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Written by: Parker Hayden and James Lamb

First Published: July 1, 2025

Edited: July 10, 2025

Photo by: Mike Arrison

"We didn't feel comfortable talking in World Cafe because we felt like they would get malicious."

The events that unfolded leading up to World Cafe staff and employees walking out on Wednesday, June 11th and the subsequent firing of ten of them as well as threats of legal action have been documented in other media outlets since it happened. When we at Rivot noticed that a higher concentration of the coverage was being given to the current CEO instead of the workers, we reached out to their Instagram account @saveworldcafelive to see if they'd like to give their side of the story as to exactly what happened, what lead up to it, and simply what was the breaking point. Two got back us to almost immediately, Novalee Wilcher and Sophia Mattes. Wilcher worked daytime box office, Mattes was nighttime. This is what we learned.

New management took over World Cafe Live in mid-April under CEO and self-appointed "savior" Joe Callahan. According to Wilcher, Callahan says he's going to get them out of debt, because "We're broke. There's no money here," and "It's a philanthropic rescue mission." 

So how much is World Cafe Live in debt? Apparently it's either 3 million or 6 million, depending on where and to who he's speaking to. Outside and to the press, it's 6 million. Inside the venue, at meetings, and within the organization though, it's 3 million. That's quite a discrepancy, so we dug deeper.

If Callahan and his team can't keep their numbers straight, we wondered what else he might be getting wrong. Spoilers: It's a lot.

The following is a play-by-play of the internal chaos that occurred inside World Cafe Live . We met with Novalee and Sophia at an undisclosed but very quaint cafe in West Philly exactly two weeks after the walkout. Some of the other names you'll need to know that'll be referred to are Joe Callahan (of course), Jay Nixon, listed on WCL's website as Interim

VP Operations, Isha Ahijo, and Sarah Jane Foster.

The main thing we wanted to know was the events leading up to the walkout. What we found out was that it started almost immediately the day new management took over. They learned that they were getting a new CEO on April 1st. When Callahan started coming in with random people who were not introduced to staff during working hours, Novalee cited this as being a safety hazard because the doors are locked during the day and she was supposed to know who was allowed in and who wasn't. These people were from Callahan's other businesses such as Ciright, an HVAC company out of West Conshohocken that Callahan owns. No one knew any of these people or why they were there.

As Sophia related, in early May, while standing with a security guard pre-show, a man walked past them without saying anything and no wristband. When security asked the man if he was with the band who was soundchecking at the time, the man stated that he was their new president, Gar Giles.

"From there, it really just evolved worse and worse where more people would just come in and it pretty much became expected for the month of May." - Sophia

"Once their new leadership people started coming in, they would separately email us repetitively, and we need a photo of you and your name, your job responsibilities," Novalee added. It only got weirder and more confusing from there.

Everyone at World Cafe Live knew each other up until that point, and suddenly there were a bunch of strangers roaming around at any given time. No introductions were ever made. Staff didn't know management, and management didn't know staff. Was this ranom guy walking past them the new head of some department, coming in for a meeting, were they with WXPN, or literally what? No one knew and there was never a way of finding out. Day-to-day operations were not like what they were used to and concerns for safety and security were now up in the air.

Digging into Callahan's background, "He has no experience in music. It's strictly in tech, and it's in the HVAC tech space in particular," Sophia said. Digital Twin Technology and the metaverse came up next and how his tech background was going to be phased into the venue. We asked if they felt like their jobs were at risk and if they thought they were going to get phased out. "No, I would not say, at least for me personally, that was not my immediate feeling. I was definitely nervous once people started coming in and disrespecting us. After a week or two of that behavior, with no explanation, I was like things are going bad quickly," according to Sophia. This was now mid-May. That was when the concern started to grow.

The juxtaposition between previous management and the new one was jarring. Hal Real, the former CEO, would interact with staff, come up to them, ask how they were doing, while now employees were getting the feeling that they were seen as "less than." After a pause, Novalee summed it up by stating that Hal "acted like a person."

