The Bay Area Freshmen 10 showcase – an annual service of hip-hop blog Thizzler.com that features emerging local artists nominated by fans – was scheduled to occur this evening at the New Parish in Oakland. Artists slated to perform included Ezale, Caleborate, and Tia Nomore, who Express writer Sarah Burke profiled in yesterday’s issue. Following concerns from Oakland Police Department and tardy permit applications, promoters said, the original concert was cancelled. Matt Werner, proprietor of Thizzler.com, said that he’ll announce the rescheduled concert soon.
[jump] The Bay Area Freshmen 10 line-up was announced in full on December 21, Werner said.
According to Jason Perkins, co-owner of the Parish Entertainment Group, whose other venues include Brick & Mortar and Club Leo’s, “[The Oakland Police Department] had a couple of concerns about artists who were playing – who I didn’t know were playing.”
However, Werner, who booked the show at the New Parish through promoter Jackson Ellis, claims that line-up was known in full. Regardless, he said, Werner was willing to remove the artists that OPD considered a safety risk in order to proceed with the show, by which point the New Parish had already declined to host Werner’s event.
“I backed out of the show because every time I asked a question I got a different answer,” Perkins said.
Werner and Perkins declined to specify the concern-worthy artists.
Though their accounts differ slightly, both parties agreed that there were communication issues. A representative from OPD’s Special Events office offered an even more banal explanation: permits weren’t filed in time. Werner confirmed that at the time he announced the cancellation via Twitter on Tuesday, he hadn’t completed the necessary paperwork.
Last year’s Bay Area Freshmen 10 showcase, originally scheduled at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, was also abruptly cancelled less than week ahead of time.
We’ll update when details of the rescheduled concert emerge.
Meanwhile, here’s the video to Tia Nomore’s “Suck it Easy.”
[embed-1]
