Dear Beachhead,

The “Lit Show” last Saturday night at Beyond Baroque starring Suzy Williams and Brad Kay, was one of their best efforts. The house was packed. Their annual event has entertained us for 12 years giving us the best of the Venice we know and love. Suzy and Brad out did themselves with musical wit, charm, talent, craft so unique to them. The band was perfect. They are all truly a Venice treasure. An unfortunate incident at the end of the show that occurred was terrifying and gives us pause to think about how our society does not address and care about mental illness.

A man in an obviously, agitated altered state came into the show. He became enraged and started to attack the people around him with a table cutting knife. People surrounded him with folded chairs and tried to subdue him. They chased him out the door and he was arrested a few blocks away. There was a lot of chaos but the drummer and others took charge, the paramedics arrived
immediately, and the police soon after. A witness noticed that the man’s shoes were marked county issue which meant he had recently been in jail or a county institution.

Fortunately, although one man had small cuts on his arm, no one was badly hurt and there was no great damage. This was a random attack by a person out of control. But an alert!!

When you see a person who is abnormally agitated, who do you tell? What do you do? What kind of security do we need, where and when? Homeless people occasionally wander into Beyond Baroque generally looking for food. They are pleasant and not a problem. This event is not usual for Beyond Baroque!! A first as far as I know.

Despite this tragic end, I have great warmth and pleasure in my memories of the “Lit Show”

– Emily Winters

Some notes from Eric Ahlberg: I was right there as all this unfolded.  At Time Warp Music today Shane told me he has had similar troubles with unruly people.  The only solution, short of hiring a security guard, is to designate a house manager, and a couple of muscle people, willing to throw people out if there are warning signs, like a terrible smell or intoxication, or bad aura, so everyone else can enjoy the show. We owe this to our guests. Gerry Fialka tells us that at SPONTO, the houseless he let in would themselves expel the troublemakers.    OK, now let’s have a big hug.