Halifax indie
rockers. They’re touchy about their music venues.
No wonder. They keep losing them.
A fault in the business model is one thing. But what really stings
is when a good venue—Cafe Ole, Birdland, The Blues Corner—is lost
because of noise complaints.
Dimo Georgakakos is a somewhat expected champion of keeping indie
rock healthy, since his family pub, Gus’, is the indie rock venue du
jour.
What’s unlikely is his approach to the problem of four noise
complaints his business has received since the spring.
“You can’t bother your neighbours,” says the manager. “It comes down
to responsibility.”
Now that’s not what I expected to hear.
Gus’ Pub has been on the corner of North and Agricola for 48 years.
Its dark interior has hosted live music for 25 years and it’s been the
city’s holy shrine of indie rock for going on five.
“With no complaints,” Georgakakos says. “No one complained. Never.
At all. We have the thinnest file in the Nova Scotia Alcohol and Gaming
Commission. Everything is done right here.”
It’s difficult to peg, because it’s not public information, but the
recent handful of complaints seems to be coming from tenants in a new
mixed residential and commercial building diagonally across the street.
It opened this spring.
There are shades of the 1998 Blues Corner debacle here—where a
club tried its hand at live shows and did so successfully. Condo
residents across the street didn’t appreciate the music that floated so
easily in their direction—despite that they chose housing smack-dab
in the middle of the downtown bar scene.
Picture the space if you’re unfamiliar with this saga: the Blues
Corner was in what is today Opa, at Argyle and Blowers. The building
that takes the blame for closing down live music there is Barrington
Gate, at Barrington and Blowers.
In the case of Gus’ Pub, the music pre-dates the residential
quarters—which are a mixture of standard and low-income rental
units—by a quarter-century. Let’s talk sense here: when you pick a
place to live, you consider neighbourhood noise, among other things,
before you start screwing in curtain rods.
It’s not just tenure that matters though. The councillor for Gus’
Pub’s district, Jerry Blumenthal, says he hasn’t heard any complaints
about Gus’ noise. By last count he’d received seven or eight recent
letters in support of the bar. Dawn Sloane, whose downtown district
butts up against Gus’, says she’s only heard from folks in favour of
the pub too.
It all adds up to righteous indignation (and—no surprise—that’s
a sentiment liberally spewed on this topic on the indie culture
messageboard at halifaxlocals.com).
Georgakakos, for his part, isn’t buying in.
He hasn’t become a supplicant to Jerry Blumenthal because, he says,
“I’m not going to wait around for someone else to fight my fight for
me. I have to deal with it myself.”
Likewise, he says, “I have been here a long time, [but] I can’t use
that.”
“The bottom line is I have a license from the Alcohol and Gaming
Commission and I have to abide by that and I have to make sure that the
sound that comes out of my bar stays in my bar.”
So?
Georgakakos has made sound-insulating window panels that go up
before the bands start. They went in three weekends ago when, he says,
“We had a really loud show. We didn’t get any complaints. I think
that’s solved a lot of it, but the sound still comes out when we open
our doors.”
So?
He’s also putting in sets of double doors, so less sound escapes
onto Agricola.
Indie rock has bolstered the family business at Gus’ Pub in the last
half decade, but money isn’t the only motivation here. It’s about
keeping a family business a family business.
“The pub is 48 and I am 46; my mother calls it her fourth child.
Growing up in my family you washed dishes until you could subtract and
then you got put on the cash. And you never got paid,” Georgakakos
says, laughing. “Ever!” (Georgakakos’s almost two-year-old son hasn’t
made it to the kitchen yet.)
“I just want people to calm down a bit for me to make the changes
needed and to make sure that we abide by the regulations,” he says. “I
have been here all my life and I’m not going anywhere.”
I wonder if the complaining tenants will be there as long.
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This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2009.
Ah beautiful downtown Geriatric Hfx. These same complainants are of the very generation that rocked Woodstock. Now they’re just a bunch of old fux.
while i don’t live anywhere near Gus’ Pub (thankfully), i have walked by there late at night, and there’s always a gaggle of drunken loudmouths standing outside having a smoke. if these inconsiderate asshats would just STFU, especially after midnight, then maybe local residents would be less inclined to bitch about the noise.
