A Blog From Jeff Liles... part 2 of 2

To Miles, the obvious solution to this kind of problem was for the DJs to stop playing rap music. Never mind that it was hip-hop music that brought all of these regular customers to the club in the first place.

To him, this wasn't a security issue, it was a music programming solution. In his mind, it was on the DJs to make sure the patrons behaved appropriately. Makes sense, right? Never mind the security staff or hired policemen out in the parking lot, it makes perfect sense to hold the DJs responsible for the behavior of the clientele.

In a broad stroke, the answer was simple – stop playing rap music and the black people will go away. Somehow he apparently never made the connection that these people were also his loyal customers.

To quote another old favorite Slip Inn t-shirt, "Duh…"

A few months back, Zuniga hired two amateur laptop-toting "DJs" who did their best to mix generic mainstream radio hip-hop with annoying, played-out drum-and-bass crap and Michael Jackson mash-ups; along with nauseating shit like Toto, Foreigner and The Eagles' "Hotel California".

Fucking. Embarrassing.

Which brings up something else – how come there are no black DJs or bartenders at Slip Inn? The only African-Americans who work at the Slip Inn are hourly security guards. Why are there no African-Americans handling money behind the bar? I can still remember when Erykah Badu's sister was slingin' drinks at Slip Inn.

Since then, uh… no black folks makin' change anywhere.

Because of Miles Zuniga's raging paranoia this whole situation has reached a critical mass absolute point of absurdity. He now wants to charge a cover at the door. Zuniga has told his door staff and managers that he (in his words) "wants to cut down our black clientele to about 30% of what it normally is".

That's right – he actually used a specific number to use as protocol when profiling patrons at the door. I wonder just exactly how he came up with that math.

His means to an end is a ridiculous new dress code. No jerseys, no shorts, no sideways baseball hats, no typical hip-hop gear, no long white t-shirts, no rope chains, etc…

Hmmm. Is there really any question just who he is trying to single out and discriminate against? Does he have to be so fucking obvious? The employees behind the bar don't even adhere to the dress code.

No jumpsuits? Other than Evel Knievel and Charley's Angels, who the fuck ever wore a jumpsuit? I don't see anything on the list about white sheets and hoods. I guess a Ku Klux Klan uniform is a-ok with Miles Zuniga at the Slip Inn.

Furthermore, the new sign on the front door says something about this being legislated by something called the "Lower Greenville Initiative", which: a) doesn't exist, and b) is a phony front to create the appearance that it wasn't Zuniga alone who came up with this moronic idea to shamelessly blackball black people.

Who else is in this organization? Are they racists too? Is "Barking Dog" irritant Avi Adelman involved in this paranoid rush to conformity?

And when did the Slip Inn move to Lower Greenville?

Over a hundred people were turned away at the door of this East Dallas dive bar over the past weekend. Why? Because they weren't the type of person (re: white) that typically patronizes the same bars that the Slip Inn once distanced itself from.

For the few African-American door employees still on the Slip Inn payroll, this put them in a uncomfortable position of having to discriminate against people of their own race - under the moronic pretense the club is striving for a more "respectable" clientele.

What absolute bullshit.

Does Zuniga really think that there is another group of people who are ready to replace all of the regular customers that he is now turning away at the door? Who are these people? Where are they going to come from?

Does he really think that his douche bag wannabes are gonna ditch Ghost Bar or Suite to come hang out at Slip Inn? Does he not realize that these clubs that he aspires to be like are all playing hip-hop music too?

Is he really that stupid?

Apparently, yes.

Now the club rings under $2500 a night, when it used to ring double or triple that. The bartenders and bar backs are really taking the hit, too... in their half-empty tip jars.

These are good people who have been loyal to the Slip Inn for over seven years. These employees have remained loyal to the club in spite of the new ownership's twisted philosophy.

Now shit is thick – both of Zuniga's handpicked DJs are fading serious heat for this paranoid xenophobe on local blogs like DallasDanceMusic and TexasHipHop. Trust me, these two guys are lonely amid the onslaught of former Slip Inn DJs and AA boycott advocates all droppin' dime on Zuniga.

One of Zuniga's hired laptop hack artists even tried to play both sides of the fence: "I've been reprezentin' hip-hop at Slip Inn 'since '07 and I don't care if you guys show up or not – I'm still getting' paid either way!" The other one wrote, "We're just trying to get rid of the ghetto element at Slip Inn."

Miles must be so proud.

Whenever Zuniga attempts to explain his implicitly racist position to the staff he often says, "Look at the numbers! What would you do if you were me? You've got to see where I'm coming from! I'm just trying to protect my investment!"

Please. You don't protect anything with risk or upheaval. It's a faulty premise.

The first thing he should have done was to NOT change anything. Why fuck with a proven organic formula? What in the world is he thinking? The Slip Inn had carved out an exclusive niche for itself. The club was making big money before he came along.

Now, uh… not so much.

In this year where we're almost certain to see our first African-American president, this new exclusionary bullshit at Slip Inn just seems antiquated and outdated.

It's backwards, not at all progressive. Zuniga's implicit racism is costing him more than just his profit margin. It has destroyed whatever was left of his personal reputation.

The loyalty of most of his employees and the definitive brand of the club is on the line here. He can't afford what it will inevitably cost to alienate and displace loyal customers and employees, and then attempt to market and re-brand the club to the snooty bottle-service set.

Word-of-mouth doesn't happen with that crowd. He'll have to spend thousands to advertise and educate the public about his new agenda.

That shit just ain't gonna happen. Many of Zuniga's employees are far more experienced in the nightclub business than he is. They've tried to tell him that what he wants to do is both counterintuitive and destructive. He acts like he's listening, taking their perspective into consideration, then he turns right around and does something to raise the bar on sheer stupidity.

The guy just doesn't get it.

Miles Zuniga wants you to revel in the fact that he's the owner of Slip Inn. (Do you care? Does anyone? I didn't think so.) If you're on board with a shamelessly ignorant racist douche bag, then go put on a Polo shirt and pull up a stool at the Slip Inn.

Get ready to hear some moldy classic rock or Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" coming from the DJ booth.

I love all my friends who still work at the Slip Inn, but I feel really sorry for them having to answer to an idiot racist. I hate they are having to sacrifice their core principles just to keep a job.

That's how we're livin' in this oil whore economy. You do what you have to do to eat.

These are the same people who used to wear t-shirts that read "Uptown Sucks" and "Defend Dallas". Now, by default, they are reluctantly defending an Uptown poser that won't even let you wear shorts or a t-shirt in his dive bar.

Who stole the soul?

It was Miles Zuniga who took a perfectly good situation and ruined the Slip Inn. I will never go back as long as he has anything to do with it.

Fuck him.

It's time to head back to Deep Ellum.



-JL