![A few minutes ago:
Dear Andy,
I was glad to see you posted my email on your blog, and thanks for the thoughtful reply. I’m comfortable with my position on this matter, so I don’t mind others reading it (though I suspect you were trying to make me look foolish).
Don’t you think, though, it’s extremely arrogant to presume that because I enjoy the music of Wayne County and the Electric Chairs, I am somehow obligated to share your worldview? Moreover, don’t you think it’s similarly arrogant to assume that a community of young musicians and artists is somehow inherently superior to the community of patrons we’ve got at our BWW restaurants? Do you know any of the patrons at BWW? You said yourself you didn’t try a drink or even have a seat while you visited. I can tell you, from our demographic studies, that the folks that hang out at the BWW on Bardstown Road are not suburbanites or conventioneers or tourists — they’re people that, for the most part, live in the 40205 area code. Many of them work in businesses in the Highlands neighborhood. They’re locals.
Why did none of these people, I wonder, come to the shows your band played at the BRYCC House while it was open? Could it be because they felt excluded? Not “cool” enough to join in? I don’t live in Louisville, unfortunately, so I don’t know what the old BRYCC was like. But we do, coincidentally, live in the same metropolitan area. Digging around a bit, I see you host an artist talk show in a bowling alley in Uptown. Would a guy like me, or the types of guys that hang out at the BWW in Dinkytown, near the U, be welcome to attend that? Or would they feel excluded? I think it’s reasonable to say you’d feel more welcome at a BWW than one of our regulars would be at Salon Saloon.
Moreover, I looked at the MySpace page for your old band, and listened to some of the tracks. Cool stuff, and I sincerely enjoyed it — but certainly not world-shattering. It sounds like a lot of bands sounded in 2001. Some Kinks, some MC5, some Kill Rock Stars. I don’t understand how this sort of work makes your presence in that space more important than ours, though. This will sound harsh, but I mean it the most critically constructive way: could it be because your work in that band just wasn’t good enough to exist outside the context of the BRYCC House? Doesn’t it presume a certain amount of privilege to assume your work is more valid than ours, just because fewer people consumed it?
I should point out I am not some free market fanatic that is going to go all “let the market decide” on you — there is certainly a place for non-profits that feature challenging and adventurous art in the cultural ecosystem of any community. But I don’t think it’s fair to say these venues or organizations, or the people that frequent them, are in someway superior to the individuals that like watching sports on flatscreen TVs and eating Spicy Garlic-flavored Buffalo wings at our restaurants. I feel like you should understand on some level.
Regards,[redacted]
Senior Associate Director, Marketing and Brand Communications
Buffalo WIld Wings](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lksaylgXCt1qzr7dwo1_1280.jpg)
A few minutes ago:
Dear Andy,
I was glad to see you posted my email on your blog, and thanks for the thoughtful reply. I’m comfortable with my position on this matter, so I don’t mind others reading it (though I suspect you were trying to make me look foolish).
Don’t you think, though, it’s extremely arrogant to presume that because I enjoy the music of Wayne County and the Electric Chairs, I am somehow obligated to share your worldview? Moreover, don’t you think it’s similarly arrogant to assume that a community of young musicians and artists is somehow inherently superior to the community of patrons we’ve got at our BWW restaurants? Do you know any of the patrons at BWW? You said yourself you didn’t try a drink or even have a seat while you visited. I can tell you, from our demographic studies, that the folks that hang out at the BWW on Bardstown Road are not suburbanites or conventioneers or tourists — they’re people that, for the most part, live in the 40205 area code. Many of them work in businesses in the Highlands neighborhood. They’re locals.
Why did none of these people, I wonder, come to the shows your band played at the BRYCC House while it was open? Could it be because they felt excluded? Not “cool” enough to join in? I don’t live in Louisville, unfortunately, so I don’t know what the old BRYCC was like. But we do, coincidentally, live in the same metropolitan area. Digging around a bit, I see you host an artist talk show in a bowling alley in Uptown. Would a guy like me, or the types of guys that hang out at the BWW in Dinkytown, near the U, be welcome to attend that? Or would they feel excluded? I think it’s reasonable to say you’d feel more welcome at a BWW than one of our regulars would be at Salon Saloon.
Moreover, I looked at the MySpace page for your old band, and listened to some of the tracks. Cool stuff, and I sincerely enjoyed it — but certainly not world-shattering. It sounds like a lot of bands sounded in 2001. Some Kinks, some MC5, some Kill Rock Stars. I don’t understand how this sort of work makes your presence in that space more important than ours, though. This will sound harsh, but I mean it the most critically constructive way: could it be because your work in that band just wasn’t good enough to exist outside the context of the BRYCC House? Doesn’t it presume a certain amount of privilege to assume your work is more valid than ours, just because fewer people consumed it?
I should point out I am not some free market fanatic that is going to go all “let the market decide” on you — there is certainly a place for non-profits that feature challenging and adventurous art in the cultural ecosystem of any community. But I don’t think it’s fair to say these venues or organizations, or the people that frequent them, are in someway superior to the individuals that like watching sports on flatscreen TVs and eating Spicy Garlic-flavored Buffalo wings at our restaurants. I feel like you should understand on some level.
Regards,
[redacted]
Senior Associate Director, Marketing and Brand Communications
Buffalo WIld Wings
