For the first Joy of Booking Interview, I spoke with Baltimore’s Dana Murphy. I met Dana while at Ace Hotel in 2016 when Friends Records came up to host a night with the band Microkingdom. After a memorably loud performance, Dana and the label team immediately started duplicating tapes of the set to give out to guests. It was a super fun night, and I'm really happy this series is kicking off with her. Born into a world of live music and bars, Dana’s now junior talent buyer at Ottobar, has a personal curatorial practice called Unregistered Nurse, and has worked for the nonprofit Strong City Baltimore. We talked about each, and how she’s holding up with everything shut-down. Recorded March 25, 2020.Ben: Hey Dana. How are you doing? Are you safe and healthy? What is the energy right now in Baltimore feeling like?
Dana: I am safe and healthy, thanks for asking. Yeah, Baltimore is definitely pretty crazy. There was a really swift progression in the bar and venue world, and the nonprofit world, from everyone's being like, “Okay, we're going to find a way to stay open”, to people very quickly transitioning to, “Okay, we are closing”. I take stuff like this seriously and was the first person at Strong City to say we should push back our big annual conference with neighborhood leaders. It's at Baltimore City Community College, or…was going to be.
Ben: Was the city mandating closures at that point, or you just made the call?
Dana: I saw the writing on the wall, that colleges were going to be impacted. I mean, how could they not, these are spaces where people gather. While most people didn't initially agree, by the end of the week it was like, we're absolutely doing this. Just a very quick transition.
Ben: That's the thing everyone has emphasized. Just a day or two ago I learned my old employers, Ace Hotel New York, suspended all operations. I think they were running at such a low occupancy they couldn’t float it. But it went from “We’re open” to “We’re not” in about a week.
Dana: That’s definitely how it’s been. At the Ottobar, my boss took things very seriously; she ordered hand sanitizer stations and came up with alternate ways that we could do, you know, partial operations. It seemed like we were going to put into place a very responsible plan to be able to move forward for at least some period of time. But you know, we had to do the responsible thing and close.
Ben: How about your personal booking practice, as Unregistered Nurse? Did you have a lot of events lined up What's up with U+NFest?
“It turns out that they [the city] really don't
want you to throw parties like this.”
Dana: So the fest is in October but what’s really complicated is that I usually spend my spring making the decisions about who's going to play based on, you know, what I’d be seeing right now. I don't think I have another event until August, which feels crazy. I can't remember the last time I haven't had this much time without having an event.
Ben: Most people I know in events average between one and twenty events weekly. To go from that to zero for the foreseeable future...I was talking with my wife earlier about it; she suggested the feeling of loss is akin to actual grief, like when somebody passes away. It's unsettling to look at an empty calendar.
Dana: It's super weird. I was trying to articulate this to somebody else: It's really painful to look at all of the work you've been doing for the past couple of months and then just cancel each thing piece by piece. You think about all the meetings you've gone to, all of the emails we've had to send, the contracts...and then you're just like watching as all of these plans evaporate.
Ben: Well, before we get to off-the-rails-dark here, I want to shift gears and talk about you’re background for a bit. You’re a Baltimore native, right?
Dana: Correct. Yup.
Pure Disgust playing at U+NFest. Photo by Farrah Skeiky provided by Dana Murphy.
Ben: I read somewhere that when you were younger, your dad was in a band and you used to go see him play gigs.
Dana: My dad is actually still in several bands. Frank Murphy is the original rocker of our family. I kind of grew up going to concerts and bars. He's been in a bunch of classic rock bands and one opened for the Byrds, he’d play festivals. I think that's probably had a pretty profound impact on me as a young person. I always felt comfortable around live music. I felt comfortable in the bars. You know, I started off bartending before putting together shows. I play the drums casually, but I'm not like a serious musician or anything.
Ben: And so when you started bartending, that was that Talking Head [now closed], is that right?
Dana: Yeah. I was a pretty independent young person, I think.
Ben: When did you start going to concerts that you might classify as more traditionally punk, DIY or something like that?
