Not having been involved in this as an artist, I acknowledge that this development doesn't affect me directly, but for whatever an observer's perspective is worth -- I took a spin through this thread again, and while there were some differing opinions being traded concerning some of the details, the overall atmosphere seemed to me to be one of excited anticipation; and for the most part, any contrary opinions being voiced were done so in a pretty civil way, and any concerns being brought up were done so out of what I'd consider a healthy skepticism. In other words, as far as internet shit-slinging goes, I've certainly seen a whole lot worse. So for me the biggest question is -- how fragile does an event have to be, to be toppled so easily by some chatter on an internet forum? I've booked shows before, and I've honestly never heard of a situation where a venue could be so easily spooked by cross-talk on the internet. I can't even really think of any examples where a venue gave a shit about online discussions at all.
I have to say too that blaming your target audience for the logistical collapse of the event strikes me as pretty unprofessional. Again: if a conversation like this one is all it took to capsize the show, the plans were obviously not very solid or dependable to begin with.
It's a shame this couldn't come together, it would have been amazing to see all of these artists in one place. I don't think anyone faulted you for trying, or doubted your intentions. I think the people that you saw as detractors were probably just hoping that you'd be able to dispel their concerns about the event being too good to be true. It's too bad that's how it turned out; it's doubly tragic that all it took to GET there was the mere question of whether that was how things were going to turn out.
