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Misc. Items |
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City of Providence Shuts Down SummerFest II |
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The City of Providence has once again shown their potential to be callous bastards. A lot of work goes into organizing a show such a Summerfest -- months of crap and red tape... to have some jerk off downtown pull a liquor permit mere hours before a show just 'cuz... is ludicrous. Ahhhh, but this a city of the arts! |
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City of Providence Shuts Down SummerFest II
The City of Providence has shut down the outdoor portion of SummerFest II.
Effective 2:15 PM on Friday, September 5, 2003, the Board of Licensing revoked the liquor and entertainment license from Floodwaters Entertainment, making it illegal to have entertainment and liquor outside.
The Board cites the affiliation of Floodwaters Entertainment with the Call/the Century Lounge (hereafter, the Call) as the main reason for revocation. Jerry Meola, CEO of Floodwaters Entertainment and drummer for Floodwaters, went above and beyond every measure possible to keep this event happening.
The Board of Licensing is the final of 5 stages to make an event like this possible. Citing previous safety issues with the Call, they asked if the Call was in any way affiliated with the event outdoors. Our answer to this was no, because all of the necessary documents and applications were filed under Floodwaters Entertainment. We were completely responsible and liable for all happenings outdoors, with the Call benefiting from liquor sales indoors only from patrons of our event. The outdoors and indoors were two separate legal operations. The Board of Licensing felt that we had lied to them, because the advertising states the event takes place at the Call/the Century Lounge. Apparently, all of this might have been avoided had we put next to instead of at.
The Board took it upon itself to presume that the Call must be shutting down business for the day so that Floodwaters Entertainment could have a block party. Where that idea came from, we have no idea. They said they were not told that there were going to be bands indoors at a club that plays live bands as its main attraction. Since the Board did not ask and the club is properly licensed already to partake in such activities that are part of its routine business, it was thought not an issue. Why apply for a license for a venue that already has one? It was apparently the business relationship between organizer and venue that was a stipulation. We were accused of dishonesty.
So the reasoning is off, but the power is out of our hands. We are a small entertainment company that was counting on this event to support ones like it in the future. We are many thousands in the hole, with lots of people to pay back. We took a risk for the community and were squashed by politics. Months of work have been squandered on a ridiculous point that makes no sense. Thank you, City for the Arts.
The real story? The police detailing office and the Board of Licensing received several complaints from the Jewelry District Committee (or board, or whatever) and found any reason to shut this down and end a head-ache. We suspect there also may have been some jealous neighbors who won’t let us have a party because they can’t have one. The Board actually told us today that we should have got their OK first before they stamped the licenses and permits but they did not. Nor was that a part of the process to make SummerFest happen last year.
The technicality was our affiliation with the Call. The meat of the argument was that we told the Board there was going to be bands outdoors from 4:00 to 11:00 the amount of time allotted in the permits. The Board says that it didn’t know about the 26 bands inside all day. We did not realize we were required to re-apply for a permit indoors where one already exists. You can see how ludicrous this argument is. The fact is that Floodwaters Entertainment filled out all of the necessary documents to get the entertainment and liquor license and had already obtained them. It was upon the massive publicity of this event that the jewelry district acted.
We want the local music community to know that we did everything in our power to make this event happen and that we are sorry for any inconvenience caused to anyone. We worked many hard hours to try and build a foundation to make this event annual, and now we are floundering to break even. But this will not stop us from doing something else. We will figure out a way around all of this, and you’ll hear of something from local music again. This action of the city is going to be highly publicized.
If this upsets you in any way, just think about how we feel. A lot of time, effort, and money was spent on making this event big, fun, and safe. And it would have been had they let it take place. We are embarrassed, angry, mortified, and very frustrated at the outcome of all of our hard work.
This is just another example of Providence gone wrong. Many events that have consistently come to pass have been put on hold, and no one is sure why. This event was to have 10 police officers and many bouncers. To us, that was overkill, but at least insurance that the event would be safe for its patrons. The city doesn’t seem to think so. Even though the outdoor portion of the festival was in the name of Floodwaters Entertainment, we are failing to see how any supposed affiliation with the Call would put patrons of the event at risk.
One thing should be made clear: Floodwaters will not go down without fighting the powers that shut us down with no just cause. You will be hearing much more about this and us in the coming weeks.
Thank you for your patronage, and please continue to support local music today and hereafter. Stay tuned for the latest on our crusade.
-Floodwaters
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This items don't fit neatly into any other category, so we put them here because we have to put them somewhere, right? And this is as good a place as any. |
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