Re-Fyre Festival: L.A. Jazz Festival called off just days before scheduled kickoff
The inaugural L.A.Jazz Festival — which promised music stars such as John Legend and Janelle Monae performing across the city — was abruptly called off last week, leaving scores of artists and vendors seemingly out of luck and unable to recover upfront costs they had to invest.The festival’s website on Monday simply stated that “updated info coming soon,” with no other details about the event that was going to start on Friday and run through Aug.
23.Organizer Martin Ludlow, with Mayor Karen Bass at his side, announced in February details and sites of the massive event.“Due to significant, unanticipated last-minute public safety and municipal costs associated with the final permitting of the On The Beach Festival, we have reached the decision to unfortunately postpone this year’s inaugural LA Jazz Festival,” Ludlow said in a statement issued on Friday to City News Service.“Although this decision was an extremely difficult one to reach, our commitment to the audiences and artists participating in the festival is to have a first-class experience worthy of the great legacy of Jazz and our great city.”Representatives for Bass, who is facing a tough re-election bid in November, and Ludlow could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
Before this jazz debacle, Ludlow was best known as a former L.A.city councilman who pleaded guilty in 2006 to federal charges for conspiring to embezzle union funds for campaign costs.“People are joking that this is the L.A.
Fyre Festival,” Southern California saxophonist Leah Concialdi, 39, told NBC News on Monday, referencing the infamous 2017 festival-turn-fiasco.“It was an ambitious undertaking, but they should have started smaller and scaled up.” The late cancellation left many artists and vendors on the hook for front-end expenses.“Yeah, it’s a very bizarre timeline,” said Concialdi, who had been ready to debut her new group Sacred Noise Unknown at this now-cancelled festival.“I mean, we...