New PA Law Threatens All Ages Shows

Joey Housewrecker of No On 15 wrote
their mailing list with this info on a Pennsylvania law that threatens all-ages
shows in the state. Click READ MORE to read his post on the legislation or click
here
for an article. Apparently the law now makes it mandatory to have one non-employee chaperone over the age of 25 for every five underage people at any event that is held in an establishment with a liquor license.

Hello everyone,
This newsletter is a slight change of pace because it is about something that involves all fans of original music, and involves much more-so than just No On 15 as a band. It is about all bands and all the people who like to see them in the state of Pennsylvania. Recently, legislation was passed to allow the state-run liquor stores to be open for a few hours on Sunday afternoons when previously law required them to be closed on Sunday. This aspect of this legislation makes sense and wouldn’t seem affect many people except for making it slightly more convenient to have a bottle of wine with Sunday dinner…BUT…

…attached in the fine print and revisions of this legislation was a clause that makes it now mandatory to have one non-employee chaperone over the age of 25 for every five underage people at any event that is held in an establishment with a liquor license. Here is an article about this clause:

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/02/02-07-03tdc/02-07-03dnews-06.asp 

Previously, the law required one chaperone for every 50 underage kids. This was reasonable and made it possible for venues to have all ages shows where both underage people and the over 21 crowd could enjoy the same bands. Due to these new constraints two venues in our home town were highly afflicted: Players nightclub has already cancelled their "under 21 night" and Crowbar, which has supported No On 15 and all ages live music from their start, is at risk of no longer having all ages shows. Here is some math: for a packed show with 500 kids, 100 chaperones must be present. A business cannot stay in business if it has to comp this many people with incentive to chaperone a show. The business will lose money and will no longer be able to afford to open it’s doors to people under the age of 21 years old.

Since not many people have complained about the law (YET!!!!) politicians are not looking into changing it. We must stop this apathy. Here is a link to that story:

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/02/02-07-03tdc/02-07-03dnews-06.asp

This law will not curb underage drinking. Bouncers are generally very strict at all ages shows- if you are not 21 years old you cannot drink. Period. We would like to personally BEG you for the sake of bands everywhere who do not cater to the drunken "play some more Zepplin" crowd, on behalf of all the kids who grew up with a love for music and now have one less outlet to see bands play, TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. If you’ve ever seen or would like to see original music at an all ages club in Pennsylvania, please contact the following people and tell them what you think. Tell them how this will affect your life as a patron of all ages music. Tell them that it will not curb underage drinking; it will only give one less alternative to underage drinking for kids. A phone call, letter, or email, would help tremendously. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Joey Housewrecker and No On 15