Topic: Yet Another Racist Venue: Hannibal's Waldo Bar
- Oct 11, 2009 08:13am by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com
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So tonight I got kicked out and presumably banned by the owner of Waldo Bar & Grille (Now known as Hannibal's) at 74th and Wornall.
To sum things up:
I was celebrating the birthdays of a couple friends, we were rolling about 15 deep. We go into Waldo Bar and Grille and pretty much doubled the amount of people that were there, and spent a TON of money. There was absolutely no music playing and I felt awkward after about an hour of it so I went to the TouchTunes and put in at least 5 bucks and loaded up the player with all hip hop for the rest of the night. Nothing gangster, just Beastie Boys, De La, Tribe, Black Sheep, Lords of the Underground, Outkast, etc..... Well, after the first "rap" song came on (ATLiens), an older woman came over and started to overwrite all the songs I had programmed. I was like, whatever, but after another 8 or so songs without hearing any of mine play, my friends and I started joking about how her and the guy with the cowboy hat next to her REALLY didn't want to hear that "scary black music", even though 99% of the people in that bar spending money were white middle to upper class.
Basically after about the fourth time I saw her go up there I had enough. I went up to her and said:
ME:"Excuse me. Have you been overwriting all my songs?"
HER: Yes, I sure have.
ME: Why would you do that? I'm the only person to play music in here for the last 1-2 hours. And I have over a dozen people in here spending a lot of money.
HER: That's the beauty of a jukebox honey, I can play whatever I want.
ME: But it seems a little odd that you didn't mind the first 2 rock songs my buddy played, but as soon as I put in several hip hop songs in the queue, you rushed over and have overwritten them all (basically with Kenny Loggins type tracks)
HER: ( Ic an't remember what she said after that, but she started to get REAL heated)
ME: It seems to me that you're just racially biased and don't want anything played that could be deemed as "black music"
HER: She basically just lost it after that, told me to fuck off, and had the bouncer kick me out.
Now...I'm aware that Waldo isn't really the most "urban" setting, but why the fuck do you have those songs available to play in your bar if you don't want them played. Seriously....Outkast?!?! Beastie Boys?!?! Sooo gangster I know.
I was with over a dozen people who all suspected the same thing as I did, but nobody was sure until I went up to her and confronted her...and then it was just obvious. I'll point out that the bartenders were great, the bouncer was very understandable with the situation and apologized, he was just doing his job. It was just the old haggard ex-methie woman owner that the issue lies with.
I'm sure most of the people on here don't frequent that place, it was the first time I had ever been there, and I'm not going to take that much business away from them....other than the 15 people walking out of the bar after they heard I got kicked out.....But I'm just getting tired of this shit.
When will our societies establishments stop being so narrow minded? When will the owner of Waldo Bar and Grille stop being an old haggard racist woman?
Is she really to blame though, or is it every time she turns on tv she sees some rap video or news story with guns and shit perpetuating the stereotype that older white people seem to assume is "hip hop/rap culture"? I mean, is she just another racist to blame?...or is this a case of an internal cancer of our culture that masks all the positives, and highlights every negative they possibly can in the media with anything having to do with violence and hip hop.
I really just don't get it and would love answers, and ends to these behaviors, but that seems so far away to me.
- Oct 11, 2009 04:18pm by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com
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Eh, that was pretty rant-ageous, sorry.
Cliffs Notes version:
The owner of Hannibals's Waldo Bar & Grill (Ramona Hayes), at 75th and Wornall, kicked me out last night for trying to play a bunch of hip hop on the jukebox. She took absolutely no interest in playing any music the first hour we were there when it was silent, and not until the first hip hop song came on after 2 rock songs was she then glued to that machine overwriting the slew of hip hop songs that were soon to follow.
-I also remember now, there was a sign above the jukebox that said something to the effect of, "Management reserves the right to not play any song as we see fit.".........which obviously translates into, "If you try to play hip hop in here, we will quickly delete it, and throw you out if you question us on it."
Good luck with your new bar Ramona, I'm sure it's going to be wildly successful.
- Oct 12, 2009 02:29am by Delight - [i:305bf6cc17][b:305bf6cc17]De.light[/b:305bf6cc17][/i:305bf6cc17]
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laaaaame. I don't visit Waldo that often for a night life. That's too bad. Waldo can be cool...but the Pet Store may be the best thing about it. And Irezumi.
- Oct 12, 2009 09:23pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness,
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Not sure the culture or its accompanying soundtrack should have to be responsible for her being myopic. I can think of a few country songs that glorify violence. Not sure she would've had the same knee-jerk response.
- Oct 13, 2009 02:15am by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com
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Of course, even though my 3am rant after coming home from a few bars suggested she was a racist...I obviously have no idea if she is or not, and I'm not going to stand by those claims. I just know the establishment's policy on hip hop music is that it's not welcome, and either are the people who enjoy it.
I just don't get this bias. No owner is going to freak out if country music starts playing because they're afraid all the patrons are going to start a saloon style brawl breaking bottles over each others head.
Was Ramona afraid that as soon as my scary hip hop music started playing that somehow instantly shots would start flying through the front windows from Wornall? As ignorant as it is, I'm kind of starting to believe that's what these bar owners think will happen if they allow anything connected to hip hop into their establishment.
