The Back Room — Local services in Berkeley

Just wanted to add to another review that the owner is a terrible human being. He didn’t know how to turn down the master sound and scolded the young man who was an amateur electric guitar player. The yelling was traumatic and I felt like I needed to go to a therapist after. Ironically, he overreacted at this young man right after the MC walked us through her woo woo energy meditation to cleanse the chakras. The owner also talked loudly. Walked around the whole time presumably checking sound but the treble was off and it was so loud the singing hurt my ears. He also wears shoes that expose some very hideous toes and I think he lives there because all of his personal bathroom items are in the main bathroom. I’d like my twenty dollars refunded. Monica Barry the host of this Ally Cat singers amateur night also has too much internal monologue that she overshares with the audience. Some of her comments to the young men who performed could be construed borderline sexual harassment. There were several good singers but they were all the way at the end. And most people seemed tired or traumatized too stay that long. How do I...

Performer here; Sam was kind to my cousin who showed up early and I know what a pain it can be for guests at any event to show up early. Regretably, while Sam may have empathy for people in general, he’s not a natural host in specific of musicians for a significant list of issues, presumably, the raison d’etre of this place.

My hope is that Sam is soon blessed with the means to have a crew go in and clean the place from top to bottom, back to front, organize the sound cables, remove the trip hazards, and clean those couches. If those things happened, this would be a poppin’ joint!

On the other hand, a lot of the reviewers on here seem happy with things as they are, so, there’s that.

I do sincerely wish him the best in this endeavor. Maybe it’s...

Edit to respond to owner's response: if you weren't talking loud enough for everyone to hear, how did I know you were talking?

My friend put on a quiet show. The owner was very disruptive throughout the entire show. He was in the back, talking loudly to whoever came in for minutes at a time. Not a few seconds to tell the person where to sit, but MINUTES of disruptive talking. His phone went off (how can you be the owner of this place and not have your phone on silent...) and he loudly answered it, then took it outside but he was right outside the door talking so loudly that everyone could hear it. (deleted comment about iPad because I was mistaken). It was quite insane that he would behave this way. I would never go to this...