The Chuck Brennan hissy fit continues:
The Brennan Rock & Roll Academy was established to help children uncover and develop their love, passion, and talents through the power of music, and for the last 45 months we have done just that. With the help of 150 volunteer instructors our non-profit organization has provided lessons to more than 700 students all at no cost. These students have gained musical knowledge, self-esteem, confidence, hope and so much more!
On November 8th, 2016, the voters in South Dakota overwhelmingly passed a ballot initiative to eliminate licensed short term lending. Dollar Loan Center, the key sponsor of the BRRA, was given only 5 days by the State of South Dakota to comply with this change of law. This has caused an incredible ripple effect across the state, and especially for the BRRA, our students, and our volunteers. The reality is, a large majority of our donations came, directly or indirectly, from Dollar Loan Center. Without a substantial and dependable source of funds to continue providing nearly 200 free lessons every week, the Board of Directors for the BRRA has made the difficult decision to dissolve the non-profit. The last lessons provided to our students will be held on December 23rd, 2016 [Brennan Rock and Roll Academy, press release, 2016.12.08].
Like all hissy fits, Brennan’s closing of his music school shows who he really is—among other things, a Trumpian B.S. artist. His biography claims that he “has donated around $250,000 to start the Academy and committed over $3 million more to promote its success.”
He claimed to have raised $1.2 million at the school’s opening in April 2013. He claimed a December 2013 fundraiser brought in another million-plus. He claimed that $3.6 million would be enough to run the Sioux Falls school for 20 years. He claimed last month that his South Dakota Dollar Loan Centers made up only 5% of his payday lending business and that he was already donating more to charity in South Dakota than he made in South Dakota.
Quick math: $250K + $3M + $1.2M + $1M (plus extra in last figure) = $5.5 million. If $3.6 million was enough to run the school for 20 years, $5.5 million runs it for 30 years. Brennan is closing the school after less than three years. Donors (and IRS), you might want to ask Brennan where your money went.
These claims do not logically cohere with his statement that the 36% payday loan interest rate cap approved by voters last month requires his non-profit music school (ah, another tax break, this time for donating to his own vanity project?) to shut down this month. Either he lied about how much operating the school would cost, or he lied about how much money he was committing, or he lied about how much he raised, or he’s lying now about why he’s closing. Either way, Chuck Brennan is lying.
Not so long ago, Brennan portrayed himself as competing with usury billionaire T. Denny Sanford for the title of Sioux Falls’s greatest philanthropist. He told Stu Whitney he could build his pawn shop into an asset he could sell for a billion dollars, which would keep his music school open for another 277 years. Instead, as he liquidates his South Dakota projects, he is demonstrating that he’s really just a petty exploiter who, when he doesn’t get to lure South Dakotans into his debt trap anymore, enjoys kicking their kids in the crotch just in time for Christmas.
Hmm… maybe he’s just saving his money to run for President. His venal B.S.-ery shows he’s got the qualifications.
WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAH
WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAH
WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAH
WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAH
WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAH
WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAH
WAHWAHBad voters hurt my widdle fee fees. WAHWAHWAHWAHWAH, CB
He’s probably moving it to Las Vegas where they still like him. I don’t blame him for doing that. I thank him for opening the Rock and Roll Academy here in the first place. It’s kind of funny how you tell him to take his business elsewhere – then you criticize him for taking his business elsewhere.
Wingnuts tell immigrants in South Dakota they aren’t welcome and please GTFO, but they stay just to spite wingnuts. Wealthy,whiny little sh##s pack up and leave because they get their fee fees hurt and need to snuggle up with a few millions to ease their pain. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
I thought this is what SD voters wanted? Oh, you want his source of revenue to leave but you still want to spend his “dirty” money….got it.
“It’s kind of funny how you tell him to take his business elsewhere – then you criticize him for taking his business elsewhere.”
True.
