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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.