Skippy leaves Union Hall & the Bell House

boo, sad.

That fucking sucks. Skippy's birthday party will always be one of the most enjoyable shows I've seen in NYC.

Good for him. Both places, especially Union Hall are douche magnets.

I hope he opens up a new venue in Gowanus, names it Skippy's and squashes the Bell House and Union Hall. Maybe this will mean that Southpaw will rise from the ashes and start having kickass shows there again. Best of luck Skippy.

Too sad, that news is a real bummer...RIP Skippy!

wow, good luck to skippy. he's one of the nicest dudes out there.

this man brought the pulsars to brooklyn, and i'll seriously always be grateful for that. always.

".RIP Skippy!"

Let's not get carried away!

dude used to be a complete thief via March Records back in the day.

^ yep

dont talk shit bout my Skippy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIyNrrROyo

in other news, my morning jacket is doing each of their albums live at terminal 5. 5 albums in 5 nights

http://www.mymorningjacket.com/gogo/5-nights-5-albums-terminal-5-new-york-city/

Skippy should book The Rock Shop

If you weren't on Family Ties, your name shouldn't be Skippy!

The Rock Shop should change its name already

Wha???? NOooooooooooo.

who will be doing all the booking??

Insane. Skippy rocks, we're boycotting both venues.

^i agree. we should start a "I'm With Skippy" facebook page

who will be doing all the booking??

my guess is Bowery Presents convinced (bribed) the partners to squeeze out skippy, just like what has happened to venues all over town. Bowery Presents is the WalMart of NY booking thuggery

emily wants to know who will be doing all the booking

"my guess is Bowery Presents convinced (bribed) the partners to squeeze out skippy"

if you only knew how dumb that sounds

I'm disappointed. Union Hall and Bell House have put on some fantastic shows over the years, it will be sad to see the decline.
Onto better things Skippy, best of luck!

oh boy, shit news indeed.

the booking will be done by the Bizzaro Skippy...his name is Snippy. We hate Snippy and the Hell House and Onion Hall.

Who cares who's doing the booking, screw both venues now. I have never known a promoter who's more universally loved than Skippy, and no matter who's doing the booking, I can practically guarantee those places are gonna fall on hard times pretty quickly. You think ANYBODY else will be able to book the caliber of bands he was getting in there way out in the no-man's land of Gowanus to play in a relatively small venue?

"You think ANYBODY else will be able to book the caliber of bands he was getting in there way out in the no-man's land of Gowanus to play in a relatively small venue?"

definitely not.

warms my heart to see the consensus in these comments is positive, as it should be.

begin the boycott. and make them painfully aware of the mistake they've made here. Team Skippy for life.

Bad move. He made both places, and every band who has ever done a show with him loves him. Nails in their own coffin.

southpaw will rise again!

WTF

Southpaw will rise again!

Team McFadden!

Bell House is a great venue. If this diminishes the level of acts there, that fucking sucks.

I dont understand how booking really works. Does it really matter to bands whos doing the booking as long as the $$ is there???

You know what sucks about this news? Everything.

For those who care (and there are some of us who do), both venues are going to suffer big-time. To see their decline will be painful, especially Bell House, which is a very sweet venue to see bands. And anyone who is acquainted with Jack will tell you how tireless he was in every aspect of making sure both venues were as good as they could be (ESPECIALLY BH). To be an honest, top-notch booker in this town is probably in the top 3 toughest music-biz-related jobs you can come up with in NYC.

The only positive I can say is Skip will find something else better and rise above.

"Does it really matter to bands whos doing the booking as long as the $$ is there???"

who's booking usually determines if the $$ is there. you just need to know what you're doing and not be a greedy scumbag.

So if Bowery did start booking BH and UH, what would change? They already book all the same indie bands. Curious - not trolling

Uhhh...I sent a CDR to Bell House in hopes they wuld book my band. Could Jack send it back to me? Thanks dude.

"Uhhh...I sent a CDR to Bell House in hopes they wuld book my band. Could Jack send it back to me? Thanks dude."

You already spent money on postage to mail a 10 cent CDR and now you want someone to spend more money and time so you can get your 10 cent CDR back? Not an economics major I see.

fuck this. im done with going to the Bell House. Skippy was the heart and soul of that place!