This just shows that he wasn’t very committed to helping kids. It really always was about the money. Good riddance Chuckie!
Oh, no, Ror & Dicta, the contradictions are all Brennan’s. He said he had enough money to keep his school (not his business, but his non-profit tax dodge) open for years. Now he’s saying he doesn’t. Daniel, I won’t mind if Brennan dismantles every one of his enterprises in South Dakota and never makes or spends another dime in our state. But we shouldn’t allow him to lie about why he’s doing it. If his past statements about the school were true, the 36% rate cap isn’t forcing the school’s immediate closure.
As Jenny says, we can see in his departure that he doesn’t really care about helping kids. Like Trump, all Brennan wants is to build his brand and make a buck. Good riddance, indeed.
Al Capone had soup kitchens in Chicago before Social Security came into effect. So then, it fits the bill that when you take so much out of a community, you give some back to make it feel like your a great guy to paint over what you are really up to. Al was still Al though.
This, from me: http://www.argusleader.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/12/09/letter-brennans-area-businesses-provided-easy/95196312/
To the point Mr. Hickey, to the point. I think that President Elect Trump is the same as Mr. Brennan in so many ways. I think that in Trump’s case, he too is broke and has to shift money from one hand to the other to stay ahead of creditors. If you think otherwise then why will he stay on as the producer of “The Apprentice”? That is just one in a long history of troubled asset control.
Nope, I think you are correct in your view of a failed business venture that was looking for a way out and someone to blame for the failure without looking into the mirror. Like Icarus, they fly too close to the sun.
I feel sorry for the kids, but not surprised – and as far as I’m concerned, back when Brennan made his threat to take all his toys and go back to Vegas if we passed 36%, I repeat what I said then, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Damn, Hickey is gonna make me start looking favorably upon him again.
Chuck Brennan is a common con man and his CLARK COUNTY COLLECTION SERVICE is a felony waiting to be charged. Here’s a couple incidents from hundreds of complaints against them.
https://consumerist.com/2016/08/16/debt-collector-gets-out-of-lawsuit-by-buying-the-lawsuit-out-from-under-the-plaintiff/
-This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/16/2012 07:04 PM
~ After multiple attempts (at least four reported attempts) to negotiate this debt with Clark County Collection Service, LLC, this agency has declined and refused all negotiations with our representative counsel and has continued to inflict mental anguish, pain and suffering, continued damages to credit and our well-being through negligence, disregard, improper actions, false, deleterious and improper legal proceedings through misuse of the Clark County courts in an attempt to extort monies from us. In addition, we were willing to comply with any negotiations to render payments, even though this debt is invalid, just to end the chaos created by Loma Vista Apartments and Clark County Collection Service, LLC. Clark County Collection Service LLC refuses to resolve this debt in any way with our counsel. And, Loma Vista Apartments has informed us of their unwillingness to work with us or provide any evidence of damages or documentation of this debt.
As I feel Clark County Collection Service, LLC and Loma Vista Apartments are attempting to extort money from my husband and me, in addition to the judicial improprieties previously perpetrated by this collection agency (ie. not serving the ‘Summons and Complaint’ regarding this issue to my husband or me in person and mailing the ‘Summons and Complaint’ to our address and previous addresses so that the ‘Summons and Complaint’ was received by my husband and me via post over two years after our move-out.) Clark County Collection Service, LLC is pursuing a fradulent charge as put forth by a reportedly less-than-reputable creditor (Loma Vista Apartments.)
Chuck Brennan and the Boys & Girls Club ceased their joint operation in the summer of 2015.
The operating budget of a place like that at a minimum was 250,000 from my past experience in working with those kinds of programs.
CHUCKYS A COMMON CON MAN It’s not surprising he’s also involved with the biggest scam going down right now across USA. It’s the one you hear continually on right wing talk radio (Limbaugh, Hannity, Glen Beck, Joe Pags). It’s IRS TAX DEBT FORGIVENESS and it’s full on fraud.
