Blake's On Telegraph: Booking

Blakes on Telegraph is an 18 and over club with 3 floors, 3 bars and a full restaurant. The music venue is the "Rat", a.k.a. Rathskeller, or underground lounge. The Rat capacity is 220+; a medium-sized venue. We're located on Telegraph Ave, one block from UC Berkeley, probably the busiest area in Berkeley. We've been around for 60 years, have as many as 7 live shows a week and lots of musicians have gotten their start here (see our history page). The bands are mostly local and regional acts, with national and touring acts playing here a few times a month. We book mostly rock (and derivations thereof-indie, folk, punk, hard, metal...), but really look for a great show and line-up as opposed to genre. You'll get the idea of music style by looking at our calendar.

BLAKES is booked exclusively through KGE ( Kid Glove Entertainment ). KGE has been established since May 7 1994.

KGE has been booking for 7 years and have booked Independently at Blakes previously from 2000-2005. KGE has a well known street team. In 2005 alone, they distributed over 200,000 leafets of sort, ie: flyers & posters, promoting many Bay Area events including their KGE shows. They provide a professional production on show nights. And members of KGE have worked on tours with The Rolling Stones, U2, Tim Mc Graw & Faith Hill, Buckethead and many more.

They have also been involved in Radio & TV Production, and have booked multiple venues in the past. Their affiliation with The California Music Awards, Another Planet Entertainment & other media outlets provide extra exposure for the bands they book. For booking consideration, you can send them a myspace message via www.Myspace.com/KGErules & e-mail them at KidGloveEntertainment@hotmail.com

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Currently, we have set gigs on Mondays, and Thursdays. That leaves Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays available for bands. Tuesdays are open too, but used mostly for private functions or rentals. If you haven't played here before or are just getting a fan-base going, you're most likely going to get offered a Wednesday night. If you are new to Blakes, we still expect you to draw. If you can't bring in at least 30 people per band, then you probably aren't ready to play here. It's not that you aren't good enough, it's just a real bummer to play to nobody and it can be hard to fill up a 200+ capacity room. Play at some smaller-sized venues in the East Bay, ones you can fill up more easily. Throw a warehouse party, play festivals and coffee houses, or Cal events to build up your following in this area and then come back to us.

Friday and Saturday night bands are obviously nights for bands that have paid their dues, put on a great show, have built up their fan base, can make the night a super fun party and in total bring in about 200 people. The style of music really can vary and it's really about putting together a great weekend show.

If you are an acoustic performer, we have a weekly show every Monday called The Songwriters Symposium. It's an acoustic open mic and we encourage everyone to come down, play, and have a good time. It's also a way we get to see you and your talents. Musicians can sign up to play at 8:30pm.

The Name of your band.
Where you are based out of .
Contact information ie: phone numbers and e-mail address.
Are there any band members under 21 ?
How would you describe your music ? What are your influences ?
What other local bands would you like to perform with ?
Where have you performed recently ?
How long has your band been together ?
Do you have a web-site or some where we can listen to your music?
Where are you interested in playing ?
What dates are you available ?
DO NOT SEND A PRESS KIT UNLESS IT IS REQUESTED.
Due to the volume of packages we receive on a daily basis there is a good chance your package will end up in an overflowing box and may not be reviewed until months after it has been sent.

Please allow us time to return your calls and or e-mails.
Do not assume we are ignoring you or that we are not interested in booking your band or project
if we do not respond right away. We have a high volume of calls and e-mails coming into our office daily and we do our best to respond to all inquiries. If you do not hear back from us after one week please contact us again.

Your press kit should include a cd of your music, past show info (including venues and bands you've played), pictures, and any press you've received. The high volume of press kits received makes it just about impossible to get to all of them. If we are interested, we will get in touch with you. Thanks for understanding.

Info About Your Show:
We will go over the details for the event including load in time , door time , show time
your set time , set length , cover charge and the complete line up of artists.
Please keep a record of this information. We also will contact you via e-mail
on the Monday before your event to advance all of the details again. Please check your
e-mail before contacting us as this helps to reduce the volume of calls and e-mails to
our office.
PLEASE PROMOTE THE SHOW TIME NOT YOUR SET TIME.
This will avoid any problems in the event of the rare occasion when we will need to change your set time due to any unforeseen last minute glitches such as band cancellations from vehicles breaking down on the way to the show etc. Remember the show must go on and we may need to rearrange the set times in order to keep the event rolling. If you advertise your set time and not the show time and you are required to play earlier your fans may miss your performance. In addition , advertising the show time also promotes a supportive environment for all of the artists on the bill and is better for the club too.

