desperate things were becoming. It's almost a victory of sorts that only two years later most of Gilman's staff is at least of aware of how much we need per show to keep our rent and overhead in check. So what's my point? The point is that even though we're having an off year thus far at the club, it's been much worse, and we still have two months left on the calendar to turn things around as we head into 2010.

There are three UGZ Presents shows this upcoming weekend on November 6th, November 7th, and November 8th. Not to mention some very interesting looking bills put together by my fellow Gilman bookers to close out the year, so keep an eye on our calendar and The List, and do your best to support the cause as things wind down in 2009.

-Jay Unidos