tl;dr: Manny Theiner abuses his position at Pittsburgh’s City Paper. He will screw over your band.

Manny Theiner is a contributing writer for Pittsburgh City Paper and local show promoter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also runs Garfield Artworks and has made a name for himself on the national circuit for screwing over bands.

When Manny launched a series of personal attacks against me, he boasted that his wrongdoings had no citable examples. It was then I knew I had to blow the whistle.

First, Manny Theiner’s Private Partnerships

In 2007, it became blatantly clear that Manny Theiner and Jim Semonik had a ‘private partnership’.  They would bill the shows as Distortion Productions, and Manny would write them up in the Pittsburgh City Paper. In exchange Manny would be a ‘silent partner’.

After the Front Line Assembly [link] show at Mr. Smalls, Jim Semonik told me the show had lost money, but it had not ‘affected his partnership with Manny’.  We were decent friends until I booked a few shows in Pittsburgh.  Afterward Manny Theiner told me in a phone call, “You can get under me or I’ll watch you burn.” Threats from him are not uncommon. [link]

Putting another production company name allows Manny Theiner to write about it. He’s currently working with Grey Area Productions at The Rex Theater, and has had a long-standing relationship with the 31^st Street Pub.  He often inserts articles about his own shows at other venues.

Second: Manny Theiner’s abuses his Position at Pittsburgh City Paper

Working with Manny Theiner offers certain ‘perks’. His writing frequently features performers he works with.  These reviews and mentions are nothing more than “advertorials”. Furthermore, he uses articles as ‘favors’ to entice touring bands to work with him the next time they come to Pittsburgh. (review this)

“It sucks we had to play his show to get into City Paper, but I guess that’s the way it is.”
-Anonymous Band

This is good ol’ boy mentality at it’s best.  No one does anything because they don’t wants to risk their chance at being ‘in’ with the Pittsburgh City Paper.  Once this article was published, Pittsburgh City Paper’s staff uniformly removed me from their social media networks. Only proving the point.

Graph 1: Articles in Music Section by Author

I publicly confronted Pittsburgh City Paper about his ‘Private Partnerships’ in December 2009 [link]. We lightly spoke that night at the Best of ’09 party. [link]. They assured me he was just a ‘contributor’ and would look into it. Afterward, I dropped the issue and even attended their ’10 Music Guide Party. [link]

Graph 2: Author Distribution in Pittsburgh City Paper Music Section

As we can see above, Manny Theiner produces 27.45% of Pittsburgh’s City Paper music section. His statistics are only rivaled by Aaron Jentzen.

Graph 3: Articles By Manny, As a Contributor, or for Garfield Artworks

Contributor? When you add it up, Manny Theiner controls about 1/3 of the Pittsburgh City Paper music content at 34.84% (+/- 3.3% see notes). For all intensive purposes, Manny full time staff, which makes his abuse more grievous.

Graph 4: Mr. Smalls & Andy Warhol Museum exclude due to search errors.

Pittsburgh City Paper’s internal search engine can produce junk results. In this case I did Mr. Smalls and Andy Warhol Museum because of them. Cross referencing them with Google results make me feel confident the remaining statistics are solid.

Graph 5Mr. Smalls & Andy Warhol Museum exclude due to search errors.

There are so many ways you can interpret this. I’ll highlight some points of interest.

1. Club Cafe is the most notable of the venues according to City Paper.
2. Manny’s Venue Garfield Artworks ranks #3.
3. The 31st Street Pub has an interesting Music to Main Feature ratio.

NOTICE: I am currently holding off on posting the sheet of specific examples until third parties can review them. I am afraid the referenced articles may be tampered with once posted.

Third: Manny Theiner Will Screw Over Your Band.

There’s a reason Manny Theiner can’t get many veteran punk artists. He screwed them over. There are decades of artists who avoid Pittsburgh because they have been ‘Mannied’. There is a positive side effect, you can bond with almost anyone in the music industry when you ask for their Manny story.

Not paying bands isn’t Punk. It’s theft.

My Joe Jack Talcum Story: Joe Jack Talcum played at the Rex Theater in front of 7 People. At the end of the show, Manny said, “I’m going to the car to get your money.” He left, vanished, and the bands crashed at my house. [Link 1 - Link 2]

I have a list of bands that have claimed to have been screwed over by Manny; I’ve sent out requests for public statements. Many local bands have shied away from this not wanting to “ruin their chances” of getting into Pittsburgh City Paper.

Note: Manny gives local bands preferred treatment, since he must reuse them as show openers.

Closing: I’ll add a new closing when I post the examples.

Change log 10/5/10.

