Bucks To Spare? || December 7, 2006

Then ignore that Amazon Wish List to the left (only for a moment, though) and PayPal a few bucks to the folks at Secret HQ, the Denton art/music DIY space that faces a personal blackout by the end of, uh, today. Thankfully, their requests for electric bill cash come with a bonus offer:

"If you donate today, we'll give you a FREE Denton Cohesion Holiday CD featuring both the profane and sacred sounds of jetscreamer, shiny around the edges, pinebox serenade and PLENTY of others..."

Interested? Call 940-383-1400 or click this SHQ PayPal button:

[UPDATE: The place has enough money now, see below. But I suppose they'll still trade cash for the disc.]

That CD, packed with some of Denton's finest, sounds much better than a crappy PBS mug. Truthfully, if that offer wasn't included, we wouldn't have reposted the money request--even with some very solid concerts in the pipeline, including our new fave local band Tre Orsi's rare gig in January.

Heartless? Blame our relatively conservative upbringing, but even though the appeals for cash are asking fans to help keep SHQ's concerts free, the DIY space was started as an office space as much as it was a public house of music. Denton musicians Scott Porter (Record Hop), Cody Robinson (Medicine Window) and Rob Black (Birth to Burial) tried to pitch the thing as a sensible venture (and a home for their TXMF Records operations) back when we wrote about it for the Observer earlier this year: "That's the beauty of it--we all have day jobs, so our success doesn't hinge on these shows, not on people buying records," Porter says. "We don't want to hang our hopes on people spending money because nobody's got any fucking money."

Add SHQ to that list of nobodies. Ultimately, this public appeal is a last-ditch effort to delay the realities of owning a business space and managing its every financial angle. The DIY spirit is great, and SHQ has served it well with movie showings and a diverse lineup of early-evening concerts, but without a trust fund, a liquor license or some other stable well of cash, that spirit doesn't keep the electric company at bay. Unless SHQ figures out a way to get cash flowing through its doors, expect a sad MySpace announcement around, say, March, which we'll dutifully repost. -SM

UPDATE: Here's a snippet from SHQ's response that is making the rounds, which also indicates that the space has enough regular cash flow thanks to office tenants paying rent:

"It has been a hard month. Some of our partners split on us, which we knew was inevitable. But now, those spots are filled by people that have been watching our "thing" and believe in the concept and might be better able to utilize the opportunity. We have never been flat out of funds, but after the tenant switching and such, money got a little weird...

"Now that we have the new blood, we're better off than ever and will more than likely never need to beg again. We don't want to, and generally we don't need to. SOOOO... Your money is not financing our hobby. It is not paying the rent so we don't have to. The model of operations is sound. This was just a rough spot. What your money did was pay an electric bill that snuck up on us after Thanksgiving. And we thank you. By keeping the power on, we get to not cancel this weekends shows. And you have GOT to look at our calendar, because it's as good as it's ever been."