9th & Beats, the venue inside of the Old Dominion Brewhouse on 9th Street NW, has undergone a change in management—-and it’s got a new name.
The three-month-old space is now just called Beats, and original co-founder Dave Mann is out of the picture. When reached, Mann says his transition out of the venue began a few weeks ago, but he declined to discuss the change further. In a public Facebook post today, he’s more vocal:
The sad thing about leaving 9th & Beats is that I built it up from nothing only to get screwed over. Apparently, it’s not even called 9th & Beats any more. Every amazing band that has played at this venue was brought to the venue via me spending long hours with email exchanges, phone calls, texts between myself and agents/bands, etc. I love getting burned! So much for that. #gluttonforpunishmentNOMORE.
Mann tells Washington City Paper he’s moving on to national festivals, like an Austin music festival he’s putting together for August. “I realized that I’m more comfortable doing music festivals more than day-to-day booking,” he says. “I’d rather be stressed out about bigger things.”
According to Mann, the venue is now being run by 9th & Beats team members Ray Remesch and Chris MacDonald. The venue’s new website lends some insights into 9th & Beats’ rebirth:
In late 2012 we partnered with the Old Dominion Brewhouse to re-imagine 1,400 square feet of its underutilized banquet room as a leading performance space in the 100-500 capacity segment. A few energetic and optimistic conversations later, 9th & Beats was formed under a trial handshake deal.
Beginnings can seem so effortless. We soon realized that turning the space into a venue was much more difficult than anyone predicted. We hurtled through ideas, prototypes and our fair share of failures that almost derailed the project three times in three months. Those founders remaining on the project adapted and came up with a sustainable model.
To celebrate our birth from idea to reality, we changed our name to Beats.
One thing that hasn’t changed is our commitment to something bigger than this venue. Live entertainment is the economic lifeblood of many of the most talented people in the world, and changing business models are disrupting creative lives. But if you look hard enough, you’ll discover opportunities that accompany disruption. Join us as we make our little dent in the world.
Of Mann’s departure, MacDonald says, “This is business as usual… we’re sad to see him go. We’re just keeping things running fine.” Remesch has not returned requests for comment.