Nope. The hullabaloo surrounds recent events at the California Clipper, a West Side bar known for its retro-chic atmosphere, sideburn-having patrons and Rheinlander beer. Some members of Chicago's music community have been crying foul after several events that led to full changeover of the tavern's staff, though the whole deal reeks of he-said-she-said finger pointing and adolescence.

Here's what we know: On December 3, the owner of the California Clipper, Max Brumbach, fired the bar's entire staff, including long-time manager/bartender Brian Page, giving them one week's severance pay in lieu of more advance warning. The bar closed down for three days while Brumbach implemented the changeover with the help of local marketing consultant Caroline Songin. Since then, however, the bar has been operating on a normal basis.

From there, though, everything gets messy. According to Page, it was an action he never saw coming. "He told me he was letting me go," explains Page, "that he and I had a different vision of what the Clipper should be. And even though we'd never discussed that, he felt we just couldn't work together." When Page asked why the entire staff—all of which Page had hired—were also getting the ax, Page says Brumbach accused his staff of "not being very friendly, and that the place had to be more service oriented."

Brumbach, however, tells a completely different story. "Six months ago, I had a meeting with Brian and told him I was putting him on notice. The staff was not friendly, and the service wasn't good. After that, we met again three months later, so I could follow up. But nothing changed. I gave him two warnings, but Brian didn't comply." Brumbach cites a few other reasons as well, including security concerns and understaffing during the bar's busier nights. Additionally, Brumbach, who also owns the Wicker Park blues/jazz/bbq spot Smokedaddy, notes that the bar wasn't even breaking even in terms of profit.

Page, on the other hand, says there was never a meeting during which Brumbach told him he might be fired if the bar didn't improve, though when the ax actually fell he felt that Brumbach "had made up his mind sometime ago." To counter, Brumbach says that "I didn't want to say 'I'm gonna fire you.' I wanted to be a little but classier than that."

Page also goes on to say that not only had the bar's profits increased over the same time span last year, but the bar was taking on an increasing profile, garnering mentions in InStyle and Men's Journal Magazines, as well as a bevy of local press (including Newcity). "During the last four weeks I was there, we were doing twenty-five percent better than the same four weeks of last year, and in all we were forty percent higher than all of last year."

While Brumbach concedes that may be true, he also notes that "the bar still wasn't even able to pay its own rent but once every three months."

The situation gets even dirtier when it comes down to booking music, especially regular Clipper acts like Erwin Helfer and Sam Burkhardt, and it's here that were these two in a boxing ring, the rope-a-dope would come into play. Page says Brumbach told him to eliminate certain acts from certain nights. Brumbach says he did not. Regardless, all acts booked by Page's staff (specifically Ryan Hembrey, of Can-Ky-Ree) were honored.

Unfortunately, with the changes have come some ugly rumors that both Brumbach and Page say they've had no involvement in spreading. One of these is that Brumbach was unhappy with the clientele and their cheap-drinking preference, and that Brumbach wanted the bar to more closely emulate the Green Mill. While Page says Brumbach said something to that effect long before the bad business went down, it was never really a serious matter. Brumbach is appalled by the idea: "As long as their money is green, everybody is welcome at the Clipper." Another rumor tells of Page firing the entire staff—something both Page and Brumbach adamantly deny. Also, yet another rumor has Brumbach closing the Clipper, pulling out the booths and adding a disco ball. "That's crazy," responds Brumbach. "Have you ever seen the place? It's beautiful, why would I do that?"

Though no matter what happened it is Brumbach's right to hire or fire his staff as he sees fit, I wonder if he wasn't a little cold-hearted in doing so right before the holiday season. "Unfortunately," he answers, "we did it when we had to do it. We probably should have done it before Thanksgiving."

Although the bar's patrons—a fervent crew, to say the least—have made the turnover in staff at the Clipper an issue to rally around, both Page and Brumbach are handling this uncomfortable situation with restraint. Brumbach notes that he realizes Page "is handling everything with a lot of class," and Page notes that the incident hasn't completely soured him on Brumbach. "I still feel friendly towards Max," he says, "but I don't know if we can ever be friends again."

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