you know he means venues that aren't typically sanctioned "expected" concert venues

just busting on him for this line: "If I book a Yeah Yeah Yeahs, show, it's not going to be at Irving Plaza or wherever it is they play at"

I love what he does.

He is defiently a cool dude trying to do something that most people aren't.

The venue is pretty easy to find. Get off on the Morgan Stop on the L train (morgan street exit) and walk two blocks up Ingraham. It's about half way down the street on the right side.

This guy puts on good shows but it would be swell if he were a little nicer to the people that actually patronize his shows.

I don't know a single person that likes him.More will come to you Mr. Patrick. I promise.

I hate to agree, but I think it's true: my band played a Todd P. show and found him to be abrasive, not friendly or anybody I'd want to collaborate with. I do respect the work he does, but he should take his ethos a little more seriously.

Have to agree....I've been to probably almost a hundred of his shows it seems and he's not only been not friendly, but often times hostile....must be stressful to put all those shows on, but jesus...

OMG music sounds SOOO much better when the venue, like, is like, a weird venue, not like a normal venue or anything

Like, now that people go to the Bowery Ballroom or whatever, the bands totally aren't as good as like, when you see them at loft parties or something

not everybody thinks the bowery ballroom is the ideal venue; the good thing about new york is it's big enough that you never have to see a toddp show if you don't want to.

and come on guys, you're annoyed at todd for not being nice to you? the guy is working himself into an early grave, cut him some slack.

I don't get why everybody seems to kiss his ass.

wow. maybe you guys just need someone who will kiss your ass in the same manner everyone "seems" to kiss his. todd has been nothing but kind and generous to myself and countless others.

maybe if you and the people you know weren't such pricks, you'd find him nicer and be familiar with the innumerous unpretentious brooklynites that know and love him.

i have to agree...i have played nearly every venue in th metro area and todd doesnt even come close to sum of th prixx ive encountered along th way...he is doin a job and that sumtymes entails snapping off conversations midstream and goin to check on th weird sound coming from th roof..or whatever he attends to..no promoter in his right mind wood book multiple shows on th same day in th same boro..but todd knows that tatstes are varied and offers them pretty much every kind of music available..so sukk it up while u got it..it prolly wont go on forever...oh and lightning bolts/bunnybrains july 1st brooklyn..xd

i have to agree...i have played nearly every venue in th metro area and todd doesnt even come close to sum of th prixx ive encountered along th way...he is doin a job and that sumtymes entails snapping off conversations midstream and goin to check on th weird sound coming from th roof..or whatever he attends to..no promoter in his right mind wood book multiple shows on th same day in th same boro..but todd knows that tatstes are varied and offers them pretty much every kind of music available..so sukk it up while u got it..it prolly wont go on forever...oh and lightning bolts/bunnybrains july 1st brooklyn..xd

i have to agree...i have played nearly every venue in th metro area and todd doesnt even come close to sum of th prixx ive encountered along th way...he is doin a job and that sumtymes entails snapping off conversations midstream and goin to check on th weird sound coming from th roof..or whatever he attends to..no promoter in his right mind wood book multiple shows on th same day in th same boro..but todd knows that tatstes are varied and offers them pretty much every kind of music available..so sukk it up while u got it..it prolly wont go on forever...oh and lightning bolts/bunnybrains july 1st brooklyn..xd

i have to agree...i have played nearly every venue in th metro area and todd doesnt even come close to sum of th prixx ive encountered along th way...he is doin a job and that sumtymes entails snapping off conversations midstream and goin to check on th weird sound coming from th roof..or whatever he attends to..no promoter in his right mind wood book multiple shows on th same day in th same boro..but todd knows that tastes are varied and offers them pretty much every kind of music available..so sukk it up while u got it..it prolly wont go on forever...oh and lightning bolts/bunnybrains july 1st brooklyn..xd

nobody is saying they want their ass kissed... todd is just not friendly or warm. you shouldn't presume that people who feel this way haven't been nice, easygoing, unpretentious, friendly people.

also, it's ironic that people treat todd as this precious resource when it seems like the point of what he does is to encourage everybody to be more active in making these kinds of things happen. i hope that people don't suck it up, i hope that they go out and work as hard as todd does (nobody said he doesn't) but that they crack a smile once in a while.

if you seem like a douchebag, you're a douchebag

if you can't handle whatever it is you do without being a douchebag, time to reevaluate life

i'm a complete douchebag and have unique insight

i'm not gonna spend all day slagging this guy. i just want to say that this is not a matter of "being nice" or friendly. this guy has gotten some good underground spaces in trouble. so i'm not crying any tears for him not being able to get his own venue off the ground.
i agree with the person above who made the point that other people should put the work in and throw more parties. there are a lot of great promoters in this city but there is space for many more.