Dana: I was in eighth grade.
Ben: What was the first show?
Dana: The first punk show? I can't remember any of the small ones. I remember that the first big show show I went to was A New Found Glory with Less Than Jake. Or something.
Ben: When I was in high school, I remember seeing Less than Jake and getting kicked in the face really hard and being like, really bloody. Good times.
“I have had to reckon with the fact
that I am very Baltimore.”
Dana: That concert was probably the one that I went to at Nations in D.C., which was a cool punk and raver venue. In Baltimore we had lots of these small concerts in halls or like, church basements. I just wanted to go to everything. If I heard there was a show I would just go to it. I didn't care what bands were playing. I don't really know why I was so interested in it...there was just something about finding a way to be somewhere else.
Ben: I think that’s what a lot of artists and musicians are looking for. Even if where they’re from is great it’s like “Okay but, what’s behind this unmarked door over here...?” Anyhow, what was the first gig you put together?
Dana: People always ask me and it's hard to know. I kind of always did it. I used to do these like birthday shows. I would put together, you know, I'd live at punk houses where my roommates played in bands and I'd put together shows in our basement. Then when I worked at the Talking Head I would notice that bands I liked would come through and sometimes they'd have almost nowhere there. I mean, no disrespect to our booker, who’s a friend and did a great job, but a lot of times there just wasn't a punk scene big enough to support these bands. So I decided I'd try to help.
Ben: This is how Unregistered Nurse started?
Dana: Well, my good friend got attacked by a dog and she needed money for medical bills. So I put together a Benefit show for her. Future Islands was the opening band. The show went really well and, you know, raised enough money to help us cover her base a bit. That was the first time that I was like, “I book shows now”. At some point somebody asked what my booking company was called...the name had come from a friend. We’d been up drinking the night before and he joked about starting a band called Unregistered Nurses. So when I was asked I couldn't think of anything, I was tired and hung over, and it was the first thing that came to my mind. And that it was that.
Ben: It seems to be a really common story, the benefit show. People throw some ska, punk, or hardcore benefit for something and then a decade later...still at it. Two decades...
Guests dancing at “Get on Up!”, a party Murphy organized as part of her role with Strong City Baltimore. Photo by Farrah Skeiky provided by Dana Murphy.
Dana: Still doing it. I've had so many people ask me like, “Oh, how did you know? What was the plan?” Like, there was never a plan. I enjoy, you know, everything being different all the time. I like every day to be different. I want every show to be different.
Ben: I'm curious about another venue. You mentioned Talking Head, but there's also The Gold Bar [now closed], right? That's a spot you were at for a bit?
Dana: So, yeah, I ran this like, this little venue. I had a very particular thing in mind; to run a venue a certain way. A very high/low concept. People approached me with money basically being like, you know, “We'll pay for everything. We'll supply all the alcohol, we'll buy you a PA. all you have to do is pick every single thing and book all the shows and manage everything.” And to me, this was like...
Ben: Wait, how old were you when you got this insane offer?
Dana: I was...twenty seven. I knew immediately that this was probably not going to end well, but like I just couldn't turn down the opportunity.
“I mean, when I say vacant warehouse, you have to understand like...I’m talking about piles of dirt…”
Ben: And how did it end up not ending well?
Dana: Well, I think it was a great learning experience. You know, they literally brought me into a room with drop ceilings, trash piled up and said, “Where does the bar go? What PA do we buy? What do we order? Who is working here?”. That was a really exciting experience, you know. But there were some business practices I didn't agree with. And to me, my reputation is too important to ever be involved in something that could be potentially conceived as shitty.
Ben: So after this experience...is that when you linked up with Friends Records?
Dana: Um, so Jimmy approached me saying that they wanted to expand; they had an investor and they wanted to start doing more stuff like tours and artist management. More events. I love Jimmy. I think he's a great person. They were really being active, doing a lot of stuff in Baltimore. Obviously we did some great and also..less great things at the Ace. My role was to work on band management, book tours for people, and do special events. Record Store Day type things.
