[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Aspen Snowmass Controversy

[Stephen Barbone]

Well, we got hoisted on our own petards. Maybe all who wrote the
festival producer rushed to judgement?  A look at the web site reveals
that Jazz Aspen Snowmass is not the name of the Labor Day Festival. The
name of the Festival is something more exotic like "Labor Day Festival".

Jazz Aspen Snowmass is apparently a generic name for the producer and/or
venue.

Note also that the description of this Labor Day Festival that follows a
few paragraphs down, It quotes their site which says "ROCK, FUNK, WORLD,
SOUL, R & B, and more". There is no mention of jazz, or this being a
jazz festival.  NOTHING ABOUT JAZZ AT ALL.

So, this poor bastard festival producer gets all these nasty letters
from people reacting to a hearsay note that a "Jazz Festival" is
occurring in Aspen and it has no jazz. People who obviously did not read
the information on the event web site.

Me, I don't blame them for getting just a little pissed.  Especially
since during the year they produce more than one jazz event, with some
big time jazz artists in performance.

We are lucky that Charlie Hooks, Jim Beebe or I are not the Festival
Producers cause then we'd really see some tough love letters back.. :-)

Cheers,
Steve (Trust But Verify) Barbone

HERE IS THE FESTIVAL DESCRIPTION ON THEIR WEB SITE.

"Description: The open air Labor Day Weekend music extravaganza features
four full days of rock, funk, blues, world, soul, R&B, and more. Set in
the shadow of the spectacular "bowed roof stage", four acts perform
daily from noon ? 8:30pm. The dance-oriented event never skips a beat,
and attendees keep moving during intermissions in the 'JAS Village', an
international bazaar of exotic food, crafts, drumming circles and more.
Between main-stage acts the music is continuous with bands at the Janus
Music Club throughout the day. The broad and diverse collection of ages
(12-60+) and music attract daily audiences of 8000+ from around the
U.S.A. and beyond..."