By Ian S. Port
Ever wonder why San Francisco isn't like New Orleans, or Chicago, or
Paris, where every cafe, bar, restaurant, and shoe store seems to feature live
music at one point or another?
Supervisor Ross
Mirkarimi thinks he knows the reason: Getting the required entertainment permit
is just too damn difficult and expensive for a small business.
So Mirkarkimi
and fellow supes Scott Wiener, Eric Mar, and David Campos helped write
legislation for a cheaper, simpler permit that would allow small cafes and
restaurants to host live music legally without dealing with lots of red tape.
Instead of, say, $15,000 to get a permit, this one costs less than $400.
It's called the Limited Live Performance Permit,
and as you read this, the S.F. supervisors are deciding whether to approve it.
At a press conference/music party on the sunny steps of City Hall Tuesday
afternoon, Mirkarimi seemed confident it would pass.
"It's about time we started getting more live music happening in
this city," he said.
The new permit
allows live music in accordance with the city's noise ordinance until 11 p.m.
in most places (10 p.m. in some neighborhoods). But there are big things it
doesn't cover, such as DJ performances. Mirkarimi said he supports legislation
to allow DJs the same performance opportunities other musicians would get in
the permit.
He sees the new permit as a way to put struggling
artists to work -- and to make S.F. a more vibrant place. "I agree with
the consensus of many about the war on fun in San Francisco," Mirkarimi
told SF Weekly. "This is an antidote to that."
After his
remarks, Mirkarimi turned over the microphone to members of Jazz Mafia and
accordionist Tom Torriglia for a performance. They lit into a bouncy brass-band
jam in true New Orleans style (was that "Do Whatcha Wanna?"), brought
out MC Dublin to rhyme through a megaphone, and even had the supervisors
dancing a little on the City Hall steps.
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2011/08/ross_mirkarimi_and_jazz_mafia.php
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