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Beware of: The Checkerboard Lounge : Truly Bad Business2009-10-14 11:40:05
It’s funny but certain things can stick with you and eat at you and eat you and eat at you. So when someone invited me to their artist’s performance and mentioned that the artist was performing this weekend at The Checkerboard Lounge all I could say is I will never set foot in that place ever again. But let’s back track so that you can understand the entire picture… We try to support our neighborhood on as many levels as are presented to us. We have been blessed to attain access to a lot of artists – some famous and some not so famous. When we have that opportunity we try to present those artists to the people who support us in our own neighborhood. We have two events that we are able to do that have been fairly successful on many levels. We have The Experience, an interview, CD release celebration and (often) mini-performance that has featured the likes of Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Ashford and Simpson, John Legend, Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin, Natalie Cole, Brian McKnight, Maxwell and many, many more. We also do a second event called Bronzeville Nights . Bronzeville Nights is a networking opportunity that presents local Chicago artists in a mini-performance setting as well as the occasional performance or visit from a more well-known artist. We have featured some great local talent like Jay Collins, Adam Emil, Felton Offard, Amadeus, SpqHer, Aniba Hotep, Russoul and more. We have also had visits from platinum recording artist Gerald Alston (formerly of the Manhattans) and Will Downing at Bronzeville Nights. Well the time came where we wanted to explore a different venue for Bronzeville Nights. We thought that The Checkerboard Lounge might be worth a shot. So I called the owner of the venue and asked if a particular date was available. It went like this… “Hello Mr. Thurman, this is Dedry Jones from The Music Experience. I spoke with you a couple of months ago about possibly doing my event, Bronzeville Nights in your space but you were booked pretty solid for the next month so I am calling again to see if you have a date available”. At that point, I told the owner Mr Thurman what date I wanted and he checked to see if that date was available while we were on the phone and it was available. I gave a sigh of relief and asked, “How much is the date?”
“I might want to speak to a couple liquor companies so
can you tell me if you sell Remy Martin” I inquired. "What about Heineken," I asked. “We sell that too.” “Great. So are you sure the date is available because I will come by and take care of that tonight.” Thurman said, “we’re booked tonight so you can come on Wednesday or later in the week.” I didn’t really like that idea so I asked, “What time are you there tomorrow because I think I want to just stop by before then.” “I get here at 4 PM.” “Alright. I think that I will just stop by tomorrow at 4 when you get there and take care of you. I want to make sure that I have the date.” Thurman replied immediately, “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m a man of my word so you have that date.” “Great,” I replied. “But I will see you tomorrow afternoon. Now, you have some food that people can purchase, stuff like that.” “Yep, we got it. We can do some food.” “Alright, Mr. Thurman. I will see you tomorrow.” So that went well and I was stoked. Got the space and I am happy. So that evening I created the flier that I was going e-blast and we would be ready to go. But being cautious, sometimes to a fault, I didn’t send the e-mail out. I called my business partner and told him that I wanted to wait until everything was truly “a done deal”. The next day, I called my business partner and asked him to meet me at The Checkerboard at 4 PM. I wanted him to see the venue so that he would feel comfortable with the space. He rushed to the venue, in traffic, from the north side. My store manager got off at 3 PM and I wanted make sure that I got the venue stuff settled so I could start promoting Bronzeville Nights so I closed my store to run over to Hyde Park and get things finalized. I was excited not only to get the venue but because I feel proud about presenting good talent to people. After featuring platinum recording artist, Gerald Alston (formerly of The Manhattans) and Will Downing at Bronzeville Nights before that we were looking good. For this Bronzeville Nights we were booking, we had a special guest from a major label who was going to join us and do a mini-performance along with several very talented Chicago artists. So, we met at the venue at 3:55 PM and waited for Mr Thurman. He showed up at 5 PM instead of 4 PM and I greeted him and let him know who I was and that I had come to pay for my night. He looked at me as he stood by his car and said, “What was the date?” I gave him the date and he said “oh, that date isn’t available.” I was stunned and I said, “What? You told me that the date was available when we spoke yesterday.” Thurman said “Yeah, well a lady has the date now.” I stood there stunned. He then said “Well you know the economy.” He paused and said, "You know you guys can outbid her if you really want the date.” He looked at the both of us, then turned away and started walking toward the door while saying in a voice full of attitude, “You guys don’t really want the place if you won't outbid her.” When I looked at my business partner's face I knew I needed to get him in his car and just let everything calm down.
Now all I can say about this whole thing is WTF!!! How do you run a venue, promise to rent it to a specific individual, say that you are a “man of your word” and then tell the
person you promised the venue to that they had to OUTBID someone else who just
popped up out of thin air. You give me your price. I agreed to the rental rate. Didn’t ask for a deal or a discount. I come to pay “the man of his word” and you try to hold me up. My attitude at that point is screw you. Being a businessman I know the hardship we all go through but what Mr LC Thurman of the Checkerboard Lounge did was totally inexcusable. So my response to the person who asked me to attend their event on Friday at The Checkerboard is, “there is no way that I will ever set foot in that place ever again.” For a guy who has issues with economy, all I can say is that maybe if you were a “man of your word” and maybe if you treated people with honesty and respect – maybe things would go a little better for you. Karma is a b**** and it will come back to bite you in the behind. So if you want to book The Checkerboard Lounge, DON’T. Mr. LC Thurman, owner of The Checkerboard Lounge will lie to you. Then he will try to extort you for additional funds. So if you rent a date, pray that someone else doesn’t outbid you because you will end up S.O.L. and Mr Thurman will be smiling all the way to the bank. Showing page 1 of 1 pages - |
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