Smoking Venues

[Corigan]

I didn't realize there was still any smoking venues in my town, until I happened to be invited to one to see my friends band. It was awful, wife was miserable. Added that venue to a list of never to goto again. Was at a venue last night, smoke free. everyone goes outside to smoke. Lots of people smoking last night, however atleast I could breath in the club.

 

[rtslinger]

NJ no smoking in place everywhere, accept cigar bars, but they don't have live music in my area

 

[Savage_Dreams]

The smoking bars seem to be the fun ones as far as people go, .

I guess people actively choosing to get cancer do need to live everyday like theres no tomorrow.

 

[Turn Em Loose]

Wouldn't that kind of be poetic (in)justice?

Irony.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

So what's the smoking situation like in your area? How does that affect you? Do you factor it in when accepting or not accepting gigs?

Still banned in Houston city limits (thankfully)

There was a time where I'd have put up with it, but those days are long gone. I've been out of my 20s for several years and have thus lost my immortality

I'm probably going to get some serious flack, but I'm making this statement without snark. These folks could vape without the smell or (to my knowledge) secondhand vapors being anywhere NEAR as dangerous as conventional tobacco smoke. Seriously, if you need to smoke in public THAT BAD, why not do that? Coming from having quit smoking 13 years ago after smoking for 6 years. Just sayin....

 

[john_g]

The smoking bars seem to be the fun ones as far as people go, but I agree with OP at this point. My head is f'd up in the morning, I hate my gear all smelling like crap, and I have to shower when I get home and throw my stuff in the laundry before I go to bed.

As i said, there are smoking venues we play around here in PA. We made an effort to minimize the amount of times we play smoking bars, we all hate it, but our drummer really hates it. I used to have a truck and if it wasnt raining or snowing, i would put everything but my bass in the bed after the gig driving home. Most of the gigs were about an hour away for me in that band so by the time i got home, most of the stink was out of my gear. It was great. When i was in my 20s back in the 90s, everywhere was a smoking venue. It was horrible.

 

[Scarysharkface]

I'm sure this topic has been covered before - I just started a new weekly gig last night, easy 3 hour gig, other players are easy to get along with, venue personnel are cool, all very supportive.

The kicker is it's a smoking venue, and aside from having to strip down and throw my cloths in the wash when I got home, I'm still dealing with a ripping sinus headache since early this morning.

Smoking venues may still be a thing in your areas, though here in both Dallas/Fort Worth and mid-cities, they're against city ordinances.

Different story with the suburbs: Addison and Richardson, just north of Dallas, do not have indoor smoking bans, though most the venues I've played there have their own bans, with outdoor smoking encouraged.

Not the case last night, and unfortunately, I'll be giving two weeks notice to the BL as a result.

I was a smoker, and for many years after quitting, I just accepted playing in smoky bars as part of the package, playing in clubs.

Now it'll have been 20 years this coming Spring since the city of Dallas enacted it's indoor smoking ban, and 8 years since my last weekly residency in a smoking (suburban) bar, and I just no longer have the physical tolerance to be around it on a regular basis. I'll accept a smoking venue gig for one-offs, but as of last night, will no longer accept weeklies.

So what's the smoking situation like in your area? How does that affect you? Do you factor it in when accepting or not accepting gigs?

I lost a dear friend to lung cancer a couple of years ago. He was never a smoker. J.T. Corenflos and I played music together on and off our whole lives, much of it in smoky bars, and I will always miss him.

In my county, there is no indoor smoking in bars, and I love it. I would not take a regular gig in a smoking establishment, but would do a one-off if it came to that.

John

 

[micguy]

I'm probably going to get some serious flack, but I'm making this statement without snark. These folks could vape without the smell or (to my knowledge) secondhand vapors being anywhere NEAR as dangerous as conventional tobacco smoke.

No flack, just one of many reports on how vaping isn't so safe:

Link Removed

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Jeez, are you freaking kidding me?? I find it unbelievable that there are venues in the USA that allow that garbage. In the very wide geographical are in which I play (fly dates not included), smoking has been banned for almost 30 years.

I flat-out refuse to play in places that allow smoking. Again, I can’t even believe people still allow that in 2022!!!

 

[KevInDaBassment]

No flack, just one of many reports on how vaping isn't so safe:

Link Removed

So did the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 lol...but both instances are down to cheap lithium-ion batteries being used (and bad design), and not the entire concept itself. A small vape "pen" being different than say a larger vape nebulizer (as I'm told the slang term for it was). Some don't use LI batteries and instead use alkalines, if the LI is a concern for people.

