ThayerAvenue.com

There’s some excellent analysis today from the Washington Post’s Business Columnist Steven Pearlstein on the whole Live Nation vs. Seth Hurwitz fracas. To sum up:

• Seth raised his hand too late and now he’s whining about it
• His offer appears so attractive it’s difficult to ignore
• Seth apparently uses his power to stifle regional compeition, and then says he doesn’t mind competition (while, at the same time, saying that competition is overrated)
• Ike Leggett might have an out by giving Hurwitz 120 days to negotiate a land deal with the Lees (who own the property) and using some of the savings (should a deal be struck) to compensate Live Nation for its time and trouble.

And to all you people whining on the listservs about subsidizing Live Nation’s efforts (you know who you are), shut your collective traps and take note of this paragraph:

By the way, it’s not correct to say, as most critics do, that Leggett is proposing to hand $8 million in state and county funds to Live Nation. In exchange for its investment, the county will own a building and parcel of land valued today at $11.5 million (A provision allowing Live Nation to buy it later for $8 million will be dropped.) And it is a fair guess that the extra meals and sales tax revenue generated by the facility will more than cover the $400,000 a year in interest payments on the bonds used to finance it.

I’ll reiterate what I said the last time I posted something about this: Bring me live music. At this point, I think Seth Hurwitz is being a baby because he wasn’t invited to the big kids’ table when dinner started. And he can stop with the whole “I’m from Montgomery Country and local and would be better…” charade. This is strictly business, and anyone who tells you different is just trying to stifle competition.

Quit the bickering and get the Live Nation deal moving. Please.

Forgive me for neglecting our eastern neighbors on Thayer Avenue, but I rarely, if ever, get down that direction. The school is about as far down as I ever go. But imagine my surprise this morning when I drove by the new contruction at Thayer Avenue and Thayer Place.

Wow. This is some kinda setup. I didn’t see a “For Sale” sign, so I assume it’s a custom build job. How did I miss this? It sure doesn’t go with the neighborhood, but it’s not necessarily bad. Just big. You could fit a third world country in this thing. And you probably had to mine all the stone out of said country to build it.

As always, this begs some questions:

1. Who is doing this?
2. Is there an owner already?
3. What’s the square footage?
4. Is it too far away to make my property value skyrocket?
5. Could you actually fit the population of a developing nation inside?
6. Did Jerry McCoy fight against the destruction of something in order for this to be built?
7. What would my neighbors say if I built this on my property?
8. Doesn’t having the largest house in the neighborhood take your relative property down from where it could be?

Maybe The Silver Bee has some details…

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day. I’ll be spending the next few days in detox, but I did manage to make it out for a few excursions…

Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life
We went to this exhibit at the Corcoran over the weekend, and it was spectacular. I normally abhor paying for a museum in a town where so much is free, but I’d highly recommend it. Learned a few things, too. Like the fact that a pregnant, naked Demi Moore looks much better on a 24′x36′ high-gloss print than the cover of a magazine. Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken are still creepy (more so together posing for Leibovitz in a seedy motel).

And most importantly, Annie Leibovitz grew up in Silver Spring. Not sure how I never knew that, but there were countless family pictures with “Silver Spring, Maryland” taglines. Makes a home boy proud.

Because a CVS would be WAY too difficult
Made a cursory pass through the “Upscale Care Pharmacy” at the Crescent Condos. Nice, quaint, and what looks to be a good little coffee shop.

But a stroll through the price tags tells me that any larger purchase will require a bit of this product as well.

What do we have to do to get a CVS? Rite Aid? Anything?

Off-Season Work
Got a good overview of the virtual driving range at Golf, Etc. from Don, the owner. I hope to be spending as much time there in the off season as time and money will allow. And thank heavens I don’t have to drive out to Tyson’s any more for golf equipment.

I already asked if they had a refrigerator where we could stock up on some beverages for the longer practice sessions. That small point is still in negotiation.

Entertainment and Photography

Spending any time upstairs in the Whole Paycheck Foods building reminds me of some psycholocal experiment. Though I think it falls somewhere between rats in a maze and the ant farm Bobby Hill had when Hank and Peggy put him on Ritalin.

To be fair, though, staring down at so much cheese did make me start to salivate.

I’m reminded of a line from The Hunt for Red October, where the KGB agent aboard the eponymous sub was reading from Capt. Ramius’ Bible:

And the seventh angel poured forth his bowl, and a loud voice cried out from heaven: “It is done.”

So the 9:30 club gets the big Heisman from the County Council. That’s fine. Ike Leggett sent a letter to several people, the contents of which were posted on the listserv. Here’s an excerpt:

For obvious reasons, it would be inappropriate for the County to enter into an agreement with one operator only to subsequently decide to engage in simultaneous negotiations with a second proposed operator that has the benefit of seeing and undercutting the signed terms of its competitor’s agreement. This would be unacceptable. Had the County originally signed a Letter of Intent with the 9:30 Club, or any other operator, and a third party inserted itself into the negotiations at the last minute by cherry-picking an existing proposal, my attitude would be the same.

