PLASTIC PASSION is MOVING to a new venue for 2/13 and other announcements...

[PlasticPassion_a2]

Dear Plastic Passion Fan and Friends,

Well, we've had a bit of a rough patch and our work cut out for us since our last event on January 9th. On January 14th , not even a week after one of the most successful Plastic Passion events so far, we found out the Heidelberg cancelled ALL their scheduled music events because they had leased the Club Above to a poker/legalized charity gambling company.

A Not-So-Brief Bit of Recent History:

Earlier last year, we had previously heard some pretty bad stuff about Heidelberg's management (or lack of), but we took a chance with them because we thought their venue was suitable enough for a PP re-launch and we wanted to work with Claudia Leo/No Fun Entertainment who had taken over the Club's booking. Claudia was very supportive of bringing Plastic Passion to Heidelberg from day one and never once wavered in her support. Over the last eight months, Claudia and the folks at PP worked extremely hard to bring an audience to the previously empty Club Above in the hopes that eventually it would come back to be the revered music venue it was in the early 90s (before it was under the current management).

Overcoming Heidelberg's poor reputation was not easy and there were times when we felt like we had to twist arms in order to get our target audience to give the Club another chance. What made it even more challenging was the Heidelberg continuing to disregard the need for improving customer service, respecting their own employees (especially in front of customers), fixing things, advertising, etc. Despite these frustrating setbacks, Claudia and the Plastic Passion crew successfully kept moving forward and at no time was it ever brought to our attention by the Heidelberg's management that Plastic Passion or other No Fun Entertainment shows were unprofitable for the Heidelberg Club Above or did not improve their ability to be a successful music venue. In fact, we received praise several times from the Club's staff and regular patrons that Plastic Passion was one of the Club's more successful nights of the month. The fact that our endeavors lasted longer than most previous music-based endeavors at the Club Above is also evidence.

Therefore we would like to point out some statements made by the Heidelberg in the Ann Arbor article: http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/heidelbergs-club-above-now-a-full-time-poker-venue/ are untrue. If music events were "stagnant" why did they say Claudia's shows had "tripled attendance" in a different article only three months earlier http://arborweb.com/articles/the_club_above_3.html? Their statement about Claudia's monthly line-up often being "to be announced" is also false. Claudia had posted bookings all the way until June on her myspace page (which had to be maintained because Heidelberg hadn't updated their own website since August 2009). PP had already begun advertising our monthly dates up to May 2010. As for the other things brought up in the article, we dont think any booker/promoter couldve done a better job filling this place than Claudia considering the challenges we've mentioned above. And let's face facts: no event producer, NO ONE, can compete with the amount of money that a casino can bring in so there was no need for Heidelberg to "defend" their decision by implying that our events had kept business stagnant.

We do understand that sometimes a business has to make unpopular decisions to improve their bottom line, but the decision to suddenly pull all music events, with only a few days warning before Claudias next show, was unprofessional at best and meticulously deceitful at worst. They only reason we can think of why we were not notified earlier that a leasing deal was in the works, was that they wanted to use us to continue bringing people into the place while they were waiting for the deal (and gambling legal loopholes) to be cleared. Once they had everything in place, they abruptly pushed us out the door in the most dickish way possible without any regard to our own agreements, commitments, investments and expenses and certainly not to their loyal, music-loving patrons. At the very least, they could've given Claudia two weeks notice and had her finish out the month, but apparently keeping some business integrity and professional courtesy intact did not supersede their short-term greed. (Note: our own German-born PP decorator, Fraeulein Nikita, would like to point out that Heidelberg hasn't been German-owned in years so any negative feelings toward the Heidelberg should not be directed toward mother Deutschland or the Germanic Peoples - ok, thanks Niki, we won't )

Yes, Heidelberg made a business decision, but we would like to remind them that they are still in the people-pleasing business. Booze, music, food, or poker: their success depends entirely on reputation, good service, and making people feel good about going inside their venue and spending money. With all the musicians, patrons and employees they've upset over the years, they seem to forget that this continued unprofessional behavior will affect anything they wish do with their venue in the long term. Remember, we all eat at restaurants and drink in bars, too. As for gambling at their new poker tables, we can tell you that weve already gambled with the Heidelberg...and lost.

Forward to the Future:

Claudia and No Fun Entertainment has been working hard to find a new venue and we've enjoyed working with Claudia so much that we're inclined to follow her where she goes. She has secured moving a few events over to Goodnight Gracie, 301 W. Huron (around and underneath Live at PJs) downtown Ann Arbor and Plastic Passion is included on that short roster to go on as planned Saturday, Feb. 13th.

We thank all of you for your support while we were at the Heidelberg and your positive feedback during these last couple weeks is inspiring . We hope that you will continue to support PP at this new venue. It's quite different than the Heidelberg, so come with an open mind and be assured we will work hard to make it into best space we can for you. We have been told if PP can continue being successful at Gracies there might be a chance to move it upstairs to Live at PJs (if you haven't seen the inside of Live, know that it's the BEST looking venue in all of Ann Arbor).

So thanks everybody and, now more than ever, we hope to see you at the next Plastic Passion!

Hang the DJ,

Josh

Edited January 27, 2010 by PlasticPassion_a2

[pleasurekatzen]

Glad to hear this night has found a new home. I haven't yet been able to attend as my work schedule always seems to include the nights you've hosted so far, but I have heard EXCELLENT things about your events.

[phee]

So glad you guys are still around

[DJ Nocker]

I was about to be super pissed that yet another night that I actually enjoyed attending was gonig to be closed, im glad you guys got another venue, I still plan on going to the Feb 13 event, ima try to drag a few others with me.

[DJ Saint]

Awesome on finding a new venue. Gonna try and make it out to as many events as I can when I'm not at City DJ'ing. Will be shooting you and email soon to discuss a guest spot and other stuff/things.

All the best and long live Plastic Passion!