i'm leonard clarke and as the managing partner for red maple i am
writing in response to the recent commentary posted on your website and the controversy regarding our decision to change our musical format on friday's - in the hope of illuminating our thinking behind this decision, so as to provide you and your readers with the balanced and honest context clearly missing among all the uninformed hype!

i'd first like to say THANK YOU to all the house music lovers in our community who have given their
support over the past 14 months to the friday party, and to make it very clear that despite all the rumor
and gossip IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN OUR INTENTION TO CONTINUE TO INCLUDE HOUSE MUSIC,
DONNY BURLIN, KARIZMA, TERRY, TEDDY, OJI, POPE, THOMMY, BIZKIT AND THE PEOPLE
WHO COME OUT TO SUPPORT THIS SCENE ! the decision we have made has been based on essentially two factors: 1. money 2. our core identity thru the music we play. We are first and foremost
a business and have to pay the bills. like virtually all clubs appx 70% of our income is made on fri/sat
nights. as is the case with virtually all nightclubs, we are constantly reviewing and assessing our
weekly lineup in an effort to determine how we can improve our numbers. the fact of the matter is,
and their are many clubs who realize this as well, the HOUSE CROWD, though a great party crowd,
does not spend the kind of dollars at the bar as we believe we should be able to get on a weekend night.

BBC:  All the descriptions you made towards my statements are actually coming from your ignorance as well. Almost all of the things I spoke about come from people closer to you than you think. Most of the things that I said also come from at least 10 more very visible people in our community. Look don't insult our intelligence, the things you wrote about being a business, were already assumed and known by many of us.  How is it that you, all of a sudden, realize that the House crowd don't spend the kind of money at the bar you want.  This is a well known thing, and if you knew it, why didn't you start out with the clown music on Fridays in the first place.  You don't even realize that there is a whole new network of House lovers who try to support(through email lists,etc.) each others party in which I am a big part of.  This network of "word of mouth" is how we already knew you planned the move to Sundays.  Now, I've gotten emails asking why I even support your establishment past.  I thought it was a good idea for people to integrate and party together.  The first time I came to the Red Maple I thought it appeared to be a den of the "bourgeois" and pretentious.  The increase in the soulful, quality House music seemed to decrease that and helped me to try and support your establishment(because of the music).   We all can except the fact that you are a business and need to make money, but the atmosphere in your club doesn't match what you are saying.  I've been there many times and had to walk away from the bar because it took ME way too long to get a drink, so I know you had people at the bar, and it was a nice crowd every time I came.  Have you ever thought of hiring an extra bartender?  You could have made more dollars from the bar.  Plus you are selling alcohol!  Something that was once illegal, as cocaine is today.  SO YOU WANT MORE PEOPLE TO DRINK AT THE BAR?  I would have hoped you had more business savvy than to just depend on that when you are part restaurant too. 

Though last friday was a great party, it was very much an aberration as compared over the history
of our friday nights, not to mention a back to school holiday weekend. As a result we have made a
decision to diversify our friday sound beyond a strict house music format in the expectation of
eventually building a stronger weekend bar business. Beginning friday sept. 5th dj mike " hopper"
will take over as our weekly resident. hopper will be bringing in a regular rotation of guests and
live instrumentalists to accompany him. we have asked mike to expand our Friday sound by
including more of the signature red maple mid tempo/ uptempo world-lounge vibe, adding a touch
of hip hop (classic o.s. and some new - not the mainstream radio hits, but the interesting intelligent
sort) and a funkier, more accessible house sound.

BBC:  You have got to be kidding.  Your Friday's have had very nice turnouts, with it being crowded at least 2 Fridays a month.  You and everybody else know that what you just described means less Black people and more of what you really want.  You have had Donny Burlin, Karizma, Terry Thompson, OjiI, Pope, Thommy Davis, Biskit, etc, play in your club.....You mean to tell me that there is "a funkier, more accessible House sound" that they can't play.  I will not trash Mike Hopper, but you know what type of core patrons you will now have. 

