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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Bufu Banton: My Two Cents

Posted by on September 26 at 17:24 PM

Hm.

This Bufu guy was coming to town, and some people were upset. We blogged about that—and so did Seattlest and Metroblogging Seattle and Seattle LiveJournal. (And they all blogged about it before we did—much to my annoyance.) The club reacted to the uproar. It was an uproar that we didn’t create, just reported on and commented on. And the club decided to pull the plug on the show.

If we had ignored Bufu and the uproar, we would no doubt have been accused of covering up the controversy to protect an advertiser. But we blogged about, and so we stand accused of creating the controversy.

And so… where are we now?

Well, this Bufu person has a right to perform his stuff—absolutely. Still does, anywhere he can attract a paying crowd and a willing club. People have a right to dislike his stuff—absolutely. And people have a right to complain about this guy and express their displeasure. And we have a right to comment and report—and we also have a right to our own freely expressed opinions. And the club has a right to make its own decisions—including the decision to cancel or go ahead with Bufu’s show. No one’s rights were violated in all of this.

Finally, it’s such a nice day. Let’s all push back from our computers and get the fuck out of the house or the office. I’m going to an M’s game tonight—what are you doing?


CommentsRSS icon

I'm staying in and watching Nip/Tuck, and hoping to see more hot man ass.

This reminds me of the days when you wrote the hiphop column. Man, that was awesome!

I have to sit at this computer for the next half hour, then I will go home and sit on my ass and eat dinner and then it will be dark.

I caught that ass on Nip/Tuck the other night—holy crap. God bless basic cable.

Oh, and the homo got a beat down—which is why I called for a boycott and got that entire network yanked from cable. So no more man ass for us. Still, nice ass.

Dan, the reason this thing has blown up in SLOG is that Charles Mudede was the first staffer to post about the thing, and he called for the show's cancellation in that strident revolutionary way that he has, and in the subsequent brouhaha, the other staffers at your paper didn't bother to distance themselves from Charles' position.


He's an artful little bomb-thrower, is Mr. Mudede, and I can certainly see why you like keeping him around, but this time some people got hurt (I'm thinking of some dancehall fans and the owners of Neumo's— the homo-hating artist at the center of this certainly didn't get hurt, unless you consider a paid holiday painful).

I went last night. They won in 10 innings and the finish was unbelieveable given a) the A's were leading 9-3 after 4.5 innings because Cesar Jimenez and Travis Chick are terrible pitchers, b) this team is a bunch of young hacks who love swinging themselves into outs and make tons of mistakes and c) when the M's are behind after 8, they usually pack it in and lose, and then they scored 3 runs in the 9th to tie it off Huston Street, one of baseball's toughest closer, and against an A's team that had beaten them 15 straight times. Also, d) Willie Bloomquist, who had the walkoff base hit in the 10th inning, NEVER gets the big hit in the clutch.

As for Buju, agree totally. Whatever you think of the guy (and I don't know nearly enough to say for certain), he has a right to perform and venues have a right to book him as they wish. If people want to pay to see, say, Jerry Falwell, that's their decision and says as much about them as it does about the performer.

Dan thanks for telling everyone to calm down and go to a baseball game. So what if The Stranger originally promoted Buju and is now calling to boycott Buju? People change their minds.

People in Seattle love te get upset so they can feel morally superior. I went to the last Buju show in Ballard because The Stranger said it would be great. This time The Stranger called for a boycott. So what? At least a bunch of us didn't go to the wrong show this weekend.

Gomez -- I'll take the baton from you; i'm going tonight. The littlest M's team that could (full of minor league call ups at this point) have been winning a surprising number of games when they could have easily already have begun going through the motions after The Road Trip.

Remember -- and I know it's football season and everything -- if the M's run the table for the last 5 games of the season, they'll get back to .500. Not a bad way for these players to mull over the winter, considering. They've shown some heart. If I were an M, I probably would have barfed my christ out a while back, having had to have heard the skads of shit talk about the team. You're right, G, big win last night. Good for the fucking M's.

