Tulsa's Dfest cancelled

[betts]

I'm including this here because of the last two paragraphs of the story, which I've copied below.

TULSA - Dfest, the popular downtown Tulsa music festival started in 2002 as a showcase for local, regional and national acts will go on hiatus this year. Co-founder Tom Green cited the economic downturn and a decrease in corporate sponsorship as key reasons why the festival, originally scheduled for late July, in now suspended.

McGugan, whose band will release its official debut CD this summer, said that Dfest was going to help the Pretty Black Chains promote and distribute the band to fans and members of the industry. He said that in addition to the rise of Norman Music Festival, he would welcome relocating Dfest to Oklahoma City.

"Why not move it here?" he said. "We have everything."

Read more: NewsOK

[Spartan]

Woooow. That's a major, major hit to Tulsa, and especially Blue Dome. And they had so much going right for them.

I'm not sure if that would strategically be a good idea though. How would Dfest and the Norman Music Festival coexist within two month's span of eachother in the OKC area?? This isn't Austin, which can support multiple huge music, film, etc festivals. I think it would stunt the growth of one of them if not both.

[metro]

I think Tulsa is about to hit rock bottom (DollarThrify about to be bought out, Dfest relocating, Williams, and on and on) and hopefully that will be the wakeup call for them, just like we had back in 1993.

[Spartan]

Williams?

[okclee]

That is bad news for Tulsa, I hope it works out for them to reschedule. Why no corporate support now?

How's that WNBA thing going for them?

[metro]

what corporate support do they have left? especially if DollarThrifty gets bought out. BOK can only sponsor so much.

[dmoor82]

That is bad news for Tulsa, I hope it works out for them to reschedule. Why no corporate support now?

How's that WNBA thing going for them?

^^The Tulsa shock are off to a 0-2 start.as far as attendance,The opener was a sellout,and the second game was about half that,considering they curtain off the upper bowl!this is avg for The WNBA-not a big draw!but better than nothing.

[Rover]

ONEOK is in Tulsa and supports alot too.

I don't think Tulsa will dry up and blow away as some think, but it certainly isn't the renaissance city others think either. I love Tulsa, but I just believe in OKC's future a little more. Wish the two would play off each other more and not bicker like two old sisters.

[Steve]

I think Tulsa is about to hit rock bottom (DollarThrify about to be bought out, Dfest relocating, Williams, and on and on) and hopefully that will be the wakeup call for them, just like we had back in 1993.

Metro, I think you're dead on...

[Spartan]

what corporate support do they have left? especially if DollarThrifty gets bought out. BOK can only sponsor so much.

You still didn't clarify about Williams. They're going through Restructuring, but I wasn't aware that Obama was forcing them to move to Houston or anything..

[metro]

I didn't say they were moving to Houston, but they aren't what they used to be, and if I understand correctly, have a larger presence now in Houston than Tulsa.

[Spartan]

Chesapeake has more employees in Texas.. that means nothing. Nobody can deny that they are committed to OKC and still a MAJOR force here.

[jbrown84]

This is certainly a blow to Tulsa. I wouldn't give too much credence to the idea of relocating here. That's just one band member suggesting it. I read the thread at TulsaNow about this, and it sounds like the major financial backing and planning comes from some family (the Greens) who own a business or two in Tulsa. Something about maybe they opened a bar that's not doing well. A lot of talk about growing too fast. It sounds like it's not well organized. DeadCenter does really well here because it's organized by a board of some sort, not some rich family. This sounds more like the way the Brewers put on several fests in Bricktown. Problem is, this Green family (whoever they are) seems to have bit off more than they can chew and now DFest is dead unless somebody else can pick up the pieces.

IF there was a chance of moving it here, it would probably have to be a different time of the year so as to not conflict with DeadCenter and Norman Music Fest.

[Steve]

Actually there was quietly some talk of this very sort of a move a few years ago. Personally I'd hate to see us steal it from Tulsa - we need to be cheering on any shot at urban resurgence in Tulsa, not trying to hurt it. Further, DFest in OKC, it seems to me, would compete with the Norman festival, which I don't think we should be doing either.

[Spartan]

Actually there was quietly some talk of this very sort of a move a few years ago. Personally I'd hate to see us steal it from Tulsa - we need to be cheering on any shot at urban resurgence in Tulsa, not trying to hurt it. Further, DFest in OKC, it seems to me, would compete with the Norman festival, which I don't think we should be doing either.

This is exactly how I feel.

