Unfortunately this post serves the purpose that the show last night (05.22.12) is the last one to be held at 4114 Witler.
There is a lot of reasons (explained to some degree below) that have resulted in this decision and it is a decision I did not make personally. Rest assured I will be looking for a way to do house/basement shows again as soon as possible. I believe I will need to find a new place to do this. It's sad to leave that basement behind as it had a great set up and the neighbors (for the most part) had no objections to "noise" or crowds. If anyone happens to have any leads on a new space please send them to me one way or another. By email TigerRAWkShows@gmail.com would work.
I am not going into all the details here on what led to this ending. It simply boils down to conflicts with the guys who live in the 2nd & 3rd floor of the house since last May. The original plan for the house was to have a community of likeminded folks living there together, having a few house shows a month, allow for band practices, and possibly a studio. One of those living in the upper part of the house decided to move in a few months after I did but was not on the same page at all which of course led to unnecessary stress and strife. I had hoped he would move elsewhere once it become apparent that sharing the space together was just not going to work out and others would move in but a decision was handed down by the landlord at that time to separate the house into a 2 family style set up with me on the first floor with the basement available to use for the shows and for bands to practice. Within a few weeks another guy moved into the upper levels of the house with the other guy. As the year went on so did the shows though the living situation wasn't quite as I hoped.
About a month ago there was a metal show in the basement which resulted in the PVC piping to the water heater was accidentally broken. Though someone offered to fix it the following evening, the upstairs tenant who takes at least semi regular showers made a complaint about no hot water so the landlord showed up to investigate and I then had to explain what had happened. He threatened to end the shows at that point. The other upstairs tenant was there adding his comments about what goes on during the shows…unfortunately this guy is a habitual liar so what he was telling the landlord was not the truth about the shows. This guy does not come to the shows so he does not have any basis for the things he had to say. Anyway, so a few days later, I talked with the landlord and he allowed me to continue doing the shows. The upstairs tenants made several more ridiculous complaints and accusations about me, the dudes in my band, and all of you, my friends/family who attend the shows each time since that water heater incident that I either had bands playing…practice or shows.
So today, I received one more call from the landlord with yet another ridiculous complaint and accusations of threats directed to the tenants upstairs. Somehow even though I have been threatened by these guys with physical harm and actually physically assaulted by one of the upstairs tenants on two separate occasions, I am apparently the "bad guy" in the eyes of my landlord and have been forbidden to do any more shows or have bands practice in the basement anymore.
I am very frustrated by this…but I will overcome. They can take away the house, the basement but they can't stop what we have in this community and I will move forward elsewhere as soon as I possibly can. Thank you to all the bands who have played at 4114 Witler and all who came out to see shows. No thanks to those who have selfish ambitions that resulted in ending a good thing at this space.
Joel A. Swanson - resident of the lower levels of 4114 Witler
TigerRAWkShows@gmail.com
