Comments on: End of Street Scene?

By: effectedbyit...

effectedbyit... — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:59:13 +0000

Rob Hagey dug his hole deeper and deeper every year, and unfortunately, did not think about how it effected his vendors or artists. Don’t feel sorry for this guy, he has been in this business long to know the ins and outs and what the expenses are, and the possibility of failure.. he should have never gone ahead with the event as a gamble, exposing his vendors and artists…
I am speaking first hand as I was a vendor for street scene 09, and was not only written bad checks by Mr. hagey, but had signed contracts… His entire approach from start to finish was fraudulent, and consiquently my company is many of thousands of dollars in the hole because of his poor choices.
He knew damn well what he was getting into, he is no fool, and like I said, had been doing this event long enough to know exactly what the costs are and what the profit is… and the risk- DON’T PITY ROB HAGEY pity his vendors who are out of pocket from basically doing a giant gig for FREE.
It lost its soul anyway.. what about the diversity of Street Scene?? What happened to the eclectic line up, catering to the colorful population of San Diego..
He sold out for money, it bit him in the ass… and lots of people are suffering for it.. If it DOES happen by some magic next year- I suggest SD not go to show their support

By: sosumi

sosumi — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:38:46 +0000

for those of you who don’t understand how the live sound business works. peas were over amplied because their own sound engineer who is on the road with them, was driving the system. Sometimes these guys have to use a system they are not familar with and don’t get proper sound check time. Sometimes their just not good at their jobs. sometimes one guys over amplified is another guys not enough. It had nothing to do with street scene..
I don’t work for anyone involved, just thought I would clear the air on that one. As people often blame the sound company or the system when it comes down to whomever is driving the bus. The band can’t hear what is going on out front, they have to trust the engineer and people’s feedback. Some engineers are good and many are not.

By: sosumi

sosumi — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:32:30 +0000

I would like to start by telling Vanity impared, that the peas being overly amplified has nothing to do with Street Scene or sound company. They carry their own engineer and he drives the system…. one guys over amplied is another guys not enough…. just depends who’s driving the bus.

Rob Hagey is an artist, but not the best businessman. I have stood on the sidelines for many years and watched very savy business people try to give Rob advice. Rob should of turned over most of the control of the event many years ago to people who could make the numbers work.
Rob has always made the decisions on how things should be done. That worked until it didn’t. It’s all fixable though.
Doing only couple national acts and scaling down to 4 stages like the old days may help it come back alive. puttiing it back to downtown streets would cut production costand use less PA. Overall party street fair could be revived with the side shows and little things that made it what it was. Rob could sell the street scene name, pay his debtors and still be invovled with his artisic vision with the new owner.

By: Weese07

Weese07 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:23:22 +0000

As a former Street Scene staffer, I’m sad to see/hear about the end of Street Scene. I fondly look back at the “five bands, five backs” early Street Scenes, all the way up to the amazing diverse line-up that kept attendees returning every year. Bands such as Zap Mama, Joan Armatrading, Alejandro Escovedo, Buddy Guy, Staple Singers, Cassandra Wilson, etc., made Street Scene a real musical force festival-wise. It’s unfortunate that SS producer Rob Hagey didn’t mix in our great local talent. It’s even more unfortunate that Rob started narrowing the musical menu to cater to only the under 25 crowd, who I know would of loved experiencing a diverse line-up. That said, I’m happy to be part of the Adams Avenue Street Fair, which has always highlighted our rich and talented local musicians, with a couple of headliners mixed in. And on a limited budget! The AASF will always mix it up musically and to vary the music to appeal to all-ages, not just one sector. Meantime, I wish Rob Hagey the best and sadly say, Street Scene RIP.

By: a

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:24:07 +0000

So what are bands that you think are good bands, irregardless of city-of-origin? I’ve been to all the major “happening” cities (LA, Austin, Seattle, PDX, etc…) and there are plenty of non-descript, “copycat” bands in all those cities as well. It’s inevitable to have bands and scenes influencing each other. That’s just the way all things work. You can see it in Art, Architecture, Economics, etc… I think truly original bands are rare. Most of the popular bands, both indie and major label, are copycat, but that doesn’t necessarily make them bad bands.

I don’t disagree with you on some of your points RE: SS, but the idea that there is only a handful of local good bands I think is way off. I think in SD the city’s culture itself is not an artistic town the way maybe SF is, but there’s a huge pool of talent in this town and a lot of people trying to do interesting things. Look at Sezio.org, Sight and Sound, SDRL, Black Box, Art Fag, etc…

By: grittywaffle

grittywaffle — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:45:24 +0000

dont forget pleasure device.

By: downtune

downtune — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:04:02 +0000

So, have they officially announced that it won’t happen next year? I’m not reading that anywhere.

Also, this may be a stupid question, but considering San Diego’s coastline, is there no place to have a smaller-street scene like event cerca la playa? What about that location on Mission Bay that Stay Classy used? Or, that spot in Oceanside that 94/9 used?

By: John

John — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:02:59 +0000

Street Scene died when they tried to target kids rather than young adults that spend money. 21 and up only…go back to it.

By: jenjen

jenjen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:51:16 +0000

What I liked about the pre-stadium downtown Street Scenes was the diversity of music. There was a preponderance of rock/punk stuff in the headliners, but also jazz, blues, reggae, electronica and experimental weird-ass shit. All side by side. The last few have really focused more on the 91X/94.9 audience with just a little other stuff around the edge. And OK, that’s good music, but I don’t really want two solid days of that.

By: jp

jp — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:28:44 +0000

I’m officially using this thread about the demise of Street Scene, to endorse my future favorite San Diego festival: ART FAG FEST, Nov 27th. No Age, Crocodiles, Dum Dum Girls, and Best Coast…. f*ck yeah

By: jp

jp — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:24:24 +0000

Out of the 40 acts this year, only maybe 5 can be considered local bands. To place some type of blame on San Diego’s over-hyped local scene, where “there are only a handful of good bands,” is completely without any merit. As far as your post below, “list 20 good/great bands in SD right now please,” can you, Pitchfork, even name 10 bands from San Diego? Someone who uses the screen name “Pitchfork” has to be aware of Crocodiles and Wavves. Don’t hate, appreciate SD’s local bands.

By: edwin decker

edwin decker — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:08:25 +0000

I’ve become a big Burning of Rome fan myself.

I disagree with Pitchfork about the quality of SD bands out there right now. Of course, this is all subjective, but I think we have a large quantity of talent within an array of genres. Moreso than I’ve ever seen in San Diego before. Too bad they don’t draw the numbers, but that’s what you get when you live in a town that’s warm and sunny all the time – you get more of a day crowd type than night people. Again, not complaining, just making an observation.