Lipgloss moves from La Rumba to Beauty Bar
Westword (Jon Solomon): What were your thoughts when you first heard about Lipgloss moving?
Eric Gruneisen
Jesse Morreale: Surprised. I mean, it's been eight and a half years. My team and our club contributed so much to the growth of that product. To face that kind of, like, blatant disregard to us and all the people that work at La Rumba and everything. It was kind of shocking to me. The whole thing just seems very counter-intuitive. I mean, first of all, I don't even know what he said. I heard there's something called a Facebook. So what is he saying the reasoning is?
I heard one of the reasons was a monetary thing. Maybe he thought he wasn't getting paid what he deserved.
The deal has been the same with Michael since we started the night eight and a half years ago. It's rewards-based. Basically, everybody shared in the same pie at the same amount, so it doesn't make any sense. Do you know what I mean? If more people came, then it would be a bigger pie; therefore, everybody gets a bigger piece of that pie, right? That's the way that works.
I think the night, just in and of itself, is just kind of dead. I mean, it has been, despite the awards and despite the exposure and despite us all talking it up, you know? I feel that whole crowd is always looking for the next. That's always been the foundation of it. And let's be honest, Lipgloss is a little tired.
I think another reason why he decided to switch venues might be he wanted new.
I think the product itself is kind of worn-out, and that's unfortunate. A change in geography isn't going to change what the night is. After eight and half years, there are a lot of people that would just go to Lipgloss inadvertently. They'd end up there because of the geography and because they knew that people go to La Rumba on Friday nights.
So you move it, and, all a sudden, people can't find you because they weren't looking for you in the first place. Well, that could be a problem. I don't know, though. If you move it to the Beauty Bar, which is incrementally smaller -- no, it's a lot smaller -- maybe the vibe will be different. I mean, however many people in a big club and you stick that same number of people in a little club, it's going to feel busier. But at the end of day, it's not. I just don't know.
So this Friday will be the last Lipgloss there?
Believe it not, yes, sir.
Do you have any particular fond memories of Lipgloss?
Yeah, absolutely. Certainly the growth of it. I like building things. I don't do what I do because I'm some money-grubbing, twenty-first century vulture. I like building things, and I like seeing people happy. And so I think the first couple years are the fondest memory for me, with everybody working together. That was back when Michael and Tyler would actually work at promoting.
We were all working hard for a common goal of building something cool, and seeing it evolve into something as big as it was. That was probably the fondest memory...then watching it go through its decline, becoming less vital and less vibrant -- that's the worst memory, other than an e-mail on a Saturday fucking morning.
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La Rumba
99 W. 9th Ave., Denver, CO
Category: Music
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