The two men, along with other staff members, own and run Floyd's Place on First Avenue North and, just around the corner on Mercer Street, T.S. McHugh's and 10 Mercer.
Business is not exactly booming these days at the restaurants and bars in the neighborhood. And while Griffith conceded it's been a rough year because the economy is in bad shape, he blames the Seattle Center for some of his problems because the Tacoma Dome - not the Key Arena - is booking big-name acts like Paul McCartney.
Big-name acts at the Key Arena are important to eating and drinking establishments around the Seattle Center because huge crowds of concert-goers hit those places for dinner and drinks before the shows, and they often return afterward for more drinks, Griffith noted.
And it's not just ex-Beatle McCartney and his band who have headed south. The Tacoma Dome has booked the Rolling Stones, Britney Spears and Bruce (The Boss) Springsteen this year, Griffith added.
"In July, August and September last year, there were 15 events at the Key Arena," he said. This year, Griffith added, there are only four or five, but - with the exception of Cher on Monday this week - they're all minor events.
"I think the last big concert we had over there was Neil Diamond last December," Curry said.
The Key Arena seemed to be a competitive venue a few years ago, but that's changed, he added. "It almost seems like they're throwing in the towel."
Griffith said he and Curry think the Tacoma Dome is giving the major acts with big draws "a hell of a deal."
Seattle Center spokesman Perry Cooper said that's not the problem. Both the Key Arena and the Tacoma Dome charge concert promoters a similar flat fee plus a percentage of the gate if ticket sales rise above a certain level, he said.
More importantly, though, major acts attract major crowds.
"We are not going to get the 20,000-seat concerts like Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen," Cooper said.
There simply aren't that many seats in the Key Arena, he explained. According to his figures, there are 16,299 available seats for a concert-in-the-round with the stage located in the middle of the arena, while there are only 15,841 if the stage is set up at one end of the venue.
The Tacoma Dome, by contrast, is much larger.
"We can do just over 22,000 for a concert," said Jody Hodgson, who books events and concerts at the Tacoma venue. "Our size is a definite competitive advantage for large touring acts," he added.
Hodgson said 2000 was a good year for Tacoma Dome bookings, 2001 dipped a little bit, and this year is shaping up to be a match for 2000.
"Some years it rolls your way; some years it doesn't," he said of overall bookings.
The Tacoma Dome books other events, such as conventions and holiday gift shows, but concerts are a significant part of the business. Music represents a small percentage of booking dates, but a large percentage of revenue, Hodgson said.
In contrast, Cooper said the Key Arena books a larger number of events each year than the Tacoma Dome. He also noted the music business is cyclical, and some years have more touring concerts than others.
The number of bookings at the Key Arena varies, as well. Cooper said there were 162 events in the venue last year and in 2000. This year, he said, there are only 142 - at least so far.
"We can still book things between now and December," Cooper said, adding that eight or nine concerts were signed up at the last minute last fall.
But he also noted that the Key Arena books events the Tacoma Dome doesn't - such as the Seattle Supersonics basketball games. Sonics crowds, of course, are a boon to many neighborhood restaurants and bars. Griffith agreed. "Sonics games are a good deal for us."
Game nights are also a good deal for Peso's restaurant and bar on Queen Anne Avenue around the corner from 10 Mercer. So are concert crowds, to a lesser extent, according to a Peso's staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Sonics' nights, the place often gets "double slammed," the staffer said. But the staffer also said Peso's doesn't rely on event traffic to survive because it already has a large, steady crowd of regulars.
Roberto Sanchez, manager of the Taqueria Jalisco at the foot of First Avenue North, said much the same about that restaurant. Still, events at Key Arena do provide an extra source of customers for the business, he said.
That includes regular Sonics fans who stop by before games for food and drinks and afterward for karaoke, Sanchez said.
As for concert crowds, the numbers are hard to predict, although there are more Sonics fans than concert-goers, he said. However, Sanchez said Taqueria Jalisco was packed when Neil Diamond played Key Arena for three days last December. "That was huge."
Like Griffith and Curry, Sanchez has noticed there are fewer concerts at Key Arena this year. He attributes the change to the aftereffects of Sept. 11.
Curry points to competition.
"I think just in the last month, three shows in a row, three big shows, were going to the Tacoma Dome," he said. "It was just kind of alarming."
On top of everything else, Cooper and Hodgson said, both the Key Arena and the Tacoma Dome face competition from the Gorge Amphitheatre.
"A lot of those acts used to come to the Key," Curry lamented.
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