GET OUT OF TAX DEBT
New IRS Fresh Start Initiative
The Internal Revenue Service has expanded its “Fresh Start” initiative to help struggling taxpayers who owe taxes. The goal is to help individuals and small businesses meet their tax obligations, without adding unnecessary burden to taxpayers. Specifically, the IRS has announced new policies and programs to help taxpayers pay back taxes and avoid tax liens. Do you qualify for IRS Tax Forgiveness? Speak with a program counselor today!
NO NO NO … Don’t speak to anyone. Go to the IRS and come clean. You didn’t file a tax return for years and letting Chucky get involved is the absolute wrong decision.
First it’s DLC. Then it’s Badlands Motor Speedway. Now, the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy. Is Badlands Pawn next?
I was there last weekend, and the busiest part that I saw was the deli. There weren’t that many people on the pawn floor each time I was there. The pawn kiosks were also dead and only one teller slot was open. They won’t even take electronics to pawn or sell anymore… just guns and jewelry.
Their latest infomercial shows that they are selling off memorabilia from their concerts, like autographed posters and guitars. Perhaps they are clearing house before a possible closure? Who knows at this point. Some of those posters cost $1,000 to buy.
It appears that Badlands Pawn isn’t doing as well as Brennan has hoped. I guess it could either close down or Brennan will put it up for sale. KBAD is doing well in the ratings so I’m sure that would continue on it’s own somehow.
As for the Rock & Roll academy, could there be any legal trouble with Brennan because of it’s closure, especially with the contradicting statements Brennan made about it’s funding before the rate cap was passed?
As curly Bill said to Wyatt Erp in Tomestone …….BY
Well, this is actually a good outcome of the IM #21. These kids were being corrupted by the rock and the roll and this will stop some minds from being polluted with that kind of music. Music like that is a bad thing for society and I, for one, say to Mr. Brennan good riddance of your rock and roll and even some of the niftier jazz you had.
Yeah, Grudz, I remember when some of the parents of my generation said that about Elvis Presley’s music.
Elvis was bad. He was bad.
Grudz, Sex and drugs and the rock and the roll old boy! Free your mind…and your ass will follow, dude! I am truly disappointed those youngsters won’t have the rock and the roll academy to enjoy any more.
This issue is probably something that both sides of the political spectrum can agree on. The Pay Day Loan Lenders were taking advantage of the desperately poor. The citizens of South Dakota were morally driven to help protect these people from their predators and themselves. You may not agree with our vote, but the intention was right. If Mr Brennan is a smart businessman, he will eventually see that he can still make a good living from his investments in South Dakota. 36 percent cap is still pretty high and a good conservative businessperson could do well under this rule. Right now Brennan is feeling slighted and upset. If he wants to pull out of South Dakota over some sour grapes reason, that’s his choice, but it is going to cost him Millions to do it. Just my two cents.
It is bad that the sex and the drugs and the rock and the roll were all taking advantage of a few of the poor people who didn’t know better. I hope Mr. Brennan will land on his feet somewhere else, and the rock and the roll he has at his concert studio will end but the people can still always go to the Pomp Room and really listen to that funky music from the days.
The end may be near for Badlands Pawn. As of this evening, tickets for Kix, Winger, Wakefield, and Foreigner shows have been scrubbed from the Badlands Box Office site, and their Facebook page lists them as “Off sale”. This weekends “Led Zeppelin Experience” is still on with people commenting on the pawn FB page wondering if it’s the last show. Staff has been silent when these kinds of questions are asked.
Someone also set up a GoFundMe account to try and raise money for the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy. The person is seeking $10 million in donations, yet as of this writing, no one has donated money.
Brennan is throwing a rich,spoiled brat fit and threatening to take his ball, his stadium and concession stand home if his demands aren’t met to his personal satisfaction. If he had a Twitter account he’d prolly sound like the mangled apricot hellbeast, potus elect, rich spoiled brat- Drumpf.
