SuCFestivus for the Rest of Us.

<>

I would like to begin this post by airing my greivances to the general community of concert promoters, booking agents, etc.

Let me start by declaring my love for (almost) all things musical. If it came down to it, IF I HAD to listen to such awful compilations of clutter and audio bile as the Black Eyed Peas "My Humps" for the rest of my life, IF I was forced into exile from this world and was no longer able to participate as a fan in the never ending cycle of discovery, comprehension and exclamation of the sounds that keep me whistling while I work, I would still be making music of my own. I might be making it in my room with my little gEEtar or pounding out a rhythm I heard my tires making against the highway driving to work or yodling the song of a bird who's made his domain outside my window, in any case, it's still there, the music.

My main issue here isn't against the lack of music to inspire or encourage me to expound on these concepts in a blog setting such as this. My issue pertains to a little thing I like to call the SuCFest (Summer Circuit Festivals).

It's true that to many of these festivals appear to benefit the concert goer, but I would like to represent the common man in this argument. I have a few small but very obvious statements to make to that affect.

1. SuCFest does not happen by accident. Where as the general public had the opportunity in the past to enjoy a touring festival (other than the less tolerable OzzFest, or Warp Tour) like Lallapalooza at least in close by large city, now we are stuck traveling, hopefully within the region of our homes at least, to see such a line-up and hope that it isn't scheduled during a busy week of work. The up and coming edgy bands that once traveled on such caravaned tours now make their dates in random geographic locations somewhere not closed to home such as the Gorge in Wa(r)shington.

2. Guys like me, guys who would probably pay to see a good 50% of the bands play indivdually, are now stuck not only paying ridiculous ticket prices to gain access the the campground, but also plane ticket, rental car, gas and food charges for an entire weekend if not longer. Not cool.

3. What about the central location of Kansas City, access to a large amount of open fields and ability of shows to sell out repeatedly is not appealing to local promoters that would encourage a festival to be added locally? One might make the arguement that the Walkarusa festival in the Lawrence is just that. I stand firm in saying that all I see there is a bunch of hppies kicking off their sandals and kicking up some dirt. I hemphatically reply by saying my gas permeable contacts will not tolerate such musical lineups. And to be honest, the concert promoters of Lawrence present another bone to be picked. I'll, however, leave that for another time.

4. This whole SuCFest thing has put me in a sour mood, but it should suffice to say that I, Ryan Slofield, am willing to pay up to $65/ ticket to any promoter, booking agent, etc who can provide one day of good bands, whether popular to the masses or not, that are showing promise to the future of music and will be available for viewing and hearing within 30 miles of Kansas City on a day that isn't in the middle of our regions most heat-wave prone months of the year(early june or late may would be excellent).

Let's not let the SuCFest control how and when we get to see rare performances. Let's make the performers aware of the intrigue for what they are doing. Get them on the 'hone and get them to our homes.