Thoughts on the temporary closure of Saint Vitus Bar
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A prude jerk decides to weaponize a technicality to take away something a bunch of people enjoy. Usually at least a few people’s wellbeing is callously thrown into jeopardy. In the best versions of this story, the community rallies and finds a way to save the thing they love; in the worst, a cold reality erases something beautiful.
I don’t want to write about this, but it feels like we must because here we are again finding ourselves fighting this same fight over and over and over.
We’re not building code experts. For all we know with the available details at this point, this could have been the work of an intrepid hero singlehandedly pushing a government department to do their job to protect people from an unsafe building situation - but if you understand anything about how anything works, then you’re right here with us seeing straight through this farcical bullshit. The NYC DOB (Department of Buildings) shuttering the venue does convincingly suggest that at least a few details aren’t up to code. But is closing the venue and imperiling the wellbeing of the staff (not to mention the artists scheduled to perform there) in any way fix the situation? If the bar re-opens next week with a new maximum capacity sign, then sure – we’ll happily move on with our lives. But if and/or when this ends up getting tied up in bureaucratic hell, what did we accomplish for everyone in the meantime?
If you’re one of those Stannis Baratheon or Chuck McGill people who genuinely believe that we should be guided by the righteousness of law and that this closure is the correct punishment for some sort of mismanagement; let’s remember that laws are only as just as the people who wield them. In reality (you know, where this is happening), how can it not feel awfully suspicious that such an oversight only now comes to light after 13 YEARS of operation. While Vitus might outwardly appear and pseudo-operate with a certain hole-in-the-wall aesthetic to cater to its metalhead clientele, this is a venue that is far too high profile to have flown under the radar of city health & safety inspectors for over a decade. Sure, there’s been some issues and Vitus has paid some fines to the city as recently as last year – but the specific complaints that led DOB to close the venue all originated from a single individual – an individual mind you who has littered social media with a variety of throw-spaghetti-at-the-wall & see-what-sticks style grievances against the venue for years.
Let’s just call this what it is, a vendetta. There’s a conversation to be had about how all it takes is one motherfucker to toss a wrench in the system and how much subsequent effort and heartache and time it’s now going to take on so many other to remedy it. It’s all fucked and we hate it. We’d so much rather spend time creating and/or enjoying art – not fighting to save these rare spaces where people are able to enjoy expressing themselves.
This show has always been about appreciating people who commit effort to bringing art into our world. Vitus’ impeccable staff have been responsible for facilitating some of our favorite nights of music ever, and even with their backs suddenly against a wall they’re the ones already scrambling to find alternative venues so that the shows might go on. Satan bless them. As the ones who we know will inevitably suffer the most now that their source of income is inactive, our plan is to highlight ways that they can be supported in the interim.
There will be more to come as this develops.