1. Article was majorly rewritten. Thank you for the feedback.
2. “City Paper and Aaron Jentzen go out of their way to label Manny Theiner Shows.” was removed. Research brought this into question.
3. Research confirmed previous 31st Street Pub suspicions.
4. The Tesco Vee and the Meatmen have garnered further suspicions .
5. On statistics. I have tried to be as precise as possible. Statistics cover “Music” category and does not cover “Blogs” or “Main Features”. The search was preformed by String, rather than “AuthorID” to provide more accurate information. On the third graph, this could mean a difference of 3.3% of Manny’s total. That would make his overall percentage 31.54% instead of 34.84%.
6. Waiting on examples to be reviewed by third parties.

To Roboto Readers: This article isn’t about popularity. It’s about doing the right thing.

It may be a few days before I update this, please be patient.

I and my brand are no longer associated with Skatopia;
Furthermore, bands booked for Bowl Bash XV by “Foo” have been misinformed.

In January’s announcement of the American Skate Fest, which I was not part of, Bowl Bash XV was rescheduled to June 18th &19th. This conflicts with my work on NY Punk Island which falls on the same weekend. While Brewce and I tried to work out the logistics, the fact remains: I cannot be at two places at once.

I’m not too bummed about it: This is an awesome year to be a punk.

Punk Island has over 100 bands scheduled for 13 stages. I’m working on a Foo Fest in Pittsburgh slated to have over 250 bands. And I’m wrapping up five punk compilation albums including the next generation of the legendary Iron City Punk. Not to mention all the punk bands that have taken their instruments to the road making these things possible.

I wish Skatopia and Brewce all the best.

Cheers,
Foo

Channel Three, from Southern California, makes their glorious return to the Iron City 27 years after their 1983 tour. The last time they were here, they played the Electric Banana and received the complimentary gun pulled on them.

This show will also help us press up the next Iron City Punk album.

Channel Three
http://www.myspace.com/channelthree

Mud City Manglers
http://www.myspace.com/mudcity

Plastered Bastards
http://www.myspace.com/drunkbastards

+1 TBA

Lock Up Your Kids

Louisiana natives tell tales of days lost in the bayou. Each story follows a similar pattern of events. While trudging through the murky waters, an upright bass captures the heartbeat. Two female voices entangle leafs with an eerie radiance. Eventually they would enter an enchanted campsite of lost boys and crust punks. The victims would awaken with the fire’s last ember. The only thing left were the songs etched onto their souls.

Locals call it, The Endless Night.

Kimi, Joe, and Reba, were once like you and me. One faithful day, they became love struck mid-performance, driven mad by a straightedge muse. Immediately after that performance, they vanished into the boxcars of a local train yard. Their names and instruments were all they retained.

Mad with music, Wifebeater rejects society. Legislators see them as a scourge on the rolling plains of existence – kids living beyond the law of civilized man. As they traveled the United States their legend grew. Women started throwing bread at passing boxcars as tribute for vagabond deities.

The Icy Hell Hounds of Keelut

While adventuring in the Great White North, Wifebeater was cornered in an icy cave by the famed Inuit Bounty Hunter, Keelut. He commanded hellish chimeras, polar bears crossed with huskies. Permanently snow blind, he used his heightened sense of hearing to locating the three rouge musicians.

The fight was as bitter as the cold that surrounding them. Joe wrestled half the unholy chimeras through sheer force of will. Kimi morphed into her animal spirit and accepted the challenge with a boisterous roar. Reba dauntlessly faced Keelut’s onslaught. Even Reba’s blessed guitar of relentless fury could not overcome Keelut’s poisoned soul.

Close to death, Wifebeater sang out to collapse the icy tomb. The crystalline roof crumbled and the floor gave into the breathless waters below. What happened after that moment is unclear. Three weeks later, polar bear like creatures were spotted on glaciers in the Hudson Bay and Wifebeater appeared in Pittsburgh.

I met Wifebeater in the cellar of an ancient church. The Code Orange Kids were playing, and The Edukators were negotiating the surrender of Comrade  Kangaroo. There is little documentation of that night, but I assure you of the following:

A death glare from Wifebeater can kill three flies, two birds, and a 1986 Ford Taurus. I survived, but a parked Nissan Sentra had gone to a better place. The car was promptly replaced with a bicycle, and nothing of value was lost.

The local shows after that blurred together. Wifebeater became local heroes with their soy-based leather tannery. Additionally, they unionized the bees to produce vegan friendly honey. Our paths often cross, for adventure’s muse never sleeps.

Wifebeater reminds us:
We are all vagabonds aimless and free.

Holy Hand Grenade of Punk

Crafted by the Heavens, Gifted to Man

There was a day not long ago, the heavens stood still. The clouds shook with thunder and shattered into fragments. Through the Soul Forge’s flame, a figure of perfection streaked down unto the world leaving an amber sky. Legend has it, a punk angel received her wings on that day.

As I wandered aimlessly, going on such adventures required of a punk prophet, I was visited by Mercury, messenger of the gods. He was in one of his many forms, a bicycle punk. His messenger bag was filled with heavenly items: PBR, Show Flyers, etc. From his bag he delivered one particular item, The Last Hope Manifesto CD.