Ben: And at this point, were you also already working with Strong City Baltimore?
Dana: So Strong City is a Baltimore-based grassroots nonprofit that does, we mostly do fiscal sponsorship. We provide the back office support and a number of resources for smaller initiatives. It's pretty challenging. Like if you want to start a nonprofit, it's pretty hard. There's a lot of red tape and there's a lot of things that can keep you from getting your 501c3, which you're going to need to get, you know, a number of grants and all kinds of other things. So yeah, it's a really cool organization.
Um, I was in the process of moving to Atlanta. I had gone down there, I was looking at houses. I was about to accept a job, and I just had this, this feeling that it wasn't the right thing for me at that time. I can sometimes be really impulsive...just sort of jump off a cliff if something feels right, but something about the whole situation felt off. So I decided I was going to apply to one job in Baltimore, which was at Strong City, and if I got it, I would stay. I was like, alright, sure. Why not? I had never worked at a nonprofit before and didn't expect that they were going to hire me.
A crowd enjoys a set from Baltimore’s Trapped Under Ice at U+NFest. Photo by Farrah Skeiky provided by Dana Murphy.
Ben: But, it appears they did...
Dana: They needed an events person; they were getting ready to plan this 50th year celebration, and they had what sounded to me like, just the craziest...just a really crazy plan where they were trying to purchase this massive vacant industrial warehouse complex in East Baltimore. They basically said, if the job worked out, whoever's doing it in two years can plan a party in this warehouse. And to me...I want to plan this party in this warehouse.
Ben: In your initial email to me, I think you indicated it was a pretty wild undertaking?
Dana: I mean, when I say vacant warehouse, you have to understand like...I’m talking about piles of dirt, temporarily hardwired electricity, installing new exits, lots of generators. We also had performances, video, local food vendors, but all on a scale I had never gotten to do before. It was really, really exciting and fun.
Ben: That's awesome. The first time I did events where I had to rent generators, I remember being so nervous. I just had no idea how or if they would work. So when you were like, you know, 15 minutes from doors being open to the public at this party what was going through your mind?
Dana: We had a really small team, four of us. We had six months to plan this 800 cap party. I got a horrific lung infection for four and a half months from December to mid April, the party was in May. I was clocking these insanely, insanely long work weeks. This party had pretty much taken over my life. Meetings every day. The week before we lost our valet service and I had to find another on short notice...we were having trouble getting our permits. It turns out that they [the city] really don't want you to throw parties like this.
“When I started booking shows, I remember very clearly in a show that I booked and realizing that like every band playing was just...there's just guys, there's no women.”
Ben: Do they ever?
Dana: Then at the last minute it decided to rain, so I had to rent tenting and temporary flooring. I mean, like, we didn't even have the ceiling completely in place until like maybe two weeks before. I just, I don't even know how, but somehow we managed to just like fix everything and the event went off just beautifully. But in the minutes before, I didn't feel nervous at all because I was just like, this has been, you know, every day of my life. For six months, I've done the work, I've done everything I can do now, and I just have to let registration open.
Ben: I love your mix of like extreme confidence and you know, “hope for the best!” attitude.
Dana: Yeah. I mean, there are surprises in any event that you do for the first time. How could there not be? We were hit with mostly good surprises. We had a runway show during the event and unbeknownst to us, they had gotten this Tina Turner drag queen who came and performed and were just amazing. I didn't even know that they were going to perform.
Ben: Yeah. But, you know, take the credit! Well for time, I want to move on just a little bit, Let’s talk Ottobar.
Dana: Sure. So the primary space that I book at this moment is the Ottobar, I am the junior talent buyer there. I've actually been bartending there for years, it's a good mid-size room. It's always been like a really solid rock club, but we changed owners in August of last year and that's when they kind of brought me on to do a little bit more.
My new boss is actually the first person that ever worked at the Ottobar. She has a really cool vision for the space, I really love what she's been doing with it. She's sort of like trying to diversify our bookings a little bit, have us do a wider range of stuff. More comedy, more theater stuff.
