Sharoo C.
Yelp
I am not a reviewer. This is the first review I've ever written, and unfortunately, IT HAS A CONTENT WARNING!
CW: enabling abuse, transphobia, ableism, aggression, racism, misgendering, assault:
NEVER EVER go to PA's Lounge in Somerville! If you've booked a show there, cancel it and if you have friends who have booked shows there, encourage them to do the same.
My partner and I were there last night to support a friend. There were red flags from the beginning and as the evening went on, things only got worse.
First, a loud and obnoxious heckler was encouraged to continue heckling the performers by the entire bar staff who were chatting him up and seemed to find his antics incredibly charming.
During this time, my friend who was performing later turned to me and expressed feelings of unease. Ze* mentioned that another performer had been sexually harassed on their way into the club. (I later found out that the bar staff were informed of this and responded by laughing and saying, "oh yes that's so-and-so. He has a thing for Puerto Rican women")
I tried to reassure my friend that we would protect zem. Empathized with zer valid feelings of terror related to the harassment incident, Told zem Ze was unhecklable, that ze just had to be zemself.
The heckler eventually left and my friend started setting up zer act, laying a tarp on the ground and carrying a big bucket in which you could hear liquid sloshing. THIS was the time when the venue, should have been asking questions if they didn't have advance info about unusual performance plans, which granted, they didn't and probably should have.
Instead, they let my friend get set up, and in the middle of performance, after Ze had dumped out a bucket of very simple fake blood (just water and food coloring) onto the tarp, they cut the PA, rushed the stage, asked my friend to stop the performance immediately, and clean up the mess, which Ze was planning to clean up after the performance was finished.
They then GOT MAD THAT MY FRIEND NEEDED TO USE A CANE TO WALK OFF THE STAGE AND CLEAN UP THE MESS! They started yelling things like "you don't need the cane, what are you, an infant? Are you going to make us do this for you?" etc.
While this was happening, the first performer tried to stand up for my friend and got punched by a PA's lounge employee. He then called the cops (not necessarily the smartest thing to do).
I decided to go ask for our money back as we had come explicitly to see the person who was banned from performing. The person who was collecting cover said, "the show happened, you're not getting it back." I responded, "You kicked my friend off the stage." He responded, "he kicked himself off the stage," misgendering my friend and adding insult to an already injury-inducing night."
I am pleased to say that my partner had driven there and we were able to get my friend home safely. I am also pleased that many audience members helped my friend clean up and another performing group who had played before my friend walked out after my friend's non-set, possibly in protest, possibly for safety reasons. Possibly both.
I saw a yelp review today that said this venue hosted a white pride event with people in Klan robes and confederate flags. I am never going back. I hope you don't either
*My friend's preferred pronouns are "ze, zer, zem." this is an alternative to gender binary