Centennial Concert

[Matt]

I frankly could care less about Garth singing.

Me either, but I do feel bad for the people that shelled out good money, expecting to see him play.

"The Centennial Commission didn't ask me but I'm glad they asked me to be a part of this big event".

How do you have Garth Brooks make an appearance at an event like that, and not have him do a song? That's what he does. He just did nine shows in Kansas City.

Something fishy's going on here, and it smells like it's coming from underneath Garth's cowboy hat. . .

[jbrown84]

Well obviously if he refused to sing for whatever reason, he's not going to admit that to Jessica Schambach.

[FritterGirl]

The Oklahoman ran an "official" explanation regarding Garth's non-singing appearance on p. 2 today (inside, top right corner). You can also find the online article at: NewsOK: Why Garth Brooks didn't sing at event

[Misty]

Looks like someone took Advertising 101 at a used car dealership. Kind of like our parade "5 years in the making"

[kmf563]

whew! glad that was covered...i mean cleared up!!
does anybody else smell that???

[hipsterdoofus]

What's wrong with Amy Grant? She married an Okie, she sings well. I'm not a fan of either of them, but ripping on her because she wasn't born here seems a bit silly to me.

To be honest, I'd rather hear her than Toby Keith.

I'm not really ripping Amy Grant as a person, but a valid point was made - how many other equally qualified people are MARRIED to Oklahomans? I Just think they probably could have put someone else in her place that have had a much stronger Oklahoma connection.

[jbrown84]

I honestly can't think of anyone else that's married to an Oklahoman that's more qualified except Julie Andrews, but she doesn't sing anymore.


The explanation for Garth not singing on Newsok makes PERFECT SENSE to me. People need to get over it. If you paid 140 a ticket JUST to see Garth, you were there for the wrong reasons and I don't feel sorry for you.

[SpectralMourning]

ParksGal makes good points. JBrown, I didn't spend the money *just* to see him, I wanted to see all the acts (other than Amy Grant) as I find some level of interest in most of it. Kansas City is the main argument of mine as well, however I didn't want any of them to plug their new material. I just think that's a bit dishonest to consider him an "act" when he didn't really do anything. I paid the money to see every bit of it, not just "most of them". Now I understand your argument that I should've enjoyed it all, and I did for much of it (though I thought it was particularly amusing to have Reba singing a tribute to the fallen in the Federal Building and several ...people shout how much they love her. Show some respect, good lord.) but I just felt shafted. What about if all of the headliners presented some even more two-bit acts of which hold no relevance to Oklahoma? I just expected a bit more than that.

[jbrown84]

He was never called an "act" by anything official. His picture was on a poster real big. That's it.

[SpectralMourning]

My mistake. Is "scheduled to appear" better?

No matter how you spin it, it's still misleading. It could've been any other entertainer. Hell, if Amy Grant was top billed and she didn't perform, I'd still be upset. I'm not *that* big of a fan of Garth, I just think that's very misleading no matter if it hurts your feelings.

[metro]

I can agree with both sides of the "Garth" issue although I'm not a Garth or country music fan. I see how one could have been misled or overpaid for a ticket. It's more of a ethic thing with me. Oklahoma is where Garth is from and who gave him his success and support in the early years. If people expected one song then he should have gave it to them. Heck, he can do 9 sold out shows in Kansas City and can't sing one song for OKC? That's the point I was trying to make.

[FritterGirl]

Unfortunately, "scheduled to appear" makes no promises of anyone singing. However, given Garth's status as a singer, an obvious connection - and expectation - is created.

It is really sad that most of our Oklahoma country artists - including others who participated in the Centennial, will, when planning their great big national tours, forego OKC and their own home state in favor of larger venues and bigger opportunities in other major cities such as Dallas and KC. Oklahomans then have to leave their own state to go see these artists.

Guess it's all on the quest for the almighty dollar!

[jbrown84]

Metro, did you not read the explanation on Newsok? The program was already scripted and timed for TV well before Garth decided to come out of retirement. It was out of everybody's hands.

[solitude]

Metro, did you not read the explanation on Newsok? The program was already scripted and timed for TV well before Garth decided to come out of retirement. It was out of everybody's hands.

Did you really buy that? God forbid if OETA had to go over for a few minutes in its coverage. The Academy Awards manage to do it almost every year.

The argument about Garth showing up and not belting out a tune when he's advertised as "Scheduled to appear," seems pretty basic to me. Since this worked so well this time, maybe the next time Journey comes through Oklahoma City for the 50th time they can put Paul McCartney's picture on the poster and say he's "scheduled to appear," and then just pay for a plane ticket and a seat at the concert and just have him stand up and wave and say a few words. Apparently, with some of you, that's okay? Is that what would you would expect?

[John]

I don't buy that excuse one bit.

