World Cafe Live: The Saga Continues
Cancellations, Postponements, Teleportations, Refunds, Fixed Communications, Social Media Mayhem and a World Cafe Live Town Hall
I initially posted my feelings on the situation at World Cafe Live on 6/22/25. Much of what happened since then has been covered by Philadelphia Inquirer’s Dan DeLuca and Philly Magazine’s Victor Fiorillo as well.
At the time of writing this, I’m not sure what (if any) progress has been made from the Town Hall hosted at the World Cafe Live on 7/11/25, but based on what I saw and heard, even with a successful resolution with the terminated employees, it will be a long time (if ever) that I choose to support World Cafe Live….and thats because of Joseph Callahan and his leadership team.
The Cancelled, Postponed, & Teleported
Almost all of the shows on the schedule at World Cafe Live from 6/17/25 through 6/28/25 were either cancelled, postponed and even ‘teleported’.
The only tickets I had during this time was the Devon Walker & Michael Longfellow of SNL on 6/21/25. Days before the event, I learned through comments on social media that the show had been cancelled before finally getting a notice of cancellation from World Cafe Live. On the day of the show, tickets were still available for purchase.
The WXPN Homegrown Live! scheduled for 6/28/25 was postponed until further notice on 6/23/25. Since I attended the previous WXPN Homegrown Live! shows, I had planned on attending this showcase featuring Reef the Lost Cauze.
The NPR Tiny Desk Concert Tour was scheduled for the World Cafe Live on 7/15/25 but the event has been rescheduled to The Foundry on 7/14/25. I had attended these sessions previously and I was planning on attending but I cannot make the rescheduled event.
As noted in Dan Deluca’s article below, Dave Kiss ‘teleported’ a number of shows scheduled for World Cafe Live to various other venues in the city.
Some shows continued to happen during this time including Pub Choir and Davy Knowles but these shows were booked long in advance by previous WCL terminated employees. I tried notifying Davy Knowles about the situation at World Cafe Live but no luck in getting him to cancel or postpone the show.
I’m still holding out hope that The Baseball Project show scheduled for 9/24/25 at World Cafe Live will be moved to another venue. I did reach out on social media commenting to the band and they did reply, so we will see. In the meantime, I pulled the trigger and purchased a ticket to the White Eagle Hall show. Note: The Philadelphia show is the ONLY show on the tour without an Event created in Facebook.
Social Media Madness
The posts and comments by the World Cafe Live Social Media team have been ODD for lack of a better term. They posted an AI generated looking video stating ‘BIG THINGS ARE COMING’. The comments on the post attacked the tone deafness for not addressing anything with the former employees.
Eventually, the comments were deleted and the ability to comment was limited.
World Cafe Live also posted about the Pub Choir sold out show but the messaging was a bit misleading. Yes, the show was sold out. However, the new team had nothing to do with the promotion of the show and sell out. Also, who writes a post like that? Comments again attacked the tone deaf post.
Eventually, WCL posted about cancellations and refunds and the process to receive a refund. However, the ticket holder was given a strange option. Option 1 was a Full Refund. Option 2 was a $10 Voucher per Ticket + Ticket Credit + 1 Year Super Fan Club Membership. (I’m sorry NFW). Since I had a ticket to Devon Walker & Michael Longfellow during this time, I decided to follow the process for a Full Refund.
Wrong Refund, Who Dis?
I submitted Option 1 - Full Refund for the 2 tickets I had for the cancelled Devon Walker & Michael Longfellow on 6/25/25. I made sure I included all necessary information related to that cancelled show including the order number.
On 6/26/25, I received an email from World Cafe Live letting me know that I had been refunded for the Dean Wareham show on 6/10/25 that I attended the day before the start of the labor issue walkout.
I didn’t even attempt another response to World Cafe Live because it’s obvious they have no idea what they are doing. I don’t even want the money back at this point for the TRUE cancelled show.
WXPN Updated Communication
WXPN has sent some updates to this growing World Cafe Live situation to members, which I still receive even though I cancelled my membership last month. I commented on how bad the communication was in my previous World Cafe Live article but I noticed this time around, WXPN replaced the one section (the miscommunication part) I felt was most questionable.
Below is the 6/19/25 statement released by WXPN after having to postpone their Juneteeth showcase at World Cafe Live:
The updated communication from WXPN has “The current dispute between former staff and new management at World Cafe Live has been shaped by miscommunication and confusion during a period of transition and change” replaced with “Recent events involving former staff and new leadership at World Cafe Live have sparked strong public reaction, community concern, and widespread discussion”.
See the updated communication from WXPN on 6/27/25.
It makes me wonder WHO wrote the initial WXPN communication (at least the miscommunication part). I asked previously “if it was miscommunication, then explain what that miscommunication was”! It seems public community outrage (not just me) caused the revision of this statement.
The WCL “Town Hall”
On 6/27/25, World Cafe Live social media announced a Town Hall to be held on 7/11/25 at 5pm. I initially signed up to attend this event in person but after seeing the waiver that was required to be signed and the time of the event, I knew I’d have to attend via the livestream.
After looking at the calendar, I also realized I was taking Elijah to see the new James Gunn Superman movie at 340 in Moorestown (loved it) so I figured I’d definitely miss the stream.