Neither is "good" by any stretch, but you're at far less risk overall using vape than traditional tobacco smoking methods. Not to mention, there's no secondhand smoke with vaping, which is the concern in this thread.

 

[Cave Puppy]

The Smoking Venuses? They opened for the Strawberry Alarm Clock at The Fillmore, lo, back in nineteen hundred and a sixty nine. Wait, what? Oh, smoking venues? Got it. Never mind.

 

[Mysterion]

I completely disagree. I used to smoke. I think there should be zero laws banning smoking itself.

I will say this. It's not a small percentage of the population. If we were to suddenly go back to the days of smoking in restaurants and bars, I bet the MARKET would decide which places would allow it and which ones wouldn't. And I bet the vast majority of venues would stay smoke free.... by a HUGE margin. In other words, non smoking regulars would stop going to venues that started allowing smoking again. then those venues would return to smoke free.

With all due respect, it's not a level playing field. In the big picture, consumers don't have the same resources as large corporations.

For decades, tobacco companies mounted advertising campaigns, generally based in fantasy and outright lies. "The brand doctors prefer!!" (And I'm old enough to remember the family doctor smoking like a chimney in the exam room...)

Tobacco company executives were well aware of the health effects of primary- and second hand-smoke, but they suppressed the findings, and commissioned sham studies. They invested millions of dollars in lobbying efforts to legitimize their business. They placed their products in popular entertainment, and they winkingly appealed to minors in advertising and media. The whole "invisible hand of the market" would never have a chance against such a precisely deployed disinformation campaign.

Promoting the common good is one of the missions of effective government. It's how we got covid vaccines and rural electricity, and it's why there are safety belts in cars (against which US automakers lobbied vehemently.) You're right that smokers are now a minority in the US--but that's not because consumers suddenly decided to reject tobacco. It's the result of government-sponsored studies, information campaigns, and a long process of holding tobacco companies to account.

Ultimately, this benefits us all, as smoking-related disease can be a big drag on the economy, and health-insurance rates.

Really, look at these lying sacks. I've known heroin dealers who were more trustworthy...

 

[murphy]

(Just watched the Seinfeld episode where the valet's body odor...well, you know the story.)

Greater Boston area, about 10-15 years ago. I was an emergency fill-in when a networking friend's bassist had an emergency appendectomy. Played a few gigs with them. Good hang, good tunes, fun times. Then we played a private club. At load-in, I opened the door and it was like a wall of smoke hit me hard in the face. I finished the gig. I had a fan but they don't help if they just recirculate it in a room with poor ventilation.

I told the band I wasn't going to play there again. They understood, and I don't think I was the only one who felt that way. I did the other gigs until their guy came back.

That evening I remember I took 2 showers around 2am. Couldn't really get it off of me (out of my hair) until several days later. Gear and car smelled for days. Lots of air freshener and driving with windows open.

Not sure what the current rules are but if I get a potential gig there I will find out. Just played a birthday party at an Elks Lodge. No smoking, at least in the function room. No problems.

Life's too short to expose myself to that (a) health hazard and (2) annoyance. Private clubs (eg, the local "Someethnicgroup-American" were under different regulations then here.

Last year I gave a ride to gig with the drummer from a Reggae band I played with....

Well....as you guess...The smell in my car took a week to disappear....and my jacket stunk up the whole coat closet....infecting the others...

The Ganja Beast!!!!

 

[Bassngtr]

Oh man what a bummer. I am 100% with you - a smoking venue is an automatic absolute NO for me. I started gigging at the tail end of smoking venues and I'm so thankful it's not an issue around here. It's not just a smell thing - it makes my eyes and nose and lungs rebel big time, even residual smoke (not active smoking but if heavy smoking occurred in the past and lingers.)

 

[two fingers]

With all due respect, it's not a level playing field. In the big picture, consumers don't have the same resources as large corporations.

For decades, tobacco companies mounted advertising campaigns, generally based in fantasy and outright lies. "The brand doctors prefer!!" (And I'm old enough to remember the family doctor smoking like a chimney in the exam room...)

Tobacco company executives were well aware of the health effects of primary- and second hand-smoke, but they suppressed the findings, and commissioned sham studies. They invested millions of dollars in lobbying efforts to legitimize their business. They placed their products in popular entertainment, and they winkingly appealed to minors in advertising and media. The whole "invisible hand of the market" would never have a chance against such a precisely deployed disinformation campaign.