The concert was shown on OETA and will probably be sold as a DVD for 39.99 or some outrageous price. What's an extra 2 or 3 minutes of time? It's OETA fer cryin' out loud. We're not talking about pre-empting a show on ABC or a major network.

I wasn't that upset, as I went to KC to see Garth, and have seen him many times before, but to be billed as a headliner and just talk about the Murrah Bombing for a couple minutes?

Weak...

[FritterGirl]

For the record, the show DID run over 2 hours. In TV production, time is money, even for OETA, which is a not-for-profit station.

I set my DVR for the alloted time 7-9 p.m., just like it prompted and had been scheduled. It cut off when the Miss America retrospect started, right after our 2006 winner. I missed whatever their contribution was, plus Toby (no loss in my book), and/or other acts, including the Grand Finale.

I figure it ran over about 20 minutes. To this day, I still don't know what the finale was.

[yukong]

Well, in a story over at OKCfriday.com, they quote Lee Allen Smith as saying that they did "ask Garth to sing" but he said he couldn't because of contractual issues. Something in his contract with Wal Mart that now controls his entire catalog of music. They even quote Lee Allen Smith as saying just before Garth went on...“We told him as he was going on stage, ‘If you want to grab a guitar and sing, we can work around it.”

So he was asked...the refused because of contractual issues.

[FritterGirl]

Well, in a story over at OKCfriday.com, they quote Lee Allen Smith as saying that they did "ask Garth to sing" but he said he couldn't because of contractual issues. Something in his contract with Wal Mart that now controls his entire catalog of music. They even quote Lee Allen Smith as saying just before Garth went on...“We told him as he was going on stage, ‘If you want to grab a guitar and sing, we can work around it.”

So he was asked...the refused because of contractual issues.

If that IS the case, his PR person should have come out and said "Unfortunately, Mr. Brooks has outside contractual obligations that prevented him from being able to sing at this particular event."

There. Simple and TRANSPARENT!!! None of this other BS.

[John]

Yet another reason why Wal Mart is the plague of the earth!

[solitude]

I don't buy that Wal Mart thing. Sorry, but why would Wal Mart be able to say when, where and for what purpose Garth wants to sing? Especially for an event that is celebrating the birthday of the state where he is from. Wal Mart doesn't own Garth Brook's music. I just Googled that and can't find that he has sold the rights to his music to Wal Mart. That's where you can buy his music (exclusively, which is weird). But, that's another lame excuse. Sounds like passing the buck to me.

I did find one thing of interest. Garth is being asked to dump his affiliation with Wal Mart by a group of Wal Mart workers.
Friends with Low Wages
on edit----- I just watched the flash video - it's hilarious!
I forgot, we can embed YouTube videos! here it is...

[FritterGirl]

According to the Wal-Mart website, the retailer has exclusive rights to his entire catalog, which was sold off by his original producing group many years ago.

The article can be found HERE

Not sure if they are sponsoring his tour or not, but if they are, then yes, solitude, they "own" the man, and can dictacte what singing appearances he can / cannot make.

It's also possible that they did say "sure, you can have him, for the small price of $$$," a number which was too rich for the production's blood.

Having witnessed first hand that "side" of the business, it is completely plausible to me.

[yukong]

The article at OKCFriday.com also notes that Wal Mart bought Garth's entire music catalog. Which means in effect, he cannot perform any of his songs without Wal Mart's permission. Can you imagine the money they paid for that catalog? It must have been beyond imagination. There is no telling how much money that guy has. He was quoted as saying in the past that he has so much money that his "kids, kids, kids" couldn't spend all of it. Must be rough. Got to give the guy credit. He earned it.

[FritterGirl]

Not only that, but I sincerely doubt Lee Allan would risk ticking Wal-Mart off by making an untruthful comment about them to the media. I would hate to be on the losing end of that defamation suit.

In other news, you can view a Centennial preview on Jones PR's website, www.jonesprinc.com. You can also go to YouTube to see various clips from the Spectacular. This one pulls up the Native American fancy dancers and eagle aerial acrobatic act.

[yukong]

Had there been no gate fees at the show, and it was totally free to attend, then maybe there wouldn't have been an issue. But since there was a huge gate fee, then Wal Mart was due royalties for performance of their song(s) by their artist. And that was probably more trouble than it was worth. I don't know if any attempts were made to get permission from Wal Mart, but maybe they would have consented to one or two songs. Maybe not. We don't know if that avenue was pursued. Probably not. But who knows.

[Doug Loudenback]

Not only that, but I sincerely doubt Lee Allan would risk ticking Wal-Mart off by making an untruthful comment about them to the media. I would hate to be on the losing end of that defamation suit.

In other news, you can view a Centennial preview on Jones PR's website, www.jonesprinc.com. You can also go to YouTube to see various clips from the Spectacular. This one pulls up the Native American fancy dancers and eagle aerial acrobatic act.

Thanks, ParksGal ... very nice videos