Some party promoters are all aTwitter about the alleged closing of several nightclubs Thursday night in light of recent shootings at area late-night clubs.
Here’s what concert promoter Terrance “Hustle Simmons” Randolph is saying:
No clubs are opened tonight so we will be back tomorriw night at Society as we bring you #Royalty the… http://t.co/wp7MfKwhZM
— HustleSimmons (@HustleSimmons) August 7, 2014
And here’s another tweet from West Side rapper Stunttaylor, who had planned on hosting his 25th birthday party tonight at Linkin. Taylor, via phone, says he was informed early this morning that his party was shut down. “Why are they shutting this stuff down? I understand they worried about the killings and the deaths, but you cannot shut down city events. A lot of people were banking on this money, they pay bills this way. It’s a lot of disappointment going around the city tonight since the venues closed down due to the ignorance of individuals in Chicago. Individuals, man.”
A Chicago Police spokesman said the department did not issue any kind of order to close clubs.
Thursday night is a big club night in Chicago, and Simmons said texts and tweets were going all day, reminding partiers to stay home.
Where the idea to close some clubs originated and why some owners did so remains unclear.
Could it be that club owners and promoters are concerned about more shootings in the wake of the four shootings early Wednesday at Hearts and the two shootings early Sunday, during Lollapalooza, near Bodi?
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Taylor said he was kicked out of hosting a party at the Dolphin as well, and he believes that “urban” clubs are being targeted. That’s race-speak for “black.”
Linkin, Bodi and Hearts did not answer calls or respond to emails from the Chicago Sun-Times. A man at Soundbar, who declined to give his name, answered the phone and said the club was closed Thursday night but would open next Thursday for an event.
A man who answered the phone at the Dolphin said the bar was closed Thursday but would reopen next Thursday. (He also said to call back in 10 minutes to talk to the manager, but 10 minutes later, said manager did not answer the phone.)
The men who spoke from Soundbar and the Dolphin each said their respective bars are only open on Thursdays for special events, though their Facebook pages note that each is open on Thursdays starting at 11 p.m. Both men said they knew about certain bars closing due to shootings, but did not know who or what prompted the closures.
Meanwhile, WGCI’s website stated that “every Thursday” there’s an event at Soundbar. Peep the photo below.
When asked if the WGCI event would be happening Thursday, a corporate spokeswoman noted the question but didn’t have immediate answers. If WGCI officially responds, the answer will be posted here.
Let us know if you were told to stay home Thursday and if you did so.
— Adrienne Samuels Gibbs