"To go from that to a bunch of random people who seemed to be nose-in-the-air snooty, but then they're supposed to be working with us.” - Sophia

At this point in our interview, Novalee and Sophia introduced us to the name Jay Nixon; actual name John. They brought him up during this part while describing the weird tension that had now developed. He would film around the venue with no explanation. He at one point told the former head-of-house manager that he "knew the building better than her" despite the fact that he'd only been there for like a week. Little comments like that were summarized as new management was treating respected, high ranking members of staff "like they're children."

The next bombshell to drop was the forced resignation of Kerri Park, the COO/General Manager for the past 20-years and '2024 Women of Live' honoree by Pollstar and VenuesNow. When we asked why she was forced out, the response was, "Because they wanted to take over." She was one of two check signers in the building and Sophia felt like she was their "last line of defense." Park was supposed to let everyone know she was leaving herself and wanted to say goodbye to people individually, but was usurped by a confusing email sent out that day by new management intentionally announcing her departure before she got that chance. Many staff were left wondering if she got fired.

Kerri Park was "the go-to person for basically every department. If it really came to it, we would go to KP. She would be running dishes and helping at the bar; busing tables and

running all around. She was in it." - Novalee

As far as Wilcher and Mattes were aware, Park was never negative of the new team. Mattes says that she told her personally that "we should be welcoming and accepting of them. This is going to be good, change is good." Mattes agreed. Park remained positive despite the fact that she'd been locked out of her email for a month with the new team claiming it was a "glitch". The only negative Mattes noticed with Park was when she related that she kept having to explain things to the new team repeatedly.

Enter Sarah Jane Foster, who has a self-described "OnlyFans for musicians". By this point we became aware of the spontaneous, unannounced "meetings" that Joe Cahallan, Foster, and Jay Nixon began having with employees, or, as we're calling them, interrogations.

As Wilcher described it, "They started having one-on-one interviews with staff, where it would be Joe, Jay, or Sarah interviewing people alone. For me personally, it was not scheduled. I was sitting in the box office, which is not a very large area. I get a knock on the box office door and it's Joe Callahan and Jay Nixon. They come in after I open the door for them. Both of these men are standing there in front of me. They asked a bunch of little questions like what do you do and who are you, even though they had already emailed us these things."

"Joe introduced Jay as 'this guy knows anyone who's anyone' and I said, that's funny because he doesn't know me." - Novalee

It should be noted that Jay Nixon brags about having worked for singer Chris Brown for seven-years. Chris Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault of singer Rihanna in 2009, has an extensive history of drug abuse, and as recently as two-weeks ago has been charged with beating a music producer with a bottle in a nightclub in London, and has a $90 million court battle over a dog attack out there.

Speaking of legal actions, Wilcher was threatened to have the cops called on her for having personal mail sent to a non-profit address which World Cafe Live shares with XPN and is not illegal. This was done by Jay Nixon. This particular incident transpired on the day of the walkout June 11th. Nixon knocked on the box office door and said he had an electrical bill in her name and said she had to come down to the account's office to get it. She followed him down and he brought her to the very small office with a very heavy door. The mail was opened and was actually her security check deposit from her last apartment. He began berating her about how it's illegal to have personal mail sent there and how Joe wanted to call the cops on her. She also noted that they had scanned a copy of her check. It was addressed to 3025 Walnut Street but with her name on it.

For context, Wilcher and Mattes noted that Nixon is a "tall, large guy." Novalee Wilcher is 5-feet tall, not large, and not a guy. Wilcher described being around Nixon as "not a comfortable energy" while also alluding to the explicit audio on his Instagram which, as of this writing, is still up and can be found @entrepreneurtiltheend

Later, still upset over the mail incident, Wilcher couldn't find Jay but did see Joe in the office and asked to speak with him about it real quick.

"Joe Callahan did not even look at me. He went 'No' and walked away. That was my last interaction with him since he's refused

to discuss any of the demands with us." - Novalee

Wilcher and Mattes next turned to the 2-3 hour meeting that occurred on June 2nd, just nine-days prior to the walkout. It was an all-staff meeting that was supposed to be going over a "digital roadmap", basically explaining what the next few months to a year were going to look like for the venue, what's been going on, and what the plans are. Mattes explained here that, "all we know at this point is the stuff that we were looking up independently on our own. At this point, for the past month, we had just been treated like crap and interrogated."