Can we book it! Philly takeover!

everyone is replaceable

Peter Shapiro should buy the Bell House

Solid dude. I'm sure theres plenty of clubs who'd love to have this guy on their payroll, but hopefully he'll open his own joint and crush these fuckers.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-With-Skippy/130242636995412

Skippy will rule elsewhere...I've been playing music for many years and never have I met a more passionate, helpful, and honest booker. He actually CARES, unfortunately that's a rare thing to find...somebody must have dropped these bozos some bad acid.

"You already spent money on postage to mail a 10 cent CDR and now you want someone to spend more money and time so you can get your 10 cent CDR back? Not an economics major I see."

This is amazing. I hope this becomes a recurring character posting under the handle "Everything-At-Face-Value Guy"

is this why the new pornographers gig at bell house on 6/20 was cancelled?

its definitely why the acorn show on 7/15 is at littlefield instead of bell house now.

For a place like Bell House, of course it matters who is doing the booking. Bowery all but books itself, but it takes someone with brains and imagination to bring quality to a place like Bell House. You try convincing a band that they should play out in the sticks in Gowanus over the centrally located venues in Manhattan.

I have a hard time picturing anyone doing a better job booking those places than Jack did.

i'm with skosko

"out in the sticks in Gowanus"

It's not the easiest venue to get to, but it's literally a 5-10 minute walk from the R, F, & G trains and is in an area where a lot of people in their 20s & 30s live.

Yes, I know, I live nearby and frequent the Bell House often. But you're limiting your audience there as there are plenty of people from Manhattan and other parts of Brooklyn who think it's too inconvenient of a location. Truth is irrelevant, perception is everything.

The music industry is just like high school. My god, people.
It is not the end of the world for either venue, or Skippy.

"It is not the end of the world for either venue, or Skippy."

ummm...how many times have you seen the booking change hands at a venue and the place goes to shit and becomes irrelevant almost overnight (Southpaw, ahem...)? booking is everything and this kind of shakeup has indeed been "the end of the world" for many a venue...

ummmmmmm, how many times have you licked to the center of your own ball sack?

"ummmmmmm, how many times have you licked to the center of your own ball sack?"

A LOT!! it gets kind of weird in the center though, real soupy and kinda salty...

with Gabe McMackin
http://soupnbread.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscn03411.jpg

that's not chili, that's salty ballsack soup

"The music industry is just like high school. My god, people.
It is not the end of the world for either venue, or Skippy."

amen.
wow. was this "skippy" person booking and handling every little thing that came though this place completely 100% by himself?

thats crazy. i had no idea one person could do so much on their own.

maybe it really doesnt seem like the end of the world after all.

is this really newsworthy?

why did this happen? it must have something to do with bowery presents.

send him yr bones

NO SQUIRREL BONES

it is newsworthy. He is a righteous dude in a creepy industry. The booking in NY has been controlled by a handful of companies for years and it was nice to see someone gaining traction without being one of the monopolies. He made both venues worth going to largely on the strength of his character.

I don't know what this is about but it is definitely their loss and a smart venue should grab him quick.

People who don't know what they are talking about should just shut up

go hipsters!

"is this really newsworthy?"

68 comments and a Facebook group so far says it is. Anyway, the only person that would ask that is probably the owner of Union Hall.

Is there any correlation between this and the brooklyn yard fiasco?

I know that the "Sunday's Best" party was originally scheduled to move in to Bell House if it rained. In other words, why did it go to Littlefield when the party was closed down permanently.

That was last week, and we now get news that Skippy is being presumably forced out this week.

Is some big entertainment group (i.e. LiveNation) trying to come in and by up the area?

What the fuck is Littlefield?

that really sucks. skippy is a super nice guy and he set up some amazing shows. i hope another venue snatches him up quickly.

It's amazing that all of this praise is for a guy who (among many other shady practices) tried to cancel a benefit being held for one of his employees...righteous dude indeed....

"68 comments and a Facebook group so far says it is"....you guys realize that there is a facebook group for waking up in the middle of the night because your leg is itchy....right???

Just to say that Skippy was a nice guy, but far from the best booker in the world...as the general suckiness of the bookings at Bell House show.

mallory---do tell...

ooh maybe we'll see more diversity at bellhouse now?

