The fear of financial ruin may be the prime reason why many local taverns are putting a freeze on the scheduling of bands, Abby Bard, day manager for Charleston bar Top of the Roc’s and Eastern alum, said.

With more and more students racking up miles on their cars to seek entertainment in more populous places such as St. Louis and Champaign, many bars have becoming tired of forking out cash to bands that little or no one comes to enjoy.

“If nobody shows, they are expensive,” Bard said. “If we do get a crowd, it is not the kind of crowd you would want. If you get a cult band, you get a cult crowd, and they trash the place.”

Bard said often times the damage would be so extensive do the bathrooms at Roc’s and the like, that the repair bills would add up to be more than some people’s salaries.

The cost of bands and the repairs the venue was left to foot the bill for at the end of the night prompted the tavern to eliminate bands from its entertainment lineup.

“We do have wrestling (today),” she said. “We try to provide entertainment.”

However, since Roc’s was most often losing profits rather than gaining any, keeping a regular band schedule ultimately became pointless.

“That has pretty much been the problem,” Bard said.

Not only would Top of the Roc dish out $1500 to a band, it would also purchase and advertisement and frustratedly watch a mere 10 people show up, Bard said.

“If we do get a good band, nobody shows up,” she said.

Twenty-Five years ago when Bard was a student, she said there were a lot more bars, concerts during the week days and businesses to shop at. She said these days people want to shop in Champaign or elsewhere for a variety of reasons.

“I hear some of the silliest excuses (why people don’t shop in Charleston),” she said.

Local bar The Uptowner also recently decide to shut down its band schedule for a few weeks due to low turnout.

Consistently puny attendances have also been the reason The Uptowner has scaled back on its weekend concerts recently, said Chris Idol, band organizer at the venue.

Bard said she wouldn’t be surprised if more bars are forced to shut down in the coming years because of low turnouts at concerts provided by local watering holes.

“There are places (in Charleston) that are facing financial difficulty,” she said.

Despite not holding as many shows at Top of the Roc’s as in previous years, Bard said occasionally some bands will be reeled in to perform.

However, she said the tickets are sold by advance only. A couple of concerts are currently scheduled to take place in the spring, she said.