Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

This really is a full service blog.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

He really is that stupid.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

You are here: Home / Gun Issues / Open Thread: Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival Has Been Cancelled…

Open Thread: Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival Has Been Cancelled…

by | 82 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

… because one ammosexual — excuse me, ‘activist’ — decided to throw a public hissy, and Gov. Kemp didn’t have the guts to stand up to him.

TL; DR, per Axios:

… Why it matters: Owned by Live Nation, the outdoor concert series is one of metro Atlanta’s largest cultural events and attracts local and regional crowds.

What’s happening: This morning, festival organizers said they were “looking forward to reuniting in September and hope we can all get back to enjoying the festival together again soon.”

What they’re saying: “Public policy has real impacts and in this case- economic and social implications on a great tradition,” Atlanta City Council President Doug Shipman tweeted…

What we’re watching: Whether organizers of festivals like the upcoming ONE Music Fest and Shaky Knees — both of which are held in Central Park, also a public greenspace — will change plans or relocate to private venues not covered by the law…

… In 2014, Evans deliberately tested a firearms ban at the Botanical Garden, which occupies a large section of Piedmont Park. After being kicked out, he and GA2A (then known as GeorgiaCarry.org) sued. After a long and complex legal battle — including two trips to the Supreme Court of Georgia — the Botanical Garden won early this year in a decision from the Georgia Court of Appeals.

But the legal reasoning that allowed the Garden to ban guns also means that Music Midtown cannot, Evans and Monroe say. The core ruling in the legal battle came in the 2019 Georgia Supreme Court case GeorgiaCarry.org v. Atlanta Botanical Garden. The Court ruled that a private tenant on publicly owned land can ban guns only if it has a type of lease called an “estate for years,” a typically long-term deal that grants it some property rights and responsibilities, such as erecting buildings and paying property taxes. Short-term tenants in another type of lease deal known as a “usufruct” have no such private property rights and cannot ban guns, the Court ruled.

Evans eventually lost because the Court of Appeals later determined that the Garden — which has been in the park for decades and has a 50-year lease — indeed has an estate-for-years status. Music Midtown, a two-day annual festival, likely does not have that kind of deal…

Atlanta residents: He’s not even *from* here!

Who, little me?

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    There’s a projected $10M+ economic loss to the region because of the cancellation. You’d think that would sway our “let’s run government like a business!” Republican overlords.

    ETA: Somehow managed to miss Stacey’s post above. She says $50M in lost revenue, which is 5x more than I had seen. A lot, anyhow.

  5. 5.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    I’m betting you can’t bring guns into Georgia’s supreme court

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    I hope this happens a lot.  Who wants to go to a concert or any mass event where all kinds of morons are packing?

    And “activist” Phil Evans sounds like a bullying ass.  I hope he comes to a bad end.

  7. 7.

    Anotherlurker

    Loud mouthed, spoiled rotten terrorist fucks the city out of $millions.  Great job, 2A Assholes.

  10. 10.

    catothedog

    @Baud

    Atlanta lost the all star game too because GA needs to wingnut.

    This a$$hole is from Monroe county, and this is victory for him. He wants  liberals in Atlanta to suffer.   These $assholes don’t care about any of the destruction they cause.

    Their sole aim is to burn it all down and then rule in hell.

  11. 11.

    Ken

    Does anyone have any constitutional law training?  I’ve never quite understood the obligation of contracts clause (Article I section 10: “No State shall […] pass any […] Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts [,,,]”).

    In this case the concert promoters had contracts with the artists, and as a result of Georgia law and the recent court rulings, were unable to fulfill the contracts. Any Article I section 10 action here?

  13. 13.

    Almost Retired

    This sucks.  I absolutely love Atlanta.  I went there for the first time as an adult 10 years ago, and have been back three times since – always staying at my favorite hotel.  My youngest son said “It’s kinda like LA, but with nice people.”

    But rural Georgia has power that rural California does not, and much of the rest of the state (I’m carving out Athens and Savannah and probably other places), drags a great city down.  That’s why the “fuck the red states” attitude is so irritating. Sigh.

