Trials and Tribuls of a Terrace B.C DJ

[-evil-duerr-]

It seems an edm event that me and a couple other small town DJ's founded,has stirred up a little bit of controversy in my hometown of Terrace BC.

Earlier in the summer we made a deal with a local mexican restaurant owner to host parties at his establishment on a monthly basis- pending the outcome of our first event. This was the first time it quite awhile anyone had tried to do anything like this in the town, and the event went off without a hitch. It was a big hit, many were wondering when the next party would be.

So we started planning for a second installment of "Fiesta" right away, and gave ourselves a month to prepare/promote.

Not even 24 hours before the day of the event. Some fuckin douche bag from the liquor board comes and says we cannot legally host this event, due to some obscure liquor license law.
Since we advertised the party as having a "dance floor" (refer to flyer http://fnk.ca/board/f227/street-art-...-flyer-209826/), that meant that we needed some extra license.... The whole situation stunk of shit to me and most the town.... The local paper published an article about the whole thing. check it out.
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REPORTING · 9th September 2007

GORDO'S GETS TARGETED, ADVERTISE WRONG?
by Merv Ritchie

The liquor inspector came to visit the best Mexican Restaurant in Terrace with a copy of their ad placed in the Terrace Daily. This person claimed that it came from the other paper, you know, the standard fare. Gordo took some offense to this and firmly stated that this inspector was wrong. He advertises in the Terrace Daily. A debate ensued.

The inspector brought it as a neatly cut out, and then photo copied, reproduction. Almost as if someone had cut it out and then sent it to this government agent. The agent admitted the error when confronted with the Terrace Daily opened to page 11.

Funny thing was about the timing. We have advertised Gordo's entertainment extravaganza for quite some time. The inspector showed up the day before Gordo's Fiesta #2. If this was a visit due to simply meeting a regulation, in a cooperative manner, with this amount of fore knowledge, any reasoned individual would have come to advise of the minor details of an obscure paragraph of the liquor act, that in some interpretation states that you can't hire someone to change cd's for you, weeks earlier.

Nope. It appears that someone chose just the right moment to make an issue and deprive many of an event planned long in advance the day before the event.

We write provocatively. We tell it as it is. We can't help but think that the toes we so rightly stomped upon wish to cause grief to those that spend their advertising dollars with the medium that might expose their actions.

We have been informed that we may have offended a childs father who has since gone around the Skeena claiming the desire to purchase the establishment and shut down Gordo's. It all seems so familiar to George W. Bush claiming that Sadam insulted his Daddy. Is this what the worlds intelligence has come too?

We all want to raise our families in relative comfort. Lets do it together and not let differences blow up into full scale conflict.

And yes Gordo's is a great Mexican Restaurant. He is a Mexican after all.
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Now our city is a very conservative right winger religious kind of town. It's run by crooked old dutch reform fat cats, who have made sure to keep Terrace youth from enjoying any form of nightlife for well over 30 years now.

Our party got shut down because of obvious racial tension, and the "little boy's club of terrace" need to try and keep control of their quiet little mountain town.

fucking pathetic.

[wishbone]

anyone can write for the paper up there, can't they?

[-evil-duerr-]

if you had read the article you'd see the writer works for the newspaper.

[wishbone]

Originally Posted by -evil-duerr-

if you had read the article you'd see the writer works for the newspaper.

ok.

i guess anyone can work for the newspaper up there.

edit:
don't get me wrong entirely, i'm sympathetic to your cause and feel throwing it out the day before is pretty shitty....I'm just amazed at the level of writing in that article.

[-evil-duerr-]

dude... its a local paper for a smalltown in northern b.c.

ha ha.... ofcourse the writing isnt going to be top notch, most people with anything really going on for them move out of Terrace!

shit, if you think the writing for the local newspapers are bad. you should see the medical system up here. The doctors are a fucking joke.

You've never lived outside of vancouver have you?

[NinjaBoy]

A lot of skill based industries force fresh grads to work in small towns, so when they fuck up while learning it doesn't effect people that are important.

[wishbone]

Originally Posted by -evil-duerr-

dude... its a local paper for a smalltown in northern b.c.

ha ha.... ofcourse the writing isnt going to be top notch, most people with anything really going on for them move out of Terrace!

shit, if you think the writing for the local newspapers are bad. you should see the medical system up here. The doctors are a fucking joke.

You've never lived outside of vancouver have you?

no.:worried: :wondering:

i guess i just assumed there would be something better than that.

actually - it is a law that you cant have dancing in a restaurant. you do require a special license to have people drink/dance then food/drink.

[Gusto]

merv is a crappy writer and a racist for assuming mexicans make good mexican food. mexicans can suck just as bad as the rest of us, it's not fair to put that kind of pressure on them.

[Kraig]

Terrace -- my parents lived up there for years. Wicked fishing! -- Some of the best if not the best in Canada. Caught a 70lb spring OFF SHORE!

My nephew who was 8 at the time was catching 10-15lbs pink salmon.

PS: this was the same reason why Tribeca was always getting in trouble. A restaurant cannot have a dancing event unless it's a birthday party, fundraiser or other special event. Even then, the patrons have to eat first and the venue owner needs to provide proof of that.

[Phrenetic]

so no dancing and eating at the same time...

[wishbone]

Originally Posted by Phrenetic

so no dancing and eating at the same time...

It has to be the exact patrons, too.

OP, you were the one who did the ad in mspaint, right? iirc, you served food at the beginning of the night.....if what kraig said is in fact the law and such (i don't doubt it), then maybe assuring those coming were "in" by a certain time, 'fed' if even veggie platters, and then allowed to have fun?

I don't know enough to provide any further insight...although i'd be interested to see what the "included food" cost could get you.

[Kraig]

He advertised it as a club night... or a night with dancing... whatever. I assume you were charging cover in some way? -- That right there is a violation of that venues restaurant liquor license.

[-evil-duerr-]

Originally Posted by Gusto

merv is a crappy writer and a racist for assuming mexicans make good mexican food. mexicans can suck just as bad as the rest of us, it's not fair to put that kind of pressure on them.

lol. ya i think its pretty unanimous that merv shouldnt quit his day job (im guessing printing papers?). But the point is he is trying to raise awareness about the whole situation. Which is a mixture of local politics/quite possibly racism(which is not unusual for the town).

Originally Posted by Avana

actually - it is a law that you cant have dancing in a restaurant. you do require a special license to have people drink/dance then food/drink.

Oh I'm sure it was, no question about it. We just found the timing of the whole thing to be a little peculiar, given how long we had been advertizing it for. And it also happened as some big shots were talking about wanting to buy gordo out of business just to get him out of town.

Originally Posted by Kraig

Terrace -- my parents lived up there for years. Wicked fishing! -- Some of the best if not the best in Canada. Caught a 70lb spring OFF SHORE!

My nephew who was 8 at the time was catching 10-15lbs pink salmon.

PS: this was the same reason why Tribeca was always getting in trouble. A restaurant cannot have a dancing event unless it's a birthday party, fundraiser or other special event. Even then, the patrons have to eat first and the venue owner needs to provide proof of that.

hell ya, the fishing and outdoors is just awesome. People from all over the world visit just for it.

but ya, since this whole episode. Gordo bought the required license needed, but I'm not sure what will happen now. I've since moved from Terrace to prince george, it's pretty much up to the other two guys I started the event with.

This summer was probably the last time I will live in Terrace, so my involvement in their "music scene" is pretty much done. I had alot of fun trying to change things in that town, and we did make some things happen. I had a blast doing it. hopefully the vibe we created this summer is maintained by the good folks who are still kicking it back home.