Okay, a short post here that I want input from eveyone for:
I know it doesn't really make financial sense anymore, especially because the relaunch of Phantom FM has now been delayed again because of those bastards at Zed FM launching a judicial review (see
here for details).
I've been going there a lot, as some of you know, and never has a Thursday night been as good as the Phantasm years. For god sake, once I went and didn't even drink, and still had a good time! Reading posts, like
this one, relating to
this article, allows me to believe that there are many many more people out there who, although they enjoy Whelans as a 'safe' place to go, are annoyed that it seems to have been forgotten about since The Village has come about. The owners don't seem to be going to any effort with Whelans, they're also taking the 'safe' option. This is the main reason why Phantasm is needed ... because Whelans is losing it's charachter, and it's losing it's genre of clientelle.
Because Whelans
used to have so many good live acts it had a very definite kind of person there. Since those days, the standard of gig has dropped (in favour of the again 'safe' bands that they know will fill the place) and therefore there is a much worse crowd in the place. I see shirts all over the place on a Saturday night recently. And this is why there is a bouncer needed by the sound desk, because there's assholes with no respect for the place coming in in droves.
As you can see I'm 100% for the reintroduction of Phantasm, and I'll contribute to it (as in pay in occasionally), as long as they keep John Walshe in a regular position and get rid of that Saturday night jukebox dj.
Kev