And this is something I can totally be on board with. So Live Nation is coming in? Great. Building a Fillmore? Excellent. Now get the details done and give me some live music. How long will that take? Are we still looking at 2010? Hurry it up, already!

On a different note…
It looks like the rumors of a Matchbox or some other restaurant at the old Fire Station #1 were bogus. VERY excited about Hook & Ladder coming to the neighborhood, and as Silver Spring Scene reports, we’re looking at June 1 plus 45 days. Just what that means, I’m not sure, but the sooner the better.

Anything I can do to speed up the process, gentlemen? I have several growlers at the ready, itching to be filled with that hoppy, yeasty goodness.

In an attempt to find out more information about William Thayer, our eponymous Washington, DC, merchant/benefactor, I came upon a fantastic find:

This is a screenshot from the 1984 laserdisc adventure game Thayer’s Quest. Thayer was an apprentice magician searching for five magical relics that form the “Hand of Quoid” before Sorsabal, the eeeevil wizard, can get his grimy paws on them and solidify his reign over the five kingdoms.

The game is similar to the very popular Dragon’s Lair of the day, which very nearly put me into 4th-grade bankruptcy, thanks to the Carousel Roller Rink’s after-school skate every Thursday. Unlike Dragon’s Lair, though, the player had more complete control over the character’s movements and, sadly, the game was incomplete. Thayer could only visit three of the five kingdoms, and the game was scrapped before the sequel with the two additional adventures was released.

In 1996/97, a CD-based version was released for both PC and Mac under the name Kingdom: The Far Reaches. Unfortunately, Thayer’s name was changed to Lathan Candor (and the eeeevil wizard Sorsabal became Torlok). Somehow, 2005 saw the re-release of Thayer’s Quest as a DVD video game, and I have been given a new goal in life.

So to sum up:

• “Lathan Candor” will become my new alter ego.
• Sorsabal will be the new nickname of that “bonifant more sinister than thayer” joker.
• William Thayer doesn’t have enough online-accessible material written about him. (Jerry? Where are you? How about some updated information at sshistory.org?)
• It’s time to redo my basement and start my video game collection. (The image you see here appears to be from a conversion/build kit. It is my destiny to own it.)

If anyone wants to donate to the cause, feel free. We’ll have tournaments every other weekend.

Mad props to Silver Spring, Singular for being the “Top Pick” for November 12 on washingtonpost.com’s local blog page.

And if you look through the listing by community, Silver Spring has one of the highest number of local blogs registered outside of DC proper. Go Silver Springs!

This man:

1. Has some questions.
2. Is looking for hidden government money.
3. Is channeling Frank Gorshin.
4. Wants to give you free money.
5. Is da bomb.
6. Wants to find funding for ThayerAvenue.com.

Everybody’s seen Matthew Lesko around town. Not sure where he lives, but it’s gotta be close. Naysayers aside, I think he’s excellent. And there MUST be a way for the goverment to subsidize my blogging. Maybe I should corner him next time I see him.

Matt: If you’re listening, hook a brother up!

I’ll reiterate what I said when the Birchmere deal went south: I want live music here. Birchmere, Live Nation, IMP – whatever. Now a lot more brouhaha has been raised with Seth Hurwitz’s recent letters to Ike Leggett.

I talked with Audrey Schaefer of IMP this morning, and they’re still very much looking to get in and talk with the Council. Why not? Nothing has been signed. As a matter of fact, there is one statement in bold on the letter of intent with Live Nation:

This letter of intent is for discussion purposes only and does not contain all of the material business or legal terms of the proposed transaction and is merely intended only as a basis for preparation of a lease between Live Nation and the County and subsequent to negotiation by the parties. It should be understood that the parties mutually intend that neither shall have any binding contractual obligation or liability to the other regarding this matter…

Blah blah blah. Ultimately, she says this means that there is no legal basis for the County *not* to entertain other offers. Also according to Ms Shaefer, Live Nation’s rent would be equivalent to $2.82 per square foot for the facility. IMP offered to double that (from $7,500/mo to $15,000/mo). The going rate for space in DTSS is somewhere between $20 and $50 per sq. ft. Then remove the $2 million subsidy that IMP declined. Sounds like it’s an offer that at least worth entertaining.

To be fair, Ms Shaefer said that their one mistake was not approaching the County sooner. The justification is that MoCo had been in (on-again, off-again) negotiations with The Birchmere for so long, IMP assumed that was the sort of venue the County wanted (sit-down-and-eat-while-you-listen-to-show-type thing). Out of respect for the Birchmere, they wanted to give them the opportunity to work things out. I’m fine with that. Now The Birchmere is going to the Flaming Sofa Capital of the World, and we have an empty warehouse.