Wait... Is there any other relevant music besides "indie rock"?!!!

^ my thoughts exactly. I mean, never happy to hear about someone losing their job, but maybe this is a chance for something new. Like maybe some real rock & roll?? The Bell House is an awesome bar/venue, and I for one would love to see a dirty, ballsy show there.

Quit your crying, pussies.

Skippy was a pube that limited the great space that is the Bell House. Perhaps now we will see something other than a bunch of hair-flipping dicks and washed up assholes playing for a group of rich kids in homeless attire.

Hey Brooklyn Vegan, let Village Voice cover all the hyped, nonsensical music scene drama of nyc. You guys can cover the vegetable scene.

I am so confused Jonny Leather. From the article one would assume he either quit or was let go, but you state neither. But the commenters (who I can probably assume are all trolls in the know) lead to the idea that he was fired. You say you contacted him for a statement, but where are the venue's statements? I just ask because it seems like you've held a bunch of benefits and shows at both if I'm remembering and I guess I was under the assumption that to have done that you had worked with their staff closely and would present a multi-dimensional story, but maybe it was just him?

I assume all these people who are writing these "Skippy is God" comments work at the bell house and therefore know what their facts...

Sean Agnew should TOTALLY takeover The Bell House.

Also, the NP's show is still on, as far as I know. Oh, and shh, and all that.

This is totally newsworthy for this site, as it's important music happenings in the town this blog is in (essentially everything this site is about).

However, reading all this shit makes me want to close my eyes forever...

Why are people so goddamned boring. Me included.
Fuck....

I feel for both sides and all the shit everyone has to say about it, but to be fair, Skippy isn't the only person doing the booking over there. My band played about a year ago and judging from the other people I dealt with, I promise you the Bell House is in plenty capable hands.

Good luck to all parties.

""life's biggest regrets that it didn't work out given the amount of effort I made. At both venues."

maybe he was fired because the clubs are not making enough $$?

"Skippy was a pube that limited the great space that is the Bell House. Perhaps now we will see something other than a bunch of hair-flipping dicks and washed up assholes playing for a group of rich kids in homeless attire."

= He wouldn't book my shitty band

But I'm not even in a band

if you were, I would book you at littlefield

It's so obvious that someone extremely biased commented repeatedly from 11:48pm to 12:18am

"I am so confused Jonny Leather."

Jonny Leather??!? You are confused!

um, this guy was not a good booker. there was no variety. tho good job on scoring the unrest shows.

It's very obvious that Union Hall, Floyd and Bell House co-owners Jim Carden and Andy Templer are commenting in here.

"um, this guy was not a good booker. there was no variety"

I'd like to see someone do it better. Time will tell.

Maybe Skippy just needed help. He was one person booking two venues. I know some small venues that have three people booking one room.

hilarious. anyone who really knows Jim or Andy knows they'd be the last people to post here. anyone who really knows skippy knows he'd be the first.

I'll save my tears when The Bell House goes bankrupt

todd p and andy boder are booking union hall now apparently

Todd P is not. Andy Boder is.

Skippy was/is phenomenal, and we wish him great success in the future at whatever venues he chooses to work with. Bell House still has some amazing shows coming up, like...oh wait...nope, no. Nope. Sorry. We don't.

The only thing I know about this Skippy guy is that every time I have PAID money to go see a show at the Bell House I have been waiting on a very long line where everyone in front of me would say "I'm on Skippy's list."And, that every time I would be waiting to PAY for a drink at the bar there would be some douche bag telling the bartender that he was a friend of Skippy. So, maybe all you people who talk about him like he is the second coming of Christ are just upset that now you will have to dish out money like the rest of us.

Good riddance to this transplant and all of his transplant followers. Maybe the pied piper can lead all of his trustafarian children away from Brooklyn once and for all by blowing into his Melodica and piping the painful sounds of twee. Lord knows that they followed that shitty music into the Gowanus area, maybe he can lead them to jump right into the canal. THAT, would be newsworthy :-)

There are some great people at Bell House and Union Hall who are not Skippy (obviously). But indie rock is still a community and Skippy worked hard at encouraging that community by helping up and coming indie bands and not so up and coming indie bands. He did right by a lot of people and it's a shame is all.