Sarah Jane Foster (of "OnlyFans for musicians" fame) started the meeting, and Mattes explained how Joe Callahan uses her for empathy. Foster acknowledged the fact that they collectively had been through of rough month trying to integrate new management and that they were in fact not going to go over the digital roadmap at this meeting. Instead, it was going to be more "open-ended" as Mattes described, and Joe would be answering questions..."and then we'll have pizza and beer."

Employees were very tense and still in the dark, while Foster is up in front of the stage being peppy. So many people from multiple departments had questions, but at this point Mattes related that the overall message they got was their job security was fine. However, she says Callahan relayed that if people didn't like what he was doing they could find employment elsewhere. Additionally, someone asked him who was going to be in charge of Human Resources. His response, after a pause was, we're outsourcing. None of what he was addressing were the actual issues and "it felt very self-interesty," as Wilcher conveyed. At this point it was around "Day 50 and he's coming up with things very obviously on the fly. He's developing his answers as we're discussing them."

"For questions that had to do with his other companies, and things that seemed a little shady, he would stare the person down. He would very aggressively stare that person down." - Novalee

In another instance, one of the managers asked a question from the back of the room while Callahan was up front. Callahan went over to the table that the manager was sitting at, even though he hadn't done that for anyone else, and he stood in front of them and stared them down. He would also snicker to the people on his team that were standing by him while people asked questions.

In regards to this meeting, it is known that Jay Nixon has video recording of it because he was seen recording with his flash on. The camera was pointed at staff and at one point, an employee stood up and asked if he could film Joe instead of them. Jay's response was something to the affect that his camera was never not on him. Isha Ahijo was also filming in the back when Jay got called out for filming them, as two people  who were there noticed.

Things only got weirder from there. Callahan did an unfunny bit where he slide his sunglasses down when asked a question "like a bit, for dramatic effect." Also, when asked if he could give the names of the new team and what they're job were, he pointed to the people at the back of room, instead of bringing them up to the front and introducing them, and said that they're leaders. No assigned roles, just "they're leaders". When pressed for more specifics and actual titles, the response they got from Callahan was "great leaders".

"We just want to know who to go to when we're short staffed and we're full in the lounge for dinner. When things come up, you need to know who to go to in management and they could not respond to that." - Novalee

It was becoming obvious to staff at this point that new management was bringing people in that essentially had empty roles, whereas ousted former General Manager Kerri Park would be doing stuff like running dishes and was "in the shit" with them. For a venue like World Cafe Live to function, you need a little bit of versatility, where people can "step in where they're needed" and look out for each other. When directly confronted with who would be the main "go-to", Jay Nixon volunteered eventually, but only because he says he lives five minutes away.

This was a problem because there were settlement issues and technically no one there to sign checks. The previous accountant had left right as Joe Callahan's new team had come in. By default or design, Jay Nixon became the main person to handle money in the building, meaning hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to Sophia, she had to stay an extra hour or two in order to pay the bands at the end of their sets due to Jay not leaving the payment cash or checks for her.

With Jay now in charge of the money, things only got worse. Writing checks from the wrong accounts, not leaving the money behind for band payouts despite their riders or contracts explicitly stating check or cash. The drawers were incorrect on numerous occasions. Money mismanagement was becoming a problem. A day late or missing days pay were becoming a problem for employees, too.

In a somewhat shocking twist, we learned from Mattis that "the reason there was a grant for hologram technology at World Cafe Live was because one donor wanted to see Jerry Garcia perform as a hologram on World Cafe Live's music hall stage." This came from Joe Callahan. Another grant noted was that a national promoter "put down a million dollars for Burna Boy to perform at World Cafe Live in November using this tech."

With all of the updates now being discussed in regards to HVAC, hologram tech, etc., the immediate concern for employees now became the fact that there was no way to do this without shutting the building down for a period of time.

