© 2026 ABC News

The indie rock club food chain feeds not just the staffers, the managers, the crews and security, but the artists themselves.

Veteran New York musician P.J. O'Connor was scheduled to play at New York's Mercury Lounge on May 21 to coincide with the release of his debut solo album, \"Television's Golden Age.\"

\"You have no idea how I hustled for that date,\" said O'Connor, a colorful and energetic entertainer who's headlined New York clubs for years as a member of Radio Four and The Bogmen. \"It's the perfect date: the Thursday night before Memorial Day weekend in New York City! All the stars were aligned for an unbelievable night. The album was gonna drop that day, but now it's been postponed.\"

With Manhattan still on lockdown, the show has been canceled too.

\"It's awful out there,\" O'Connor observed.

\"PHOTO:
Kal Dolgin/Eyesounds
PHOTO: P.J. O'Connor with the Fine Arab Chargers at Mercury Lounge in New York on March 28, 2019.
>

'Good soldiers'

But NIVA's monthlong campaign, which began in mid-April, may be gaining some steam.

\"I've rarely worked with clients as energized and focused as the NIVA folks are,\" Pomper, whose firm was hired to lobby Congress for NIVA, told ABC News. \"These people are fighting for their lives.\"

That fighting spirit was apparent in interviews with club owners from across the nation.

\"We're not looking for a handout, we're looking for a hand up,\" said Joe Shanahan of Metro, near Wrigley Field in Chicago. \"These are basically mom-and-pop businesses working very closely with government to find a way to give us a path forward.\"

\"I'm not going to say it's going to be a paved road. But we're entrepreneurs, we're creative, we're smart. You give us some tools, we're good soldiers. We're also economic engines for the local economy. We pay sales tax, licensing taxes, rents. We employ hundreds of people.\"

Congress appears to be taking notice.

Among elected officials approached for support by NIVA was Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind, a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

\"We have something in action right now we're putting in legislative form and discussing with Congressional leadership,\" Kind said in an interview last week.

Kind's proposal involves rewriting the language in the federal tax code to make independent music venue ticket refunds eligible for disaster loss under the federal code for losses incurred during a federally declared emergency.

\"That would be a fully refundable tax credit, and I think it would go a long way in helping independent venues across the country,\" Kind told ABC News.

Pomper said that rent and mortgage forgiveness for independent clubs is also under discussion.

Letter Supporting Independe... by ABC News Politics on Scribd

A grassroots letter-writing campaign had, as of Friday, delivered more than 330,000 individual letters to Congressional representatives, said Audrey Schaefer, a NIVA spokeswoman who also works with Washington's 9:30 Club.

Dozens of members of Congress recently sent a letter to House leadership urging support for NIVA's mission.

\"We can provide a vital lifeline for the industry that will help to sustain the iconic venues that are central to the social, cultural and economic fabric of so many of our communities,\" reads the letter, signed by 93 members of Congress. \"This industry is not going to make it without our help.\"

Earlier this month, Boston's Great Scott's closed its doors for good, as did Dallas' iconic Lizard Lounge.

With each passing day, Frank said, financial pressure is mounting on club owners everywhere: \"I'm fielding calls -- three or four calls a day -- from promoters and venues who are like, 'I have one month left Dayna, what do we do?'\"

Despite staggering odds, local music industry veterans seem far from ready to surrender.

\"Our artists have been the trailblazers all along,\" said Kieran Blake, longtime general manager of New York's Bowery Ballroom.

\"Now it's up to us to be the trailblazers, but responsible trailblazers,\" he concluded.

\"It's the only way we're going to get ourselves back onto those dance floors and into each other's arms.\"

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