That picture sums it up. I've worked with the guy and I've camped out at Bell House on more than a couple of nights to catch a show or drink too much. The place has a lot going for it. I think he should take *some* credit for the work done at the Bell House, but don't make it sound like he built it. Part of the charm of a place like this has little to do with a booker - overall the vibe and setting are both solid, the staff is first rate and the acoustics and stage are well set up for bands, and better so for fans. As to Jack, he could be quite charming, he definitely knows the indie rock scene, but to be fair he could also be a snarly know-it-all that berated people and would tell anyone nearby that he was the fucking owner of this place!

he did a lot wrong by even more people.

There are lots of theories as to why this happened, and yes, it is indeed sad when someone loses their job. With that said, maybe Bell House and Union hall just came to their senses and realized that they were paying out the ass for someone to do a shitty job. I mean seriously, how many times are they going to book The Mugs, Eli Paperboy Reed and some shitty throwback from the 70's? Every dinosaur dies eventually, and I guess it was just his time.

anyone else find it silly that we're talking about a grown man who goes by the name of "Skippy"

I have faith that William, Heather, and the rest of the crew over there will land on their feet.
As mentioned above, it's a stellar room situated between a dozen young, hip 'hoods.

8:53, you clearly don't know how booking in NYC works.

9:40, seeing how you referred to it as "NYC", you're clearly not from here....isn't there a "OhioVegan" blog you can write on somewhere? But with that said, it makes sense why you would be partial to a fellow transplant who helped ruin the true Brooklyn scene...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDW0ZnZxjn4

For Skippy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxMafF6mj1E

don't know him that well, but my band played UH and BH a bunch of times (and magnetic field) along with other similarly sized NYC venues... cake shop, bowery ballroom, rothko, pianos, tonic, etc. and Skippy is one of the most pleasant and accommodating guys to work with. I hope he lands on his feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX7wtNOkuHo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A

http://ohskippy.ytmnd.com/

Hey "Skippy is a douche", what is your problem?

all you need to do is look at the calendar for the Bell House to see why it didn't work out with Skippy. There's hardly any good shows in the near future.

Honestly who gives a fuck? Get a life hipster faggots.

8:53, tell us more about true brooklyn!

I have no problem. I just think these links best represent my feelings toward the situation.

Cheers!

there are two sides to every story, and in this case, both are correct. skippy famously treated his bands like gold. he also famously treated his fellow employees like total shit. anyone who has ever worked at either place will back up both of those statements. sorry, but unless you're booking michael jackson opening up for all four beatles, there is no reason to talk to people the way he consistently did. haven't gotten the full scoop yet but i'm guessing the owners finally got fed up with his antics.

Great dude, good luck to him.

Skipster has big fish in a tiny little pond syndrome. if he just realized that he was a teeny tiny fish in a huge fucking ocean, maybe his ass wouldnt be canned right now. there are much bigger fish that are better suited for the job. Maybe that place will start booking something decent now that this guppy has been caught.

poor guy. can i play there now?

http://whosonstage.ytmnd.com/

Wait... I thought he owned Union Hall, Bell House and Floyd? How did the owner of all those venues get fired? Are you telling me Skippy lied to me and all my friend? :(

"skippy was a pube"

...on the East Side of Chicago
back in the USA
back in the bad old days

I'm always the last 2 know these things. now evrything i wanna say has been said. oh well, he had bad taste anyway

so sad about this. skippy, you will rise.

heh...

Rise, like a souffle?

haha he told my friend that he owned bell house too

"haha he told my friend that he owned bell house too"

he does own part of the Bell House

5%?

yeah he "owns" the bell house just like the public "owns" the airwaves. Well, looks like he doesnt own anything anymore :-P

looks like Skippy's got some haters out here. Bravo Skippy, if you got no haters you ain't doin it right

well he got canned so he AINT doin it right! Ba-dum bum....

so nobody who posts here ever had a job-loss be the best thing that ever happened to them? gimme a break

so is the new pornographers bell house show that was listed and then pulled from their official site happening or not?

well, he did run march records horribly (never sent some orders, overcharged for shipping, etc.) and he did screw the band the clientele over big time, and he's about as full of himself as anyone could possibly be (i once counted him namedrop 17 times in one hour), and he's a well known liar--despite it all, i think he's a good guy at heart. and who doesn't need a second (or third, fourth, fifth) chance at some point? i've been a Defender of Skippy for years, and obviously he keeps us busy. again, i wouldn't do that if i didn't see goodness in there. if he's a part owner (is that true?), maybe they had to buy him out or something. i'm sure he'll be just fine. hope he finds another venue to work for.

