> I have to say I like the intimacy of the Artisan, though I
> wouldn't eat their food and the drinks are a bit pricey.
Ya know, if the biggest complaint of the week - and it seems to be so far - is the price of drinks at one of our venues, I would say that we had a very successful event!
As far as our opening gathering goes, I think we can fairly say that "The Artisan is by far the worst venue there is, except for all of the others."
Over our past 10 years, we've had our opening gathering at Flex, Zingers, Suede (or whatever it was called those years), Blue Ox, Firefly, Artisan, and Drink And Drag. We had complaints about all of them, but you know what? We packed the place each time! Our opener's attendance has been over 100 for the past 5 years, at Blue Ox, Firefly, Artisan (twice) and Drink And Drag.
Now for those of you who don't want to see Artisan (or whatever) on the schedule again, here's your homework assignment. Pound the pavement! Find us a venue that can hold 100-some and wants to do a dynamite bar business on an otherwise slow weeknight. You don't need anyone's permission to go looking, just don't commit to anything in the name of DLV until you have the OK from the ORG group. The place has to be conducive to "quality social time" and has to hit that sweet spot between comfort and mainstream-ness, if that is indeed a word, meaning it has to be comfortable for those just peeking out of the closet, yet not claustrophobic to those who are avowedly mainstream.
Now when the manager or salesdroid starts talking about contracts, guarantees, minimums (minima?), deposits, etc., you're gonna have to be very creative and a skillful negotiator! It's not impossible, and Mindy, Kimberly, Marisa, Cami, and Cynthia have all done it in recent years. (I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody, sorry!)
Anyone up for the challenge?