Anybody can be critical when you're not on the stage. At least The Rock Cafe is giving young musicians in Kansas City a chance to perform for others while gaining experience.
Music is a matter of taste and the people complaining about the music at The Rock Cafe obviously do not have any.
I live (and own) a home just a few hundred feet from The Rock Cafe and had the opportunity to chat with the owner of the place. He seemed a nice enough fellow, but I have to agree with all the other complaints regarding the "too loud" music. It has signnificantly reduced my enjoyment of my own home. I thought about complaining but decided to give them a chance to figure out how to bring live music to the 39th St neighborhood (a good thing in my mind) in a mutually acceptable way (with the neighbors). Seems like its taken far too long. While I respect entrepreneurship, a class action civil lawsuit is in the making....
@lex: No, it's a nightlife column.
The people who patronize this place suck. i don't know where they come from but i want them to go back to wherever that is. And stay there. Burnouts and juggalos. Instead of trying to fit into the 39th street community (which please, is NOT. WESTPORT.) they make themselves into victims who are being "picked on" because they are breaking the law (loitering, serving food without a permit etc), health code violations, noise violations and just lack the common sense of being thoughtful neighbors in a neighborhood built on community.
Its absolutely ridiculous to blame the owner of KC smoke burgers. Rock cafe sat for 2 years with a "coming soon" sign. Most of us thought it was a front for drugs or it would just never open. KC smoke burger opened and operated like a business and respected the proper rules for doing such. The owner of Rock cafe is just victimizing himself and scapegoating, and it's pathetic.
And for the record, they didn't pull the permit. There was NO permit. Which is why they got shut down.
Actually the "douches" who walked out on the tab at the jazz were not rock cafe employee's.. They found out not a single one of them works at the restaurant. they were all asshats wearing rock cafe t- shirts. Despite the owners issues and the other business's the staff is extremely friendly. I don't see why people are saying it is their responsibility to regulate bums and other people drinking outside in the alley, (after all it is Westport... 39th street people) when The Rock Cafe doesn't even sell liquor and there are 2 security guards that are supposed to frequently patrol... If all this is such a huge problem why hasn't that been addressed? and btw.. the first comment was almost at ten pm Friday night... and they closed at 9, some people just like to bitch.
no one likes not being able to hear inside their own houses but i think you all forget that aside from being residential it is a business district and the Health dept had no right or reason to pull the health permit that is why it was almost Immediately reinstated.
Friday night, and these assholes are at it again. You show this much disrespect to your neighbors, and we WILL shut you down. It's on.
I live in the Volker neighborhood. The music at the Rock Cafe is TOO LOUD. It prevents residents from enjoying their homes and yards, and has caused neighboring businesses to have to close for the day, because it was TOO LOUD for them to do business. i don't care one way or another about KC Smoke Burgers, they aren't bad neighbors like the Rock Cafe is. i hope they are shut down permanently next time.
The owner is a trust fund kid who will most likely NOT run out of money. I'm sure he's happy to pay a fine now and then. It means nothing to him.
Meanwhile, the entire neighborhood wants them shut down. This has nothing to do with the crappy burger place across the street. It has to do with the owner of the "cafe" being completely disrespectful to residents and businesses in the area. The music is loud, and it's ALWAYS HORRIBLE.
Always.
The people who hang out there are usually pretty awful too. Loud, obnoxious, begging for money or cigarettes, and sometimes even confrontational. It's too much.
They urinate and make out in the alley behind the place, right under windows of an apartment building. It's like the patrons are all hobos with no sense of how to handle themselves.
A friend took her little girl over there so she could play her guitar, and she was met with rude people who were actually mean to her little girl.
Asshats.
have no care about rock cafe but here is my new slogan for KC Smoke Burgers "Get your burgers seasoned with dirt and soggy mostly uncooked curly fries here!"
I've never been before, but I guess now I'm going to have to patronize KC Smoke Burger on the theory that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Oh, and Rock Cafe people, "to patronize" is a verb which means "to be a regular customer of," which is how I'm using it in the previous sentence, but it can also mean "to adopt an air of condescension toward," which is how it would apply to this sentence.
The place is crap, the music is horrible and the guy serves costco sandwiches.
This article made me laugh. To think that KC SB is conspiring to take them out is just silly. It's not about who sells the best burger, Rock Cafe hardly sells food so shut up. The people Ive talked to are always nice and I don't mind hearing a bit of Mountain Sprout or Grateful Dead early at a reasonable volume. It's the too loud jam sessions and the disrespect we get that is causing the problem. People who linger at the shows constantly make their way to us and either beg for something or drink in our alley ways and maybe that is something that the local security should be addressing but for now, BOTH SIDES have to take care of it. It really sucks when I'm trying to make money but I can't get people to stay because of the awful scenery.We asked, hey buddy can you tone it down a smidge? and got the big middle finger. Thumbs up to my boss for speaking out and to whoever blasted Polka music out their window drowning out the guy that sucked that one day. Whoever you are, your cool. :)
@tigger
If you hadn't noticed, Rock Cafe advertises in the Pitch too. Dummy.
The live music from Rock Cafe is terrible and way to loud for anyone to enjoy. I work in the area and more than a few times Ive felt humiliated trying to take orders while customers are plugging their ears because some one-man-band is trainwrecking through their set. Its bad for our buisness, its bad for my tips. I feel the free for all setting only attracts bums and riff raff, something that this area is trying to get rid of so I dont think its fair for Rock Cafe to blame another restaurant for their health department issues. Instead maybe learn to rotate food items properly and throw away anything with mold. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
this is a review?
I could sometimes hear the music all the way down at my place on 42nd St. When the neighborhood expressed concerns, the owner would pretend to care and then change nothing. Since appeals to the owner proved useless, people started complaining to the authorities. Many, many complaints were filed, and the owner's reaction was to kick his persecution complex into high gear. This is not a serious business. It's a tolerant neighborhood, but we have no stomach for dealing with spoiled children.
I live in the area and the music from Rock Cafe is loud and going almost every night.
We're pretty tolerant here on 39th, hence Fric and Frac able to have a concert once in a while. I was excited to have more music on the street, wouldn't mind a bit if they had an amplified one every 3rd Friday (a 39th St thing) but when it was all weekend and many nights during the week, too much. Keep it acoustic and I'd be good too, but no. Complaints were made and the owner did nothing, now he's pissed off the neighborhood. Save some money and close now.
Re: “Why does everybody gotta harsh on the Rock Cafe's buzz?”
The issue is the noise. Jeff Gerhardt and the Rock Cafe are consistently being inconsiderate to nearby residents and neighboring businesses. The fact is, anything over 60 decibels is against the law. Sixty decibels is the equivalent to a normal conversation or laughter. I have never been in my house and heard laughter from three blocks away.
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Sounds/Decibles.htm