6:52---screwed over the clientele? do tell

He was fired. This is well known now. But yes, there are legal proceedings in the works. As a part owner (allegedly), can you be fired? He'll probably win a shitload of money from them for unlawful firing or something. If that's what happens, I'm sure it will be worth it to the Bellhouse/Union Hall to have him be gone for good. Which is probably for the best--the guy has shown time and again he can't be trusted with a business and with co-workers. Maybe he can retire on his court settlement, and we'll all be better off.

I'm no attorney, but if lawsuits are in the works -- I imagine that pulling shows and/or talking shit about the club doesn't bode well for Mr. Skippy.

I wonder if he'll get a bocce court in the settlement?

he's definitely not an owner at all

I get it, a lot of you are bored and enjoy the smell of your own farts, but Jim and Andy are two of the most stand up dudes I have ever met. Anyone who has met them knowsa they would give you the shirt off their back. Heather and Will are badasses, UH and BH are in good hands.

i can make spaghetti... -brian johnson, Breakfast Club

Amen, C.

Good Luck to Skippy with all his future endeavors. My band played Union Hall a few years ago and he was a stand up guy to us.

I just look forward to getting my emails returned when I attempt to book a show at these venues now. It's the small things ...

The Skippy from the early days of Union, and the current Skippy are not the same dude.

Lets be honest here, Jim is kind of a douche too.

Define douche. He can be sorta sometimes, sure, but he's not douchey I don't think.

ha, correction... I meant he can be serious, but not douchey. It's a bummer all the way around, but I don't think anyone is a bad guy here.

"I just look forward to getting my emails returned when I attempt to book a show at these venues now. It's the small things ...
The Skippy from the early days of Union, and the current Skippy are not the same dude"

You sound extremely self-important. Did you ever consider that Skippy probably got more emails than he could deal with and that when he started Union Hall he was only booking one venue, no two? People get busy. Which brings me back to my previous point. He probably just needed some help.

person above me, you sound like you are skippy talking as someone else..."I got this friend, you see"

great point, he definitely needs help - can you recommend a good proctologist?

The Skippy I know never screwed anyone over.

Yes, The Skippy from Family Ties was quite the nice guy. You must be talking about him.

honestly, i've been wondering when the other shoe would drop for this guy. Skippy The Booker may have been a "stand up guy", but Skippy The Label Owner was a legendary bullshit artist. promised the world, delivered nothing. dude screwed multiple artists. hadn't heard that the clientele also made that list, but it's not surprising.

now can we all move on and get back to following the minute-by-minute update on Bubble Boy or some other bullshit?

Expecting a returned email makes me self-important? Ha!

Pardon me for disagreeing.

Hey 1:14 - he had help. As much as it may pain some people to hear, it wasn't the Skippy show.

Skippy tried to cancel a recent benefit concert for one of his own employees; what does that tell you about his character?

He also took credit for everything, compulsively lied, bragged, and name-dropped. Yes, bands loved him and many will jump to his defense, but that's only because he paid out ridiculously large, unrealistic guarantees, guaranteeing only that his "own" club didn't make money. Oh yes, and how about how many people were on his guest list for shows, also guaranteeing less money made.

And let's not forget, this is a grown-man calling himself "Skippy," for Christ's sake! Doesn't that say it all?

I am looking for Skippy's number.

I would like him to book NYC best venue, the Gramercy Theater.

Does anyone have his phone or telefax number?

Too late, Kevin Murrow, he's already booking my venue, The Lying, Manipulative, Con Artist Theater.

While we're all talking about things we know almost
nothing about, I'd like to open up the floor for a discussion on DIY brain surgery.

Skippy, stop trying to change the subject!

