Well, way to go Officer Rodriguez. As if the struggling Houston touring music scene needed a push into the grave.
Listen, most officers are good, decent, hard-working folk, and often provide the necessary off-duty security for club shows. But this incident is so indicative of why Houston's music scene continues to flounder.
For starters, this is how you handle a noise complaint? You walk up to the lead singer and tell him to quit playing? That's ridiculous, beyond stupid. As if you're not going to incite the band as well as the crowd. Walter's is situated inside of gentrification/townhome-central - and was there first, by the way - and noise complaints are completely indicative of the ludicrous yuppie mindset that has infected similar areas: "Oh yeah, I LOOOOOVE living so close to the action, man, it's so hip - just as long as the crazy rock music keeps it down after 10pm." Rudyard's in Montrose has had to deal with this problem for years and probably gets a noise complaint every week. And ya know what HPD does? They come over, measure the decibels and leave. Because Rudyard's is always in compliance, no matter how much it hurts the precious ears of the rich neighbors in the overpriced townhomes.
Otherwise, it looks to me like Officer Rodriguez put himself in this position and at the least is guilty of being trigger-happy with his tazer. I mean, that's a freakin' weapon lunkhead. And you hit a 14 year-old on accident! That should be enough to bring disciplinary action and some official condemnation from City Hall. But don't hold your breath - Houston couldn't give two craps about having a thriving cultural scene that caters to anyone under 50. That's been abundantly clear for years.
And not to hammer too hard on Walter's, but where was the club management in all of this? Did the officer just completely bypass the obvious option for addressing this complaint altogether, or was the club's staff just completely MIA? Just asking.
Anyway, I was nowhere near the Two Gallants show, but I wish the band well and hope they'll consider playing for their fans here in Houston again sometime.
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