Well, there’s always the Weenie Roast. Slow ticket sales
have forced organizers to postpone Los Angeles’ second annual
All Tomorrow’s Parties. The festival is being moved to Sept.
26-28, but festivities will still happen at the same participating
locations of the Hollywood Palladium, the Henry Fonda Theatre and
the Palace. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will still perform as
originally scheduled, on June 18 at the Palladium. “This was
not an easy decision to make and one that was forced, so we are
very upset that the event has had to move,” said Barry Hogan,
the event’s organizer, in an issued statement. “We
would like to apologize to all ticket holders who may have made
plans to come to the festival and want to say sorry to all the
artists and staff involved who have worked so hard to try and make
this come together.” Obviously with the festival moving back
three months, patrons can expect some of the acts to drop out due
to scheduling conflicts. But according to Hogan there will be some
additions to the lineup that will be announced within the next
week. The announcement of the festival’s postponement bears a
striking similarity to last year’s festival, the first ATP in
Los Angeles. In that case, curators Sonic Youth decided to postpone
the event due to the after-effects of Sept. 11, 2001. They pushed
the event from October 2001 to March of the next year.
While it’s not the case that terrorists have caused this
year’s postponement, ticket sales came to a similar halt last
year after the attacks. This year, Hogan says the situation was due
to “circumstances beyond our control.” The festival,
curated by Simpsons creator Matt Groening, was originally a
four-day event scheduled to kick off with a performance by the
Magic Band at Royce Hall. The backing band behind such Captain
Beefheart classics and the albums Trout Mask Replica and Safe as
Milk then decided to move their performance date to one of the
three other venues in hopes of playing to a bigger crowd. This move
disassociated the whole festival from the UCLA campus, where it was
held in its entirety last year. This year, patrons are expected to
walk from venue to venue, where a three-day pass will grant them
admission into each. Other acts scheduled to perform at this
year’s L.A. ATP include Mission of Burma, the Minutemen, Yo
La Tengo, Wire, Patti Smith, the Boredoms and the Trachtenburg
Family Slideshow Players. All Tomorrow’s Parties originated
in the United Kingdom, providing entertainment from a wide variety
of experimental and avant-garde musical acts. Regularly curated by
one of the performing acts, past festivals have been organized by
Autechre, Tortoise and Mogwai. A New York version of the event is
still slated for this September, curated by Stephen Malkmus and the
Jicks. For updates, visit www.atpfestival.com.