The past few months have been the most trying and divisive time in the history of Jax Goth community. The adversity faced by being asked to leave Eclipse despite one of the owners conceding that I had done more for that club than anyone ever has, having to take the night on tour for three weeks to three different clubs to make sure you had a place to go and that our staff did not have to go without a pay day, having to shoulder the extremely difficult and emotional task of letting someone go that I felt was the one person I could always put my trust in because they were unnecessarily deceitful, then just when it seemed everything had returned to some normality -- with the dance floor packed, the ACs working and the drinks flowing -- we had to face the unthinkable last weekend with the news that the city had shut down the club.
Could things get any crazier? Indeed they could ... and have.
On Monday a long time client, the owner of 9th and Main, contacted me about the space. It was without direction and without management. In a most ironic twist I was offered the position of General Manager. Having been searching for some work outside my own projects I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to not only turn around the downward spiral of the club and make it a new nightlife destination, as I have done with many club before including Eclipse, but also to finally have the freedom to upgrade the space with a singular vision and give it an identity that will make it accessible to the widest variety of scenes and cultures possible.
My biggest obstacle? Figuring out that to do about weekly schedule, particularly Saturdays. Right from the start I discovered that one of the biggest issues was multiple staff members all trying to book nights without the proper communication which caused double-bookings that needed to be reconciled. We had to cancel numerous events. Including this coming Saturday for Alex and Tristan's event as there was already an event booked months before that could not be canceled, the all day breakdance/hip-hop event "Summertime In The City" put on by the guys at Shantytown. Had I not gotten this job both events would have overlapped each other and many of you may have made the trip out there would have not gotten what you expected at all. To avoid this and spare Alex and Tristan any embarrassment and give them enough time to make other arrangements I sent them an e-mail on Tuesday to alert them to what was going on. I've been told this is already being twisted into me trying to hurt them in someway, but lets be realistic about it, this was something that happened before I came along and if I really wanted to be mean or vindictive to them I could have just stood by and let them lead you into a huge mess and watch them crash and burn. But that's not the way I do things, I try and be respectful and fair even to people who would intend to work against me.
I also let them know my intention to reopen FACTORY at 9th and Main, which due to this "Summertime" event even I could not start until the following week, and I cannot imagine that anyone would disagree that whichever way you look at it, the obvious choice that was not only best for the club but best for the scene was to implement a tried and tested night that has a near six year history and a schedule of events planned through October prior to the other club being shut down as opposed to a night that had not even gotten off the ground. Despite this mess and my differences with Alex I went the extra step and offered them the option of trying out their promotion on another night as I am in the beginning process of reworking the weekly schedule and I am always willing to listen to and work things out with people that are willing to do the same, but so far they have both been unresponsive. Which is unfortunate as I'd rather see something work out for everyone instead of these unnecessary and narcissistic attempts to divide an already small and struggling scene. In fact, prior to taking on this job I was going to continue building on Sunday nights and had planned on supporting their Saturday (Despite it being planned weeks before the club being closed by the city with the specific intent to compete against us) and in a show of good faith of that I had already listed the night on my new web site TheDark.info under the Jacksonville page. Though it will be changed as soon as I can get to it, the listing is still up and has been since last weekend.
That said, believe what you want to believe and take sides if you feel you must. I'm not out to win any popularity contest I am only out to do what is best for the scene and have been for over a decade. I can encourage you to listen to all sides first, keep the rumors to a minimum and do not judge anyone in this situation so quickly based on what you may have heard or read that their intentions may be or believe any side 100% (even mine) as we all have our own perspective on what has happened and without having open communication between the parties involved I am confident that no one has the real story or knows anyone's true intentions. For the record, my intentions boil down to taking on a job that was offered to me and then doing that job by making decisions I felt best for the club and for you. The story from here on out is yet to be written. I do hope everyone involved will step back from the heat of their anger and do what is best for the scene and try to work things out, or at the very least respectfully go their separate ways without lowering themselves by continually trying to unfairly bash me and embroil all of you needlessly in pointless drama that in the end only serves to feed the egos that are the cause of all these problems from the start.
We at FACTORY are taking the weekend off and look forward to all the great nights, live shows and special events we have coming up. This weekend if you're going to go out you should check out DJ Jose over at Steamworks in 5 Points on Saturday, he'll fix you up right. And to make up in the smallest way to all of you for not having a place to go over the past week and all of the constant (though unavoidable) changes I invite everyone to 9th & Main for our reopening night on August 23rd with NO COVER for 21+ and $3 cover 18+ (sorry kids but you gotta give it up for the bar) and no one is banned, there is no vip, and no pretension despite what you've heard, just good music and good times with good friends.
I remain humbly yours,
Max Michaels
FACTORY promotions/General Manager 9th & Main
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