November 26, 2003
Young Musicians Tell OLCC To Ditch Ban On Underage Performers
As previously mentioned (also here), the OLCC has had to take its rule against underage performers under reconsideration, while a temporary rule remains in force, due to their forgetting to submit the rule through proper legislative channels.
Two days ago, young musicians and other opponents to the rule had their chance to testify before the Commission:
Dan Bodi was among several underage musicians who criticized a temporary OLCC rule that has kept him and his three fellow band members, and other entertainers under age 21, out of bars.
"We played in alcohol establishments in all of our gigs, with maybe one exception," Dan Bodi said afterward. He said they have found other venues, but are fed up with the restriction.
...
Tyson Stubelek, a 19-year-old junior at Portland State University, said music is his passion.
"Playing in clubs is what musicians do," said Stubelek, a jazz drummer. "This rule is like telling a middle-schooler that he cannot move on to high school."
While nothing about this is a sure bet, some things are different at the OLCC this time around, at today's Willamette Week reminds us:
Two members of the five-person commission that first approved the rule will be new when the commission votes again in February. And, most importantly in Fife's eyes, the state and its underage performers have had almost a year to see how the new rule--and exemptions the OLCC said it would give certain performers--would apply.
And, as one testifier is quoted by WW as pointing out, "I was led to believe musicians would be granted exemption, but that has not happened."
Meanwhile, still front and center in all of this is the band Sh!ft. The mother of one of the band's members is quoted by the paper as telling the Commission that her "son is 18 and can go to war and be ordered to shoot and kill, but he can't pick up a guitar and perform where someone might be drinking a beer or taking a shot of whiskey."
The print edition, but not the online version, of the paper informs readers that the OLCC will continue to take public comment on the rule until the close of work on December 8. Such comments should be sent to Katie Hilton, OLCC, PO Box 22297, Portland OR 97222, or faxed to 503-872-5110.
Comments (1)
pril on 26 Nov 2003
even though my guitar player turned 21 in November and we are now free to play wherever the heck we want to, the rule still steams me. Really steams me. I still can't even really offer up a coherent, intelligent opinion on it because i'm so steamed about it.