Bringing up Burna Boy now sent us down a completely different rabbit hole. As if there weren't enough layers, facets, and holes to poke through with Joe Callahan now holding the reigns of World Cafe Live, we began to wonder what it's like for people like him in positions to just be able to play around with hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. For the average person, even shelling out, say $14 for a cheesesteak nowadays can be a questionable decision.

Two years ago, Burna Boy was supposed to headline something called the ZAZA festival, which has a website link that is obviously no longer active, zazamusicfestivals.com - boasting the world premiere of the BRKFST metaverse series. A link embedded in an article we pulled up about BRKFST also sent us to a dead Instagram account that wouldn't load. ZAZA was supposed to occur in Atlantic City, NJ. Tickets for this event that never occurred were refunded, but Joe Callahan was involved. There is speculation that Joe Callahan was the national promoter involved with this and since it didn't happen now has a contractual obligation and is on the hook to pay Burna Boy $1 million still. A grant requesting donations to have Burna Boy perform at World Cafe Live also existed at a time, but is now no longer active. At the June 2nd meeting, though, Callahan

suggested that said concert would likely be occurring at the Kimmel Center.

With the introduction of adding the metaverse element to World Cafe Live, Mattis noted that "people at home would have an ocular headset, and they can purchase a ticket online to see [the concert] in VR. Basically, they can sit in their home and watch the concert of a VR avatar version of the artist perform exactly the way they're performing at World Cafe Live. I have no idea how [Callhan] plans to negotiate the rights to the artists image or avatar. We did start giggling throughout the meeting. Every answer just got more crazy. We just started laughing towards the end."

"There were just no realistic answers. He either didn’t have a specific answer or he had these outlandish responses that had no actual backup and no actual evidence that this would work." - Novalee

As Wilcher puts it, Callahan came into the meeting trying to be cool, saying he was "from the hood in Philly" and "I'm your savior because you guys are broke. For a lot of the questions, he would simply go, "You're broke, we're broke. There's no money." Mattis chimed in here, remembering that Callahan called his involvement a "philanthropic rescue mission."

With all of this out there, the nerves, the stress, the tension, the rumors, the lack of information, the money mismanagement, the threats of legal action over things that were not illegal, upper level management leaving, the pressure cooker was set to explode, or at the very least boil over. Mattes was part of the walkout but Wilcher was not; Wilcher was off shift at the time it occurred. We asked them specifics about rumors and perceptions we gathered through surveying people we encountered leading up to this interview. We specifically addressed the timing of the walkout, which occurred during a Suzanne Vega concert. Some people we had spoken with thought this timing suspect to drum up media attention. Mattes responded that a big factor was the paychecks. Late pay, no pay, incorrect pay had become a recurring issue by now. Someone was fired that day for asking for their late check and, once receiving it, was told that they didn’t have to come back tomorrow.

Less than a week prior, management announced an open house job fair for that Wednesday. A private event upstairs in the lounge was already scheduled for that day, and they also had one show in the lounge, one in the music hall. Even allowing for the turnover and setup of these overlapping events without including the job fair was a full day. Staff chimed in that this would be very difficult, management basically said that they didn’t care, it's happening. The job fair did in fact occur, a bunch of people showed up, and it was a mess. No positions, descriptions of the jobs, or amount of pay was given out. Wilcher witnessed Jay take two people that he started talking with into the office and showed them where the money, the drawers and the safe were.

An added element to this day was a staff member cutting their finger to the bone, accidently slamming it between two dumpsters. No incident report was filed until after protestation and Callahan even called one of the managers insubordinate for trying to address the situation correctly. An ambulance was called but otherwise all other safety protocols were overlooked or ignored.

"We're either getting laid off or we are going to be fired or we're going to quit." -  Sophia

Finally, it was realized that the only way to address these grievances that were multiplying and compounding was to, as Wilcher put it, "present in an official way that we are demanding lawful labor practices and if they refuse to do that we're going to walk out and protest this." The demand letter was decided three hours before the walkout. Things were happening fast. Mattes had left earlier in the week due to a panic attack, people were developing eye twitches, anxiety attacks, you name it. Staff were going in every day hoping that maybe things would eventually get better or at the least level out, but instead it was only getting worse.