Eventually, WCL social media was correcting the time of the Town Hall to 6pm but not updating it on their social media invites. This caused another flood of comments to these posts by the community. Most of the comments were responded with a ‘see you on Thursday’ response by WC social media. Eventually, the day of the Town Hall, World Cafe Live responded with a new snarky commented post shown below.
Committed to transparent communication? Trying to win back the Philadelphia community and local musicians? World Cafe Live you have a TERRIBLE way of demonstrating this leading up to a make or break moment with the Philadelphia music community. You have an opportunity to reset, start over and reintroduce yourself and how much you care about the music community in Philadelphia and this is your build up?
I was able to get home from the movie in time to tune into an Instagram live feed of the Town Hall. The livestream and Metaverse stuff they threw people into didn’t work (shocker). Dan DeLuca did a good job summarizing most of what came across in the Instagram live feeds in his Philadelphia Inquirer article on 7/12/25.
Here’s my two cents (maybe a dollar) FWIW after watching multiple Instagram Live feeds of the Town Hall and an excellent summary by Philadelphia musician Tyler Lane on his Instagram post Town Hall.
I give World Cafe Live some credit for agreeing to unionize, drop the previous lawsuit and to pay each terminated employee. Let’s see how this unfolds. Talk is cheap.
I get what Roger LeMay has said about running a business in 2025. I get its hard. However, the World Cafe Live leadership has to realize that PEOPLE (not Human Capital) are what make your business run. How you treat your PEOPLE speaks volumes about you and this impression left by the World Cafe Live leadership has not done a good job at all to demonstrate this during this difficult time. If I see leadership or management treating employees terribly at any establishment, its likely I’ll never go back.
Joseph Callahan and his team had 2 weeks to prepare for this Town Hall and came across as complete amateurs especially in the technology space. I have worked with technology deployments many times over the last 10 years and dry running and developing contingencies is part of that process. I don’t have inside information if they did any dry runs but it was obvious from the failed livestream and failed Metaverse for the Town Hall that they had no answer for how to get questions from people’s attention and feedback unless you were able to attend the Town Hall in person.
I missed the beginning part of the Town Hall but I heard from multiple people there and confirmed in Dan DeLuca’s article that they opened the night with a prayer. A Prayer? I’m a non-practicing Catholic and freedom of religion is a right in this country. Maybe I’m in the minority but I don’t think prayer has any place in a Town Hall.
One attendee asked for an apology from the board members for comments they made during some of the other speakers using some profane language. The same profane language they had everyone sign waivers for to enter. The response I heard: “NOPE”. Trying to win back the community? Bad look World Cafe Live board.
I’ve attended many Corporate Town Halls in my 30 years in Corporate America. They all have a Q&A directed at Board Members that solicit a response from someone up on the board. If an answer isn’t known they will make sure it gets followed up on. I saw alot of questions and comments made by people in attendance but I saw very little response from the board and no action plan for how anything will be better in 30-60-90 days.
Not surprising but there were plants in the audience praising Joseph Callahan. ONLY JOE CALLAHAN can DO IT (where have I heard that before?). They were un-prepared as well and easy to spot.
“No One Knows More About Live Music then Joseph Callahan”. When I heard Joseph Callahan say this it made me glad that I wasn’t in attendance. YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. BE. SHITTING. ME. Everyone in attendance at the Town Hall was insulted. I was infuriated. I was still processing what was said when the next bomb dropped
“Human Capital” - he called the workers and musicians HUMAN CAPITAL in his closing statement. All of the ‘I listened to every word that was said’ flew right out the window with that statement. The crowd got up and walked out and then a live band on the stage started playing music. What a disaster.
The next day World Cafe Live social media felt like a MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:
The AI generated video accompanying this was cringe. The wording sounding like it was spit out of Chat GPT. It was a pretty bad night listening to everyone but not really providing any details on actions. I felt like maybe we were at different events.
Also, the Deluca article mentions that even after the Town Hall, the current leadership continues to point the blame at Hal Real and his previous staff for issues. Not sure how this is working it out with the former employees.
The Tisburys Free at Noon
The day after this disaster Town Hall, The Tisburys, who were one of many blocked on social media by World Cafe Live, played their scheduled Free at Noon for WXPN in the venue. They posted the following message:
I’m happy for The Tisburys for the reception on their latest album. I know it wasn’t an easy decision for them. I didn’t attend the Free at Noon but know others that were in attendance. I heard they spoke up for the fired workers. Maybe it was too soon post Town Hall but just looking at the venue, even in old pictures, makes me sick.
I did donate to the Saveworldcafelive Go Fund Me since I couldn’t make it. I hope they get what they deserve and can get to closure on this whole debacle.
The Saga Continues
There seem to be a lot of people saying 'Joe Callahan can fix it’. He has been successful in previous ventures. Hell, Joe Callahan may know more about live music then anyone else. The one thing that I do know about Joe Callahan is that he has no idea what to do with World Cafe Live. He’s in way over his head and the sooner he’s out as CEO at World Cafe Live, the better. I know I won’t be there while he’s the CEO. I love the venue and the events WXPN puts on there, but I don’t even want to associate with World Cafe Live any longer.