If South Dakota had a state income tax they could audit this operation and find out if all his “deductible” businesses are current.
Wade makes a great point about those concert listings disappearing. Here’s the Badlands Pawn Facebook post on the Kip Winger concert scheduled for February 11:
Here’s the Badlands Pawn Facebook post on the Foreign concert scheduled for April 1:
Here’s the screen cap of the Badlands Box Office page, taken this morning, to which the Winger and Foreigner posts link:
I eagerly await the announcement that Badlands Pawn is closing.
If Badlands Pawn does close, I’m sure Brennan will blame the rate cap. Pawn shops aren’t affected by the rate cap at all. Brennan promised too much from the pawn when it was first announced.
For example, there was supposed to be a reality show in the vein of Hardcore Pawn. There is no evidence that such show has been filmed or produced. There was also supposed to be a game show featuring Jack Blades as a host. No game show has come out of the pawn since it’s initial announcement in early 2015. Badlands Live was also supposed to get it’s own series, but it’s been reduced to concert clips in their infomercials. No one has been in the foundry when I have been there, and that is supposed to be one of the main attractions. Even KBAD was supposed to be simulcasted “on over 30 radio stations and towers”, as quoted on the original pawn website prior to launch. So far, no other station has adopted the format. Perhaps the syndication price is too high?
As evidenced by their Black Friday sale and my personal experiences, there is not enough foot traffic in the pawn shop to justify keeping it open. The gun store and range, radio station, and the deli seem to be the most successful parts of the pawn, and they could do well on their own. If the pawn does indeed close next week, there could be lawsuits. I say that a lot lately, but Brennan had to pay good money to lure Crash, Cade and the Rev from their former stations and might be employed under contracts. I’m not so sure about that, but it doesn’t make sense to take down a high-rated radio station because of a payday loan rate cap. Hopefully Rob Feller will buy it out and run it independently.
There will also be lost jobs as well. While I was there, the staff at the deli were very friendly. The pawn staff is hit or miss. Some are helpful and nice, while others don’t seem to want to even be working there, or are bored out of their minds.
Very interesting direct observations, Wade. It appears Brennan has no real business chops beyond loan sharking. He can’t compete in a regular retail and entertainment market.
Pablo Escobar went around the cities he was trying to win over and gave away to the poor all around them to convince them to support him and his business endeavors and help stave off the government and the popular movement to remove him. Coincidence? I think not. A failed attempt at hearts and minds.
http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/460/460399482/460399482_201312_990.pdf
A IRS form 990 from 2013 for the Sioux Empire Boys and Girls club. Search “Brennan” and you will find an event titled “Brennan Rock’N”. An event that raised $2,111,000 with “other direct expenses” of $1,270,000, a roughly $800,000 profit.
I will let anyone interpret that how they see fit. Maybe Cory could shine some light on it.
If folks remember the Broadway musical, “THE MUSIC MAN” (which is highly similar to this tale regarding musical instruments and teaching kids how to play them), Prof. Harold Hill realizes it’s time to make an Irish exit (leaving without saying goodbye) but is delayed by a compelling situation. In Hill’s case it was a love interest and in Brennans case it was his ego, which had to be massaged by trying to rub the voters noses in the fact he’s pulling out and closing all the great things he was contributing to Sioux Falls. It’s the delay that always foils the plot, Chucky. Now, you’ve got reputable people looking into your Form 990’s and it’s a pretty good wager you’ve been “ridin’ dirty”.
MD, I don’t put on a lot of rock concerts, but that seems a remarkable amount of overhead. Does a concert in Sioux Falls really cost $1.27 million to stage?
I think the concert occurred in Las Vegas according to the link you had in your post. It is still a 40% profit, but what is more concerning is that all of the expenses were labeled under “other direct expenses” and nothing was listed for the venue, salaries, etc. I wonder if something was contracted out with a concert promoter in order to organize the fundraiser and avoid having to categorize.
