Let the eye rolling commence.
In a report published by Alabama news website AL.com, the recent announcement that Widespread Panic will be playing The Amphitheater at the Wharf has aggravated some local officials. While the venue’s general manger Jim Bibby seems to stand by the booking, Mayor Pro Tem (aka temporary acting mayor) Jeff Silvers was specifically outspoken about the “pure mayhem” of band and its fans.
“We’re still not happy that this has been announced… The maximizing that it puts on our resources, our police and our fire department on a busy weekend — Memorial Day weekend, Jim — we can’t have that. We don’t promote that style of living and floppiness that’s happened, that they will bring. And they will be here, living in vacant garages, living in the streets, showering down at the beach. Jim, we can’t have it. We can’t put up with it. So please whoever didn’t get that message needs to hear from all of us up here.”
The “floppiness” last overcame The Wharf in 2010, when WSP played the venue despite low ticket sales, presumably due to the concurrent BP oil spills. Still, the Mayor’s office is not enthusiastic about a certain brand of music events at the Gulf Shores venue, including the Hangout Music Festival.
The actual Mayor, Tony Kennon, said, “I think people know that I’m a very vocal opponent of the music festival in Gulf Shores… I don’t believe for a minute that it’s who we are. It’s not our brand. It’s not what we’re trying to sell as a family-friendly destination. That is who we are and the minute we start prostituting that because of money or whatever reason then the next weekend can be prostituted and the next weekend and then it ends up we’re Panama City. And that’s not who we are if I can help it.”
Are you shaking your head yet?
Kennon continued, saying, “We’ll have a sit down with management and the leadership and hopefully fix this for good… I don’t speak for anybody but that is not who we are and it’s not what we want our city to become or represent.”
Widespread Panic fans are encouraged to send emails to Tony Kennon (tkennon@cityoforangebeach.com) and Jeff Silvers (jsilvers@cityoforangebeach.com), perhaps informing them that you aren’t planning to live in the streets in order to see one Widespread Panic concert in Alabama.
[Cover photo courtesy of Dave Vann]