BY DON SORCHYCH | JUNE 20, 2012
Big Earl’s Greasy Eats (reality?) show
I received this letter to the editor by a Cave Creek businessman who has been here for many years:
“Just a little note to Ms. Perfectly Uncivilized [Kim Brennan]
“I know you and your little bunch of mavens claim to represent the business community of Cave Creek, but this time you’ve gone too far. In reference to the trashy TV episode on the Food Channel, that’s over the top. You might relish the publicity, but it sure made our town and your business look like white trash! How embarrassing for the rest of our town and the other bars and restaurants – not exactly enticing to diners and family visitors.
“What’s next – a burger, fries and a table dance on national TV? I guess this is what I’d expect from a councilwoman who repeatedly used her office for personal gain. I bet the other restaurants would like to have the town landscape the front of their restaurant. How about the water tank real estate deal?
“My little uncivilized friend, art is in the eye of the beholder. Dancing naked in front of a bunch of drunken Alaskan sailors is not exactly culture and trash TV is not necessarily good for our town.
“Name withheld by request
“P.S. Please resign from the chamber and take that stupid little monkey logo with you!”
I saw the so-called reality show.
There are many inferences in the letter about Brennan. Yes, she violated open meeting laws while on council and gave advice to a realty client about what amount should be charged to the Town of Cave Creek for a piece of property while she was a council member. She and a colleague coined the stupid “Perfectly Uncivilized” slogan for Cave Creek. Although the Arizona Republic still uses the phrase, even the local chamber of commerce abandoned it.
As far as Brennan dancing naked in front of drunken sailors, I don’t know. But I was once a drunken sailor while on liberty and that is what strippers did. Brennan told me she stripped for 10 years in Anchorage, Las Vegas and New Orleans. She told a friend she had a topless bar in Mexico and gave it up when officials wanted a piece of the action.
She was involved in the so-called Thieves Market on Bob Kite’s property behind the Cave Creek Post Office. Although restaurants tell me it improved their business, retailer suffered loss of business. It is representative of the old days when Magic Bird’s tents stole local retail business on the year’s best weekends. Back then, retail business owners often appeared at council meetings to complain, sometimes with tears, about what Magic Bird was doing to their businesses. One would think our local chamber would stand for local commerce, but they don’t.
I heard from a half dozen people, in and out of town, about the Big Earl’s Greasy Eats reality show. It was promoted as a discovery by owner Kim Brennan that she was losing $4,000 per month and had to install hidden cameras to find out why.
A number of employees discovered they were being filmed without their permission and left.
The show opens with Brennan expressing her concerns and then her meeting with an “investigator” to install the hidden cameras. Diagrams were shown of the locations of the cameras and she sat in a room monitoring the cameras with her so-called investigators. Much of the footage was monitoring a bartender called Claire. Although discussions would lead you to believe she was a long time employee, she in fact had been employed for only two days. The camera showed her pocketing cash and giving away drinks. At closing time, the place was suddenly filled with party types. Claire left the cash register, told the party goers to help themselves and went to a restroom and spent 15 minutes with a male “customer.” Brennan rolled her eyes and said she was “disgusted.”
Brennan said she had enough and stormed to the front of the store saying, “This is my home. This is my business, GET OUT.”
According to ex-employees, all the party people were actors and actresses. Many employees and ex-employees had signed non-disclosure agreements which apparently had been gotten for a previous publicity photo shoot at the restaurant and had nothing to do with the reality show. Some former employees are considering legal action.
Brennan told Claire to come with her and they went into the camera room. The best lines of the whole charade were spoken when the camera man asked Claire what she was doing in a restroom with a guy for 15 minutes. She replied, “What do you normally do in a rest room?”
Brennan spoke her assertions ending with, “You are fired.” Sound a little like Donald Trump?
The announcer said Claire was already employed elsewhere. No kidding.
Later Brennan said the business had improved now that she fixed the problem. Really? Go online and read the comments by diners. Not a pretty picture. And after giving the area bartenders, servers and cooks a bad name, who will work there?
We had hoped to interview Brennan’s paramour Eric, who ran the place for perhaps 10 years. His resignation seemed to correlate with the decision to have a reality show, which was anything but reality. When she was asked if she married Eric, she said he had asked to marry her and that was enough. His whereabouts are unknown.
Brennan still has aspirations to return to council. Lots of luck on that dream Kimberly.
