the lounge ax defense and relocation compact disc
-New yuppie neighbor (NYN) buys condo behind Lounge Ax (LAx).
-NYN begins complaining about the noise coming from LAx, Jan. '95.
-LAx spends several thousand dollars on additional soundproofing, further insulating the ceiling and building a second insulated wall in the back of the club.
-LAx hears nothing from NYN, so they assume that the soundproofing has worked, problem solved.
-LAx receives a letter from the City requesting a meeting between them and the Liquor Commissioner (LC); motive for the meeting is not mentioned.
-Motive becomes quite clear, noise complaints, NYN is there.
-While discussing the noise problems, LC pulls the LAx file. Seems that the Music and Dance license, which when LAx opened was the only license needed to have live music, is no longer enough to allow the club to do business. Seems that they need a Public Place of Amusement license (PPA). This license was created approximately two years after the club opened, and at that time the City told LAx that it did not apply to them, only to much bigger clubs.
-Middle of the meeting, LC calls the Zoning Dept., hangs up and announces "Well, the noise problems are over. LAx can no longer have live music, you do not have the proper license, and not only that, you cannot get it because you are zoned B, as is all of Lincoln Ave. in this area. You need a zone C to get the permit. So you are closed and there are no more music noise problems. End of story."
-LAx owners and NYN freak out. NYN claims that he does not want LAx closed, just some quiet.
-LAx stays open in spite of LC's threats and hires an attorney who handles liquor issues (very expensive) to fight for them.
-LC starts sending cops around with orders to ticket the club if they don't have the proper license (PPA)
-The cops are cool and do not issue tickets. They also tell LAx that they do not even know what a PPA is.
-Finally, the cops start issuing tickets, every night. This goes on for two weeks, racking up an impressive number of tickets and fines.
-One LAx owner, Julia, and yours truely go to court and watch traffic and narcotics appearances for a couple of hours. LAx tix are continued.
A thrilling day of justice at work.
-Throughout, there is a constant stream of haggling with various city agencies.
-NYN begins complaining again after returning from vacation. On night he complains when LAx does not even have a band performing. Another night he complains forty-five minutes after the final set is over. The set was acoustic.
-Finally, the city tells the cops and the LC to stop hassling LAx because the PPA ordinance is in committee. It has been for some time and will continue to be for a long while. Nobody knows how the new ordinance will read. It is impossible to comply with an ordinance that does not exsist.
-Touch and Go decide to do a benifit compilation to help defray the large legal expenses and also the expenses of moving, if LAx can find a friendlier place to move in the near future.
-LAx gives their story to Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune. A short time later Greg writes the story and gets a source in the employ of the City to admit that if the City enforced the PPA as it is now written, they would close down 700+ clubs in the city.

This is a rough outline with a lot of little details left out. The amazing thing is how cool the cops were during all of this. There were nights when they refused to write tickets even though they were instructed to at roll call. When the cops were finally told that they did not have to writ LAx tickets any longer a few of them stopped by just to say how happy they were about it. One night when a new cop came in, the situation was explained, and he replied "This is Lincoln Avenue for chrissakes!"

Patrick Monaghan