[krisb]

No matter how you look at it, this is a serious blow to Tulsa and its music & arts community. I'm looking forward to DeadCenter, and am glad it seems to have a more solid footing.

[Spartan]

I wonder what it says about Dfest that an indy music festival couldn't be successful for lack of a corporate sponsor..lol

[soonerguru]

This is really sad.

[soonerguru]

If Tulsa goes down, this state will become a backwater. We (OKC) need to help Tulsa in any way we can. Our legislature is already rurally dominated. We need two thriving cities to propel this state toward progress.

[soonerguru]

This is certainly a blow to Tulsa. I wouldn't give too much credence to the idea of relocating here. That's just one band member suggesting it. I read the thread at TulsaNow about this, and it sounds like the major financial backing and planning comes from some family (the Greens) who own a business or two in Tulsa. Something about maybe they opened a bar that's not doing well. A lot of talk about growing too fast. It sounds like it's not well organized. DeadCenter does really well here because it's organized by a board of some sort, not some rich family. This sounds more like the way the Brewers put on several fests in Bricktown. Problem is, this Green family (whoever they are) seems to have bit off more than they can chew and now DFest is dead unless somebody else can pick up the pieces.

IF there was a chance of moving it here, it would probably have to be a different time of the year so as to not conflict with DeadCenter and Norman Music Fest.

jbrown,

The Greens are not rich. They are a young couple who are very ambitious. I don't think it's fair to suggest Dfest is disorganized. It was a major undertaking and went off without major hitches for the last several years.

[krisb]

It's hard to recover momentum after a hiatus like this.

[Steve]

If Tulsa goes down, this state will become a backwater. We (OKC) need to help Tulsa in any way we can. Our legislature is already rurally dominated. We need two thriving cities to propel this state toward progress.

Good point.

[jbrown84]

jbrown,

The Greens are not rich. They are a young couple who are very ambitious. I don't think it's fair to suggest Dfest is disorganized. It was a major undertaking and went off without major hitches for the last several years.

Well my point is, it seems to have been all about this Green guy and his wife, whereas DeadCenter has steady leadership from a team of people. I don't mean it's disorganized so much as it was propelled financially and logistically mostly by one family which it appears has overextended itself.

[BG918]

That sucks, I was looking forward to this festival. Most major cities outside of Austin (SXSW/ACL) and Chicago (Lollapalooza) don't have indie rock festivals like this in their downtown areas (the others like California's Coachella and Tennessee's Bonnaroo are in rural areas) which makes Norman Music Fest and Dfest unique and draws people to Oklahoma from surrounding states. Hopefully they return next summer. I remember Lollapalooza was on hiatus for a few years and came back better than ever.

And I wouldn't equate not having Dfest and potentially losing the DollarThrifty headquarters to Tulsa being "about to hit rock bottom". That was in 2003 or so when the city lost thousands of jobs with Citgo leaving and the downturn in the telecommunications and aerospace industries which are big in Tulsa. The city has been hit harder from the recession than Oklahoma City that's for sure, though unemployment is not much higher and still well below the national average.

[adaniel]

And I wouldn't equate not having Dfest and potentially losing the DollarThrifty headquarters to Tulsa being "about to hit rock bottom". That was in 2003 or so when the city lost thousands of jobs with Citgo leaving and the downturn in the telecommunications and aerospace industries which are big in Tulsa. The city has been hit harder from the recession than Oklahoma City that's for sure, though unemployment is not much higher and still well below the national average.

I agree that the prediction's of Tulsa's imminent death are overblown, but the loss of all those jobs back in 2003 is starting to establish a disturbing pattern.

I actually have a copy of the Gazette and an old copy of Urban Tulsa Weekly I grabbed about a month ago when I was up there visiting friends. If you look at the ads for events in both newspapers the results are quite telling. In the Gazette, for instance, a martini tasting festival shows sponors OGE, Devon, Midfirst, Chesapeake, Devon, the usual suspects. UTW, on the other hand, shows an event with sponsors like a Casino, car dealership, a local restaraunt, and that's it. Sure there's some deep pockets induvidually in Tulsa, even moreso than OKC, but events are expensive and they need the backing of a lot of money, usually corporate money. Its obvious the Greens were way over their head, but the sad thing is that there's few entities left in that community that could have helped out. It should really be a cautionary tale to OKC to keep our corporate base strong.

Make no mistake that if Dfest is done for good its bad for everyone in this state. It was one of an increasing amount of events that was chipping away at the image of Oklahoma as a vapid, redneck filled wasteland. Will other music festivals like NMF fill the void? Eh, only time will tell.