I live and own directly behind Gus’ pub and have since 2003 – pretty much the year that Dimo and his family started booking louder indie, rock, punk and metal bands – along with the quieter folk shows and country shows. I’m in FULL support of the venue, bar and restaurant. Moving into an area that has housed a pub that had live music for 20 years prior to me buying in the area is something I was fully aware of. Living in central or downtown halifax IS, no matter what anyone says, being aware that there will from time to time (and maybe even constantly), noise – whether it be from buses idling at lights, sirens from emergency vehicles, students (or just regular old folk like myself) walking to bars having had a few or walking home with even more in their bellies or music coming from exterior speakers or within the walls of pubs, clubs, bars what have you.
This article is about noise and Gus’ pub specifically, not about Dimo and his personal or business ventures outside of Gus’. I applaud him for taking the right steps to follow the rules and regs of the Liquor Board. Even though I still am appalled that people would complian knowing full well where they are moving to – I myself have never complained. If he can make any of his neighbours more content living in the area than so be it. Whether they are newer to the neighbourhood or not. Let’s keep the community thriving in all aspects – day or night!
Let us not forget that a few years ago, condo owners on the Halifax waterfront (where I lived at the time) complained so much that they shut down the foghorn in the harbour. I’d like to know where the fack people think they’re moving to exactly.
~15 years ago in Montreal club shows that went on until 2AM were the norm. Then they put the condos up and the complaints started – now it’s rare a show goes later than 11PM there.
Can we try not to let condo dwellers ruin Halifax’s reputation for a good night out. Let the people who want peace and quiet move to Clayton Park, or in a downtown condo AWAY from the clubs.
I think it sounds like an ok compromise, although it’s too bad the expense has to be incurred by someone who was there first.
Hey GroundHog what’s your beef? If you’re going to slander somebody at least try to get your facts straight,and tell people who you really are instead of hiding behind “Groundhog”. For your information: One World Cafe closed because they could not run a business efficient enough to make a profit – it happens. I had nothing to do with them leaving, if fact I gave the staff a chance to continue and they declined. I evicted HCAP. That was my right and it was part of the lease they signed when they moved in. I also did not raise their rent over the years as was stipulated in their lease. This amounted to $2,110.00. I held 2 fundraiser for HCAP at Gus’ Pub so they could raise money for their operating costs. I looked the other way when HCAP caused disturbances with the police during various protests. That space was also rented for free to artists for 6 months in 1998 while I could not find anyone to rent it out. If I was a “slum” landlord as you put it I’m not a very good one. As far as the allegation of being an agent of gentrification goes I will respond this way: I have earned the right to sell my property in any way that I see fit. The reason I’m selling this property, if you must know, is that I would like to pay for the construction of my first house. …What… did you think I was going to Vegas? The building was sold to a company that builds web sites not condos. It will bring about 30 jobs to the area. And even if the new owner did build condos so what. It is now his property to do with as he and the zoning bylaws allow. I have owned this property through the very worst of times and had a loss for many years in a row. No one will ever tell me what I can do with my property. I’d like to know what you do, GroundHog, taken over mother Teresa’s position. F@#$ you and all the people on the net that don’t have the courage to stand behind their name just so you can spew negative rubish . – Dimo Georgakakos
ps “Thanks” to The Coast for printing 1 negative (and 100% factually wrong) comment out of 7 positive/well thought out comments in the print edition. Way to keep things “balanced”. Do you guys really need to feed your readers unsubstantiated character attacking reader opinions?
I do think Dimo you do protest too much – you are a bully and cannot take people challenging you – your recent post speaks volume to that – and by the way HCAP always paid their rent and were good tenants
I think the guy cashing the rent checks would have a pretty good idea how well they were keeping up to date wiith their rent, unless susasle63 can provide some ‘proof’.
Yah, right. I know…
Move on folks. I mean you gonna complain so they will shut down? that’s a shame. Something must be done about these rules Gus is meeting you halfway and doing the best he can, remember that this is his business and have to keep it going to make a living like you and also apply for his lovely staff. I don’t work there or have anything to do with Gus so you know…I agree with techafe though, those smokers who are forced to smoke outside in the heat and _40 can really keep the swearing and the noise down a bit….