Live Outdoor Music in Brevard County Faces Challenges

Club Owners, Bands, and Music Lovers Suffer as County Cracks Down

August 26, 2003 - A slow and quiet battle is being waged against live outdoor music on the Space Coast. County Law Enforcement officials are using laws that were never intended to apply to live outdoor music to put pressure on the venues that have been its strongest supporters. One by one, club owners have been forced to cut back on the number of times they have live bands outdoors, and sometimes have been forced out of business.

Live outdoor music is a vital part of Brevard County's cultural life. The Space Coast enjoys a music scene that is disproportionately large for a county of its population. We have nationally recognized musicians such as Kenny Cohen the recently deceased Stephen Miller to thank for encouraging the growth of local music and local musicians. On any given night, Brevard residents of all ages can choose from a wide variety of Blues, Jazz, Folk, Alternative, and Caribbean bands.

And with its tropical climate, outdoor activities are a natural on the Space Coast. Residents and visitors eat, drink, work, boat, fish, surf, practically live outside, taking advantage of the area's natural resources. Live music has been an important part of that life. Most all of Brevard's many outdoor cultural events and festivals feature live music, and venues such as Captain Hiram's, the Sebastian Beach Inn, the Pineda Inn, the Beach Shack, Lone Cabbage Fish Camp, Grills at the Port, and more recently Captain Garo's Red Fish Inn and Rusty's at the Port provide it on a more regular basis.

But there is an effort underway to put that to a stop. One or two at a time, clubs are arbitrarily targeted by standards such as the perceived quality of clientele or location. Owners are threatened with arrest, not for being too loud or for being loud too late, but for having live music at all. Eventually, they are pressured into applying for an expensive Special Event Permit for every time they would like to hire a band to play outside. Operational costs increase, and the frequency of live entertainment decreases, leading to a decrease in business as customers look elsewhere. Business slows down, sometimes terminally.

Such closures and downturns represent an economic, as well as cultural, loss for the Space Coast. The locally owned and operated clubs provide jobs for Brevard's residents and tax revenue for the county.

The trend is continuing. This very week, another venue owner faces a hearing with the Board of County Commissioners. The owner and his legal counsel are confident that they'll win, that the County's legal case against them holds no water. It's a fight that many owners have lost.

The trend will continue until either all of the targeted, supposedly unsavory clubs are driven out of business, or all live outdoor music in Brevard is prohibited unless under the sanction of a Special Event Permit. The former applies a double standard that is grossly unfair to the targeted venues, musicians, and clientele. The latter would be a great loss to Brevard's cultural landscape. Think of the impression it would have on cruise ship visitors, stopping at the Cove for their Space Coast port-of-call stop, if they didn't have the live Caribbean music they're now able to enjoy under the stars as they eat dinner. Imagine the impact on Brevard residents of not being able to hear Jazz on the beach.

Call your County Commissioner and ask them what they are doing to safeguard Brevard's rich musical heritage, and the rights of small business owners to engage in the legal practice of providing live outdoor music to their customers.

For more information about the Syndicators, contact theBoys@Syndicators-Blues-Band.com.

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