I’ve been ill over the past 24 hours after reading D.X. Ferris’s rundown of the downward spiral of Phil Lara and the Jigsaw Entertainment Group. In the past couple of years, Lara has purchased or taken a controlling interest in 4 prominent Cleveland-area landmarks – The Jigsaw Saloon and Stage, Peabody’s Down Under, The Hi-Fi Concert Club, and the world famous Cleveland Agora.

What sounds like a recipe for trouble has become a lot worse, and Ferris chronicles the downfall, with several big reveals, including this:

Since Lara’s team took over, the Agora has bounced checks for big shows, including a December concert by Dragonforce and a sold-out, two-night stand by Akron’s Black Keys, with tickets at $28.50 a pop. “I don’t think we will ever play there again,” says Keys drummer Patrick Carney.

and this:

Lara declines to guess how many checks his clubs have bounced. Laeng, the former Jigsaw GM, estimates the number around 500. He says he’s never knowingly written a bad one. One of his last loyal soldiers says that’s possible.

I’m not going to comment on this much, except to say that it makes me sick to have a lot of friends that have lost employment as a result of this mess, during the current economic times where finding employment is already challenging. Some of my worst fears regarding the business practices of the Jigsaw Entertainment Group have come true, with the potential loss of The Jigsaw Saloon and Stage, a Parma staple and landmark for over 30 years, and the amount of damage that has been done financially, and credibility-wise, to the Cleveland Agora.

I’m disappointed but not surprised to read the quote from Patrick Carney. I would have expected to read a quote like that from a national band, but not from a “hometown” group like The Black Keys. I can understand why they would be pissed about getting screwed on payment for two completely sold out shows, but in the context of this article, which is about an individual, Carney’s statement is a heavy quote that has little to do with Phil Lara, and one that will go far beyond the Scene article and ultimately hurt the Agora’s ability to get shows.

Read the complete article here.

And in other news…..

On a much lighter note……let’s continue onward with some musical stuff!

In less than a year, my good pal Brian from Broken Headphones has turned out some pretty cool interviews with folks that you don’t hear a lot about these days, including Stompbox (one of my personal faves,) Face to Face frontman Trevor Keith, and his most recent interview with Todd Kowalski of Propaghandi.

Propaghandi is one of those bands that make me think of high school, and my friends Casey and Steve, who were both fans of the band. Thanks to them, I knew plenty about them, and they also introduced me to bands like Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, All, Season to Risk, and so many more.

That’s probably one good reason why Brian and I are such good friends – he writes about a lot of music that I’m not personally familiar with, but thanks to Brian, I’ve learned a little bit more after I read his stuff. Broken Headphones also has a review of the new NOFX DVD Backstage Passport. Check that out right here.

Sound The Alarm!

Good ol’ Swap over at TheFrontloader.Com takes a look at one of my favorite bands, The Alarm, and their Strength release. Life for me got a little bit better the first time that I heard The Alarm and “Sold Me Down The River” from the Change album. As compilations go, The Alarm Standards package is one that pops up fairly often in my musical listening travels. “Devolution Workin’ Man Blues,” “The Stand,” “The Road,” and of course, “Sixty-Eight Guns” – love ’em all! I’d love to see a show from Mike Peters and crew in my neck of the woods someday soon!

The Alarm – Sold Me Down The River

Swap also has some tunage for you from John Mayer, someone that I’ve become a big fan of in the past few years. Standing in Illinois at Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2007, I finally paid attention to John Mayer, and quickly became a convert.

Bruce and Bono = Paradise

Pete at Blogness had a bit of fun churning up the rumor mill with this post, and what I really enjoyed about it all was the tasty video rendition of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” that was at the end of the post. Taken from U2’s 2005 Rock Hall induction, how did I miss this one? I must have been sleeping during all of the coverage pre/post, and during the ceremonies!

The Ultimate Drinking Mixtape!

I almost left this one out! Popdose made sure that St. Paddy’s Day 2009 went down in style with a mixtape featuring “116 minutes of pure malt goodness” featuring tunes from Social D, The Hold Steady (Hey Jason, Hey Narm!) The Replacements, my man Willie Nelson, and many, many more. Even if you’re drinking nothing stronger than Dr. Pepper (the officially endorsed drink of Addicted to Vinyl,) you’ll enjoy the heck out of this one.

Drink up and be merry! Welcome to the China Club!