of a well-curated slate of local openers, not to mention lessening all-local lineups. As a talent-buyer since 2002, Anthony Bedard built the Hemlock’s reputation as a rocker haunt, and early last year he landed a job booking the Great American Music Hall. This past year, though, he lost both gigs: first after Goldenvoice’s GAMH partnership, and then ahead of the Hemlock’s demolition.

Bedard's work is inflected with fandom. At the Hemlock, he took risks promoting emerging or underground acts, building a record of ear-to-the-street discernment and prescience that landed him roles at Great American, however short lived, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

His corporate successors at Great American Music Hall, by contrast, aren’t even pretending to support grassroots music scenes in San Francisco. Earlier this year I asked Danny Bell, acascade of closures and corporatization. Discussing news of Mezzanine’s ouster at a hearing last month, the commissioners bemoaned “greed,” and wondered if some other city officials could “put some pressure on the landlord.”

For music venue success stories, you'd have to expand the definition of "music venue" to accommodate the broader performing arts. Counterpulse, the Center for New Music, The Lab (which is currently rallying to buy its building), and the Grand Theater have all opened or reopened since 2013, and this past year provided crucial outlets for improvised, experimental, and electronic music. But their shared nonprofit status, involving heavy reliance on grant support, illustrates the difficulty of subsisting on a traditional mix of ticket and drink sales.

There are reasons for optimism. Noise Pop, the booking outfit with close