An important perspective, highlight and deep dive into how KCMO wasted more than A MILLION BUCKS on an artsy endeavor at a when this town desperate needs potholes fixed and more police on the streets:
Just 4,000 of the cumulative 24,000 tickets that were available for concerts at Starlight Theatre headlined by the Roots, Janelle Monaé and Vijay Iyer were sold. Even if all three concerts were condensed into a single show, paying customers would have filled only half of the 8,000-capacity Starlight Theatre.
Here's more from a local music blogger offering an artsy consideration of the creative class local defeat . . .
Just 4,000 of the cumulative 24,000 tickets that were available for concerts at Starlight Theatre headlined by the Roots, Janelle Monaé and Vijay Iyer were sold. Even if all three concerts were condensed into a single show, paying customers would have filled only half of the 8,000-capacity Starlight Theatre.
Here's more from a local music blogger offering an artsy consideration of the creative class local defeat . . .
Buked and Scorned at Open Spaces
Partly because an obscenely large portion of my 2019 budget is dedicated to musical tourism, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the fallout from the Kansas City Jazz & Heritage Festival (2017) and the Open Spaces festival (2018). Both city-sponsored, artistically-thrilling endeavors were financial debacles.
Please send this link to some of the "news" people when they want to compliment Sly James on his work.
ReplyDeleteCrap acts won’t sell tickets. Maybe better known people will sell tickets.
ReplyDeleteStarlight is a great place to see a show. Only thing is when it’s over getting off of Swope Park can be sketchy.
When the financial "success" of an event depends on the taxpayers and not the quality of the acts or selling tickets, who cares how much interest the paying public has?
ReplyDeleteThe taxpayers' pockets are almost limitlessly deep, especially when the electeds making the decisions are more interested in hype, glitz, and their legacies than they are in providing basic services residents actually want and need.
In KCMO there are literally hundreds of millions of tax dollars that are just thrown away and when the cupboard is bare, the borrowing continues.
Open Spaces was a bad inappropriate idea made much worse by insider dealing and outright incompetence.
Just like the Jazz Festival.
But in KCMO's scheme of things, it was just a drop in the bucket.
Lucas and the new crowd of empty vessels are being schmoozed by an endless line of people with brand new big big ideas for how to spend your money.
Stand by for Open Spaces II.
It never changes.
Open Spaces is a joke and those behind it an even bigger joke.
ReplyDeleteJust wait till your see how dismal the turnout will be for "Open Spaces XXVIII".
ReplyDeleteIf you think these failures will slow the tax-sucking Grifters of Kansas City's "Artsy Class" down, you, mon ami, are sadly deluded.
The only change this stench will bring about is a change of name for the same old same old, if the arrogant shits can even be bothered with that.
Make Sly James answer for his testimonial event "Open Spaces", a massive ego trip by Mr. Bow Tie.
ReplyDelete“The ship must continue to move forward. If it ain’t moving forward we’re sinking.”
ReplyDeleteThis whole this was a retarded joke. No one wants to hang out on the east side despite them trying to prop it up. It would have done double if not more had they had open spaces all over downtown for a month. then it would have been a draw.
ReplyDeleteYou can be successful and build this city back up, or you can do what the city is doing and continue throw the people's money away
@ 11:01 judging by the attendance records, you could easily hold this even in Oppenheimer Brothers Park at 12th & Walnut. It's almost 1/4 of a block, and that should accommodate twice the crowd that attended any of the events at Swope Park this year.
ReplyDelete^^Sure dolt whateves. What do you know about being successful anyway? You're here. You lose.
ReplyDelete^^And you're where? Dipshit!
ReplyDeleteI do like the name Open Spaces for a thinly attended event !
ReplyDelete-Radish
I know the acts don't draw but people have to stop having festivals here in the summer. Have them in September and October. It is too damn hot here for outdoor summer shows.
ReplyDeleteThe original Open Spaces is between Sly's ears.
ReplyDelete