The SS Marie Antoinette sits dry-docked between some run-down commercial lots on Westlake Avenue North. The captain of this vessel is Malaki Stahl, a man in his early 30s. Stahl has been curating art and booking live music at the SSMA—not a boat but rather a warehouse turned art space—for the past year. The shows are all-ages, donation based, and DIY.
On July 29, the SS Marie Antoinette received an informal surprise inspection from the city. At issue was whether the SS Marie Antoinette—which is primarily an art space and occasionally hosts live music—was running a business and profiting from admissions. Anybody familiar with running DIY all-ages shows knows that it's not a lucrative enterprise. Events there operate strictly on a donation basis, with the resident artists volunteering their time to run the shows, and donated money going directly to the bands. These days, most touring bands are lucky if they cover the cost of gas.
The inspection was casual, and Stahl believed the SSMA would be able to keep doing shows as long as no business was occurring. "I like to think there's some benevolence to the city government," says Stahl. "That they don't want the kids not to have fun."
The SSMA had just squared things with the city when it ran aground of more trouble on August 14. That evening, as bands were loading in and fans were showing up, members of the band Impending Doom ignited some M-80s in the parking lot across the street, causing neighbors to call the police. The SSMA was forced to cancel that night's show and has decided to cease booking live music events for the foreseeable future.
"Our main concern is not being evicted," says Stahl. "All-ages shows must come second."
On SSMA's MySpace page, Stahl wrote: "After one year, hundreds of bands, thousands of awesome people supporting said bands, we must throw in the towel... We had a great run & will continue to host visual-art shows... The decision to stop hosting music was not made by us, or the City of Seattle. It was made by a band called Impending Doom.
"We (the DIY community of Seattle) have kept the SSMA afloat through the roughest of storms. But the lack of respect by a few individuals ruined the work of hundreds of respectful individuals in minutes."
DIY all-ages spaces like the SSMA are difficult to sustain: they don't make money, noise issues with neighbors can often occur, they require individuals' time and energy to maintain, and there is always the threat of police or city intervention. But such spaces provide a vital alternative to a metropolis' larger, more-established all-ages venues, such as the city-sponsored Vera Project or the Mars Hill-hosted Paradox.
"What's nice about [SSMA] is that it strips the business out of it," says Stahl. "These are bands that wouldn't be playing at Chop Suey, because they don't have any hype, they're not part of the 'machine' for whatever reason or they don't want to be."
Places like the SSMA allow for music and art to exist independently of profit motive, bureaucracy, or religious affiliation; they allow for artistic experimentation that might not make for good business and for ideas that might anger or annoy the establishment. Seattle has a handful of these spots today, but none has really filled the void left by the dissolution of 2nd Avenue Pizza and the Punkin House.
"Right now a lot of the DIY spaces in town are doing an awesome job, but a lot of them are pretty new at it and they're still figuring things out," says Benjamin Rouse, a former Punkin House resident.
The SSMA may have attracted excessive attention recently, but this weekend's Carousel Festival aims to shine more light on the city's scrappy all-ages community.
20/20 Cycle and a handful of houses have teamed up to put on Carousel Fest, a series of DIY all-ages shows happening over two days at spaces throughout the city. Performances begin Saturday afternoon, August 26, at Camp Nowhere in the U-District, with a scheduled evening performance at the SSMA now in question. The Sunday, August 27, lineup begins at 20th and Pine house, continues at the 20/20 Cycle, and wraps up at the Greenhouse. Mass bike rides and a bus are planned to transport concertgoers from one show to the next. The festivities include performances from Seattle's Wormwood, the Dead Science, BlöödHag, Der Trasch, and many others. Details are available at www.seattlediy.com.