The Last Hope’s CD Release Show was over a week away. If it had been delivered by anyone else, I would have simply concluded it was the work of the devil and burned it. The mere fact that Manifesto had come to me before it’s release could only have meant two things. This is destiny, or it was from the future.

Receiving a CD before it’s released is a tricky situation. If you tell the band about it, their creativity process could be impacted thus resulting in a different cd, time paradox, or parallel universe. Erroring on the side of caution, I decided to wait until the CD Release party before ever listening to The Last Hope. Time Paradox resolved.

Photos of The Last Hope CD Release Show

TheSixtyOne, Demonoid, and bands sending me mp3′s is where I get my music. (Ask me for Demonoid invites here.) Originally, I wasn’t sure what a CD would do. Googling it revealed that in the before times, CD’s were used much like the Edison Phonograph Cylinder to store music. Digging further, I found Apple hid a CD/DVD reader in my iMac.

Non-organic

I was surprised to find out that The Last Hope’s Manifesto was non-organic and non-edible. We can finally put the myth to rest that Manifesto is made of candy. The drool proved the CD to be surprisingly water resistant. Field tests show that rubbing The Last Hope’s Manifesto on SUV’s won’t immediately set them ablaze as one would hope.

Contrary to popular belief The Last Hope doesn’t prevent winter. I left Manifesto in my garden over night to see what effects it would have. My parsley and cilantro did not become ‘herbs on steroids’. Most everything was still killed by the frost. Manifesto survived the winter night’s frost to look pretty bad ass.

Contrary to Popular Belief the Last Hope Doesn't Prevent Winter

Shameless Self Promotion: Buy it at Active Left

The Last Hope’s Manifesto is a refreshing roundhouse kick of ember punk. A panda might be able to eat more bambo, but this album delivers a consistent row of chaos spikes.

Their lyrics are emotionally revealing, highlighting the spiritual struggle and symbolizing the evolution of world mythology beyond the sword birthing into new social theories on autonomism in a post colonial world; Indeed, Manifesto impeccably meshes Emma Goldman’s anarchist romanticism with Noam Chomsky’s polished rhetoric exemplifying DIY Culture and reminding each of us in our hearts:

There’s no war, but the Class War.

November 13th – Two Hand Fools, Run, Forever, The Homeless Gospel Choir, The Otis Wolves @ 222 Ormsby

November 14th – Mostly Fish, The Otis Wolves, Shady Ave, & Funny Like a Funeral @ The RockRoom

November 14th – The Code Orange Kids, YAP w/ The Edukators, Wife Beater, Hollow Vent, and More @ Church of the Redeemer

November 17th – Bomb the Music Industry, Playoff Beard, Fezz-Wig @ 222 Ormsby

November 18th – James Black, Boogdish, Laika the Astro-Hound, Skinless Bone @ The Discovery Zone

November 19th – CD RELEASE: Homeless Gospel Choir, Matt Miller, & Friends @ The Discovery Zone

November 20th – Loafass, Alcoholocaust, and Rustbelt Homewreckers @ Belvederes

November 21th – CD RELEASE: The Last Hope, Endless Mike is the Beagle Club, Girl Fight, In the Wake of Giants & Code Orange Kids @ Hot Metal

November 24th – The Edukators, Rustbelt Homewreckers,

November 29th – INNERDS, Ordinary Men and Women, +1 TBA

Bomb The Music Industry! – “Wednesday Night Drinkball” from Bryan Schlam on Vimeo.

This is happening November 17th, 7pm – $5 but no one turned away.

Why is it Foo Presents?

1. This is how professionals do it, dumbass.
   
   A Flyer Includes: Promoter, Venue, Sound, and Stage Management. I do 3 out of 4 of those things. I also get the praise or blame for the musical taste.

2. When I tell someone to get on or off stage and they ask, “Who the hell are you?” I will point at the poster and say, “It’s my show shut up and do what I tell you.”
   
   
3. Brewce is okay with it. And if you want to tell Brewce what to do, please wait until I get down there because I want to watch this.

Further, “Foo presents” takes up 2.7% of the pixel area of the poster. That cannot begin to compensate me or anyone for the love and devotion put into this show. Brewce deserves more, the bands deserve more, everyone does. If you don’t think we deserve it, then don’t attend.

If Jesus were alive, he'd be a zombie. Whose Brain Would Jesus Eat - WBWJE.

I’ve been too easy at bands coming to Skatopia’s Bowl Bash this year. It’s time to raise the stakes.

Patt,

You’ve chosen wisely. Our dark lord Skatin welcomes you. Talking to Jesus may be a dollar, but Skatin will never turn you away.

He does require tribute:
1. We require a case of PBR. (For your Safety)
2. A Van full of strippers. (For our Safety)
3. Punk Rock. (For the harm of society)

If you think you’re up to it, let’s details.

Foo
412-567-0366

I love mein Job.