In short, this is what we are doing and why we are doing it. contrary to alot of the rumor, gossip
and coded innuendo, and what seems to clearly be the  misinformed opinion of
the otherwise wonderful Black Books Cafe, we have not taken this decision (after over a year
of committment! ) because red maple has become " too black". anyone who knows me,
patrick, jason and mustafa knows what we are about and i challenge anyone of your staff or readers
to find a group of club owners in this town who are more encouraging (not simply accepting) and
committed to a racially and ethnically diverse mix of people than we, and i speak not of any
certain night or event, but on all nights and for all events. WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SENSITIVE TO
THE NEED FOR INCLUSION AND IN FACT CONSIDER THIS TO BE ONE OF OUR GREATEST
ASSETS AT RED MAPLE.

BBC: Look, I don’t even want to harbor any anger at you or your spot, but wouldn’t you want to know how you, and the actions of you club, is seen by the public.  Not just my personal feelings either. That’s why I didn’t call for some type of boycott, which was mentioned to me by more than a few people.  I speak for some people who don’t want to tell you some of these things to your face, including those who are inside your circle.  So don't think it's all coming from me.  Have you even observed the atmosphere of you club to see how YOU have divided your patrons.  Before 10pm you usually have some pseudo House or trendy elevator music playing while people eat some of that food you sell.  This brings certain races to your establishment before 10pm.  They didn't have to pay to get in.  Then you would switch to the more high quality, soulful, House sound.  That's when more Black people would pay to get in and visit the bar.  Some, for some reason, would even get some food.  You created a whole atmosphere where a couple nights( a Friday and a Sunday) where I actually saw a group of White people dancing on one side and a group of Black people dancing on the other side.  Your setup helped to contribute to this and not just societal conditions.  So if you are so sensitive to this, start paying attention to how people are mingling with each other in your establishment.  I also want to make one thing very clear to you.  The blackbookscafe.com is a personal website that has gotten very popular because I care about our House scene so much.  This is not CNN and I don't owe you nothing.  But as long as you supported soulful House music, not slowed down techno passed off as House, you had my complete support and love.  The House community have learned from the past and won't except any ole' kind of story from establishments we support during these times.  We were here through the changes of all the great Baltimore clubs like Odell's, Gatsby's, Cignel's, Club Fantasy, the Paradox, etc.  So you can see we were here before the Red Maple and will be here long after it's a memory. 

Regarding your issue with dj pay at red maple with respect to the labor day friday party - red maple spent a total of $525
that night on it's djs and our percussionist. because our resident owed us money loaned to him months prior, the net payout for the night was $400. $525 is, in our judgement a reasonable amount for a nightclub of our size, charging only $5 admission, to be able to afford. typically donny brings only 1 guest, that night he had two. we were not aware of this until the night of the event itself. in hindsight we may have been justified in having charged a $10 cover for this event given the
talent brought to bear, thereby having allowed for a larger dj payout. in any event we did not, partly because as a back to school weekend with so many new faces in the house not knowing anything about the djs or the friday party, it seemed too risky to potentially turn away many people who may well not have been willing to enter for $10.

BBC:  This was a very good response to something that was not passed along to me in my assessment of this whole matter.  I apologize, but I am egoless and big enough to admit that this point should have be looked into and verified a little more.  A correction statement was issued on the website immediately.  Although, I must tell you that one of your people did know that DJ Karizma and Biskit were both playing that last Friday. 



leonard clarke, managing partner - red maple
BBC:  John Johnson, Network Support Specialist by profession, Webmaster of BBC for the Love of HOUSE

Good luck with your club, and after this stays up on the website for a little while for everyone to see, it will be deleted and that's all I am going to say about this.  I purge negative things like this from around me.  You can let someone else donate their time to supporting your club through word of mouth like me & my website has vigorously done in the past.

John M. Johnson

(see original story)