One Free Beer and a Professional Ass Whipping

I thought the music business had hit rock bottom, until I read this article in the Houston Chronicle. At a time when musicians are exploited by nearly everyone involved in the music business, comes this from www.chron.com:

A recent nightclub brawl underscores Houston's tenuous relationship with the national independent music scene.
Accounts of the incident, an Oct. 13 skirmish at Walter's on Washington that resulted in multiple Taser discharges and four arrests, have exploded on the Internet. Blogs, MySpace.com pages and YouTube.com videos, many generated in Houston, began hosting accounts and fan-filmed documentation of what happened within hours of the abbreviated show.
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 61,000 YouTube visitors had viewed a short video clip of a Houston Police Department officer chasing an indie rock guitarist around a bar. Another clip that registered views in the tens of thousands showed officer Gabriel M. Rodriguez, who was responding to a noise complaint, throwing Adam Stephens, the 25-year-old guitarist and singer in the San Francisco band Two Gallants, to the ground.
Remains on active duty
The trouble started three songs into the band's set when Rodriguez approached Stephens on stage. Each of their accounts differ as to who initiated contact, but a melee ensued resulting in four arrests. Rodriguez discharged his Taser three times; two concert-goers were struck.
Rodriguez remains on active duty, department officials said. No formal public complaints had been lodged as of Tuesday afternoon, according to HPD Capt. Dwayne Ready.
The officer has no record of disciplinary action, Ready said.
Stephens has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Houston police have not ruled out the possibility he may be charged later, however.
Four people were arrested including Two Gallants band member Tyson Vogel, Andrew James Kerwin, and Sean Gregory Kohler, all of them 25 years old and from San Francisco, and Gregory H. Johnson, 32, of Houston.
Vogel and Johnson were each charged with interfering with the duties of a public servant, while Kerwin and Kohler were each charged with resisting arrest or search, records show. All of the alleged offenses are misdemeanors.
Stephens said Tuesday that the band plans to file a complaint. "This is not over yet," he said.
More than 15 concert-goers showed up at a City Council session Tuesday to complain about the band's treatment by Rodriguez.
According to the show's promoter, 144 fans attended the show, a strong number for a well-regarded band on Saddle Creek, a hip, popular Nebraska label. But it's hardly the hundreds that go to shows in larger venues in other cities.
'This didn't help at all'
Two Gallants is the kind of indie band that could end up skipping Houston. Many don't include Houston on tour itineraries, or they'll play here once, while Dallas and Austin get multiple dates.
Some fans said they've gone online and to City Hall to take a stand to protect what's already perceived as a second-tier scene.
"This didn't help at all," said Reggie O'Farrell, 24, of Kingwood. "This band probably won't come back. Who knows, maybe all Saddle Creek bands will skip town."
Adam Voith of the Billions Corp., which books Two Gallants' tours, said the band will take a wait-and-see stance as far as playing Houston again.
"There are a lot of things to figure out," he said. "I have no idea if Houston will remain in our routing. We've been growing consistently there each time, so it'd be a shame if the situation doesn't get rectified in a way that makes sense. If they don't feel like going back, that's a shame for the fans."
Should Two Gallants skip Houston in the future, it wouldn't be alone.
The Decemberists, a buzz-worthy band from Oregon, will play Austin and Dallas on its fall tour — but not Houston. Another popular independent act, Sufjan Stevens, lined up a date in Dallas and two in Austin, but none in Houston. My Morning Jacket, which had to cancel a Houston gig last fall because of illness, won't stop here on the first leg of its current fall tour. Dallas has two shows on the itinerary; Austin has one.
Houston's 'burden'
What's with Houston? Geography and a creaky infrastructure for music promotion, booking agents say.
"Houston is burdened geographically because there is so little going on within a reasonable drive east of it," said Tim Edwards, of Chicago-based Flower Booking. "You probably lose some shows because the agent is facing a Houston/Baton Rouge or New Orleans route. If Houston is second-tier, then Baton Rouge/New Orleans is certainly third-tier. A lot of times it's easier to head north and cut over to the East Coast more quickly."
Given its size, Houston also is lacking outlets for music promotion that other large cities have. When local country radio refused to take advertising dollars to promote the Dixie Chicks tour, the band's Houston gig fell through. On a smaller scale, independent bands have no strong independent/alternative rock radio station in town to get word out about concerts.
"That makes it tough for a band that really wants to make a go on working Houston as a market," said Ryan Chavez, owner of local promoter Super Unison, which booked the Two Gallants show.
Tough city to sell
The situation is improving, Edwards said, praising Super Unison for bringing bands to Houston that might have skipped town before. But it remains a tough city to sell.
"Houston is a very, very difficult market," said Frank Riley of California-based booker High Road Touring. "It's not a very musical city compared to Austin, or even Dallas."
Some Houstonians think that perception can be changed.
Amber Wilkinson, 18, attended Tuesday's City Council hearing to support the music scene. She has driven to Austin for bands that didn't stop here.
Booking agents wouldn't speculate on whether the incident would have a negative effect on Houston's live music scene, but it's already notorious among musicians in the independent rock community.
"When things like Two Gallants happens, I really wish the city or the mayor would take note of it and see that we're trying to bring in this sort of culture of music and art," Chavez said. "Managers are trying to give their bands a chance in Houston. But there's absolutely nothing we can say to help our case to get bands into town when they're being attacked by cops. Whatever the official report is, there's no excuse for it."
Chronicle reporter Peggy O'Hare contributed to this report.

So this band probably got paid barely enough to cover travel expenses, maybe a free beer, essentially giving away (actually not giving but paying someone to allow) a performance on the slim chance they might get some meaningful exposure. What they got was a taser-shock and kick in the ass. I am sick of this crap. This reminds me of Farenheit 451, but it’s music the American society is trying to burn, not books. One more nail in the coffin of American culture. Sigh.