More things need to be done to remove these stigmas. I honestly believe there should be a class or something for middle to older aged white people, most notably venue owners, to educate them on real hip hop culture with all its positive aspects from the people who live it. Not this glorified gangster shit marketed to young self-conscious males yearning for a sense of power who take it all seriously....which is obviously what is the most heavily marketed and probably what most of them see on tv and assume is all there is to this type of music and why they don't want to be associated with it.
Like most problems in the world, I think this could really be helped with more education and communication.
Maybe we should publish a freely distributable e-book entitled, "Hip Hop for Old People"?
😀
- Oct 13, 2009 04:00am by MILES - [url]http://www.MilesBonny.com/[/url] Location: KCK
[quote:053641e50a="dublow"]
Maybe we should publish a freely distributable e-book entitled, "Hip Hop for Old People"?
:D[/quote:053641e50a]
I'd rather see a handbook on clubs worth frequenting... and a section on the best ways to inform racist folks that hip hop and black people are ok and they are backwards and unfortunate.
- Oct 13, 2009 07:13am by NRG - livin the art that is life !
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I have presented this class several times through communiversity and have used the site to recruit panelists and promote to novices to hiphop
hiphop 101
http://www.hiphopkc.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=5157&highlight=hiphop+101
be happy to work with someone to expand this class or give my materials to someone if they would like to do it
I use canadian documentary "5 sides of a coin" seen it dublow? happy to screen it for you
- Oct 13, 2009 05:59pm by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com
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That's awesome you were doing a class like that. I don't remember seeing anything about it. I have a feeling though, that these types of people we would be trying to reach wouldn't be actively seeking out education on the matter. I think it would probably have to be brought to them ya know?
- Oct 13, 2009 06:37pm by NRG - livin the art that is life !
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create a class and take it to them. you just want it to happen and someone can figure out who and how that comes about. what i offer, was targeted to introduce hiphop to folks who are curious in and of themselves.
don't have a clue how to give a class to people who don't know they dont' know about hiphop and or don't want to know about it this deserves more research tho
- Oct 14, 2009 08:51pm by DR.T - nuts .. haha Location: KCMO
man that sucks bro .... old racist people suck.
- Oct 14, 2009 11:50pm by JKR70 - [img:66e766d8cb]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/JKR70/LVSIGNATUREBANNER.jpg[/img:66e766d8cb]
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[quote:92f854a750="DR.T"]man that sucks bro .... old racist people suck.[/quote:92f854a750]
Word.
Young racist people suck worse, they are more energetic about it, ha !
- Oct 15, 2009 01:11am by DR.T - nuts .. haha Location: KCMO
[quote:f964a4d127="JKR70"]
Word.
Young racist people suck worse, they are more energetic about it, ha ![/quote:f964a4d127]
Bleh .. young racists are just posers .... old people started that ish ... lol
- Oct 18, 2009 04:23am by maclethal
Soooo, a chick doesn't like hip-hop and that makes her racist?
- Oct 18, 2009 04:37am by DR.T - nuts .. haha Location: KCMO
[quote:abf36f5e11="maclethal"]Soooo, a chick doesn't like hip-hop and that makes her racist?[/quote:abf36f5e11]
a little yeah ....
maybe not "Klan" racist ....
but like ... "Power and Light" racist ....
🙂
- Oct 18, 2009 04:49am by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com
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www.myspace.com/barbaricmerits
http://barbaricmerits.com
[quote:22bff22082="maclethal"]Soooo, a chick doesn't like hip-hop and that makes her racist?[/quote:22bff22082]
If this is directed at me, you must not have read my second post after that:
[quote:22bff22082]Of course, even though my 3am rant after coming home from a few bars suggested she was a racist...I obviously have no idea if she is or not, and I'm not going to stand by those claims. I just know the establishment's policy on hip hop music is that it's not welcome, and either are the people who enjoy it. [/quote:22bff22082]
Did that answer your question?
- Oct 18, 2009 04:52am by DR.T - nuts .. haha Location: KCMO
Oh dont worry guys .. I pulled the race card on this one!
- Oct 19, 2009 10:29am by NRG - livin the art that is life !
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glad to see this discussion on here.
lively back and forth is refreshing
this seems to be an ongoing concern
for heads about the reception they
receive in general.
there is a larger issue here I think
venues: their owners rights to decide
what they will support and what they as
public venues should allow as private businesses vs
what customers expect from public
venues.
I hope we can discuss this aspect as
well as a way to examine our expections
and responsibilities while in public venues.
is it real to expect no limits
if we find a supportive venue, would it
be reasonable to to be supportive of
those venues in ways that matter to
the owner, ie tagging, acting protective
of it during shows, providing visable support should a
license become threatened ie show up at city council
meetings, and
on from there?
what are we willing to do for owners who
actively support hiphop heads and our culture?
how could we strenghten and support that venue?
what would it mean to us, if hiphop had a legimate
home in kansas city? a place where the owner was
really feelin us to the point of actively seeking out
shows, paying artists appropriate sums, being willing
to bring in tours, fighting along side us to legitimize
hiphop in kansas city?