  14. 14.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Wasserman says the Eric whose last name is Schmitt will be the R candidate for Senate. Under the circumstances, that doesn’t tell us much about how TFG’s endorsements are doing

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    An early result in the Democratic Rep-on-Rep primary for the Michigan 11th CD: Haley Stevens is projected to win over Andy Levin, the son of Sander Levin and nephew of Carl Levin.

  18. 18.

    Skepticat

    @Baud: Their freedom requires your slavery.

    That’s frightening and depressing perfect. This should be a rotating tag, a T-shirt, a bumper sticker, a billboard, a tattoo, and a campaign slogan, among other things.

  19. 19.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    Since it’s an OT and because this little queer is very happy about this:

    (Blockquoting a chunk of it for those of you who hit the paywall)

    President Volodymyr Zelensky, responding on Tuesday to a citizen petition that called for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Ukraine, raised the prospect of “civil partnerships,” but said the Constitution’s definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman could not be changed during wartime.
    Mr. Zelensky was responding after the petition garnered support from more than 25,000 Ukrainians. Ukraine does not recognize marriage rights for same-sex couples, nor does it have a statute allowing them to enter into civil unions. Calls to grant those couples equal rights have grown in part because of the sacrifices of L.G.B.T.Q. soldiers helping the country fight Russia’s brutal invasion.
    Under Ukrainian Ministry of Defense regulations, the military must inform the parents and spouse or other close relatives of a soldier who is killed. But those rules do not apply to same-sex couples who are unable to legally wed.
    In Ukraine, same-sex couples do not have the automatic right to visit a hospitalized partner, to share property ownership, to care for a deceased partner’s children, to claim the body of a partner killed in war or to collect death benefits from the state.
    The petition urging Mr. Zelensky to support marriage rights for same-sex couples was initiated by Anastasia Sovenko, 24, an English teacher from Zaporizhzhia, in southern Ukraine, who identifies as bisexual.
    She had said that after reading an article about heterosexual soldiers rushing to marry their partners before heading to war, she felt sad, angry and frustrated that L.G.B.T.Q. soldiers did not have that option.
    Mr. Zelensky, in his response, wrote that democratic societies are measured in part by the way they defend equal rights for all citizens and that “each citizen is an indivisible part of civil society, for whom all rights and freedoms fixed in the Constitution of Ukraine extend.”
    “All people are free and equal in their dignity and rights,” he wrote.
    Mr. Zelensky noted, however, that the Constitution of Ukraine states that “marriage is based on the free consent of a woman and a man,” and said the document could not be changed during a state of martial law, which he declared in February, after Russia invaded.
    At the same time, Mr. Zelensky wrote, the government had “worked out options for a solution regarding the legalization in Ukraine of registered civil partnerships under the auspices of work on the confirmation and protection of human rights and freedoms.”
    He added that he had asked Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, to review the issue raised by the petition and to report back with his findings.
    …
    Ms. Sovenko, the petition’s author, said she was happy that Mr. Zelensky had mentioned civil partnerships for same-sex couples.
    “That’s the beginning,” she wrote in an email. She said she was “full of hope” that, after the war, the government would give same-sex couples an opportunity to get married.
    “I’m proud the response wasn’t all negative,” she said, “and I’m really happy this happened.”

    Zelenskyy has shown support for the LGBTQ+ community in the past so I was hopeful about his response, and it makes sense to me, as an outsider, why he can’t just get it done on his own with a flick of his pen. But pushing for civil partnerships is a good first step, IMO, and I especially appreciate that he frames it as a human rights issue.

  20. 20.

    brendancalling

    I hope every single public concert gets canceled, including the ones republicans like.

    Maybe when people miss their nice things, something will change.

  22. 22.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    That wasn’t about open carry, though. MLB pulled the 2021 All-Star Game from ATL because of the restrictive voting bill (“No water for voters even if you’ve been standing in line in the hot sun for three hours!”) that the lege had just passed and Kemp had just signed into law.

