Justin Trevino, lead singer and guitarist in the band Buxton, has cool parents. For the past few months, they operated The Forum, LaPorte’s first and only indie rock venue. No more.
Trevino told me last night that his parents had decided to close it down. Last night was the Forum’s final night. “It was just too expensive,” says Trevino. “I think they just wanted to try it out. They have enough to pay rent, but insurance and all that other stuff really adds up.” – John Nova Lomax
Yes, it's true. Running a club is mucho expensive. I remember that as a kid in a band bback in high school I thought places like Fitzgeralds and Rockefeller's were raking it in. That was, until I began working at Rockefeller's in college and saw all the money we made go right back out the door in expenses- all kinds.
Clubs that rely on live music alone to stay in business really have it hard. Musicians are generally broke and bands are generally bad. That means that for every great show and night of making a little in drinks, etc you have 7 or 8 nights of nothing made. Bills still come in. Taxes have to be paid. It's tough- and that's also why bands that really and truly promote themselves hard are the darlings of clubs- those shows subsidize the venue for all the nights when there's 12 people in the place- including the band and the bartender. Anyway, my bands all became promotion workhorses after I started working on the club side of things as well as playing music. It's sad to see another club go down the drain, especially in a place like LaPorte, which surely needs a good venue. - David Beebe
Posted at: April 4, 2008 9:52 PM