Hollabazoo... hezballoo...lotta haloozers
Posted on 08/13/2006 3:58:22 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
Among the most noteworthy performances at Lollapalooza 2006 were the biggest hometown shows ever performed by the two most successful rappers Chicago has produced -- Common and Kanye West -- and the first appearance here by French-Latin giant Manu Chao, a heroic figure in the Latin music community.
Unfortunately, the crowd of about 50,000 that watched West perform was almost exclusively white, and hardly a mirror image of his hometown or his fan base. And many Latin music fans felt excluded from Chao's show and hurt by a contract that prohibited him from performing elsewhere in the city during his rare visit to the United States.
The promoters were asked about the lack of diversity during a press conference in the midst of the festival. "We market to all areas of the city and nation," Charles Attal said. "We can't control who's buying the tickets." But some members of Chicago's hip-hop and Latin music communities say Capital Sports didn't do enough.
Local alternative/album-rock radio stations WKQX (101.1-FM) and WXRT (93.1-FM) were major presences. They broadcast from the show; their DJs introduced many acts, and Q101 bought naming rights to a stage as part of a package valued at $80,000 to $100,000. Conspicuously absent were the city's three hip-hop and R&B powerhouses -- WGCI-FM (107.5), WBBM-FM (96.3) and WPWX-FM (92.3), all of whom consider West a core artist -- and Latino music station Radio Arte-FM (90.5).
"Definitely we would have wanted to participate in any way, shape or form, but in this situation, they didn't offer anything good," said Power 92 music director Barbara McDowell. "Let's see what happens next year: If they have any major hip-hop artist on their lineup, we're very open."
WGCI program director Elroy Smith said Capital Sports bought some ad time for Lollapalooza and provided some ticket giveaways. "But I looked at the festival and I wasn't impressed: Common and Kanye were out of place on that bill, to be honest.
"Black people aren't used to this event," Smith added. "If 'GCI would have embraced it, they would have embraced it. It would have been a weird kind of marriage, but it could have been interesting, with all this mixture of music. But they probably would have just said, 'I'll just wait around for Common and Kanye to come on.' "
The directors of several community groups made similar comments about Chao, noting that many of the artist's most ardent Latino and French-African fans couldn't justify the $73 ticket price just to see his set. Some said that calls to Capital Sports about group sales of reduced-price tickets for Chao's performance were not returned.
Many of the local music promoters and club bookers interviewed by the Sun-Times said Capital Sports missed a golden opportunity to welcome people who might have been unfamiliar with Lollapalooza, allow music lovers with limited means to see their heroes and make additional profits: Chicago hip-hop fans who only wanted to see Common and West and Latino music fans who just wanted to hear Chao could have been sold reduced-price tickets just before those performances, which ended the day.
"It's not uncommon at all, if a show hasn't reached capacity, for me to allow people to come in at a reduced cover charge before the end of the night," one club booker said. "It's win-win: The band performs for more people, and I make more money. Sure, Capital Sports would have liked to sell more $70 tickets. But collecting $20 or $30 beats collecting nothing."
mailto:jderogatis@suntimes.com
Black radio and "latin" (actually SPANISH) radio have no diversity of music.
They both ignore rock and roll and Lollopalooza is still at its core a rock and roll festival.
There are spanish language rock bands (a whole movement called "rock en espanol") and black rockers who are substantial names in garage and punk. The stations ghetto that demographic and pretend it doesn't exist.
Don't blame the festival organizaers for not being "diverse". They are offering a range of acts to the audience.
Sounds like a limited sponsorship, not embracing a "diverse" stage. Just bitching to complain.
Does BET ever show Cab Calloway, Miles Davis, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Herbie Hancock, George Clinton, or the Chamber Brothers? Did they report on Arthur Lee's death (or do anything to raise money/attention for him medical treatment, the way the Whiskey A Go Go did in LA and Robert Plant did in NYC)?
Only one performance in the US. A performance that people are travelling across the country to see.
And because locals don't want to pay the price for admission (without having to pay travel or lodging), something is "wrong".
If he's so popular, why doesn't the latin station book him for a summer fest?
I have some friends who gave serious thought to travelling from Houston to see him perform. This is not a Chicago only event.
I call it the "Otis Day" syndrome. They play for white frat boys, and then they'll play for black audiences. "Wait till Otis sees us, he loved us!"
Rock & Roll PING
Lolapalooza isnt about rock and roll
Its a big PC goof fest
PC this and PC that
You will like diversity!
YOU'RE PAYING 75$ FOR THE PRIVELEDGE OF SEEING ACTS THAT YOU WOULDN"T NORMALLY GO SEE...
dumbass
I only went to Lollapalooza one time and that was to see the Ramones final tour (and I didn't pay).
At one time it filled a need to get bands of a certain level booked. Janes Addiction was on the charts courtesy of MTV on so their singer had some cash to back some vanity projects.
Now there are so many festivals going on regionally that even Lollapalooza doesn't tour.
None will ever be more PC than the original Woodstock where Abbie Hoffman and the Black Panthers threatened to disrupt the event unless they were given $10,000 and free booths. In the end, it wasn't enough as Abbie Hoffman tried to hijack the stage when the Who were on. Pete Townsend thwacked Hoffman in the head with his guitar and kept playing. As with 1999, the 1969 crowd burned down the "capitalist" vendor booths (you can hear a reference to it in the Woodstock movie when they announce the free breakfast).
Lollapalooza was about "alternative" music but it is now the establishment.
Most of R&R these days is about being a pawn to the establishment.
Good posts over the weekend dude.
Lollapalooza Wins Big At The Box Office ($8 million for 3 day concert) (Billboard, August 14, 2006, 7:00 PM ET - Ray Waddell, Nashville)
Seems like it was a successful event and some realized this only too late.
But, alas, not "diverse" and that, according to DeRogatis, is the real story.
The promoters were looking to see if their money was green. That is the color that was important to them.
No, but one of the Lolla acts, Arizona-based collective Calexico, dedicated their cover of "Alone Again Or" to him at the festival, and features the horn playing of Jacob Valenzuela.
If the authors had tried to find diversity within bands, as opposed to between them, it would've had a much easier time at this festibal.
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