We asked several Milwaukee club owners and promoters some questions:
- How is the Coronavirus impacting your business?
- Are you making the call or waiting for artist’s to cancel or postpone?
- What can music fans do to help venues and artists in this time of uncertainty?
Linneman’s Riverwest Inn: Jim Linneman
"Following Gov. Evers limiting 50 people in bars we took note that this is a really dangerous thing that could get out of hand really fast. We decided to close down immediately."
Linneman’s Riverwest Inn may be leading the curve on how music events are experienced in the near future. The club will be streaming the Saturday March, 21 show by Bill Camplin Band on Facebook Live. According to Linneman, Camplin who runs music venue Café Carpe in Fort Atkinson has previously streamed live performances from his venue.
Pabst/Turner/Riverside: Sara Peronto
"Since our business is hosting public events, we have had to react very quickly and seriously to the recommendations of the CDC in regard to social distancing. The result of that is postponing previously scheduled shows at all of our venues through (at least) May 15 and advising all of our staff to work remotely. At this point, there is no way to know how significantly this will impact us and the greater industry, but we know that we've made the right decision to keep the health of our fans, staff and community as the biggest priority.
"With the recent recommendation from the CDC and mandate from Gov. Evers prohibiting mass gatherings of 10 or more people, we made the decision to postpone all upcoming shows through May 15. Obviously, new information is coming out all the time. We will continue to closely monitor recommendations by public health officials and are prepared to extend this time frame if necessary.
"When we make it to the other side of this pandemic and are able to bring artists back and open our doors, we will be ready to celebrate with all our fans in a very big way. Until that happens, we want everyone to do what they can to slow the impact of COVID-19, observe social distancing and take care of themselves and those around them."
Shank Hall: Peter Jest
Mostly everything is being rescheduled right now. All of April and some of May is gone. Mostly, I have to leave it up to the touring bands. Most of them are postponing until summer or fall to be safe.
Hopefully, by the end of May we’ll be out of this. July through the end of the year will be very busy. It’s unprecedented. There’s no handbook for this. People will be sick of being cooped up with each other by the end of this and will need to get out and do things!
X-Ray Arcade: Justin Wexler
We closed our doors for the month of March and will reevaluate in the coming weeks, but we could potentially be closed for much longer. There hasn't been any sort of mortgage/rent/insurance/etc. relief proposed by the government yet, so right now we're staring down potentially months with no income and continuing bills.
Luckily all of the artists who had upcoming shows shared our opinion that the safety of our staff, patrons, and performers was of paramount importance and we agreed mutually that shows should be canceled or postponed.
For X-Ray specifically, we have a bunch of awesome merchandise that people could check out including some new exclusive designs at xrayarcade.com. Given that we'll have no source of income in the immediate future and still have to pay our bills (including supporting our wonderful staff), this really will help. The best way you can support all artists and venues right now is to buy merchandise directly from their websites, contribute to any GoFundMe campaigns you see that help raise money for staff, or help spread the word about both. If you are in a position where you can afford to help, please do. We are all in this together and we will get through this.
I think we'll be okay. It’s going to be lean as hell for a few months, as I am guessing this extends at least through the end of April, but we'll do whatever we can to support our staff and stay in business. We’re in it for the long haul.
Cactus Club: Kelsey Kaufmann
We voluntarily chose to close Sunday, March 15, because we feel it’s the most socially responsible move with the extended risks of the virus.
I woke up to a surprise and generous GoFundMe. Funds raised will go to compensating workers and paying foundational bills.