Going to The Bus Stop to have Cosmopolitans on the rocks

And I'm going to the Bus Stop to make Tiffany's cosmos on the rocks.

I'm going to watch the game too—but in a bar, so I don't have to sit near any kids.

I'm going to DJ Crush and Neumoes. He's still cool right?

I'm spending the evening re-reading all of Kimberly's comments on Slog. Ha ha ha, ho ho ho, that same joke get's funnier each time she posts it.

I'm cooking salmon and beets for my old lady and then we're watching an Agnes Varda film on DVD. A little kulcha' for ya'.

Well, I just got back from Bad Juju Lounge where I had a couple of drinks (thanks, Tim!) and a very pleasant conversation with Steve Severin.

I came away with the impression the guy is very sincerely trying to to right by the local community (and that extends far beyond Slog), but he does feel a little ambivalent about the whole situation. He freely admits that prior to this whole embroglio, he didn't really know that much about Buju or the controversy surrounding him. He did some research, then struggled with the decision of whether to cancel or not; he finally decided (as was stated in the public email announcing the cancellation) that to go forward with the show would have put both patrons and potential protesters in harms way, and he felt that was not acceptible, regardless of his person feelings about free speech, free enterprise, or any other concern.

Really, he's a nice guy. He just never anticipated the response booking this artist (and yes, regardless of MY personal feelings, I'm willing to grant him that appellation) would create.

Stop by tomorrow. Buy him a drink; buy the person sitting/standing next to you a drink; put $$ in their coffers. They learned a hugely expensive lesson today, but in the end they did the right thing, and we should put OUR money where our mouths/keyboards are and show them some support.

I can't be there tomorrow, so I did my share tonight.

COMTE, awfully glad that you think he is sincere in his apology (he certainly should be). Most people are when they have their patently bad decisions brought to their attention. However, even granting that he made a decision to guarantee $15,000 for a performer that he apparently did next to no background research on (as one would have to assume inorder to accept his "gee shucks I had no idea" explanation) it doesn't much change the situation.

We need to be urging gays to withhold financial support from businesses that cut checks to people who advocate for the murder and mutilation of gay people. Period!

This isn’t complicated. You see, here is how it works... you give your money to Neumo's, they give the next $15,000 of it to Buju... what part of this do you not understand?

Um, I'm not gay, so I guess I'm left out of that part of the equation.

And seriously, I sincerely doubt Steve is going to make this mistake - again. He learned his lesson, a very expensive one, he's apologized to the community, and pledged to be more sensitive in terms of the acts he books in the future. I mean, what more do you want from the guy: donning a hairsuit and public flogging for his transgression?

He made a mistake, and he's trying to make amends. As a non-Christian, for once it seems to me the "Christian thing to do" would be to forgive him, and provide some positive reinforcement; which I've done, and would encourage others to do as well. If you don't feel that's an appropriate response on your part, well, as I've said all along, that's your right, your decision.

if he can bring gĂĽnther for a show at neumo's, all will be forgiven.

Comte - you can sign over your entire estate to Neumo's for all I care, but please don't tell me what to do with my money. I have no sympathy for them and just because they pulled the plug on the show (to protect people's safety of course, not because they were worried about the bad p.r.) doesn't mean squat to me. They booked some known homophobic asshole and now have to pay him $15K to do nothing. Why would I want to contribue to that $15K? I am never going to Neumo's again -- but everybody should make up their own mind about whether they want to patronize the place or not.

In other music news that I keep waiting for The Stranger to cover, how about the new-ish venue that's been announced to appear at Qwest Events Center?

It's being positioned as direct competition to Key Arena as a music/events-only venue, and the missing link in Seattle's music scene (for audiences too big for Paramount/Showbox but too small for the current incarnation of Key Arena).

Have I missed The Stranger's coverage on this? I've only seen a mention in The Seattle Times.

No one’s rights were violated in all of this.

