Artists Refuse to Play at World Cafe Live Amid Staff Meltdown
World Cafe Live is in the midst of performance issues as scheduled artist are refusing to play at the venue amid restless staff alleging unfair treatment.
RELATED: Former workers at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live allege unfair treatment, late paychecks
Many people are responding to the urgent calls of the working crowd, and have decided to take action. A punk band the ‘Taxpayers’, and Renee “Ray” Drezner, have both dropped out of their performances at World Cafe Live, calling attention to the negligence of the management and ownership.
“We moved our show from World Cafe Live to First Unitarian Church in response to the labor dispute,” a representative of the Taxpayers told Philly Mag over the weekend, citing “gross mismanagement” and “hostility from the new CEO.”
“Prior to moving the show, we gave the CEO several days to come to a fair agreement with workers and were met with silence,” the rep went on to say. “Beyond these labor disputes, I think any artist or booker right now is questioning whether World Cafe Live can even run a show, considering the amount of staff that has been fired and the silence from management.”
“We are standing with the [World Cafe Live] workers,” Evans wrote to me.
After discovering the details and said abuse, Drezner sent an email to several contacts there, including Callahan, expressing her concerns. She then published her email on her Instagram page. She tells Philly Mag that the response she received didn’t actually address any of her issues, so she canceled the show via a followup email. That was last Wednesday, and yet you can still buy tickets to the show on the World Cafe Live site.
“This is heartbreaking for me, as World Cafe Live is my favorite venue, and I’ve been working on this show for two years,” Drezner wrote in that second email.
One popular local performer who asked not to be named says that they’ve been considering playing at World Cafe Live again — they’ve sold out the venue in recent years — but that this option is now off the table.
“I’m shocked to see what’s been going on there,” they said. “And I can’t imagine being a Philly band and agreeing to play a show there at this point. Beyond everything else, it’s just not a good look for a local band to be involved with them. And it’s not like there aren’t plenty of other places to play.”
