Alexander Street Festival shut down early due to homophobia?

<p>How many of us attended the "first annual" Alexander Street Festival on Saturday night? (I see those hands raised out there.) For the most part, it was a good time that was had by the thousands in attendance. It is too bad that it had to end as it did.</p> <!--break--> <h3>Alexander Street Festival shut down early due to homophobia?</h3> <p>How many of us attended the "first annual" Alexander Street Festival on Saturday night? (I see those hands raised out there.) For the most part, it was a good time that was had by the thousands in attendance. It is too bad that it had to end as it did.</p> <p>For those who stayed until the end, they know that the last act of the night, the drag show, featured the performers from Mother's (40 S. Union Street) entertaining on the south stage. Unfortunately, they also know that the (shortened) performance was interrupted twice by the management.</p> <p>There was a very large crowd gathered in the middle of Alexander Street for the performance, and the performers kept them at a heightened state of enjoyment, even when "Mr. DeeJay" wasn't always responsive to his cues, (or to being directly beseeched by those on stage. Was this an early sign of trouble on the part of the management, one that none of us were aware enough to notice?) A good mix of banter, dancing, and other assorted choreography had most of the audience that I could see singing along, dancing along, laughing along, and otherwise showing all the signs of having an enjoyable evening. Well, that is, up until one point.</p> <h3>Dancing ... booing</h3> <p>When the popular Ambrosia Salad took the stage, in what turned out to be one of the more risque numbers of the evening so far, the music was abruptly shut off, leaving the performer with a definite surprise to be read on her face and in her body language. Soon thereafter, since I was standing in the middle of the crowd, I felt a brusque push as a man in a black t-shirt seemed intent on reaching the stage in a hurry. He climbed on stage, took the microphone from the performer's hands, since she'd been asking, in front of the crowd, what was going on. He held the mike down and away from its range, and apparently had some heated words with her, as she then had to leave the stage.</p> <p>The formerly happy crowd turned to booing. So much for a good "first annual" festival.</p> <p>After a brief delay, another performer took the stage, and attempted to bring the crowd back to its previous state of enjoyment, but the damage had been done.</p> <h3>Encore by the performers?</h3> <p>A short while later, it was announced that it was five minutes until eleven, and they only had time for one of the two remaining numbers. (Those in the crowd near me wearing watches said it was actually still a quarter to eleven, but "bar time" is often a little fast.) If the crowd would applaud loudly, perhaps the management could be convinced to stay for just a few more minutes and both numbers could be performed? (The crowd did so, of course.)</p> <p>Nothing seems out of the ordinary with that, at least to anyone who has ever been to a concert involving an encore.</p> <h3>Encore by Mr. T-shirt?</h3> <p>However, this appeared to be the stimulus that led to the early shutting down of the festival, by the apparently homophobic management. Even more booing ensued at this point, as the crowd knew what had happened earlier. That same man was then seen onstage, wearing both the black t-shirt and a rather confrontational body language, and the power never came back on at all, not for two numbers like the crowd wanted, not even for one.</p> <p>Later, that man declined to be interviewed and threatened police involvement if this reporter continued to ask questions.</p> <h3>Riot police?</h3> <p>By this time, the Rochester Police Department Mounted Unit had arrived with multiple officers on horseback, apparently tipped off to the potential for ... what? rioting? Was the crowd that upset by Mr T-shirt? There had been no mounted officers in the midst of the crowd earlier, when I had scanned the environs to get a feel for the numbers involved. One tends to notice such things. What had changed in the interim? All I can say for certain is that those around me certainly seemed much more angry than earlier, when the performers had them laughing and dancing.</p> <p>Confrontations with police did occur after this point, but perhaps no more so than when alcohol is mixed with any large crowd.</p> <h3>Course in public relations?</h3> <p>I'm left with the words of one woman from the crowd, standing near me, echoing in my ears. (There certainly was no last "song" replaying in my mind of course.) "What a lousy way to influence the public!"</p>

