[CrackMonkey] San FranStripMall

[Don Marti]

San Francisco musicians protest dot-com takeover of rehearsal space

By RON HARRIS 
Associated Press Writer 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Cigarette butts, empty beer cans and worn guitar 
picks littered the floor at Downtown Rehearsal as somber musicians 
packed up their gear and moved out to an uncertain future.

Unknown bands as well as hot shot rockers like Chris Isaak got their 
walking papers last month in the form of 45-day eviction notices that 
spelled the end for the city's largest practice space and the beginning 
of what many say is a mass exodus of local music from the city that 
Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead called home.

Mike Kimball, guitarist for the local hard rock band Broken, coiled up 
amplifier cords as drummer Gene Maynard removed colored lights from the 
rafters of their rehearsal room.

"It is a dot-com squeeze out, man. The rents are ridiculous," Kimball 
said, as he gathered his belongings and bemoaned the future of the 
city's music scene. "I'm thinking about moving to L.A."

Kimball blamed technology industry newcomers to San Francisco who have 
been gobbling up once-affordable space for offices and who he says 
prefer disc jockey dance music to rock and roll.

"It's turning into a yuppified city. They don't want to go out and see 
live music. They want to hang out and go to the snazzy club and look 
cool and drink. It's ridiculous," Kimball said.

Teryl Koch bought the building last year for $6 million, then sold it to 
Cupertino-based JMA Properties for a reported $16 million.

Koch's son, Greg, who has run Downtown Rehearsal since 1992, wouldn't 
confirm the selling price, but he said his father turned down offers as 
high as $10 million as recently as December. He defended the sale and 
said he gave musicians more than he ever took away.

"I went in there and I took a huge risk," Greg Koch said. "I saw that 
San Francisco had musical rehearsal studios, but most of them, quite 
frankly, were dumps."

He built 155 rooms that housed more than 270 bands splitting monthly 
rents of about $500, at least $100 less than competing rehearsal spots 
in the city.

To soften the blow, the Kochs have offered $500,000 for a fund to find 
alternative practice space for the displaced musicians, provided they 
all move out on time -- a requirement for completion of the sale.

Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind and Kirk Hammett of Metallica, who 
has used the Downtown Rehearsal facilities, have offered to hold 
fund-raiser concerts to raise money for new practice space, said Gavin 
Newsom, a member of the city's Board of Supervisors.

Some musicians criticized the Kochs' offer as blood money, but Greg Koch 
said it's the best deal they're going to get and he hopes they accept 
it.

On Saturday, frustrated musicians organized and took to the street in a 
planned protest. From the warehouse district to Haight Street, bands 
like Staci Twigg, The Cubby Creatures and Jaded Internet Veterans played 
songs on rooftops and street corners and handed out fliers describing 
their plight.

"We're just out here to say it's kind of a drag that people are 
scrambling to find places to play," said Paula Murray, of the Paula 
Murray Trio, in between songs on a sun-dappled sidewalk.

Joel Perez, 28, of The Cubby Creatures played in front of a garage for a 
crowd of six. He says too many people are moving to his city and driving 
rents through the roof. Perez' band shares rehearsal space with five 
others at Secret Studios in San Francisco where management informed 
tenants last week that it would be increasing the rent as much as 40 
percent.

Too make matters worse, Coast Recorders, a premier recording studio 
where crooner Chris Isaak has cut tracks, is closing at the end of the 
month. That studio is located in the thick of at least 500 
Internet-related companies with some 40,000 employees, occupying trendy 
office space where the vacancy rate is less than 1 percent and average 
rents often exceed $60 per square foot.

The rockers aren't going quietly. A meeting with Greg Koch and 
representatives from the city was arranged for Sunday.

"The best we can do is kick and scream as we go," said Newsom, who heads 
a committee fighting against further development in the city. He said 
has spoken with several prominent Bay Area musicians about thinning 
rehearsal space. "The city is changing in front of us," he said. "Its 
soul is changing."

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