The Canopy Club, Leisure Service Delivery--Jehan El-Gabri

I decided to go to the Canopy Club as a representation of a local commercial recreation business. The Canopy Club opened in 1998 and is mainly known as a concert venue. It is actually the only "true concert venue" in the Champaign-Urbana area. They are also known for hosting benefits for social and environmental changes.

The Canopy Club is located on Goodwin Avenue in Urbana. The head employment includes the owner, Anthony Rossi, the head talent buyer Ian Goldberg, and talent buyer/head of advertising Seth Fein. It is a privately owned business and also are in conjunction with Manolo's Pizza and Empanadas, serving their food. As alluded to previously, the Canopy Club is mainly intended to provide live music and serve as a venue for a vast array of artists. As explained to me by an employee there, Eric, the Canopy Club prides itself on providing live music from every sort of genre, making them a great place to go to for all campus students.

When visiting the Canopy Club, I was able to speak with one of its employees, Eric. Eric has several roles there including helping to set up for shows, cleaning the building, and even checking ids at the front door. I was curious to know how he got this job as he is a junior and this is his second year working there.
He said that one of his good friends worked there before him and suggested him, but that employees do tend to recognize familiar faces of people that go to the Canopy Club often. The application process seems to be fairly standard, one must fill out an application and potentially have an interview. Eric said that like most businesses in the area, the Canopy Club tends to hire at the beginning of the school year, possibly at semester, and then before summer.

Current trends for the Canopy Club include "Pizza + Pitcher and Movie" every Sunday, where they serve Manolo's Pizza, have discounted pitchers of beer, and show a different movie every week. Tuesday night is especially busy at the Canopy Club, busier than most bars or clubs in the area due to Piano Man, a night filled of piano playing and singing of crowd favorites. I asked Eric about any issues the Canopy Club may face, and he said that they are lucky in that they are a unique entity for the Champaign-Urbana community but still must compete with bars in the area for customers. Also, since they are located in Urbana, people may enter if they are 18 or older, this gives them an advantage over bars located in Champaign where one must be 19 to enter.

Leisure can be applied to the Canopy Club in that it provides a venue for people to go and enjoy music and performances. It is also a place for people to socialize wit their friends and to meet other people. When I asked Eric how he thought leisure relates to the Canopy Club he said that one of his favorite things to do to relax and enjoy himself is listen to music, and the Canopy Club provides just that.

I would argue that the main benefit for the Champaign-Urbana community that the Canopy Club provides is their music venue which they seem to be most proud of. Because of all the shows that the Canopy Club as, it makes it unique and a great entity to this area. The Canopy Club personally helps to musically educate the Champaign-Urbana population by hosting bands including: Flogging Molly, Girl Talk, Umphrey's McGee, Wu Tang Clan, Sufjan Stevens, and many more of many varieties.


Synopsis:
After visiting and reporting on the Canopy Club, I learned a lot more that I previously knew and was much more impressed than I expected to be. I personally believe that working at the Canopy Club would have a great number of pros. It seems to always be exciting, there are different things going on every night and such a large number of bands go there and play that it would be rewarding to work for the establishment that brings them to this area. I also would assume that if one were to work there, they would likely be able to see a lot of the bands perform which would simply be memorable on its own. Cons that I could foresee in working at the Canopy Club include the fact that they are only open at night, which just means working at a less "normal" time. I would also guess that working there could get stressful at some times because you are expected to provide fun for your customers and seeing as alcohol would most likely be involved, I could see problems potentially mounting. Although working at the Canopy Club could theoretically be stressful, I believe that it does fit perfectly into the leisure delivery system as a commercial recreation business. I would argue this because the Canopy Club provides entertainment for those that go to it. Entertainment is a key part of leisure, and one of the most basic parts of it as well.