Todd P booked shows at 17 Nautical for my band when I lived in PDX and was a super nice, professional guy. He was always really supportive and always an active guy in the music scene. He also booked a variety of stuff and it was nice to have him putting on shows that weren't just the same thing over and over. I remember (and this was 97/98) seeing emo bands, indie pop bands, dyke rock bands etc all on the same bill. Mixing it all up. It was a good time and he was always a cool guy. I think it's sad and pathetic that whenever you get a bunch of indie rock/pop/noise people together, they start hating on things or getting all snotty about everything. Stupid scenester bullshit. Talking trash about a guy in a public forum. Just say no to all the hating, people. It's not very nice.

well I can't get this thing to do any line breaks, so this may look like a long rant - sorry if it comes across as excessive.

guys, I don't smile a lot - it's a genetic predilection. I am also often busy and precoccupied at shows.

Also, I'm neurotically sensitive to the fact that while folks who come to my shows usually know my name, I have a shitty memory and it is difficult to remember all of theirs.

Often I don't greet folks whose name I have been told but I have forgotten it - though I recognise them by face - because it's embarassing and uncomfortable to not remember a name and people seem to want me to remember them better than I am able.

You don't get any slack for being a mostly quiet and introverted guy when for whatever reason you've become well-known to strangers.

this can frequently be mistaken for unfriendliness, but I long ago realised that it is impossible to please everyone all the time. You just do what you do with good intentions and warm feelings towards those around you and hope that those warm feelings come across. But some are better at the social game than others.

It is also incalculable how often someone who says they dislike me "as a person" actually has barely met me at all - and is in fact unhappy with me because I didn't hook up their band or their friends' band - or else was unable to keep a long converstion going when they introduced themselves to me at some show. People are sensitive and it takes very little to make a stranger feel snubbed - particularly when they already know my name and have particular expectations or are nervously trying to promote their band.

Also - folks that get caught and either kicked-out or lectured or both for doing dick-y things at shows - drinking outside, going into areas that are not open to the public, peeing in corners, stealing, starting fights, feeling up other folks in the crowd, trying to sneak in without paying cover, etc - or bands that screw shows and the other bands over by disappearing and starting their set very late, or break things, or are undemocartic about money, or can't get their mound of electronic gizmos to work correctly, or throw primadonna fits about stupid selfish shit - it's amusing to me that these people are often also the ones who go onto blogs and proceed to shit talk me and everybody else.

I am, in fact, a pretty serious and private guy - who's also often harried when folks try to introduce themselves to me. There's nothing you can do about folks jumping to unwarranted conclusions when you when really have barely interacted together at all. Worse if that interaction had to be tense based on the other person doing something that I have to police for the good of the show.

As for bands and making enemies by not booking or rebooking a certain band - there's no accounting for taste. My whole thing is based around my tastes and they are what they are. I'm just one guy, please don't take it personally if I'm not into your music.

To "true story" - I bet there's more of a story there than you've shared.

As for getting cool spots into "trouble" - bullshit. Name them, these spaces I've gotten into trouble don't exist. The only spot I've -ever- gotten into trouble is my own. And I will further say that there are several underground spaces that would have been shuttered by the cops and the city if I had not intervened and given some specific well-timed and well-heeded free advice.

Only two warehouse/loft shows of mine in New York have ever been shut down by the police - a Coachwhips show at Flux Factory in 2002 and the last show at Llano Estacado.

That long-ago Flux show was shut down because the tenants of that place insisted upon trying to get a one day special event beer sales permit, though they are not a space that has any legal status to hold big events. They thought a beer permit would protect them - but the city doesn't treat "half-way legal" and "illegal" any differently. Filing for those permits requires the police to drop in and check on your party - which they did, with the fire department in tow, and shut the show down before it started. We should never have tried to get a permit - and I tried to convince the space not to do so to no avail.

As for the Llano Estacado, that was mine and my building mates' risk - whatever stupid risk we took there affected us alone. The other spaces in that building that got shut down that night were having parties of their own.

So anyway, please feel free to direct any hate mail directly to: toddp@toddpnyc.com

Todd

yeah I've been going to Todd P shows for years now and I don;t know any space he's gotten into trouble - his own space got trouble, but that's his own deal.

what the heck are you talking about?

I'm so sick of shit talking no nothins calling good folks DOUCHEBAGS

stupid ass word and totally only used by hipster jackasses. why don't you go book a million shows yerself dumbfuck?? this guy works his ass off and does a great job. he's been totally nice whenever I've met him and more important - he's totally FAIR and for real.

sounds like youd only be happy if he was booking vip parties that only you got invited to and featured only you and yer best friedns bands.

you guys suck ass.

ride yer bike, move to Brooklyn.

what are you guys talking about?! he's 100000000x nicer than any of the promoters at bowery, etc