As a former concert promoter, I am sure he had some contacts.
Sure fundraisers like this happen all of the time, but it still leads one to question the money trail.
My daughter has been taking guitar lessons through the BRRA and absolutely loves it. Her instructors are some of the coolest, geekiest kids you’ll ever meet and they are so talented. The gals that run the office know so much about music it’s incredible. So I hope the new ownership keeps these people on board. They’re good people. Teri Katzenberger (the new owner) said she will be keeping a simple database of all donations and every donor will receive an autoreply receipt for all donations they make. She’s going to be very transparent about the operating costs. We (the families of students) were very disappointed in CB’s decision to close the academy. But we think this is going to be a very positive change.
New owners, Rita? Did Brennan actually sell the facility? Is the new owner forming a non-profit to continue the school’s mission and fundraising?
Cory – perhaps a bit early to know for certain what the future holds, but there does appear to be interest in keeping the academy open with new leadership.
I apologize for linking to “that Sioux Falls paper”… but here you go: http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2016/12/12/businesswoman-wants-revive-rock-roll-academy/95336670/
As far as Badlands Pawn, considering the concerts were probably their largest source of revenue and that they have already started reducing inventory in the “pawn” shop, I’d guess a formal announcement of closure is on the way.
Pick up that Badlands merchandise soon kids… they are soon to be collector’s items found only at the best thrift stores and garage sales in town!
No new owner yet. Some interest. http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2016/12/12/businesswoman-wants-revive-rock-roll-academy/95336670/
This is a link to her new website. It has information about her taking over and also her bio.
http://www.therockandrollacademy.com
She informed the parents and other supporters on the new BRRA Facebook page that she told him she was buying him out, taking over the academy and is buying the building.
I wouldn’t be surprised if people start seeing Badlands-branded shirts and merch in the thrift stores or yard sales. That’s plausible since for many people, there’s no point in keeping a “Badlands Motor Speedway” shirt if it’s not opening for 2017, or reverting to Huset’s Speedway. Personally, I think the most collectable items are those “Badlands Monthly” magazines they gave away for free and apparently also sent to everyone’s mailboxes in Sioux Falls (or, at least the first issue). It was just pure advertisement for the pawn and other businesses, but it is a record of Badlands’ short run. One of the issues was about the BRRA, celebrating it’s 3rd year of operation.
The pawn shop/concert venue concept could have worked if it had leadership that knew how to run a business, and made sensible decisions and plans. Oh, and not having a loan shark at the helm.
Brennan’s hissy fit continues. He blames IM21 for the cancellation of all the remaining concerts at Badlands Pawn. All purchased tickets will be refunded.
http://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Badlands-Pawn-cancels-all-shows-406072135.html
How long can Brennan keep this up?
Rita, that was fast! That new domain name was registered on Saturday. I hope Katzenberger can dicker Brennan down to a good deal on the facility… and I hope the domain name is a sign that she’ll be dropping the B from the name completely. (I can’t help imagining that, besides vanity, Brennan gets a middle-school snicker out of an acronym that looks like a woman’s undergarment.)
http://otherwords.org/bipartisan-unity-in-deep-red-state/
This got some national appeal late last month. I just found this today.
Mr. Brandis, let us be careful about using misogynistic terms like “hissy fit.” I, for one, would simply call what Mr. Brennan is doing a “temper tantrum.”
There are other pawn shops to step in and take over the thrift shop sales, and community-based thrift shops are the best ones.
grudznick: Point taken, as I honestly didn’t know that term was misogynistic at all. People seem to use it all the time, so I naturally did so without any thought. My mistake.
Wade,
Grudz is playing with you. The origin of hissy fit is not known definitively but was used historically in ways that is clearly not misogynistic.