    ETA: No argument over the wingnut stuff, however.

  30. 30.

    Blue Galangal

    Well, you know, maybe Georgians should stop voting for the GOP?

    It’s just hard to muster any more sympathy. They keep voting GOP and then keep acting surprised when we can’t have nice stuff any more.

  31. 31.

    Kent

    So far it looks like the anti-abortion amendment in Kansas is going down to defeat.

    No vote leads 66 to 34 with 21% of the returns in.

    I guess that is good.

    Got a long ways to go until we get the WA results which I’m waiting for.

  32. 32.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Kent: I just saw Wasserman commenting on this too.

    The best indicator in Kansas right now is Ellis Co. (Hays, KS), which voted 71%-27% for Trump in '20. Right now, "Yes" on removing abortion protections is up just 55%-45% w/ maybe 3/4 of the vote in. So far, the "No" side is hitting the numbers it needs.— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 3, 2022

  33. 33.

    ian

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Of true then great that Grietens lost, but also a real pity Grietens lost.  Hard to tell what to root for with a complete monster like that vs chance of picking up a Senate seat.

  35. 35.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Ken:

    In no way a lawyer obvs, but I just read a statement on Twitter that the Festival had to honor the riders in the contracts of the performers and all of those, 100 percent, had a no firearms’ clause.

  37. 37.

    Almost Retired

    Kansas isn’t hopeless.  I had no connection with the state until my widowed mother married a researcher with the UK medical school in Wichita and moved there 25 years ago.  She said there are lines at the polls today, which is evidently highly unusual in off-year primaries.  Anecdata, but almost everyone she spoke to in line in NE Wichita (a mile from the Koch Brothers HQ) was a “no” vote.  Maybe there’s not that much the matter with Kansas?  We’ll see.

  39. 39.

    Joe Falco

    @Blue Galangal:

    Excuse you, but there are plenty of Georgians that vote blue. Enough so to put 2 Democrats in the Senate. There were also plenty of Georgians that voted for Stacey Abrams in the last gubernatorial election to make it as close as a contest in two decades. So us Georgians don’t need your sympathy. We need you to lay off unless you want to ride to the state on your high horse and help elect more Democrats.

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    @Almost Retired:  Incidentally:  speaking of the Commonwealth of Virginia:  Youngkin’s pick to join the state’s Historic Resources Board had to withdraw this week.  She turned out to be a great defender of Confederate monuments.  Then doubled down in a later interview, comparing Yankees to Russians, thus making Confederates … Ukrainians?  Ouch.

    Top story on the local ABC station’s website.

    RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A historian appointed to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources by Gov. Glenn Youngkin has resigned from the board following controversial comments she made about Confederate statues, the Civil War and slavery.

    Ann McLean, a historian in Richmond and former head of a Christian school, was picked by Youngkin in July to join the board. In a radio interview last year, McLean defended Confederate statues’ place in Virginia and criticized the efforts to bring them down.

    “I think that the Southerners knew that their story of why they fought the Civil War was not being told correctly,” McLean told radio host John Reid on WRVA radio last December. “Fake news, or false narratives, are not new, and this whole tragedy is that these statues were built to tell the true story of the American South to people 500 years from now.

    And then:  in a subsequent interview:

    “Secession was not treason. Everyone was allowed, each state was allowed to secede. We all had seceded from Britain, so that’s what, each state was like its own country. So Lee considered Virginia his country and, you know, invasion, just like we see, you know, Russia invading Ukraine, invading a new territory was wrong. So many people want to just flatten the whole Civil War to slavery and, of course, we know slavery is not good but I think the South, I think a lot of slavery would’ve been outlawed in the South within five to ten years but they wanted to do it on their own time.”

    In an interview with 8News’ Jackie DeFusco on July 25, Youngkin said he disagreed with McLean’s comments and that “we’re having a discussion about whether she can represent us well.” On Tuesday, a Youngkin spokesperson confirmed that McLean resigned from the board.