The people at IMP also seem to understand the area a little better – seeing as how they all live around here (many in MoCo itself). Regarding the venue, Ms Shaefer adds: “We think of it as the people’s place. It’s the people’s money and we want what they want. Montgomery County has a very active citizenry, and we know there will be input from the community.”

Having said all this, I’m not advocating a blind transition to contract negotiations with IMP. But they can at least be heard and seriously considered, right? What’s the harm in that? If you feel that way, please contact the Montgomery County Council and/or County Executive Leggett himself.

On a related note: You know how our Founding Fathers created the Electoral College because they thought the general public was too stupid to be trusted with electing their leaders directly by popular vote? (We can discuss the implications of that in 2000 and 2004 another time.) When the idea of the community submitting names for the Silver Spring Music Hall came up, the recommednation of a multi-judge panel for review and final say came along with it. Thank heavens.

And while I like some of the music at Austin Grill, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m going to 9:30 next week for the Rev. Horton Heat (which I do EVERY year), and I like the idea of another “9:30″ club within walking distance, but I think Mr. Hurwitz should have thrown his hat into the ring a long time ago. A few thoughts and concerns about the whole mishegas:

Live Nation Acts
In part of his diatribe, Hurwitz/IMP claims that acts that come to The Fillmore will mirror national programming/tours. Really? I thought there would be a variety of acts coming in. And what about the availability Live Nation promised for community events? Seems to me that IMP’s Merriweather Post Pavilion mirrors that exact same M.O.

“Nation” is Closed
He puts this up there like Live Nation can’t keep a club open. I enjoyed my times at Nation (Thursday Leather Night anyone?), but I got two words for you: baseball stadium.

Community Input on Scheduling Acts
This sounds like a great idea, but as Silver Spring, Singular wrote, that would actually be a nightmare. And it’s the only meeting I would attend regularly if only to thwack down all the people who would try to recreate The Birchmere by proxy.

Food
Now on this, Hurwitz has me. I would like a kitchen in there. Otherwise I’m gonna have to go by The Quarry House and grab some tots before every show.

Most Important: THE NAME
Silver Spring Music Hall? BO-RING. Can’t we think of something better? I’d love to hear your thoughts, but in the meantime, here are some of mine:

1. 86 – It is, after all, the 8600 block of Colesville
2. Nation – Homage to the destructed, and a big finger to The Fillmore parent
3. Club Sligo – And no, Singular, I don’t mean you
4. SHIT – Seth Hurwitz Independent Theater
5. Thayer Hall – For obvious reasons, my favorite

Just a few starters, as my brain is fried. Will update a final list in a new post once everyone has had their say. If Seth wants to do this, he better do it right.

UPDATE: I spoke with Audrey Shaefer from IMP this morning and am very much of the mindset that this needs to be opened up for further discussion. More to come on this subject later in the day…

No sooner did I notice the real estate signs on Easley that said “assemblage” than the listserv became abuzz. Is it me, or did Chicken Little accost the East Silver Spring email list? Here’s what’s at stake:

The owners of the nine houses in the highlighted area above all want to sell. For the bargain basement price of $13 million, you can have this prime parcel of land surrounded by Easley, Grove and Bonifant. I live just over a block away, andI walk down this stretch of Easley on an almost daily basis.

While all the owners have agreed to this assemblage, and three want out ASAP, the listserv now has emails with phrases like “destructive actions,” “earliest settlement,” and one of my favorites: “Historical Designation for ESS.” What do they want to do? Slap a big “NO CHANGE/PROGRESS WANTED” sign on every house in the neighborhood? Where’s Jerry McCoy when you need him?

The only rational explanation for caution I’ve seen specifically addresses the zoning of the properties in conjunction with the “Master Plan” for SS/MoCo. Not that people want to stop this fire sale – they just want regulations followed and things done properly. The areas appear to be zoned for single family residential (R-60) and multi-family medium-density (R-10) development.

Part of the reason for this is to “retain the single-family detached character” throughout most of East Silver Spring, and I like maintaining that. Now it seems whoever buys it will want to change the zoning to include retail/office space. If we can get a beer/wine store as good as Seminary Beer/Wine/Deli at Georgia & 495, then I’m all for it.

I will say, though, that a couple of these structures could use some bulldozing. Like the church with the mobile dentist labs in the back? Enough of that, already. But if the owners want to sell and the land of up for grabs, our job is to do our best to maintain the character – not run around yelling “the sky is falling.”

People have talked about getting the community interested in order to “prevent this kind of loss.” What loss? How about getting the community involved to help maintain the character of the neighborhood? How about excitement about what might come? My only regret right now comes from how this will affect the old man’s farm on the other side of Grove

For the time being, chill out. Break the pills in half – whatever you have to do.