Does the forthcoming closure of Badlands Bar reveal a hidden aspect of today’s society that we should be more than concerned about?
The recent closure of live music venues in Perth have sent me a chilling message.
Driven by the business pressures of rising costs (insurance costs-substantiated), noise insulations, rents, security (anecdotally) live music venues are finding they are not keeping their head above the waterline are having to close their doors.
Why is this worrying?
The Dogs of War from all sides are banging their drums in the Indo-Pacific region, while a total war, the kind of should never have been repeated is raging in Eastern Europe, asks the question what has humankind learnt?
While society is still driven by demigods, dictators and increasing ”profit at all costs” businesses it appears nothing.
The parallel of the rise of the minority elected Nazi party and the equally oppressive state run communism spring to my mind.
Killing off intellectuals, the arts, “accessibility to all” university education, and free (read ‘different’) thinking while feeding the wider society messages of propaganda.
While this may have happened in a more overt manner in Europe and Russia in the Thirties has this been occurring in a covert manner in Australia for the last twenty (or more) years or so?
As a sidebar why was it that last night, in WA that has majority elected government, I see a short commercial news piece on state government policy where two liberal and one greens voices of dissent are aired? Is airing one opposing voice not enough?
Back to Badlands Bar why has insurance risen ten-fold and live venue operators now have a very limited choices of insurance providers?
Is this what the competitive business market has brought us?
Having lived through the Melbourne (St.Kilda) pub/live venue closure from the mid-nineties to noughties where this was more easily written off as soulless property developers chasing the dollar why is this still an ongoing issue? Think Festival Hall, meanwhile Cherry Bar and The Tote fighting on due to community support.
However, for me, the recent spate of Perth live venues carries a more, deeper, sinister overtones.
So who is driving “This”? Who are “They” and what do “They” have to gain? In the immortal words Faith No More “what is IT?”
While those questions can be pondered over and demands further research, what can be done in the short term to help dam the rising tide?
In this day and age of many competing facets that prevent the, at times difficult decision, to step out in the evening take up the challenge needs consideration. Make that decision, step get out and make a visit to a live music venue.
Then again if you are reading this piece, you probably already are doing the needful.
No doubt some of the opinions presented here can be dissected, counter arguments can be raised to destroy them and dreaded spectre of “conspiracy theory” will rise like a phoenix. Then again what is a conspiracy theory?
Bottom line this piece is if we humans are all brain washed by something so why not let it me the music of your choice in the Live Setting?
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