Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Events Good Oven Gone Bad
Posted by Chris Chamberlain on Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 1:21 PM
I'm sure it sounded like a great idea at the time: combine great American food, chefs, musicians, and winemakers and throw a huge party for SF Bay area foodies at the Shoreline Amphitheater (think Starwood times three) hosted by Food Network celebrities Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri. With Little Feat, Marshall Crenshaw and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to provide the beats and Katz's Deli, Anchor Bar Chicken Wings and Zingerman's to provide the eats, what could go wrong?
Apparently, a lot. We Nashvillians are just recovering from post-Bonnaroo/CMA Fest fatigue ourselves, but it sounds like the folks who attended the Great American Food and Music Fest got a snootful. And not a snootful of food or wine.
Ex-Nashville Scene contributor and Nashville is Talking blogmistress Brittney Gilbert has the skinny at her new digs on the left coast.
Apparently tickets ranged from $35 to $526 depending on how V.I. of a P. you wanted to be, with perks including all-you-could eat and drink in the food and wine tents and meet-n-greets with the bands and celebrity chefs. But come festival day, the bands didn't play, the crowds were ridiculously large and most folks went utterly unfed and undrunk.
Refunds were demanded, profuse apologies were offered and folks were generally left with bad tastes in their mouth but nothing in their tummies. The drama makes for a compelling read, which is a bummer because it could have been kick-ass.
Did I mention they turned off the water fountains and charged 5 bucks for a bottle of water? One commenter called it the worst event in the Bay Area since Altamont. Ouch.
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