Those who decided that there would be a walkout decided on 8 o'clock, but then realized they needed more time to get the demand letter together. Wilcher was home drafting it and running it by everyone, while Mattes was at the venue making sure she had paid everyone, counted the money, took pictures of her drawer log, took care of the artists, and receipts were scanned. Keeping the artists, the venue, and the concert goers in attendance at the time in mind, they made sure everything was taken care of to the point that they wouldn't be interfering with the show.

By now it was 8:30 and they were outside to minimal fanfare. This wasn't a fantastic, extravagant boycott of the venue or power play to get attention, these were just workers who had simply had enough. It was very impromptu. Up until around 10:30, they were just talking to people as they were coming in and out. Jay Nixon came by briefly and, as he is known for, videoed them briefly. The opportunity was now there to speak with them collectively to address their grievances. Everything was on the table and even though it was called a demand letter, everything on it is just regular things an average employee of any company should be entitled to.  Wilcher and Mattis then informed us that the walkout and everything that's happened since is not a "strike" because they're not unionized, so the term is "informational picketing",

"We don't want artists to be hurt. We dont't want guests to be hurt. We just want fair management and fair treatment." - Novalee

What has since happened organically in support of the terminated workers is media fodder but also worth mentioning here. The band The Taxpayers had a show scheduled at World Cafe Live on June 27th but, after issuing an ultimatum for the venue to address the situation with the grievances the workers were citing that wasn't met, moved their show to First Unitarian Church. Noah, the Taxpayers drummer said that, "Standing up for the WCL workers was a no-brained. It was the only sensible thing to do." Renée Ray Drezner has been vocal about making sure ticket holders to other shows that got canceled get their refunds.

To date as far as we know XPN's only weigh in on this issue was to "postpone" on June 23rd their scheduled

"Homegrown Live!" originally scheduled for the 28th.

DEVELOPING...TO BE CONTINUED...AFTER TONIGHT’S TOWN HALL

Posted by James Lamb

Published:  Wednesday, May 7th, 2025

Leaders from Immigrants Rights Action, Bucks County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Make the Road PA, CASA, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as well as numerous members of the community met at the entrance of the Bucks County Justice Center on Wednesday morning, May 7th, 2025, for a press conference to address the dangers and financial consequences of Sheriff Fred Harran’s proposal to implement 287(g) in Bucks County.

So what is 287(g) and why is it dangerous? This program allows our local law enforcement officials to partner with ICE in the enforcement of immigration laws, enabling them to identify and process people potentially removable from the United States.

According to the official U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website: The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added Section 287(g) to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) — authorizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight.

The 287(g) Program enhances the safety and security of our nation’s communities by allowing ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) to partner with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and remove criminal aliens who are amenable to removal from the U.S.

ICE recognizes the importance of its relationships with its law enforcement partners to carry out its critical mission.

The 287(g) program allows ICE — through the delegation of specified immigration officer duties — to enhance collaboration with state and local law enforcement partners to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of aliens who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.

The above all sounds fine until you look at the deeper picture, or lack thereof. Do we have an illegal immigrant problem in Bucks County? Has there been or was there ever a proportionate rate in crimes committed by illegals in Bucks County? If Fred Harran has those numbers, he should show them and attempt to validate his reasoning for wanting to enter into an agreement with ICE instead of…just because he wants to or that he’s bought into this manufactured problem that is essentially just another way of legalizing and validating racial profiling.

Specifically addressing that issue, Adrienne King, President, Bucks County NAACP, said this morning that, “The sheriff's agreement to implement to 287(g) program, which deputizes local law enforcement officers to act as federal immigration agents, is not only deeply troubling, it's dangerous. This program opens the door of racial profiling, and unjust detentions and the criminalizations of immigrant families who already live in fear. It will tear communities apart, discourage victims and witnesses from cooperating with law enforcement, and ultimately make Bucks County less safe for everyone.