Using your band or projects logos in our artwork:
Send photos , art work and band Logo’s to KidGloveEntertainment@hotmail.com
300 dpi Jpeg format
Keep in mind the logos need to be legible and easy to read on news print.
One logo for white backround and one for black backround is always a good idea.

This is the primary way to get a show @Blakes, but ask Gary for other options such as rental or something else.

But wait. There's more for you to do. And it's really, really important. It's called.

• Posters: include all of the bands on the bill, music style, times, date & cover charge. You can email them or send to the club.

• For you to flyer the area. We suggest: The UC Campus, Telegraph, Amoeba Music (they have a board in the front to put up posters and slots for flyers), Rasputin's (they have small boards in each section of musical genre to post), Shattuck Ave, Ashby, Gilman, Piedmont and at other venues.

• Promote at your other shows and on your website. Remember: we do NOT want you to be playing a local show 12 days before or after your show here at Blakes. This inherently affects your draw!

• If you want us to send a press release to the media, forward the info and a high quality band photo to us in an email and we'll get it out to all of the papers and radio stations.

KALX: KALX Radio
University of California
26 Barrows Hall #5650
Berkeley, CA 94720-5650
510-642-1111

• To get considered for airplay: Send a CD ahead of time to the address above. It has to be a professionally pressed CD ONLY! No demos or CDRs. (See below for demo and CDR info.) To follow up on the receipt of the cd and the possibility of airplay, call Benjie or Kelli. Benjie's hours are MON 12-2pm and Kelli's hours are WED 12-2PM.

• To get considered for an interview or in-studio performance: Interviews are coordinated by Suzanne La. She can only be reached by email at interview@kalxlive.org.

• KALX Live is the show that allows the submittal of demos and CDRs. The show airs Saturday nights from 9pm-12am. Send your demo to the address above, attention "KALX Live". And to follow up with email, the address is kalxlive@kalxlive.org.

• To be CONSIDERED for a critic's choice or a write-up in the East Bay Express, send a bio and a professional glossy photo to eric.arnold@eastbayexpress.com. This does not guarantee any write-up in the paper, it only increases your chances by getting them familiar with you.

When you load in, check in with the sound engineer or show manager. Pick one person from the band to be the contact with the sound engineer and show manager. Load-in is through the front door and down the front staircase. If double-parking, leave someone at the vehicle. Do not park in the yellow zones on Telegraph, but the side streets are perfectly fine, including the yellow zones. Don't park in the parking garage because it closes early and you'll get your car locked in the garage. Put your gear on the left side of the stage. Only the opening band gets a sound check prior to the start of the show. All others get a line check when you set up. If you require a sound check, let us know and we can accomodate that request.

Friday/Saturday Nights: load-in is at 8pm, sound check for opening band only at 8:30pm. Show typically at 9:30pm.

We prefer that you do NOT load out during the show. We want you to stay and support the other bands. Prior arrangements for loading out early must be made in advance with the booker or show manager on duty. Load-out can only be done during set breaks. Otherwise, stay and have fun (it's a rough life).

About a half an hour after the door register closes. The show manager on duty will pay you. If you have to leave prior to the end of the night, you can leave your address, phone number and tax I.D. or S.S.# with the manager and we will mail it to you. Or you can contact KidGloveEntertainment@hotmail.com anytime to arrange payment. There is paperwork that needs to be filled out by every band prior to receiving your money. You need to provide the following information:
· Tax I.D. or S.S.# of the person who is receiving the money.
· Your name, address and phone #.
· Your band's website or email
· Your signature.

The form will list the total collected at the door, your pay percentage and the dollar amount paid out to you. It is mandatory that we receive a S.S.# or tax I.D.# from you. If you make at least $600 in a calendar year, you will be issued a 1099 IRS form stating your earnings.

If your promotions and show went well, we want to book you again. Typically, we do not like to book the same band more than once every 1-½ months. Any sooner and it's hard to get the draw. It's just good business sense. Call us with your schedule and we go from there. And call if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, helpful household hints, a great recipe or a fabulous fashion idea. Talk to you soon.