  44. 44.

    Suzanne

    @HumboldtBlue: I cannot imagine a performer who wouldn’t have that policy in their rider. After the Las Vegas thing? I would bet that even the most Nugent-y performers aren’t dumb enough to take that chance.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    As I understand it, the contract clause applies to cases where a state would write a law to nullify a contract after it had been signed.  This was used under the Articles of Confederation to do favors for influential people by freeing them from obligations (chiefly debts) they had freely entered into.  It doesn’t prevent states from restricting terms that can be included in contracts more generally.  For example, California law prohibits non-compete clauses in employment contracts, and that’s just fine.

    More generally, you can’t use a contract with a third party as an excuse for doing something you otherwise wouldn’t be allowed to.  The law says someone who rents public property for a short term isn’t allowed to ban guns on that property while they’re renting it.  The concert promoter doesn’t suddenly get the power to do that because they have a “no guns allowed” contract with a musician.  Instead, they’re just unable to live up to their side of the contract, and the musician is entitled to whatever penalty the contract includes for non-performance.

  49. 49.

    Barbara

    • @HumboldtBlue: ​Most likely added after what happened in Las Vegas a few years back, if not before then. Imagine not wanting to be cannon fodder for sick dreams of glory — If you don’t have talent, well you can always make your mark by killing someone who does.​
  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Blue Galangal:

    Well, you know, maybe Georgians should stop voting for the GOP?

    It’s just hard to muster any more sympathy. They keep voting GOP and then keep acting surprised when we can’t have nice stuff any more.

    Oh please. I’ve been a Georgian since 1984, and not once in those 38 years have I voted for a Republican in a partisan race, for any office. And I’m far from alone. In 2020 we helped elect Joe Biden, and in a special runoff election we fucking FLIPPED two US Senate seats and dumped two incumbent Republicans. Is it hard work? An uphill battle? Yes, it absolutely is. Is it harder and even more uphill when someone like you tells us our votes and volunteering and money are pointless. Please.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    @Barbara:   And thank dog for that.

    I hope these horrible, horrible decisions by the five retrogrades on the Supreme Court come back to bite them, hard.  Their decisions undermine Americans’ actual safety, and have severe economic consequences, too.

    I hope all manner of events and institutions fight back against this insanity.  For one thing, the vast majority of those who would buy a ticket and support these events do not want to become shooting targets.

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Another Scott:

    There are so many choices for great music mashups.

    I had foolishly removed my glasses just before seeing your comment, and read that as “great music mishaps.”

  59. 59.

    Almost Retired

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  See my comment at #37.  My Mom in Wichita had to wait in line to vote for the first time ever.  Usually, she could waltz right in, vote, and leave.  Not today.

  60. 60.

    Barbara

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​I looked at NYT, and 44% of votes are in and No leads at 66%, with a significant percentage of votes still left in Wichita and other strongly no counties. There’s no way the yes county results will be disproportionate enough to offset that.

  63. 63.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Blue Galangal:

    Well, you know, maybe Georgians should stop voting for the GOP?

    Well, arguably that’s happening. In 2020-21 they voted for a Democratic President and two Democratic Senators, and Kemp’s win in 2018 was really, really close and the way he got to preside over his own election probably helped. Given the general state of things the Republicans might do better there next time around, but Georgia seems bluer than the surrounding states at the moment.

  65. 65.

    Danielx

    @RSA:

    Took a quick look. Yet another exercise in applied dickishness. Naturally, not a word about the “no guns” clause in artists’ contracts, blames everything on promoter.

    No, asshole, neither the promoting company nor the state – nor you – have any ability to invalidate contractual obligations. If that means you’ll boycott those artists, I’m sure they won’t mind and I’m equally sure you can find a lynyrd skynyrd cover band playing in some shithole bar who will encourage the audience to carry.

    Probably won’t play Saturday Night Special though…

  66. 66.

