Sunday, October 20, 2013

CCRs dwT #46: Name That Tune


Dylan sez…
(a short and timely jotting for CCR twits Tweeters)

10-20-13

dwT #46:  After due consideration and getting high on milkbone, I’ve decided to drop this Tweet business and enter the promotional idea business.  There will not be any tangible product to promote, just “ideas” to dazzle the eyes of some city council members.  I’ve already projected that I could clear about one million risk-free bucks the first year of operation with little or no overhead expenses.  


Backstory clue for the information impaired:  The city council is at it again...allocating bucks to anyone that has their hand out* or weaves a mythical tale of promotion that includes the words economic development or visitors, in this case, to the Heritage District.  At their last ‘let’s make a deal‘ session, the council approved an agreement with Thomas Kreason, D/B/A the Texas Musicians Museum.  Never heard of it?  Funny, neither had the CCR.  This shouldn’t be surprising as one considers the actual number of  erstwhile ‘museums’ all over the state of Texas.

     Of course, to get this project idea off the ground for the Texas Musicians Museum, the city must be a willing partner.  And by willing partner, the CCR means that the council must open the highly secretive “Economic Development” lock box and dole out some serious change.  See how easy this promotional idea business can be?  (The ideas are already loosely floating around in the gray matter on the right side of my cranium.)

     The city council is preparing to spend $750,000 to refurbish the old Toyota building in downtown Irving.  Refurbish may be the wrong word here...reconstruct might be more appropriate.  The building will need: new electrical, new HVAC, new roof, install a fire sprinkler system, and a complete redo of the interior.  (While the asbestos removal of the building is being completed, one might wonder if there are environmental issues with any oil drip tanks that may have been buried during the building’s previous life?)   And for all this effort by the city, the museum will have a 5-year lease that will bring in $3,500/month to city coffers.  This means that the city will recoup their initial investment in 214 months (17.8 years).

     Of course, no idea is good unless there is peripheral spin to seal the deal with the city council.  The Texas Musicians Museum plans to: Display music memorabilia (wow, it’s the Big Boppers guitar pick!); Be a venue for hosting ‘live’ events (with formerly-live entertainers like Johnny Preston?); and at least six community events (an autograph session with “Jivin’ Gene” Bourgeois?).  If the numbers that one council member stated as attendance at any of these events materializes, then DART will have to bus folks in from the parking garage at the Irving Convention Center!  There is virtually no parking in or around this old building...or in the Heritage District for that matter.  And this will probably be a good idea to use DART, since the museum folks must obtain approval for all the city’s efforts at the time they seek their R/AB license. 

     Texas Musicians Museum:  Good idea or bad idea?  Don’t let the fact that the council plans to spend $750,000 cloud your thoughts...even though they were giddily humming themselves silly with Edgar Winter tunes while approving this fanciful project!

     Regardless of the amount of the city council’s latest idea dole, the CCR plans to keep all their Janis Joplin memorabilia in safe storage for a real museum loan down the road.  Does anyone have the number for the Museum of the Gulf Coast handy? 


*  Note:  Classic examples of the council indiscriminately doling out bucks would have to at least include the likes of: the chamber of commerce, Billy Bob, Las Colinas Group, Delbert McDougal, most highly priced city consultants, and the Hines Reality project that just garnered $20 million for luxury housing to be built under a D/FW Airport runway. 


A note from counsel: Some “Tweets” from Dylan Westie have been injected with fabricated nouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, adverbs, modifiers and maybe a few dangling participles….Mark Holbrook