Legendary venue seems to be heading into final days

By Elmer Ploetz

How many lives does the Mohawk Place have? I guess we’re about to find out.

The Buffalo music community has been abuzz since the Mohawk Place press update email yesterday included the line, “You may have heard rumors, but it looks like Mohawk Place will be closing in the near future …”

The club closed for the first time in January of 2013, partly in the wake of legal issues after a fan was injured when they were struck by a stagediver in 2011. The final show was an integral part of a documentary, “Bring Me Your Vultures,” memorializing the Mohawk Place.

But then a year later, the Mohawk reopened under new ownership and shows have gone on for the past decade. But that seems to be grinding to a stop.

According to sources familiar with the situation, it isn’t because of the lawsuit filed on behalf of a fan who was struck and injured by a stagediving performer (Again? Really?) last spring, although the lawsuit has been filed. A source said the performers had been warned against stagediving and there were signs prohibiting it.

Instead, the cause seems to be more of an ownership issue. Sources said owner Rick Platt has been struggling with both health issues and the death of his father in the last few years and sources say management of the business has been neglected, with unpaid bills and unpaid bands.

It’s a complicated situation. Ownership of 47 E. Mohawk and the building beside it, which has housed Electric Avenue, is listed under Orlin Enterprises, a corporation which state records show dates to 1962 and which has been owned by Platt’s family.

Electric Avenue has been closed since the fall, when city building inspectors posted a condemnation order on the door, citing “hazardous electrical equipment” and “leaking fuel oil tanks” in the basement, with the building deemed “unsafe.”

Platt did not respond to a request for comment.

Marty Boratin, who has booked the Mohawk for the past 10 years and for large parts of its existence, has stopped booking shows there. Some that had been booked, such as a Feb. 15 show with Sarah and the Safe Word, have been moved. That show will be at the Evening Star Concert Hall in Niagara Falls.

Other shows are listed through Feb. 8, although it’s unclear whether they will occur. One major show coming up next Friday (Jan. 10) is a record release show for hardcore punks GOA.

Boratin said it’s disappointing because the club has done well with some shows, including the most recent new year’s eve show and a Del Paxton show. An August show with D.R.I., who Boratin has booked numerous times over the decades, drew one of their better crowds of the times they’ve been at the Mohawk.

Some shows were even booked at Electric Avenue.

“They’ve been closed since , I think, the end of September, which really sucks because we’ve been doing so many shows over there, and they have been doing so well,” Boratin said. “Our Halloween show (in 2023), John Rzeznik (of the Goo Goo Dolls) was in the Cheap Trick cover band.”

Mike Thor was the manager for Mohawk Place from 2014 until last August and had put together numerous proposals to buy an interest in the business and rebuild it. He had worked with Platt as manager of Electric Avenue for 18 years.

He said the current Mohawk is now facing dual challenges because of its managment/debt issues and because of the changing nature of small venues. Mohawk has a maximum capacity of 237, although even half of that seems fairly crowded.

“It’s a really, really tough industry with very, very thin margins,” he said. “And nowadays people don’t drink as much. A lot of people smoke a little bit more weed and enjoy the music. And I think that’s one cultural change.”

That’s a problem for a business model like the Mohawk’s, where Thor said, “We tried to make everything off of the bar. … The main theme of Mohawk was 100 percent of the door went to the bands, and however they split it up amongst themselves was up to them. That was the theme from day one.

“It’s been a place where a lot of people have gotten their start. Take a band like King Buffalo. They got one of their first shows in the area at Electric Avenue next door, and then the next time they came through they came through the Mohawk. And then the next time they came through town, they were at Town Ballroom. And now they’re coming back through and they’re at Electric City.”

Thor said he would still be interested in trying to resurrect the Mohawk Place, but the more likely outcome is for the building to go up for a tax auction in the next year or so.

“I’d still be willing to take a chance on it there. There are still possibilities,” he said, “but with the way it’s going now. I think the most likely outcome is it’ll go up for our tax auction within the next year, and I can’t compete with people like (Douglas) Jemal and (Carl) Paladino.”

The Mohawk’s building, which includes spaces that have been used as apartments and rehearsal spaces on the upper floors, has an assessed value of $350,000.

If the Mohawk does finally go down for the count, the community will have lost a key cultural asset. In addition to providing a proving ground for fledgling performers and entry level touring acts, the Mohawk has been a partner in providing a space for things such as Buffalo Infringement Festival performances and fundraiser.

“That was kind of the main overall, overarching theme of the entire business,” Thor said, “trying to give back to the music community as much as possible and to try to give a chance to those up and coming band that are trying to get out.”

Boratin said that he hopes the Mohawk will be able to stage some kind of farewell, but everything is in flux.

“We’re probably gonna plan one farewell show,” he said. “We’re probably gonna plan that while we’re all here tomorrow.”