Just got a (not unexpected) email from the organiser of the Rainbow Spirit Enlightenment Fayre that I was supposed to be doing with the Recycle Collective and solo in a couple of weeks time, telling me that it’s been ‘postponed to next year’, which means cancelled in normal language (you can’t postpone a festival for a year, cos festival’s generally happen every year, unless you’re just going to post-date them all ‘welcome to the 2007 RSEF, in Aug 2008!’ etc.)
I’m not that surprised, but it is a real shame, as I obviously really look forward to all recycle gigs, but the communication over this fest has been pretty poor all along… we sorted out the booking and a fee back in Feb/March, I think, which was all good, then the venue changed (venue change in the same year as the festival was happening? er…). I had to change the line-up due to prior commitments, and the organiser was fine with that (let’s face it, with the Recycle Collective, I’m working with a list of 20 or 30 of the top improvising musicians in the country, with pedigrees as long as someone with very long arms’ arm, so it’s not really going to be hard for me to match the quality of any particular line up…)
And then… well, nothing. No contract, no accommodation details, no requests for a stage plan/spec list, no merch sales details, no stage times, no map, no nothing… not a great sign (with Greenbelt, I always have a contract, even for gigs I’m not getting paid for over the weekend, I get merch things through from the people who run the shop, I get venue managers emailing me to ask for stage plans and any special requirements (knowing that I clearly always have very special requirements… :o)
So it’s off. Balls.
But it does mean I’m now available that weekend for teaching or a house concert, or both – anyone want to book something? :o)