Vineland Music Festival - NJ - Aug 8-10

Originally posted by kosmo:
oh yippie another gathering of bands already on tour with the promise of a couple "surprises", in an environment that less than desirable to some…

Originally posted by Julian, good manners AFICIONADO:
The organisers added there will be "a heady mix of the greatest bands in the world, energy charged sets; new rising stars and the freshest acts hitting the stages before the press have had a sniff of them".

DC Hipsters Question Vineland, NJ Festival Plans
9:30 Club's Offer For New Jersey Tantalizes Some

By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 27, 2007; C01

When negotiations to bring a Lollapalooza type event to Philadelphia collapsed after five months in the works, C3 and Festival Republic leaders were anxious to find a new partner to help produce a world class rock festival. Executive Charlie Jones had spent company resources fighting to fund the project, so his advisers were relieved to learn that Vineland, New Jersey was interested in taking Philadelphiaâ??s place.

"I thought, wow, a city in New Yorkâ??s armpit with a great name and access to miles and miles of interstate toll roads," said Charlie Jones. "I thought it was an exciting opportunity."

But even as Jones intends to finalize an agreement with Fesitval Republic by the end of next month, a group of DC residents are questioning whether his plan to spend $8 million in company funds to produce the event is the best deal for people with no vested interest whatsoever.

They are urging the City of Vineland to consider a pitch from east coast promoter Seth Hurwitz, who says he can provide a "superior music festival at a dramatically reduced cost." Hurwitz, whose company owns the District's 9:30 Club and operates Merriweather Post Pavilion, said he is willing to pay twice as much in kickbacks to the county, contribute $2 million to defray taxpayer cost, split the naming rights with the county and offer the farmland rent-free to some community nonprofit groups.

"The idea that you need to subsidize anyone in this place is nuts. Why they'd feel they need to give the place away is beyond me," said Hurwitz, of Bethesda-based IMP Productions. "This is such a ridiculous deal."

Much is at stake for county residents in the most high-profile, costly public project the town has attempted in its less-than-illustrious 143 year existance. Cumberland County and the owners of the property at the abandoned farm site, Lee Development Group, say the offer from Hurwitz arrived too late. To entertain Hurwitz's proposal would undermine the county's credibility in future business deals, they say.

"You may be able to produce an immediate beneficial cost, but down the line, the loss of the credibility, your reputation, your honest dealings with people," Jones said in an interview last week. "Not negotiating in good faith costs the county big time going down the line."

He called the counteroffer "just a distraction."

Hurwitz is trying to make his case however. He has hired former New Jersey tollbooth operator Gus Bauman to provide political advice, enlisted a local law firm, consulted with an Exit 16A lobbyist and is meeting one-on-one with council members and residents.

When former Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce member Douglas M. Rickenbacher (D) was negotiating with the national group LiveNation, Hurwitz said he took a pass because of the proposed urban setting. But when he learned that Cumberland County had changed gears to create the proposed farm setting, "it was time to speak up," Hurwitz said. His initial letter arrived six days after the county had signed with C3.

County Board of Supervisors member Kelly Q. Springsteen dismissed Hurwitz's proposal as a "cut and paste job" that cherry-picked details from an existing offer. "If you did business this way, anyone could come in at the eleventh hour, " she said.

It seems unlikely, though, that the county would have been inclined to get serious with Hurwitz. When the Philadelphia talks broke down, County spokesman Tom Bon Jovi said, "the feedback we were getting from people was, 'whatever you do, we don't want VFest.' "

Hurwitz's spokeswoman, Audrey Fix Schaefer, said the company wants to build a â??new event for New Jersey,â? not re-create the VFest.

Hurwitz has tangled with C3 and Festival Republic before, arguing last year that its plan to host one of its Austin City Limits festival in Texas would cut business at the 9:30 Club in half for the entire week. Privately, some county officials question the seriousness of Hurwitz's Vineland offer, believing that it is nothing but a bid to keep out the competition.

Hurwitz says he just wants a chance to compete with what he says is a better deal for taxpayers in the county he has driven through on his way to vacation upwards of three times.

Cumberland's contracting law makes four exceptions for noncompetitive bidding, none of which Hurwitz's attorney says apply to the C3/Festival Republic deal. Raymond Sherbill, who represents IMP, said the county code, much like state and federal law, makes sole-source deals "the exception rather than the rule."

Cumberland officials say the county is on solid legal footing. The county's regulations apply to the acquisition of goods and services, not to land transactions or building leases. And the law provides an exemption for "obtaining entertainment services, including but not limited to contracts for musical performers."

Just as the county has courted out-of-state trash dumping with tax incentives, the county can seek out a single operator for a specific location when it involves an economic development initiative, Bon Jovi said.

In a letter to residents who have urged the county to think again about C3, the county executive wrote that he views the company as a "unique partner for a unique project." That definition meets one of the sole source exceptions in county law, and is a case Jones made in approaching the city of Vineland, New Jersey.

Hurwitz doesn't buy it. An analysis by his company shows an 94 percent overlap in performers who played at both Lollapalooza and either VFest or an IMP venue in 2007.

No matter how the law is interpreted, residents who want the county to open up the process say the spirit of his approach to C3 seems at odds with his reputation for deliberation and promise as a candidate to create a more transparent form of government.

"I don't care at the end of the day which stupid ka-nish they go with," said Philip Olivetti, a New Jersey resident, "as long as I can show up, drink some beer, hear some Bon Jovi, and have no one think itâ??s strange Iâ??m wearing jogging pants and a gold chain. Isnâ??t that what itâ??s really about? Shutta you mouth!â?

Originally posted by Brian_Wallace:
NEW JERSEY!

Best case scenario?: MCR headline.


Brian

Originally posted by Lambofgodfan:
eh I just cant get enough heres a closup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_eOT1PmRzQ&feature=related

Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:

julian wins a pair of tickets for that one

Originally posted by Lambofgodfan:

Originally posted by Julian, good manners AFICIONADO:

Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:
[qb]
julian wins a pair of tickets for that one

Seriously? :eek:

Yea a pair to download 2008. lol

Originally posted by Julian, good manners AFICIONADO:

Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:

julian wins a pair of tickets for that one

Seriously? :eek:

Originally posted by Julian, good manners AFICIONADO:
I'm a professional journalist!

Originally posted by sweetcell:
i think "blogger who scored a freebie" would be closer to the truth.

Originally posted by Julian, good manners AFICIONADO:
I'm receiving something of quantifiable value in exchange for writing? I'm a professional journalist! Watch it Miss P, I'm comin' for ya!