I agree with you on a lot of your points. As for concerts, I was
really thinking of Paramount Theatre rather than Convention Hall. CH
has had great shows in its history but it really isn't a great place
to see (or hear) a show. The Paramount is the same size as many of
the venues in counties across New Jersey that regularly host rock and
roll shows, classical music and opera, comedy shows, dance
performances, and live theatre. There's no reason why it should be
dark 98% of the year.
As for repairs, virtually all of the performing arts centers built
around the same time needed to go through massive renovation projects
that cost a lot of money. Somehow - through private or corporate
donations - they find a way to upgrade the facilities. That's what
is needed to be done here.
I do think that parking will always be the issue that nobody wants to
address properly and it's a shame.
On Apr 6, 2007, at 2:42 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
The state of Convention Hall is a big problem. It does not even
have proper dressing rooms. Also the sound is not up to today's
standards....Unfortunately few bands are nostalgic about Asbury and
want to play there....They want to play where they can make the
most money and be comfortable in a state-of-the-art facility. That
is not available at Convention Hall. Perhaps it can be retro-fitted
but the problem is, you are likely talking millions of dollars to
bring it up to standard....Also parking in the area is somewhat
difficult, and many people do not want to walk long distances from
their cars in Asbury. I have been going to concerts in Asbury for
30 years and continue to do so, but I have my doubts about
Convention Hall ever again being a viable rock facility. That
doesn't mean they can't do the occasional show and also have other
things there, like trade shows and the like. I think the building
can still be made viable, but as a rock hall, maybe not...
The Paramount, on the other hand, has great sound, and, though it
needs work, is in better shape than the Hall. I agree with Gary
that it would be nice for the powers that be to embrace events like
Wave Gathering and Taste of Chaos that draw people to the city. I
remember in 2002, I believe, after the Elvis Costello concert,
which sold out Convention Hall, my friend and I emerged to find out
that the police had ticketed a bunch of cars (including ours) for
parking in a restricted zone (supposedly the curb was painted
yellow on Ocean Avenue). Only problem was, there was no curb left
and the paint had faded to such an extent that you couldn't even
tell if it was yellow in certain places. He fought the ticket and
it was dismissed, but my point is, why was it necessary to issue at
least 50 tickets that night, which left a bad taste in everyone's
mouth after what should have been a pretty positive experience?
Reminded me of the old WNEW shows on the beach when the cops would
go up and down and ticket hundreds of cars for parking meter
violations. I know, I know, they were within their rights to ticket
people, but I just thought it was unnecessary overkill.
Jean
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: [AsburyPark] Re: scher
Hinge, But places like the Starland Ballroom have done incredible
in today's market. Convention Hall and Starland aren't too far
apart in size. The difference is that one has got state of the
art equipment and the other is falling apart. On Apr 6, 2007, at
1:51 PM, Hinge wrote: > Wow,that's awesome! It brings back many
great memories. Van Halen at > CH. My first ever big rock show,
Charlie Daniels. I graduated HS in > 1979 and went to many of those
shows. > Unfortunately, I think I can also answer my own question
about why > many shows don't happen at CH, besides what everybody
else said. There > is a huge gap in the music biz these days.
First, you have huge bands > like U2, The Stones, Christina Agulara
(sp) and all those artists that > need big venues like MSG. On the
other end of the spectrum you have a > large number of much
smaller, one hit wonder bands that are better > suited for the
Stone Pony. Try and put one of those in CH and you'd > have a half
empty hall. That leaves the multiple artist tours like > Rockstar
Taste of Chaos and The Warped tour, and shows like that take >
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