Bay City Music

Another high point for her seemed to be the regular customers. “They are like family,” Pisarski said, “one regular customer said that he’d bring a keg over” and they could do shows at her house.

“The coolest show,” Kathy eagerly pointed out, “would have to be Brett Michaels.” She seemed, rightly so, very proud of that show and the effort she put into it.

Running the Arlington seems to be almost a calling for Kathy, however, managing the club has also provided some tough times. “About a year ago,” She bemused, “we hosted a battle of the bands for all genres of music and a country group won in a field of metal bands.”

The next thing she knew her bus had its windows smashed and the mirror broken causing over $250 worth of damage. Someone threatened to harm her kids and burn down her house. “Apparently they were unhappy that a country band won,” she said. The police later told her that they traced this back to an individual in a local band that thought one of the metal bands should win.

In a “Battle of the Bands” the show is judged and the promoter has nothing to do with the final outcome. “The Battle of the Bands was judged, and had ballots, I Just read the winner” Kathy said.

Since January 2007, when Pisarski officially took over as Manager, She states, “I have done about 100-150 shows,” and later adds, “It’s hard to run a club 7 days a week, you miss your kids. Spyder really takes the brunt of it; he opens the club and works 12 hours a day. It seems like the only time I see him is here (at the Arlington).”

The Pisarski’s are not doing this for the money, but instead for a true love of original music. The pay that they receive for a week is less than what many bands will earn for a show. “I used to give bands gas money out of my pocket if it was a slow night, but Spyder says that I can’t do that anymore,” she said.

Kathy and Spyder have given everything they have into making the Arlington successful. Including the savings that Hott and Bothered Productions has accumulated.

One of the reasons that Kathy is leaving the Arlington is because she feels that the owner didn't support her efforts in advertising. She wanted to have more promotions to bring in a crowd but believes that the owner’s lack of advertising has hurt her ability to really bring in the people that the bands deserve.

She also offers this advice to bands, “It’s a team effort, anyone can come to see me, but does it matter if there not in the back room,” she said, referring to where the bands play.

She believes that bands can really help themselves and the local music scene by making sure to promote the shows they play. “Some bands just show up and don’t care if they play to one person.” She said frustrated over the lack of self promotion.

Another pet peeve of hers is over the lack of respect that many bands give clubs when they cancel at the last minute. “I understand if it’s a funeral…but,” she said.

Not giving proper notice really bugs her because when a band cancels without notice it doesn’t allow her time to find a replacement band. She agreed that this not only hurts the club and promoter but takes an opportunity away from a band that wants to play.

When asked about the future of the Arlington, Kathy said, “I don’t know, Mike (the owner) hasn’t spoken to me about it.”

This reporter has heard rumors that the ownership of the Arlington has been looking for a DJ to replace the original music that this venue proudly hosts now. When asked about this Pisarski stated, “Mums the word. The owner hasn’t told me anything.” She later went on to say that he did bring up a certain DJ’s name.

The Pisarski’s are actively looking for a venue to purchase and have seemingly narrowed there choices to three. Kathy stated that “we are looking to purchase a club in January. If we purchase it now certain taxes will be due at the end of the year.”

Until the purchase of a new venue, that the Pisarski’s can run as they see fit, Kathy will use her free time to spend with family. She also said that she will be promoting a few shows locally and doing some mobile sound.

If you are interested in contacting Kathy about running sound you can reach her at this MySpace link: http://www.myspace.com/hottandbothered