June 16, 2025
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Singer Rae.Dianz has canceled her June 26 show at World Cafe Live in response to the venue firing workers who staged a walkout last week. The Taxpayers are demanding the venue meet certain demands or else the punk band will play its June 27 show elsewhere.
A pair of Philadelphia-based musical artists are showing their support for the World Cafe Live workers who were terminated after a walkout last week.
The singer Rae.Dianz has canceled her June 26 show at the venue, and the punk band The Taxpayers has threatened to play elsewhere on June 27.
On Wednesday, World Cafe Live servers, bartenders, box office employees and production workers walked off the job during a Suzanne Vega concert, claiming "an unacceptable level of hostility and mismanagement" under new CEO Joseph Callahan, who took over in April. As protests continued the next day, 10 employees were fired, including some who had not participated in the walkout, the workers said. Management also announced plans to file a complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and federal authorities.
The firings and complaints from workers followed the resignations of World Cafe Live Chief Operationg Officer Kerri Park, Programming Director Helen Smith and Guest Services Manager Hayley Simmons, the Inquirer reported.
Over the weekend, Rae.Dianz said in an Instagram post that she would no longer play at World Cafe Live on June 26.
"With everything that's going on at World Cafe Live, I just definitely don't feel as comfortable as I'd prefer to, especially with being a former server," she said in the video.
The Taxpayers said the band has asked World Cafe Live to meet several demands by Wednesday or it will move its June 27 show to another venue that the band already has lined up. The band did not disclose the venue. It wants World Cafe Live to create a new employee contract with regular pay days, rehire wrongfully terminated employees, commit to keeping World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and hold regular meetings with staff about the future.
"We hold World Cafe Live in high regard. There are too few independent, accessible All Ages venues of your size, and you have an inspiring history to be proud of," the band wrote in an email to PhillyVoice. "We would love to be able to perform there on Friday, June 27th and see this situation — in our view, easily — resolved."
Callahan said he could not discuss internal operations or planning for the venue outside of his management team. He said the employees were not fired for staging the walkout, but for breaches of trust that have been misrepresented.