<p>How many of us attended the "first annual" Alexander Street Festival on Saturday night? (I see those hands raised out there.) For the most part, it was a good time that was had by the thousands in attendance. It is too bad that it had to end as it did.</p> <!--break--><h3>Alexander Street Festival shut down early due to homophobia?</h3> <p>How many of us attended the "first annual" Alexander Street Festival on<br /> Saturday night? (I see those hands raised out there.) For the most<br /> part, it was a good time that was had by the thousands in attendance.<br /> It is too bad that it had to end as it did.</p> <p>For those who stayed until the end, they know that the last act of the<br /> night, the drag show, featured the performers from Mother's (40 S. Union<br /> Street) entertaining on the south stage. Unfortunately, they also know<br /> that the (shortened) performance was interrupted twice by the management.</p> <p>There was a very large crowd gathered in the middle of Alexander Street<br /> for the performance, and the performers kept them at a heightened state<br /> of enjoyment, even when "Mr. DeeJay" wasn't always responsive to his cues,<br /> (or to being directly beseeched by those on stage. Was this an early sign<br /> of trouble on the part of the management, one that none of us were aware<br /> enough to notice?) A good mix of banter, dancing, and other assorted<br /> choreography had most of the audience that I could see singing along,<br /> dancing along, laughing along, and otherwise showing all the signs of<br /> having an enjoyable evening. Well, that is, up until one point.</p> <h3>Dancing ... booing</h3> <p>When the popular Ambrosia Salad took the stage, in what turned out to<br /> be one of the more risque numbers of the evening so far, the music was<br /> abruptly shut off, leaving the performer with a definite surprise to<br /> be read on her face and in her body language. Soon thereafter, since<br /> I was standing in the middle of the crowd, I felt a brusque push as a<br /> man in a black t-shirt seemed intent on reaching the stage in a hurry.<br /> He climbed on stage, took the microphone from the performer's hands,<br /> since she'd been asking, in front of the crowd, what was going on.<br /> He held the mike down and away from its range, and apparently had some<br /> heated words with her, as she then had to leave the stage.</p> <p>The formerly happy crowd turned to booing. So much for a good "first<br /> annual" festival.</p> <p>After a brief delay, another performer took the stage, and attempted to<br /> bring the crowd back to its previous state of enjoyment, but the damage<br /> had been done.</p> <h3>Encore by the performers?</h3> <p>A short while later, it was announced that it was five minutes until<br /> eleven, and they only had time for one of the two remaining numbers.<br /> (Those in the crowd near me wearing watches said it was actually still<br /> a quarter to eleven, but "bar time" is often a little fast.) If the crowd<br /> would applaud loudly, perhaps the management could be convinced to<br /> stay for just a few more minutes and both numbers could be performed?<br /> (The crowd did so, of course.)</p> <p>Nothing seems out of the ordinary with that, at least to anyone who has<br /> ever been to a concert involving an encore.</p> <h3>Encore by Mr. T-shirt?</h3> <p>However, this appeared to be the stimulus that led to the early shutting<br /> down of the festival, by the apparently homophobic management. Even more<br /> booing ensued at this point, as the crowd knew what had happened earlier.<br /> That same man was then seen onstage, wearing both the black t-shirt and<br /> a rather confrontational body language, and the power never came back<br /> on at all, not for two numbers like the crowd wanted, not even for one.</p> <p>Later, that man declined to be interviewed and threatened police<br /> involvement if this reporter continued to ask questions.</p> <h3>Riot police?</h3> <p>By this time, the Rochester Police Department Mounted Unit had arrived<br /> with multiple officers on horseback, apparently tipped off to the<br /> potential for ... what? rioting? Was the crowd that upset by Mr T-shirt?<br /> There had been no mounted officers in the midst of the crowd earlier,<br /> when I had scanned the environs to get a feel for the numbers involved.<br /> One tends to notice such things. What had changed in the interim? All I<br /> can say for certain is that those around me certainly seemed much more<br /> angry than earlier, when the performers had them laughing and dancing.</p> <p>Confrontations with police did occur after this point, but perhaps no<br /> more so than when alcohol is mixed with any large crowd.</p> <h3>Course in public relations?</h3> <p>I'm left with the words of one woman from the crowd, standing near me,<br /> echoing in my ears. (There certainly was no last "song" replaying in my<br /> mind of course.) "What a lousy way to influence the public!"</p>