Victoria,
In the history of the Keyhole, no whack tax schemes have ever been hoisted upon artists or shows, no requirements to "work with them regarding zoning" were an issue.
1903 Wyandotte has a commercial retail occupancy use group. An art gallery is a commercial retail entity. Perfect match. Jeff Helkenberg is feeding Jessica Logsdon a bunch of B.S. about "assembly use group" because he's heard that talk from me. The Stray Cat had to go through lots of legal issues regarding occupancy & use group when it was being shutdown by the Fire Marshall, and Jeff only knows this stuff because I've told him all about it (and he has a good memory). The Stray Cat, though, was a club, which falls under "assembly"; while the Keyhole is not a club, it is a venue for the exhibition and sale of art, which falls under retail. Which means they aren't going to have any problems with the Fire Marshall shutting down their shows. (They've not yet had the slightest hint of problems with vice squad or code enforcement or the Fire Marshall.)
Victoria, just like you didn't have a clue as to legal issues when you took Roger Ramjet MacBride to Division 31 Adult Abuse court for a restraining order against him, you don't have a clue as to legal issues in this regard.
Here's how the Keyhole has always operated: Artists sell their works negotiating directly to buyers, artists give 10% to Jeff & Jessica. I know this because I'm close friends with the 3 artists that have sold work out of the Keyhole.
If something changed for Mikal's show it's because Jeff & Jessica ran wild with some new scheme that deviates from the way they've treated every other show. (I've heard from friends that they've been pushing a "tax services for artists" business called "Art Services Group Helkenberg, Logsdon, Jarisch", where they'll list your work in their "catalog/database", and something about taking care of your sales taxes for you and maybe even doing your 1040EZ.)
The story goes much deeper than what is covered here, but to get into all the undercurrents would be the cross between a tabloid piece and a soap opera, and it would bring in most of the players in the KC art scene (hipsters, fakers, actors, fashionists, established figures, anti-establishment pricksters, and wannabes alike).
Cognitive dissonance is a bitch, yo, but it goes something like this: "He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged." ... Conversely, "one who harms another is more willing to harm again than the victim is to retaliate."
The Keyhole wasn't a gift to Mikal's show (as its resident artists Jess & Jeff were to think); on the contrary, Mikal's show was a gift to the Keyhole.
Opportunities squandered, bridges burnt... And fear of the mob connections of Vincent Esposito (the building's owner) keeps the real culprits from getting fingered (in deference of losing fingers?). *cough*KNOLL*cough*
I tried to attend the show having been invited by several of the artists, but I was shoved out the front door by Jeffrey Helkenberg himself. I still love the guy, even if his woman Ms. Logsdon owes me $1,050 for bonding them out of jail when they were arrested for living in a DART house.
6th St. to Truman gets to suffer just because all the rich folks live north of Independence? You guys need to talk to Roger Ramjet MacBride about his anti-prostitution & anti-crack-head activities on 7th St.
Fuck the (white)Power & Light(skin) district!
Re: “Mikal Shapiro's Ripe moves to Leedy-Voulkos”
Re: Art Services Group, LLC
Art Services Group, LLC, Jessica Logsdon's presumed umbrella according to her most recent rationalizations, was only organized on January 16th, 2010. Long after the Keyhole had requested that Mikal do a show in February, and long after the terms of that show & the Keyhole's operational procedures had been established.
The purpose of Art Services Group is, get this:
"To create, maintain, and make available as a catalogue an inventory of fine art goods, art goods, art-related goods, raw materials, and services in such a format as to be available for viewing in the form of a document, said document being a vehicle for effecting the transfer of ownership in, lease or rental of, or otherwise, those fine art and other art-related products and services offered through the business resources and human resources held and employed by Art Services Group, LLC."
I see nothing in there about the Keyhole or what the Keyhole does. (The above is classic Helkenberg vernacular, btw.)
Seems to me like they tried to give Mikal the bait-and-switch in an effort to promote their new "services".
Criminal Attorney Vincent Esposito is the Keyhole's umbrella entity, not Art Services Group, LLC.
(The address of Art Services' registered agent is "Suite 1a" of Jessica Logsdon's home. This must be the pen where you can view the hybrid vigor & overdominance of MY cross-bed Filial 1 Red/Welsummer chickens, which are being "held or employed by Art Services Group, LLC". My chickens had better be listed in their catalog as "fine art" or "other art-related products", I wanna sell my well-crafted breeding experiment to the highest bidder [Tyson's Chicken].)
And this is to say nothing of previously undiscovered prime number sieving & integer factorization techniques! Your next story on Jeff & Jessica needs to be about the Moore-Otsuka-Helkenberg prime number sieve!!