Promoting the common good is one of the missions of effective government. It's how we got covid vaccines and rural electricity, and it's why there are safety belts in cars (against which US automakers lobbied vehemently.) You're right that smokers are now a minority in the US--but that's not because consumers suddenly decided to reject tobacco. It's the result of government-sponsored studies, information campaigns, and a long process of holding tobacco companies to account.

Ultimately, this benefits us all, as smoking-related disease can be a big drag on the economy, and health-insurance rates.

Really, look at these lying sacks. I've known heroin dealers who were more trustworthy...

Meh. You're getting into politics, which we don't do here.

I'll simply say that there shouldn't be many laws banning ANYTHING.

The biggest health issue we have in the US today has nothing to do with airborne germs/bugs/viruses. It's not drinking. It's not smoking. It's FOOD. More people die every single day from issues related to obesity and metabolic issues than any other cause. In fact, the VAST majority of people who have died from COVID HAD metabolic issues (diabetes, pre diabetes, obesity, or at least insulin resistance issues). Most heart disease is related to eating, not smoking. There is a growing group of doctors who want to change the name of Alzheimer's Diseases to "Type 3 Diabetes". It's a METABOLIC issue that slowly destroys the brain.

And yet, there are no hearings regarding potato chips and icecream and Pepsi and cookies. The "Food Pyramid" was BACKWARDS for decades. For YEARS we were told that EGGS were BAD for you! Many nutritionists today literally call eggs "nature's multivitamin". We've been told red meat is BAD for us! If it is grass fed, it is literally one of the most nutrient-dense foods ON EARTH. (By the way, beef liver is even better, nutritionally. So is heart and other organs. But western society throws away millions of pounds of nutrient dense food every single day because the thought of eating heart is "icky".)

Even the latest recommendations are not correct.

Doctors? Don't even get me started. I'm MARRIED to one. Most if then have no desire to read any studies released after they were in med school. Show them one and they roll their eyes. Some go as far as being pill pushers. They don't even WANT to discuss root causes of ANYTHING. They were trained to treat symptoms, not causes. High blood pressure? Here's a pill. Forget trying to figure out what CAUSED the high blood pressure and work on that. (Although I can understand how frustrating it must he to tell a 65 year old 300 pound man that pizza and lack of exercise is killing him only to hear "I'm too old to change may ways, Doc." I see it every single day. I'm in the hallways outside exam rooms, or in next door exam rooms, every single day of work.) Those docs back in the 40s and 50s didn't just push cigarettes because of money. They did it partially because they didn't know any better and didn't WANT to. Many of them smoked themselves and their PRIDE wouldn't let them bash smoking. It wasn't ALL about money. It was also pride and ignorance.

Experts tell us cows are ruining the environment when grass-fed cows are actually a net IMPROVEMENT of local ecosystems. Meanwhile industrial CROP growing facilities spray enough chemicals to kill EVERYTHING EXCEPT the genetically-modified plants they are growing. Bugs and small animals are killed by the BILLIONS every year. Water runoff from those places ruins everything around them. But PLANTS are supposed to be GOOD for the environment?

I don't need that kind of "protection", thank you.

I eat a steak almost every day. I eat nearly a half dozen eggs per day. At 51, my doctor (a functional medicine doctor) can't believe my numbers. No cholesterol issues. No blood pressure issues. And I'm doing everything WRONG.

Do I do cardio exercises? Nope. Zero. No running, treadmills, etc. I lift weights. But my heart rate stays low. My blood pressure stays low. And I have plenty of energy. How can that be???? I'm supposed to RUN or WALK my way to a healthy heart! But our experts tell us everything would be better if obese people simply went for a walk amd ate more fruit. (Many fruits are the metabolic equivalent of eating a Snickers bar.)

Dude, sorry. You hit a nerve. "Protection" my butt.

Mods, if I crossed a line please feel free to delete.

 

[fishdude101101]

Smoking was made illegal to placate a small percentage of the population.

When businesses found ways to still cater to smokers, people still complained.

Maybe we should just execute all the smokers? Would that be acceptable?

There was a trend away from it anyway. Lots of venues in my area banned it privately before it was the law. I'd not work in or play in a place that allowed smoking anyway.

 

[Lowandfat]

You eating a cheeseburger does not impact my lungs, nor make my clothes stink, nor make my eyes burn. As I already said, "freedom" does not just apply to you. Smoking bans are the best thing to ever happen to my line of work, without exception.

