Buzz Blog

I need to interrupt my normal blogging activity for some underground breaking news. --- A good portion of you probably know about The Broken Record closing down via their MySpace announcement just yesterday.  I for one thought that sucked, and like most of you, didn't see that one coming at all.  Especially after having some really good shows over the past couple months and asserting themselves as one of the last places left to find hard rock in the city.  And of course after hearing the brief announcement on MySapce, I had to know what happened.  I got a hold of the talent booker Kory to find out the details behind the closure.  I also tried to get ahold of the manager Mason, but have not heard back from him yet.  When I do, I'll add his responses.

Kory Quist


Gavin: Hey, first off tell everyone who you are and what you do.

Kory: Hi there, my name is Kory Quist, I was in charge of booking live music/shows at The Broken Record for the last two and half years.

Gavin:  Let’s get right to it.  Broken Record is closed right now.  My understanding is it was a financial issue.  Without going into specifics, what happened?

Kory: The New owners/investors (not Mason) did not pay their taxes on the bar, and so I was closed down for 30 days. That was just the tip of the ice burg with all the problems the new owners brought to the bar. They we going to through the place trying to change everything like remodeling, employees, rules, normal crowd, just about everything about the place. Having many employees that have worked there for years, and kept the place open, and alive, the new owners were now trying to change all that.

Gavin:  What was the first warning sign that things were going south?

Kory: When the new owners tried to turn The Broken Record dive rock-n-roll bar in to a hip club.

Gavin:  I understand part of the closure involved Mason taking away the bar’s liquor license.  What lead to that decision?

Kory: Mason being the badss and really good boss that he is, just got sick of all the crap with the new owners trying to change everything. He decided it wasn’t worth it anymore, so he walked with the liquor license, meaning it would be until 2009 when the new owners could get a new liquor license.

Gavin:  What’s happened to the guys who were backing the bar?

Kory: I have no idea. I think they will try to re-open it when they get a new license.

Gavin:  What’s going on with all the shows that are currently booked, as well as future bookings?

Kory: This is a hard question. As of now all the shows have been canceled. We are going to try to move the bigger shows to the Trapp Door.

Gavin:  I’ve heard you’re going to try to reopen.  Can you give us some details on that?

Kory: I don’t know anything about a re-open. If Mason is involved, then I will totally go back to work there.

Gavin:  Are the staff still employed for down the road, or are you going to have to start from scratch?

Kory: I would think that the employees would come back, its like family over there.

Gavin:  Anything you wanna say to fans of the bar and bands out there?

Kory: Thanks sooo much for all the years of good times, friends, and good music!!!