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Seylynn hall closing down
Message Board > Music Chitchat - Heavy > Seylynn hall closing down
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wretchederin
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Does anybody know why Seylynn Hall's last show is this Saturday? - Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:06am Edited: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:06am
Troy
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A few of the people on the committee that put on shows posted reasons on another board i will copy and paste a lot of what was said.


"seylynn is shutting down for lots of reasons. it's probably the best time to let it go now. it sucks. no one is happy about it, but it's probably for the best in the long run. hopefully we can get it all ages shows running again in north van again soon. it would be awesome. the hall is also slated for demolition and has been for a long time. it's falling apart and it doesn't seem like anyone really wants to fix it. I guess that's another problem. Last year they threw a temporary metal support in the main entrance to keep the floor from collapsing. I guess that's how much bureaucrats care. I had heard a rumour that a developer wanted to turn it into a parking lot for condos that will soon be filling up the seymour area. that depresses me. I hope it doesn't happen." - Fri, 12 Jun 2009 7:04pm
Troy
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Another person asked if it was in response to someone complaining about people drinking in the parking lot.. got this long response:

"Sern-- I seriously think that was the beginning of the descent. It was about four years ago now that that shit heap Jimmy Craig wrote that letter, but its effects can still be felt. The pressure to be on point in the eyes of the city/district officials, the Rec Commission, the police, and everyone working at the North Shore News went into nutso gear after he wrote his letter. Being publicly accused of allowing 12 year olds to shoot heroin at our shows had that effect. The vibe of Seylynn changed after that, and the feedback the committee started getting from the kids was that the place was "less fun," since those of us interested in keeping the place running became doubly serious about the drinking and drugs thing.

The committee also ended up getting restructured after that, and it all got a lot more official. All the kids had to fill out forms and get references and jump through hoops. Everybody knew it was bullshit, and just fudged all the forms anyway, but it was more red tape.

Around that same time, a certain singer/songwriter, who formerly stood firm on the same punk rock ethics Seylynn always had, reported the hall to SOCAN. Because of this, for the last few years the committee has had to pay a fee to SOCAN for every show, in case there were any SOCAN registered bands playing, and for the rights to play music in between sets.

There are loads more elements, and the idea about people's apathy is well covered in other people's posts, and realistically is only one part among many in the Bigger Problem that has brought this closure on. I was involved with Seylynn for quite a while, and the ups and downs happened, and were weathered. But the trough that the place has been in for the last couple of years is incredible, and there have only been three people under 20 involved with the committee for the last couple of years, from what I've been told.

There are those among us... or maybe just one person... who feels like we should all blame the committee for this decision to finish things, but I think that's a super ignorant, uninformed, negative thing to say, and the committee -- both in its present form, and in every other stage of its existence -- should be satisfied that they did everything they could to keep it going. The fact is it's a huge, shitty-sounding box that's hard to get to for most people, and a bunch of high school kids volunteered their time and effort, and managed to put on awesome shows for thirteen+ years. They brought in all sorts of bands: local bands that drew ten people (like Exithiside, Scuffle, and Poogh) to shows that maxed out the hall, and then crammed in more (like AFI, Good Riddance, No Use for a Name, Propagandhi, Comeback Kid, and on and on). I don't know of another venue aside from The Gilman St Project (of course they trumped us) that compares with Seylynn in terms of consistency, longevity, and structure. To sum it up, shit is dope.

I'll be sad to see it go, but the truth is that it should have ended a while ago, and the committee had more faith than I did in the revival of the hall. I guess it just came time for everyone to admit that not enough people were interested in coming out, or keeping it running. If there's really enough of an outcry about this, there's nothing stopping people from getting another place like it going in North Van or anywhere else. What the committee did was pretty special and unique, but it sure as shit isn't impossible to do again. There just have to be enough people willing to work at it." - Fri, 12 Jun 2009 7:05pm
wretchederin
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thanks.

What message board is that? - Fri, 12 Jun 2009 7:39pm
Troy
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It was all on nwhardcore.com - Sat, 13 Jun 2009 3:20pm
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