 

[lermgalieu]

Eww, no way. Not worth the physical effects. And this is coming from someone who will occasionally toke a "death toboggan." OUTSIDE.

 

[fishdude101101]

Meh. You're getting into politics, which we don't do here.

I'll simply say that there shouldn't be many laws banning ANYTHING.

The biggest health issue we have in the US today has nothing to do with airborne germs/bugs/viruses. It's not drinking. It's not smoking. It's FOOD. More people die every single day from issues related to obesity and metabolic issues than any other cause. In fact, the VAST majority of people who have died from COVID HAD metabolic issues (diabetes, pre diabetes, obesity, or at least insulin resistance issues). Most heart disease is related to eating, not smoking. There is a growing group of doctors who want to change the name of Alzheimer's Diseases to "Type 3 Diabetes". It's a METABOLIC issue that slowly destroys the brain.

And yet, there are no hearings regarding potato chips and icecream and Pepsi and cookies. The "Food Pyramid" was BACKWARDS for decades. For YEARS we were told that EGGS were BAD for you! Many nutritionists today literally call eggs "nature's multivitamin". We've been told red meat is BAD for us! If it is grass fed, it is literally one of the most nutrient-dense foods ON EARTH. (By the way, beef liver is even better, nutritionally. So is heart and other organs. But western society throws away millions of pounds of nutrient dense food every single day because the thought of eating heart is "icky".)

Even the latest recommendations are not correct.

Doctors? Don't even get me started. I'm MARRIED to one. Most if then have no desire to read any studies released after they were in med school. Show them one and they roll their eyes. Some go as far as being pill pushers. They don't even WANT to discuss root causes of ANYTHING. They were trained to treat symptoms, not causes. High blood pressure? Here's a pill. Forget trying to figure out what CAUSED the high blood pressure and work on that. (Although I can understand how frustrating it must he to tell a 65 year old 300 pound man that pizza and lack of exercise is killing him only to hear "I'm too old to change may ways, Doc." I see it every single day. I'm in the hallways outside exam rooms, or in next door exam rooms, every single day of work.) Those docs back in the 40s and 50s didn't just push cigarettes because of money. They did it partially because they didn't know any better and didn't WANT to. Many of them smoked themselves and their PRIDE wouldn't let them bash smoking. It wasn't ALL about money. It was also pride and ignorance.

Experts tell us cows are ruining the environment when grass-fed cows are actually a net IMPROVEMENT of local ecosystems. Meanwhile industrial CROP growing facilities spray enough chemicals to kill EVERYTHING EXCEPT the genetically-modified plants they are growing. Bugs and small animals are killed by the BILLIONS every year. Water runoff from those places ruins everything around them. But PLANTS are supposed to be GOOD for the environment?

I don't need that kind of "protection", thank you.

I eat a steak almost every day. I eat nearly a half dozen eggs per day. At 51, my doctor (a functional medicine doctor) can't believe my numbers. No cholesterol issues. No blood pressure issues. And I'm doing everything WRONG.

Do I do cardio exercises? Nope. Zero. No running, treadmills, etc. I lift weights. But my heart rate stays low. My blood pressure stays low. And I have plenty of energy. How can that be???? I'm supposed to RUN or WALK my way to a healthy heart! But our experts tell us everything would be better if obese people simply went for a walk amd ate more fruit. (Many fruits are the metabolic equivalent of eating a Snickers bar.)

Dude, sorry. You hit a nerve. "Protection" my butt.

Mods, if I crossed a line please feel free to delete.

This reminds me of my dad's 71 year old friend who eats nothing but meat, eggs, and vegetables that grow above the ground. Perfect numbers. His doctors can't believe it. My dad on the other hand isn't doing as well because he eats the opposite.

And on the exercise thing, you do not have to exercise to lose or maintain weight. My dad once argued with his doctor about this. The doctor told him he'd have to train for the Olympics to eat the way he did and lose weight. Doctor said "look, I have quadrapelegic patients who are the correct weight and better metabolic numbers that you because they eat properly"

First thing everyone should do is ditch sugar imho.

 

[bolophonic]

Smoking was made illegal to placate a small percentage of the population.

When businesses found ways to still cater to smokers, people still complained.

Maybe we should just execute all the smokers? Would that be acceptable?

I’m not sure if I read that correctly, but you are asserting that a large majority of people prefer indoor smoking?