19 November 20 - 26, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents and he wasn’t seeing any rapid response from the city at the time. “The best way you can help is to reach out to your council members and city staff so that they’re aware,” he wrote. On the Facebook page of Amy Wallace Cowan, who opened Revelers Hall, she out- lined the solutions she was pursuing but made it clear that a task force needed to re- write Dallas’ code for the 21st century. “It’s time to get out a scalpel and create a broad spectrum of permits that allow us to operate like other vibrant cities.” From NOLA to Big D C owan opened Revelers Hall in 2019. Its first music director, Kevin Butler, was adamant about making sure musicians were paid well, setting the bar for Cowan. “At Revelers, if you look around its foot- print, it’s actually quite small,” Cowan said. “We can’t really be compared to The Free Man or any of the other music venues based on size; we’re extremely tiny.” In New Orleans, Arnaud’s in the French Quarter charges $6, which is included in the price of a meal. Revelers Hall adopted the same model and has been charging a music fee for over six years, making it very transparent through signs inside, at the end of tabs and on its website. “We’ve had almost seven years of training our customer base,” Cowan said. She estimated that the music fee generated $240,000 per year. “Our total revenue is under two million, so it’s a very significant chunk of our revenue here at Revelers,” she said. Code compliance officers visited Revelers Hall two months ago, and Cowan says staff were “completely blindsided” when told they had allegedly violated any code. Revelers Hall had to end its music fee, and it was also in- structed to close its doors at all times because of concerns about noise violations. She wishes the Code Compliance Department had reached out to her first, so she would have had the opportunity to fix any violations. Instead, it caused a bit of a panic when officers came late at night, asking bartenders for personal infor- mation so they could be written up. “The code office was emphatic about the fact that they were not citations,” she said. “They were just a notice of a violation. So in their mind, they probably were checking that box of letting us know we weren’t com- pliant, we needed to make some changes. I think the way it comes across, it causes fear, and that’s not the kind of workplace we want to be for our staff.” On Oct. 22, Cowan posted responses to Facebook comments asking her why she didn’t get the proper permit to allow a cover charge. At the time, she wrote about pursuing a special use permit, but it didn’t feel like the right fit for Revelers. “Going back to Dallas’ code as a whole, it seems like there’s probably room for other uses to just be created,” she said. “If you like what Revelers is doing or if you like what The Free Man is doing, well, create a code that allows for that and let us apply for that permit. Use us as the model. If we have done a good job, if we’re not a nui- sance and we are the direction you want the city to go, then let’s work together and make that possible for more people.” In the meantime, the introduction of a music donation hasn’t yielded the same reve- nue as the music cover fee, although Cowan said Revelers has loyal customers who are happy to pay the fee and show their support. The hope is that the opportunity for people to support live music at their discretion will help sustain it at Revelers. The concern over music fees and the fu- ture of live music drew the city’s attention. Cowan is optimistic about the partnership between the city, small business owners and operators coming together to keep arts and culture sustainable. “I think it is going to take a lot of work,” she said. “I think it’s gonna take time to ad- dress the needs of every restaurant. I don’t think what Revelers needs addressed is also what LadyLove needs addressed. I think we’re fighting different issues. And so, hope- fully, maybe our instance will allow us, The Free Man, places that are doing similar things to move onto the next level. Maybe the cycle will prove that the task force works, and it’ll give them a model that they can use to go on and continue to address these issues.” “I think we’re gonna find a compromise … making sure that we don’t put some code in place that disrupts neighborhoods,” Rob- erts said. A New Framework C ouncil member Chad West got a call at 11:45 p.m. the night Cowan posted her story on Facebook. A friend who lived in Bishop Arts needed to let him know how bad the reaction was to Revelers Hall having a hard time staying open. West’s re- sponse to the number of calls and emails he received after Roberts instructed people to reach out was that he would fix it. “It felt like one of those situations where somebody had to, or it was going to be driven by the code department, and it would get real ugly, really fast between neighbors and the code office,” West said. “The path- way forward is very much driven by the mu- sic industry and by the restaurant industry.” NET was formed to deal with after-hours issues related to problems in nightlife enter- tainment districts. It is intended to address concerns about crime and illegal pop-up ven- dors, which West said have occurred in several instances in Bishop Arts, where vendors block sidewalks and wheelchair ramps. This issue has been ongoing for two years, he noted. West isn’t blaming code compliance; they’re doing their jobs. And, he doesn’t be- lieve Revelers Hall was targeted. “I heard this from the code officer who was on site,” he said. “One of the shop owners complained about a band that was perform- ing at another establishment. They were per- forming outside and were apparently, at least according to the code officer, very loud and blocking the sidewalk a little bit. It was out on the sidewalk, and they complained. “So the shop owner complained about them, and when code went over there and said, ‘You’re in violation of code and the noise ordinance.’ They then pointed to Revelers Hall and said, ‘Well, look at them. They’re also in vi- olation of the noise ordinance and also charg- ing a fee there.’ So it just became this tattletale situation. I totally believe the code officer be- cause that’s just how she explained it to me.” When West initially drafted the memo calling for the creation of a task force, it was reviewed by Tolbert, who gave some opinions on the parameters. The Hospitality and Nightlife Task Force will meet at least twice a month and will hold at least one public meet- ing to gather comments from residents. The task force will also complete its review of all ordinances by Feb. 28 and present its findings to the City Council’s Quality of Life Commit- tee no later than March 2026, before Dallas hosts the World Cup games in the summer. “Hopefully, we’ll have a recommendation for a short-term and a long-term plan, short- term being some type of permit like I refer- enced, long-term being zoning code issues that will take two years. And then we’ll take that recommendation forward to City Coun- cil for votes to either change, create a new permit process or facilitate the zoning changes needed over time,” he said. From business owners and the commu- nity to city officials, everyone agrees on the need to modernize outdated codes. As is true with jazz, collaboration and creativity are key to getting it right. “We’re going to do it,” West said. “It’s going to happen. It’s the right thing to do. We call ourselves a business-friendly city. The right thing to do in this situation is to ensure we stay that way by supporting our operators.” Andrew Sherman Revelers Hall owners Amy Wallace Cohen and Josh Roberts were informed they had violated city code by charging a music fee.