“In fact, in 2023, the Bucks County NAAP conducted a study on local policing. This data was clear: black and brown people in the county are stopped by law enforcement at disproportionately higher rates than white residents, even though white people make up the vast majority of the population here. 

We already face systematic disparities in policing, the addition of 287(g) will only deepen these injustices. This is why we say, without hesitation, 287(g) has no place in Bucks County.”

Delving into the financial ramifications for Bucks County if the agreement goes into effect, Solomon F. Worlds, Staff Attorney for the ACLU stated that, “287(g) agreements cost a lot of money, so much money. It costs so much money through lawsits and attorney fees. Allegheny County had to pay $25,000 for wrongfully detaining someone. Lehigh County, $95,000; Allentown, $25,000. All of this, without even considering lawyers fees, fees that they pay the attorneys  that sue them, and also the fees that they pay to their own attorneys. 

Signing onto a 287(g) agreement is signing on for more taxes. Point blank. In addition to signing on to more taxes, it's officers signing on to more responsibility through no resources. 

“Officers are already, their jobs are already filled to the brim with different duties and different activities that they are required to do. Adding on to that with extra responsibility, no additional pay, doesn't seem to make sense, and it also costs money. It means that officers lose time in the community which, as we've heard from many others today, is something that this community wants, this community has said that they want officers in their community, they're using a community policing model, why stray from that?”

Following the press conference, attendees ventured over to the Bucks County Commissioner’s meeting to voice their concerns on this issue. Most echoed the statements above, though there were some supporters (one woman called out a few names of who were the victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants - again, none of them in Bucks County), but the standout point of the meeting was when Sheriff Fred Harran took the podium. Instead of addressing the main topic of concern of the time (or quite specifically TODAY), he used his time to address the renewal of a SRO issue at CB West and, oddly, plug the sheriff’s office social media platform and his own podcast…yes, you read that last part right…his own podcast. Literal people of the community he serves were in the room to question his justification of becoming de facto ICE, but tune into his podcast and maybe you’ll find out (Like to Subscribe? No thanks. Hard pass). 

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

• Martin Luther King

“Upon arriving to the melting pot

I get penciled in as a godamned white

Now that I am categorized 

Officer gets me naturalized 

Now that I’m living up in God knows where

Sometimes it gets hard without a friend

But as I am lurking around

Huzzah! I see another immigrant punk!

There is a little punk rock mafia 

Everywhere you go”

-Gogol Bordello

Posted by James Lamb 

Published: Saturday, April 5, 2025 11:45 pm

An estimated 1,300 “Hands Off” rallies kicked off on Saturday, April 5th across the country with a conservative total estimated 1,300 people attending the one held in Doylestown today alone.

People are startng to take to the streets in protest of the current administration’s policy changes in education, arts, heath care, social security, the firing of essential federal workers, and even coming after the press (EEP! “WHAT, ME WORRY?”)

In Manhattan for instance, their protest extended for nearly 20 blocks. Altlanta, Georgia packed in a police estimated 20,000. Chicago and Washington D.C. definitely had thousands in attendance…and our little purple county seat by capita matched if not exceeded expectations.

Peacefully and without incident, attendees took to the sidewalks and Bucks County Old Courthouse steps to hear from speakers in opposition of Trump and by proxy Elon Musk (or vice versa).

Democratic members of Congress, including our own Rep. Tim Brennan, joined in on calling out the breaks in conventional norms currently in flux. To quote Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-MD., “Our founders wrote a Constitution that did that did not begin with ’We the dictators’.”

Peaceful protests are guaranteed under the First Amendment, as are Freedom of Speech (also applicable), Freedom of Press (hello?), Freedom of Assembly (literally this!), and Right to Petitition the Government (don’t get it f*cked up!)

“Shut your eyes, but it won’t go away

Turn on, turn off, the news, 

Far

I’m far

So far

From the front line

Quite the opposite,

I’m safe inside

But I worry and I give money 

And I feel useless 

behind this computer”

- Paramore