Granted, the words hysteria and histrionics do have a root back to ancient Greece which thought almost all illness was related to an imbalance of bodily fluids and the female version was hysteria (connected to the womb) and the male version was something like cloe (from which we get colic) which somehow goes to the prostrate. But, as medicine developed they retained both Latin and Greek etymology while losing their gender specific references. It has been at least a thousand years where women got colic and other words with male etymology while men could be hysterical and other words with female etymology.
To the extent this history/word origin is wrong I apologize. I dated a nursing student in college and she gave me a book on the history of medicine. I don’t remember much of the medicine but was intrigued by how many observations the early doctors formed by observation that were pretty astute to what we know today. The above was related to how many of our mental illnesses are related to unbalanced adrenal and other glands and not just infections or other causes. And, as a person who loves words, I remember/noted the genesis of today’s words.
My apology, Mr. Brandis. And I appreciate you not throwing a hissy fit for bringing it up. Thank you, Mr. Jones. I learned something today.
That’s okay, grudznick. Apology accepted. :) We all learn something new every day.
Grudz,
I almost sense a bit of “melancholy” in your response. :) Melancholy also comes from chole (I had a gut feeling “cloe” wasn’t right so I looked it up.
By the way, words change over time (ala hysteria used to be a word that described mental illness but now means extremely funny as in hysterical). One is “decimate” which goes back to a Roman Army punishment where an legion that failed sometimes had 10% (from the word for which we get decade for 10 years) of the drawn by lot who were subsequently killed by their fellow soldiers. Now decimate mean complete obliteration.
I guess my point is we can’t throw hissy fits over the etymology of every word or we’d soon become darn near mute.
I think they tore my prostrate out years ago when they tried to decimate me, so I’m choleproof, Mr. Jones.
I sure hope the Badlands Gun Store doesn’t close at least for a few days. That Christmas present I bought myself is being shipped there, and it’s not in yet. They are also one of the few places in town that sells the food it eats, so I better stock up. That apocalypse they talk about on the radio seems to be coming. How much for the roadster?
Your best bet is to call the Badlands Gun Store to make sure you can still pick up your item there in the event the gun store suddenly gets closed. It’s very hard to tell when and if Badlands Pawn will shut down since such announcement can come any time, unfortunately.
Their YouTube channel posted another “How ‘Bout Chow” deli video today, which is odd. They haven’t released a public statement regarding the cancelled concerts and the ticket refunds yet.
And they still have a “careers” link on their website. I will stop in tomorrow morning and see what happens to my item in the event of closure. Good idea.
And I will pick up my favorite sandwich from the deli for lunch.
Now no concerts? Well, Brennan is taking a page from the Trump playbook and playing the media for maximum coverage. Instead of announcing all of his closures in one fell swoop, he’s dropping one a week to keep the story in the news right up into the Legislative Session.
If we can’t say “hissy fit”, may we adopt a new term, like “huffy puff”?
CH, you can say hissy fit.
You can say anything you want. (A Dutch politician was recently found guilty in court of “inciting prejudice by speech”. Freedom of speech is rare around the world). The question is, is “hissy fit” sexist?
Here’s a bunch of info on it’s origin. It’s a phrase embraced by those who rationalize racism, sexism, homophobia etc. as “politically correct”, often to shield themselves from valid criticism.
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24134
Porter,
I disagree your source makes that assertion. Further I reject the assertion it is sexist. I will continue to say it. Criticize as you will.
Disagreement noted. Was I criticizing Troy or people that use “politically correct” to shield themselves from valid criticism and rationalize hurting peoples feelings. I think hissy fit is a sexist term. In USA you can say what you want but the first amendment doesn’t stop people from criticizing and alienating those who speak ill-will against others. PS … The Dutch politician Geert Wilders said that Netherlands would be better without so many Morrocans. He faces no penalty. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/09/504945233/far-right-dutch-politician-found-guilty-of-hate-speech-but-will-not-be-penalized