Snail Mail at U+NFest. Photo by Farrah Skeiky provided by Dana Murphy.
Ben: What's the capacity? The main space?
Dana: About 400.
Ben: So when you say your role there is junior talent buyer, that sort of means like, are you allocated like certain nights of the week to fill?
Dana: So I work with the main talent buyer pretty closely. I definitely, I would say we talk pretty much every day about just like shows stuff that's going on at the bar. I book shows, give input, find locals, fill dark nights, and that kind of stuff. I love the Ottobar and am grateful to them for employing me for over a decade. You know, rock clubs have traditionally been very male, very white. Tecla, the new owner, brought me on to book, brought a woman in to be the head of sound, a woman as co-head of security. She employs a lot of LGBTQ people. She's trying to put more people of color into the bar. She's just trying to get to make the space more reflective of Baltimore, which is a very diverse city, and I love that.
Ben: Do you feel like the city is changing for the better? Is Ottobar’s new mission following citywide trends or is the norm still like...lots of sexism and racism in the club scene?
Dana: That is a delicate question that I will attempt to address as best as I can. When I started booking shows, I remember very clearly in a show that I booked and realizing that like every band playing was just...there's just guys, there's no women. There were like three women in the whole space and they were just kind of in the back. Once I saw it, I just couldn't unsee it, you know? It was like anytime I went to a show, then I couldn't stop thinking about that. So for me it started from a gender perspective.
Then I'm just thinking how like there are no people of color at a show. Like I feel like I'm doing a disservice to Baltimore, which is a majority black city. Why aren't there more trans people coming to shows? People should feel safe. They should feel welcome. I want a punk scene that reflects everybody because it was such an important thing in my life, something that I’ve cared about so much. I want to do this while acknowledging that I can’t speak for any group of people I’m not a part of, and to that end I’ve tried to collaborate with others and advocate for inclusion behind the scenes as well.
Then, you know, the landscape of Baltimore has changed a lot in recent years. People are now very political, [all this is] a popular topic of conversation and I'm glad people are cognizant of it. I just hope that, I hope people can balance that with being patient with each other; we still have more to learn.
Ben: I mean, if you put on a DIY show when you’re 17, you’re only bringing a few years of knowledge to it. Hopefully you’re a bit better at 21, 25, 30 and...I dunno. I think on my deathbed I’ll be sending out one final invite and just thinking “Shit, I hope we got it right this time.”
Anyhow, what do you envision the next couple of months being like? Can Strong City, Ottobar, and Unregistered Nurse all ride COVID-19 out. What’s a six month outlook?
Performers on stage at “Get on Up!” Photo by Farrah Skeiky provided by Dana Murphy.
Dana: I do think that Ottobar will be able to weather the storm. We have events that are getting rescheduled. That's what we do. I think it's what we're going to keep doing. For Strong City, you know, people don't really realize this situation is impacting nonprofits pretty hard. We deal with smaller initiatives who might not be able to function right now and that's where part of our income comes from. Neighborhood Institute, our conference is postponed until the fall. I think that's going to happen.
I do think we're going to have U+NFest. I had a conversation with my collaborator, Emily, and it seems like we're going to do it. It is really challenging curating a festival when you're not sort of able to, uh, go to shows and take the temperature around what's happening in the spring. We're a small DIY festival.
Ben: I looked up the lineups on past on U+NFests and I mean, they look solid, you've got to have...I'm assuming, somewhere between like $15k-$20k on the line with this thing, right?
Dana: Yeah. Um, it's actually at this point more probably more than that. We've been lucky that we have, we've never lost money on U+NFest...with the exception of one year.
Ben: It sounds like you at least have your hands in enough pots where things will even out for you in the next couple of months? Like you’re not going to have to abandon the city for a bunker?
Dana: You know, I've been trying to, I've tried to leave Baltimore so many times. Something has always kept me here. Maybe I will one day if the right situation presents itself. Never say never. But I have had to reckon with the fact that I am very Baltimore.