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Art Colony: i hate you, MC CHRIS!
Friday, August 5, 2005
› by victoria
The above is a quote from Debbie on SEALAB 2021. But i hate MC Chris as well. Hopefully the following email, dashed off yesterday around 7:30 PM, will explain why:
Dear Miramar Theatre,
I had purchased 2 tickets on Tuesday, August 2nd to attend the MC Chris show tonight, anticipating that I would be able to attend the concert along with my boyfriend, D----- R------. When we arrived at the concert tonight around 7 PM, both of us were searched before entering the concert.
While I was able to go through the security employee's search with minimal hassle (namely opening my purse), my boyfriend was not, due to the fact that he had inadvertantly brought along an item that was deemed dangerous: namely, his small (and hardly functional) pocketknife keychain that contains all of his keys to his apartment, mailbox, etc. When he asked the security employee whether there was somewhere safe to contain his keys while he was at the concert, the security employee dismissed his question by saying that "You could leave your keys over here [gesturing to the counter] and see if they're there when you get out [of the concert]." Also, the security employee lifted up his shirt about halfway up his chest--twice--and was using the front of his hands to search his body excessively, particularly when compared to other attendees entering the concert at the same time that he was entering. When my boyfriend asked what the security employee was doing, the guard responded with a "What do you think I'm doing?" conveying an unpleasant and rude attitude. Afterwards he was not permitted to enter the theatre because we did not have a safe place to put his keys, and so I felt that attending the concert without him would destroy the whole point of enjoying MC Chris's concert as we are both fans of his music.
I understand that your theatre must operate with regards to security of all its patrons, but I feel that in this case, your security personnel were unprofessional and, to be frank, offensive almost to the point of being discriminatory. My boyfriend's Native American/Dutch ancestry has led him to be perceived as Indian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern, while the majority of other people attending the concert (including myself) were obviously Caucasian: perhaps his appearance played a role in this excessive searching. However, by taking into account the small pocketknife keychain, I feel that perhaps you should have a "coat rack" type-area where you can place personal possessions for safekeeping for a small fee. Since the vast majority of Milwaukee's theatres and performance spaces offer services where you can place objects of value in safe storage during an event, as well as security staff who behave in a professional way, I thought that you as a theatre should be made aware of this occurence. While security issues are important, it is also important to build goodwill amongst your customer base, which probably has a large share of college student attendees. Due to our unfortunate experience at your theatre tonight, however, we will not be attending any more Miramar events and we will encourage our friends and acquaintances to do the same.
I am deeply saddened that we were unable to enjoy this performance that we had anticipated so much.
Sincerely,
Victoria ------
Also, I feel like a moron for flushing $28 down the drain on tickets. I'm smacking my own head against the wall--metaphorically--out of frustration. I feel like it was all my fault, even if it wasn't...if I get a response from the info@themiramartheatre.com people, I'll let you all know. In the meantime--ARRRRRRRGH!
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