Yes, but, the AOL forum conservakiddies (ok, some graduate to freep) want you to know that they are tired of you telling them that you don't like what they say, so they will tell you they do not like you saying that, and make sure they tell you repeatedly, until you stop telling them to stop telling you to they don't like what they say, which they don't like.

Are we clear? Am I clear? For that matter, are they clear?

who are you and what have you done to dan savage? that was calm, rational, and... please, i'd like to see more of this dan savage in the future.

what am I doing? enjoying a nice evening at home reading a book, looking forward to the andrew bird show on thursday that ponders the mysterious production of eggs.

everyone should go.


I'm going to replace all the Buju CDs in town with XTC CDs...


Dan -

Is Bufu short for Butt Fucker?

"this time some people got hurt"

Bullshit. A very small minority of people had to change their plans and go to a different club to see an artist who performs what is undoubtedly the most BORING musical genre in the world.

Have another fucking drink and calm down. If you want to see genuine examples of people getting "hurt", look at Iraq or Afghanistan.

I'm going to boycott Nemos. I went there once by now I'm over the place. Anyone who'd book a performer that write songs about killing faggots is an idiot.

Cite,

Are you a completely obtuse idiot, or do you just not bother to read something before shooting your fat mouth off in public?

Go back and read (for the first time, apparently) my previous post, ESPECIALLY the last sentence.

Then, kindly shut your gaping, slack-jawed pie-hole.

Hey everyone. I think as long as we go see Buju at Studio 7 everything is OK. The problem was him singing at Nemos. As long as he performs somewhere else, The Stranger isn't calling for a boycott.


What if we meet at Nemos for drinks before going to the Studio 7 show, won't that fix everything?

Am I to understand from other posts that Neumo's tickets are being honored for the Studio Seven show?

In other words, Neumo's did not cancel the show, but just moved it to another location?

Can some one confirm this?

Something stinks here.

YGBKM,

Steve Severin addressed this in the posting above.

Kimberly (if that IS your real name - for all we know you could be a 32 year-old, male, mouth-breather from Kentucky),

Except for Charles, who was speaking only for himself, and NOT as an editorial representative of "The Stranger", no other staff member has called for a boycott. Other individuals not affiliated with "The Stranger" have called for a boycott as well.

Oh, and Important Fashion Tip: Needing other people to tell you what's fashionable is NOT fashionable, okay?

I was confused because when Buju performed here before The Stranger gave him a great review. Now The Stranger is saying Buju is no longer fashionable.


Now I know that it's OK to go hear Buju in Seattle as long as he doesn't perform on Capitol Hill.


Is't good to know that everyone at The Stranger besides Charles thinks Buju is a wonderful musician well worth seeing.


P.S. I thought other Stranger writers said they didn't like Buju's lyrics about "killing the faggot by pouring acid on him"." Maybe I just misread the postings. Ooops!

Club owners can avoid all this hassle in the future. Before booking any show, simply consult with anyone who might be offended.

I'm sure with the help of The Stranger, the LiveJournal people, Ken "Prayer Warrior" Hutcherson, PETA, the Mars Hill pastor, interested local imams, and the Belltown Condo Owners Association, we can enjoy a rich and colorful nightlife and entertainment industry without offending anyone.

*Sigh!*

You'd think, at some point, the mouth-breathers would get tired of their third-rate irony, and fifth-rate attempts at sarcasm, but no - evidentally, pounding a pointless point into the ground is all they know how to do.

I'm boycotting COMTE.

COMTE

Looks like per your post #30 I may have missed a pivotal post by Steven, which I still can’t seem to find. There are an awful lot of strings going on this issue. Could you point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

My friends and I are going to see This Film Is Not Yet Rated at the Varsity tonight; everyone should go.
Many film companies tailor their movies to pass the approval of the super secret MPAA, so they have much more of an effect on what we see than most people realize.

CITE: "I am never going to Neumo's again"

That should raise the average IQ of Neumo's patrons by several points.

YGBKM:

Sorry, should have clarified - it was in the Slog Post, "The Buju Continues", the one above this Slog Post. Look at comment #45.

Pox:

Whatever.

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