To the previous owners & booker of Le Voyeur:
(Ryan DiCrescenzo, John Manini, et al.)
Between 2013 and ~2018, when I was putting on all-ages shows in Olympia, Le Voyeur was the center of it all. I believed then (and still do) that young people deserved music, art, and a place to be together whether or not they were old enough to walk into a bar or had $25 for a ticket. Believing that was the easy part. Finding people with a business to run who believed it too was the unicorn I did not appreciate as much as I should have.
You knew an all-ages night might not make much money. You knew those kids were the future of the scene, and you treated them like they belonged there before they'd spent a penny. You gave those kids piles of garlic fries for free. You knew doing right by people and running a good business could be the same thing.
There's something I don't think you ever got to hear. Back then, local kids told me all the time that they'd started a band or learned an instrument because of the shows they saw at Le Voyeur. Local bands that had their start in those rooms (such as AVOID or The Home Team) are now ripping up big venues and playing Warped Tour year after year. That is because you opened that room. You made that possible.
I've worked with a lot of people since then, and the shared principles & mutual trust we had are rarer than they should be. Some of my happiest years were spent doing that work, and a big part of why it worked was having you all beside me, believing in what we were building.
I don't think I ever properly thanked you, so: thank you. For trusting me, for taking a chance on the many nights that didn't pan out, and for giving a whole lot of young people somewhere to make memories and, for some of them, a reason to make music.
It mattered then, and it still matters now. The ripples keep going- through kids who grew up and kept playing, through the bands they started, through whoever those bands are inspiring right now. You'll never see most of it, and most of it will never make its way back to you. But I wanted to make sure at least my gratitude did.
Joey Cristina