    Almost Retired

    @Barbara:  But when Johnson, Sedgwick, Wyandotte and Douglas Counties come in, this could be a blow-out.  It worries me that I know this much about Kansas Counties and politics….Nerd!

  69. 69.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The Kansas result means trouble for Republicans this November. Good!

    It also bodes well for Sharice Davids’ reelection prospects in the KS 3rd CD, and for Laura Kelly’s reelection as Governor.

  70. 70.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Dave Wasserman @Redistric · 28m

    I’ve seen enough: in a huge victory for the pro-choice side, the Kansas constitutional amendment to remove protections of abortion rights fails.

  71. 71.

    Another Scott

    @Anotherlurker: It’s come up.

    Loudwire.com (from 2018):

    According to WSLS 10 News, Ted Nugent refused to let fans bring guns into his July 17 performance in Roanoke, Va. Though Nugent is an outspoken supporter of the second amendment and actually encourages concealed carry at his shows, the Detroit rocker allegedly had a change of heart five minutes before doors opened.

    Ted Nugent’s performance contracts actually request that fans be able to carry guns at his shows, and since Roanoke’s Berglund Performing Arts Theater is city-owned, the venue is not legally allowed to deny gun possession inside. According to WSLS, only performers can request that guns be banned from their shows, which is reportedly what Nugent asked for in a sub-contract with his promoter.

    However, at the Berglund Center’s guest guidelines page, the venue writes that it does not allow concealed weapons: “Anyone with a concealed weapon will be asked to return it to their vehicle.”

    […]

    So, he might be trying to have it both ways there, I dunno.

    He’s got a history with guns in the audience. BestClassicBands.com:

    On December 28, 1975, an audience member, David Gelfer, aimed a .44 magnum pistol at Ted Nugent during a Spokane, WA concert. Gelfer is immediately taken to the ground by members of the audience and security guards and charged with intimidating with a weapon. Few other details appear about the incident.

    Nugent was on tour to support his self-titled debut album.

    IIRC, he said in an interview about it decades ago that he was watching the guy closely and recognized the gun and knew that it had to be cocked (or whatever) to fire it so as long as the guy didn’t do that then he knew he was fine. No big deal. (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)

    Of course, it might have been yet another incident that he was talking about… :-/

    Folks advocating concealed carry and all that nonsense don’t have a good answer for what happened at the Bataclan. I really want a bunch of drunk and stoned people taking out their pistols and who knows what else and going up against guys with AKs and suicide vests in the dark in a crowd, don’t you??!

    “Whoops, sorry buddy, I didn’t see you there…!”

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  72. 72.

    Rusty

    The long term goal is to destroy all public activities.  Public concerts, public schools, public parks (I remember when Reagan and Bush I were presidents a push to privatize all public campgrounds.). Privatize and and kill anything that brings us together.  Guns and fear are helpful tools to further atomize us so we can have no group power or voice.  Just another step with killing off concerts in public spaces.

  75. 75.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Barbara: If only all of Kansas were like Wichita . . .

    …then it would look nothing like Kansas.

    A lifetime’s worth of connections to Kansas finally came to a close a couple years ago, when my cousins sold my late uncle and aunt’s Cowley County ranch.  But a piece of my heart will always be there, and it gladdens my heart to see that it’s still sane enough to reject this abomination of an amendment.

  76. 76.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Another Scott:

    Folks advocating concealed carry and all that nonsense don’t have a good answer for what happened at the Bataclan.

    I imagine it’d just be “deport all the Muslims”. It’s always people not like them who are the problem.

  79. 79.

    Paul Begala's Pink Tie

    @SiubhanDuinne: it is like this here in Houston, where we Dem voters show up in every election, and do what we can to turn the state as blue as possible… and yet my friends in places like New York, California, and even Virginia (where I grew up) behave as though we are all full-on Cruz, Cornyn, Trump and Bush voters. I hear from friends — Leave so you’ll be safer! Stay so you can flip the state! Guess what, some of your fellow state citizens elected the likes of Elise Stefanik and Glenn Youngkin.

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