Three years ago, in 2009, this blogger was at the San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Festival, and partying hard at Harry’s Bar. While standing outside to cool off, I witnessed a man trying to start a fight with one of the bouncers. He got more than he bargained for, and now, that video and story, and me, Zennie62, will be featured this Sunday on MSNBC’s Caught On Camera, at 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST, and then again at 12 midnight PST, 3 AM EST, and then again on Sunday, July 24th at 4 PM PST, 7 PM EST.
As I wrote at Zennie62.com:
Viral videos have made for Network TV content for sometime now, and it was only a matter of time before one of this blogger’s videos saw the light of television day.
Well, that’s excluding my old television show, The Blog Report With Zennie62, that was on ColoursTV. What was great about that show, which aired in 2009-2010, was that it allowed the direct use of the videos made with my Flip Video Camera right onto a TV format. It’s still something that’s not been done before or since. I’d like to do it again, if the business details can be worked out.
But I digress.
Without any contact from this blogger, NBC took notice of the Zennie62 video Fight With Bouncer At SF Fillmore Jazz Festival: doing job with patron. If you’ve not seen the video before, here it is:
This video was originally made as part of a ColoursTV segment that never made it to the screen. But that’s the reason for the introduction you see. The video itself was and is a kind of study of human nature, and there are stories within the overall story of the encounter between a patron who had a little too much to drink and a bouncer just trying to do his job.
The video has drawn over 3,000 comments and over 700,000 views – actually closer to 800,000 views. And it drew the attention of NBC. I met the crew for the show Caught On Camera where we filmed a segment talking about the video.
Does the almost three-year-old video put the Fillmore Jazz Festival in a bad light? No. It doesn’t. By just holding the patron until security arrived, the bouncer may have prevented a really ugly melee in front of a storied establishment.
Moreover, the bouncer’s actions have been the catalyst for a number of emails from former police officers, bartenders, and other bouncers, who explain how hard that job is, especially during a large-scale event, how they believed the bouncer did his job well, and how the situation should be prevented in the future.
Here’s one such email from 2009:
Dear Mr. Abraham,
I just watched the video from the Fillmore Festival. As a retired police officer(Commander of Police) with 32+yrs experience with the SFPD encounters like this are common place in and around nightclubs in the City. Violent confrontations are taking place daily. The SF Entertainment Commission which oversees the Clubs have not taken a proactive approach to minimizing these actions.
Bouncers, doormen, security staff, and floor persons need training. Training should include but not limited to:powers of arrest, use of force, conflict resolution, how to call the police, handling emergency situations, etc.
In this case I agree with you additional staff should have been called and the police should have been notified immediately. The Bouncer could have place Number 3 under arrest for disturbing the peace(threatening to fight). I do think he used reasonably objective force to detain him. But once the Bouncer used any force Number 3 should have been arrested
If you decide to pursue this issue I would be available to provide additional information re: nightclub security.
Thanks and I enjoy your articles.To the credit of the Fillmore Jazz Festival, the next year, 2010, the area where the event occurred was more ‘controlled’, patrons stood in a line to the side, and there wasn’t the room where someone could stand and confront a bouncer, and great care was taken to make sure that Harry’s Bar didn’t get too crowded inside.
Harry’s and the Fillmore Jazz Festival are great San Francisco traditions. This was in no way intended to harm them one bit. Indeed, it’s a complement to the staff and to the bouncer.
I’m looking forward to the MSNBC telecast because, if all of the interview the producer conducted with me makes it into the show, it will be a great talk about how to do video-blogging in situations like that one.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll