Discussion: City Stages

[kayman]

Indebted City Stages out to raise $1 million

It seems that City Stages is this time further in debt that it has ever been at $861,000 from this year's shortfalls. The event's organizers has unveiled a plan to raise $1 million from a variety of source including the Catalyst grassroots think tank group, The Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, the Jefferson County Community Arts Funds, and variety of private donors. This will in hopes revive the festival and allow it to expand and grow as it was up until 2000 when it debt first appeared.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

I've never been to the City Stages. I've always wanted to go. Maybe when I get into college I'll actually have a chance to attend.

[kayman]

I've never been to the City Stages. I've always wanted to go. Maybe when I get into college I'll actually have a chance to attend.

It's basically like the Big Spring Jam festival, but slightly larger. At one point, it was the second largest spring/summer music festival in the South outside of the New Orleans Jazz Festival, but that was pre-2000 debt. The festival now is about the same size as the May in Memphis Beale Street Music Festival which isn't very big at all.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

It's basically like the Big Spring Jam festival, but slightly larger. At one point, it was the second largest spring/summer music festival in the South outside of the New Orleans Jazz Festival, but that was pre-2000 debt. The festival now is about the same size as the May in Memphis Beale Street Music Festival which isn't very big at all.

Dang, well, I'll certainly try to go next time it's goin on. :~)

[acnatta]

I've just spent the better part of the week putting together an online guide for City Stages for my website The Terminal:

http://bhamterminal.com/citystages/

The site is accessible via mobile devices, meaning that when I actually finish putting the rest of the site together tomorrow morning it will allow you to move around the festival with just your mobile phone or PDA (it's available now though).

If you've got some earphones it will also let you hear some music samples, courtesy of most of the artists MySpace pages (though it may be more fun to hear it at home before you go out).

It's an experiment of sorts to see if people are willing to use blog-like sites to help out at a festival site in terms of figuring out where to go next and to provide some unsolicited suggestions from the general public as to how to make it better. I have some crazy ones myself, but I'm going to save those until later on.

I'm just wondering if people are even going and what their thoughts are.

Enjoy the weekend no matter what you're doing!

[kayman]

I've just spent the better part of the week putting together an online guide for City Stages for my website The Terminal:

http://bhamterminal.com/citystages/

The site is accessible via mobile devices, meaning that when I actually finish putting the rest of the site together tomorrow morning it will allow you to move around the festival with just your mobile phone or PDA (it's available now though).

If you've got some earphones it will also let you hear some music samples, courtesy of most of the artists MySpace pages (though it may be more fun to hear it at home before you go out).

It's an experiment of sorts to see if people are willing to use blog-like sites to help out at a festival site in terms of figuring out where to go next and to provide some unsolicited suggestions from the general public as to how to make it better. I have some crazy ones myself, but I'm going to save those until later on.

I'm just wondering if people are even going and what their thoughts are.

Enjoy the weekend no matter what you're doing!

[kayman]

In recent days, the numbers for City Stages has come out, but it seems the festival won't be getting out of the red. It seems that common opinion that the line-up this year was lackluster and way too "hip" for most of festivalgoers tastes. However, there were larger crowds of young families this year at the festival, but it seem the most of the individuals within the 25-54 demographic with the disposal income to afford the festival seems to lacking. This year also the promoters teamed up the same company that handles Bonaroo Music Festival in Middle Tennessee, but it looks as if once again City Stages gotten the short end of the stick with this years' lack of major "headliners". So what do you guys think that City Stages should do at this point, is the festival past its prime and will like suffer a similar fate of Music Midtown in Atlanta or does it have a future but major retooling and reorganizing this festival should occur?

[kayman]

Well, it's funny that it's been a year since a post has been placed in this thread, but it's official that City Stages is gone. The City Stages organizers announced this afternoon that the festival is dead, and like Music Midtown in Atlanta it had to so with financial reasons, low ticket sales, and the recent economic downturn. The rumors are that the vendors haven't even received their payments for this past weekend's event. It's a sad day in Birmingham history in addition to other things when a 21-year-old festival like City Stages has ended.