"No communication, no respect, no reason to show up and play," says Scottie Blinn about his decision ("not lightly taken...I was making a loud and clear statement," he says) not to appear onstage at Patrick's II downtown on Friday, October 21, when he was scheduled to play with the Burnsville Blues Band.

"I don't want to come across snide or vindictive. The fact is bands have been getting shorted at Patrick's Downtown with no notice...we all know this. Promises were made by the ownership and new management that things would be rectified. Still, there are reports of bands getting shorted."

"Steve Burns and I, with the support of the Burnsville Band, made a decision. Steve sent numerous emails and made many phone calls to both the management and ownership of Patrick's regarding getting payment owed to us [Burnsville Band], and to solidify our guarantee for future shows already booked. Rosalea [Rosa Lea Schiavone] did the same on behalf of Burnsville. Not one word back."

Blinn says Burns finally reached the manager, and was reassured that "Everything was being done to do right by the bands, and to please email him again with our needs and he'd work it out with the owner. Steve sent the email with a contract to the ownership and management at the beginning of the week [two times] with the stipulation that if it was not signed by Wednesday at 5pm, we would have to regretfully cancel our show at Patrick's for Friday night."

Blinn says there was no return message or contact. "We were left with no other option than to walk the talk. Our sincerest apologies to any one of our friends that showed up to have a good time last night. We hope you understand that the message would have been totally lost on Patrick's had we announced ahead of time we weren't showing up, or showed up and played and been shorted again."

"First time, shame on you, second time, shame on me. They would have just said 'whatever,' and had ample time to get another band in there. Trust and reputation aren't easily earned and not taken lightly, and once lost can be very difficult to regain."

Blinn stresses that Patrick's pay scale is NOT the crux of his contention. "They pay fairly well. The problem was instead of being up front with bands and saying they needed to lower the pay for everyone a bit to get through this tough economic period, they just started shorting all the bands with no notice. Then they didn't follow though with their promises to 'make it right,' and have continued shorting bands. What a shame that a good paying and reputable venue went so low, so fast."

At this writing, calls and emails to Patrick's have not been returned.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Rosa Lea Schiavone posted on Facebook "I am supposed to be having a phone conversation with Joe, the manager today. We will see if he follows through as per our conversation last night."