The way I've heard it (and someone correct me if I have details wrong), Skippy had songs recorded by The Clientele. Not sure if the album was going to be on March or not. (Here's where I don't know what happened exactly). At some point, they were going to be put out by Merge. But Skippy released them without the band's permission, and then wouldn't give them any money for it. Typical Skippy, as the people at Great Jones say.

The way I've heard it (and someone correct me if I have details wrong), Skippy had songs recorded by The Clientele. Not sure if the album was going to be on March or not. (Here's where I don't know what happened exactly). At some point, they were going to be put out by Merge. But Skippy released them without the band's permission, and then wouldn't give them any money for it. Typical Skippy, as the people at Great Jones say.

not sure what the big mystery is here. skippy is booking littlefield in brooklyn now, so that's where the hot shows are going to be this summer.

Hot like no A/C?

BV - I know that you're partial to Mr Jack McFadden, but wold you at least indulge us and give us an indication of how many different IP addresses are posting in this post? I am guessing less than 20

here's the real reason Skippy was let go. . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9HoBYl6_XQ

Skippy put on hot shows? Funny, I spend a lot of time at the Hell House, and I never saw any hot shows...except Agnostic Front...that was hot, and I'm pretty sure Skippy had nothing to do with that.

9:31, why did you spend a lot of time at Hell House if there weren't any hot shows?

because skippy has nothing to do with my taste for bourbon! I dont have to listen to shitty bands in the front room.

will the real Jack Mcfadden please stand up

Does this mean the cake shop will get good shows again?

not if Skippy is booking them

Is that badly drawn boy?

I hear Skippy is booking Barbes now. I think that makes sense, totally his size....

Frankly, if Skippy, Jim, Andy and the rest of the Union Hall jokers all drowned in a keg of their own urine, I doubt there'd be few shedding tears. Den of thieves if you want to know.

frankly Jack frost you're a fucking pussy

who is skippy?

OOOOOhhh...I think Jack Frost just got Skippy mad! You know what's funny? The guy who just posted "anonymously" just called someone ELSE a pussy....True Skippy form.

crazy that it's been easy, apparently, for him to find more work? i heard he was booking the rock shop now. seems like a strange choice to hire him, given that the entire universe knows how risky it is to have him as an employee. employ one skippy, and you have to hire 3 skippy watchers to keep him from completely ruining everything!

Seems the 9/23 Field Music show at the Bell House is now moved to Littlefield.

oh lord, my friend just showed me some blogs and L magazine's that have interviews with skippy, with comments by people at union hall/BH. obviously there's some agreement (with a lawyer or not, who knows) that they have to comment that it was a mutual decision. HAHAHAHA!! it's been known for weeks (and a source of great joking) among bookers in the city that he was fired, and that he fully deserved to be. i feel sorry for the guy, to have to pretend that things are fine and that everyone just "decided to move on". but then, he is they KING of lying--was in chicago, is in nyc, and always will be. amen.

This is one of the worst booking agents in history

Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie were really good albums. Got them when they came out, still throw them on at times and think they're great. It saddens me when I hear bands from that era when I was a teenager and hear their new stuff and it's so clear how they've lost it, they sound desperate to recapture a sound/magic that they haven't had in 15 years (holy shit).... And then I realize that is not unlike a lot of us.

you dave haters can go fuck yourselves. bonnaroo 2010 was 4 of the best days of my life. the DMB and JayZ headliners at the main stage were two of the best shows I've ever seen, musically and production speaking. 2011 'roo is going to be amazing. Phish headlining?

they also played at a place called Tramps in april '99 losers. with qotsa. where were you? you guys sound pretty angry? go listen to something hip. whatever the fuck you think that is. why does james iha need to be in the band for them to be good? that makes no sense. so the band changed lineups. oh well.

they also played at a place called Tramps in april '99 losers. with qotsa. where were you? you guys sound pretty angry? go listen to something hip. whatever the fuck you think that is. why does james iha need to be in the band for them to be good? that makes no sense. so the band changed lineups. oh well.

emily wants to know who will be doing all the booking

The Bell House has been doing a great job since Skippy left. Coming up you have Yo La Tengo, Seaweed, Flamin' Groovies, Liam Finn. Feelies. Good riddance to Skippy.