1) Is there any opinion of how the closing of the HiTone will affect attendance at the surviving venues? I'm hoping that without the flowing fount of night-time entertainment that the HiTone offered, that the other venues (Murphy's, the Bucc, Poplar Lounge, etc.) will see increased attendance at their events. While this may be true on any given night w/o the competition of "oh, so-and-so is playing over at the HiTone", I'm wondering if people will start patronizing these events more frequently on average because their is less quality entertainment as a whole being brought into Memphis. Or Memphians will just continue being cheap, lazy shits.

2) Has anyone had any weird experiences booking at the Bucc of late? I tried to book a nationally touring out-of-town band, with multiple releases on multiple labels, and had the booking guy (not Charles) request I drop off a cd of their music. I offered a link to a bandcamp page, as that would include a bio and other pertinent information that I thought would help sell the band, and he accepted in lieu of a physical recording. After emailing, emailing again to follow up, still no answer. I know that the surviving venues CAN afford to be more choosy with less-competition, but we've never had a problem bringing a crowd of drinkers to the Bucc before, regardless of who we had played with. Curious if anybody else had been asked to submit a demo... Maybe they're trying to position themselves into a different genre niche, I dunno.

Or Memphians will just continue being cheap, lazy shits.

Yep.

I don't know,man. I don't think Memphians are cheap,lazy,shits. Everone has busy lives and there is probably just not enough folks who have enough free time to support a full time rock club. I wonder what will happen with the mid range acts. Quintron, for example, I can't see him playing the Poplar Lounge. This is an outsiders point of view......I'm one of those dudes that just go to 2 or three shows a year. I think everything will be fine though. There will always be something cool going on. The local bands are good enough to insure that.

It will be fine -- if not better. Without the HiTone, people will go back to promoting their own shows instead of relying on just the venue-- and not just on facebook. I've already enjoyed going to more shows that have been popping up at places like the warehouse at Overton. And they end at midnight, so you can catch two shows in a night.

Some of the funnest shows in Memphis past were the random downtown warehouse gigs and other happenings before shows became centralized around a single venue. I see a bright future for live Memphis music, and with the venues scaled to match the likely draw, promoters might not be taking a bath as often.

It is always more fun to play the off-the-wall places, but it's harder to book those off-the-wall places. And then there's the issues with the cops. Memphis needs a punk squat to throw shows at (free crabs with paid admission).

But I'm still curious about how weird the Bucc has been to book as of late.

Don't forget that if you need a venue for a larger show The Premiere Palace and Stop 345 can be rented. Rates are a bit steep for everyday life, but if you got a band that requires a bit more space than Murphy's or the Bucc, then by all means, rent those places.

Hi-Tone didn't promote Shonen Knife.
Therefore, I didn't know about it.
SK is never coming back to Memphis.
+ Motorhead, Judas Priest, and Kiss are NEVER gonna play there.
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= I don't give two shits about the Hi-Tone