Inside the Utter Mayhem at World Cafe Live
It's fair to say that the Philadelphia music venue is having some major issues, with a second staff walkout on Thursday night and threats of prosecution.
A photo illustration featuring the logo for World Cafe Live, where staff members have staged walkouts two times in as many days
What’s going on at World Cafe Live? That’s a question absolutely no one was asking a week ago. But things have suddenly changed.
On Tuesday morning, a publicist representing Joseph Callahan, the new CEO of World Cafe Live, emailed me asking if I might be interested in writing about how Callahan, the Philadelphia native who brought The Portal to the city, had pulled the University City music venue back from the “brink of closure.” This surprised me, since I had no idea that it had been at or near the brink of closure. We traded some emails about the possibility of an interview, and then I put this in the pile of things to maybe write about at some point.
Then Wednesday happened. During the Suzanne Vega show on Wednesday night, a group of employees staged a walkout and began picketing in front of World Cafe Live. They were protesting what they called “an unacceptable level of hostility and mismanagement” under Callahan’s new leadership. Seemed like a simple enough labor dispute.
But then Thursday happened, bringing with it a new level of escalation. The same publicist sent me a statement at 4:35 p.m. on Thursday, explaining that all of the employees involved in the walkout had been fired. Not just that, World Cafe Live has banned them from the premises. And not just that. No. World Cafe Live is taking this one step further.
“As part of our responsibility to protect this institution,” read the statement, “World Cafe Live has retained counsel to file a formal complaint to federal authorities and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office citing conspiracy to interfere with commerce under the Hobbs Act, theft and destruction of proprietary and contractual records, intentional infliction of financial harm on a 501(c)(3) entity, and trespassing and unlawful disruption of business operations.”
Yes. World Cafe Live is involving the feds.
As for what happened since then, things continued to unravel on Thursday night during a performance of the Sun Ra Arkestra. “At the Sun Ra Arkestra concert and the complete service staff walked out!” one concertgoer texted me just after 8 p.m. on Thursday. “It was insane.”
No word yet on whether World Cafe Live has fired those employees or if the venue intends to pursue charges against them as well. The publicist has yet to respond for a request for comment.
As word of this labor dispute has trickled out into the community, some local musicians have stated on social media that they will never play there again, and some concertgoers are wondering if they can get a refund for upcoming shows.
The next event scheduled at World Cafe Live is a documentary film screening on Friday night. The title? Ironically, It’s All Gonna Break.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.
