Comments on: BREAKING: City Stages festival ends its run in debt

By: Wade on Birmingham » Blog Archive » Check and mate? Arrest warrants issued for City Stages’ McMillan, Koch

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:48:10 +0000

[...] } if (hours==0) hours=12 if (minutes Sphere: Related Content Also see:City Stages 2008: The falloutBREAKING: City Stages festival ends its run in debtCity Stages 2008City Stages 2006City Stages 2009: Less money, mo [...]

By: City Stages may be terminal, but Bottletree will be Terminally Happy | Birmingham Weekly

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:28:29 +0000

[...] you know from all of this reporting from Birmingham Weekly and others such as The Terminal and Wade on Birmingham, City Stages is gone. It was a good thing for Birmingham while it’s lasted, and we have 21 [...]

By: jim

jim — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:11:12 +0000

The Crawfish Boil may be solvent but it’s still a piece of shit.

Depressing…

By: Wade

Wade — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:08:01 +0000

Here's Jen's reposted post, "Stage-fright." Comments?

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:31:59 +0000

You might point out it is MHO, not verified facts.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:31:00 +0000

You can repost (and even edit); I hadn’t been on that site in so long I didn’t remember my settings.

By: Wade

Wade — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:38:34 +0000

Delgore: Hopefully Crawfish Boil and other local festivals will continue to grow and fill the void left by City Stages. Jen: From lousy to licensed blog teacher. Wow! [For those who can't see Jen's protected post, it says: "City Stages will fail someday. On June 25, 2009." Eerie. If Jen OK's it, I'll repost it so all of you can see it.]

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:30:57 +0000

What we were saying in 2006: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.viewcustom&friendId=18836291&blogId=131789564&swapped=true

Wow, I was a really shitty blogger in 2006, by-the-by.

By: Delgore

Delgore — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:05:20 +0000

Finally, I was wondering when they would quit walking all over Fathers Day.

I’ve posted before about the comparison of CS and Crawfish and how CS needed to pack up and die. Crawfish consistently pulled in more revenue in a smaller area and in less time than CS could even dream about.

George, you just couldn’t get any more beatings out of that dead horse. My God man, it’s feet have been turned up for years and it’s belly bloated. It’s now just a pile of scrap meat waiting for the flies.

Oh wait, you and your staff have already had your fill. Time for the City Sanitation Engineers to scrape it off the road and send it on it’s way to Turkey Creek.

By: Wade

Wade — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:52:00 +0000

Joy: You can find more on the financial info in this previous post. I think it would be OK for the city to take a break from this kind of festival. The Heritage Festival is coming back in August, after having been away awhile. Eager to see how it fares.

By: Joy Myers

Joy Myers — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:25:47 +0000

Noneya, thanks for the Artwalk plug. I’ve never had access to City Stages’ financial info, but I once heard a rumor that ONE person’s MONTHLY salary was equivalent to Artwalk’s entire annual budget. That still kills me.

It would be great if someone came along and could put together a new version of this festival. If not, maybe all their supporters, vendors, sponsors and volunteers will find worthy new places to spend their time, money and talents. I’m sure other festival organizers would appreciate any help they can get… I know I would.

Joy Myers, Artwalk

p.s. This year’s Artwalk Preamble August will feature Bottletree as one of its locations on August 13!

By: Wade

Wade — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:12:57 +0000

That’s just good manners. Like if a mugger thanks you for the tip.

By: Andy Birdwell

Andy Birdwell — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:59:16 +0000

I love how in the last paragraph they thank the vendors. I’m sure that “thanks” is going to soften the financial blow.

By: City Stages is no more… | The Terminal - Birmingham AL's hub

City Stages is no more… | The Terminal - Birmingham AL's hub — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:06:59 +0000

[...] that City Stages is no more. The Birmingham News reported the story first earlier this afternoon. Wade on Birmingham and bham.fm have also posted about the news and already have comment threads of their own. [...]

By: Wade

Wade — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:45:38 +0000

Y’all should read Dennis’ post. It shows what I think a lot of consumers and music fans were thinking.

Competition should make products better or drive inferior ones away. That’s certainly what happened here.

By: Dennis Pillion

Dennis Pillion — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:39:05 +0000

I’m sad to see the festival go but creeped out that I eulogized something and it died three days later. It just shows that once you get on my bad side, there’s no coming back.

http://is.gd/1djTo

Let’s be honest though, competition was not the problem. The organizers just didn’t put out a product that was worth the price of admission and the hassle of the heat/parking/other issues. Lower the price or get better acts and people would show up.

By: Wade

Wade — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:32:30 +0000

Kenn: City Stages has an accounting office??

By: Wade

Wade — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:19:46 +0000

Ike: Even festivals once on the ropes, like JazzFest in New Orleans, found a way to bounce back. But was it competition that doomed City Stages? Did McMillan do enough to outmaneuver that growing list of competing music festivals?

Noneya: I have heard before that it was a closed circle that ran City Stages. No new blood, no new influx of ideas can cripple innovation and accelerate rot.

By: Kenn McCracken

Kenn McCracken — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:15:44 +0000

I’m fairly sure that no one from the City Stages accounting office will post a comment, because you have to add two numbers successfully to post.

I am thrilled that an extra quarter million of money that could have gone to street repairs, police paychecks, or Langford’s defense fund instead got tossed out the window into the rain.

I like to light cigarettes with twenty dollar bills, too.

By: Noneya

Noneya — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:01:02 +0000

Sorry to be anonymous, but I am still connected and I have access to the financials.

The Administration fees almost always were the same amount of money that the festival fell short by.

Nepotism really killed this festival, if it had the same selfless leadership as Do Dah, Artwalk, or countless other events it would be going strong.

I hope someone submits a different plan soon. Otherwise we all lose.