i didn't go to city stages this year. i had a show to play with john strohm in atlanta. a huge portion of my friends all went to bonnaroo in tenn. and they got to see the police and wilco, etc. bastards.
i could have gotten artist passes to city stages, but i was too lazy to ask.
the spots were basically invited to play city stages... we passed.
i haven't played the festival since 2003, and i haven't been excited about the line-up since 2005. last year i had a friend in town from LA, and plenty of artist passes., and we had a great time . an artist pass makes the festival more fun, and more tolerable... you can walk around back stage, get to the good beer, stand in the shade, etc.
but this year, i had no desire to go. here's the line-up. pathetic.
wade of the wade on birmingham blog posted a fantastic, well organized treatise on the death, or impending death of this misguided festival.
i've worked with people affiliated with city stages over the past year. some were connected and lucid. some seemingly ate shit sandwiches for breakfast. i'm also close to people who actually work the stages. i won't name names, but i've talked to people who stage manage the festival who were alarmed at how clueless the management seems to be.
i've made it publicly known to bands, agents, venue owners that i would love to see a local-only festival pop up on the same weekend as city stages. i think it would be an interesting experiment to drain the bull from all sides, in an effort to either make it stronger or kill it outright. here are some negative influences:
1. bonnaroo in the north...
2. other (sloss, jazz, etc.) festivals in the bham area...
3. a proposed local festival to suck some of the true music lovers away from city stages.
4. perhaps even a tie in with local music/entertainment districts - somewhat of a venue showcase annexation.
i think a local festival could and would make money. city stages generally shits on local bands. in the past few years they have demoted them to "homegrown" stage status, which ironically, has been one of the more organized stages.
we should explore this local-only music festival option. if city stages made money, i wouldn't be so critical. anything that brings money and people downtown is a good thing, (lord knows that the worst enemy to downtown business are the vampires in city hall)- but city stages has become a money-loser, not money-maker. and importing national acts, (shitty ones at this point) to attract people downtown to a money losing festival is actually insulting to the local acts. perhaps some increasing competition would actually force CS to become a better festival. i'm all for it.
this is one of the best clips i've seen regarding the election, via salon.com, could this be the real enemy ? also check this out... 1. this lady does some great art. it reminds me of some of matthew barney's work. 2. she uses dead animals. and - yep... she kills them herself. that's creepy and brilliant at the same time. here's the nathalia edenmont exhibit . and here's the rationale for the art-killings via the host gallery, wetterling. i don't really have an opinion. i just thought i should share that little art nugget. ...moving on... i got the final packaged verison of the jesse payne solo album. it was very well done. the front and back photo is of canterbury church here in birmingham. the liner book is solid white, with plain black text. very simple and clean. i like it. i'll post a pic in a few days. pay attention to rock radio in the next several weeks and you'll probably hear some promos for the album that is slated to drop in election day. ...