Thoughts on the Cadillac Ranch/Midpoint controversy

Since we've held events at Cadillac Ranch in the past, and our group is full of Midpoint fanatics, I felt it was worthwhile to chime in on the fiasco from last night at Cadillac Ranch. Basically, the GM at the Ranch decided to cancel the rest of the acts for the evening after a poor turnout for the night's opening band.

Some people have latched on to the notion that the Midpoint organizers should have planned their schedule better, and put bands at the Cadillac Ranch that would fit their regular clientele. I have to say, I was quite surprised that the Ranch was even hosting any events at all associated with Midpoint - it doesn't really seem to fit their style. Of course, the GM at Cadillac Ranch could have spent 20 minutes on Google, checked out the bands, and then suggested to the organizers that maybe they ought to rethink their scheduled lineup (the GM says that he wasn't given a say in the matter - he may be right, but a little proactive work might not have been a bad idea).

But this isn't about suitability - this is simply about a bar not holding up to its end of a deal. The GM at the Ranch said he'd host bands for the entire festival. Then, when the first band didn't bring in a ton of people, he cancelled the rest of the acts, without making any sort of arrangements as to where those bands might be able to play the rest of the night. Never mind that people tend to flow in and out of the bars during a festival, he just decided to cut ties on a whim.

Not living up to a deal is among the worst sins a business can commit, especially when its done in plain view. I'm disappointed in how the Cadillac Ranch conducted itself. I hope everyone that ever considers organizing an event there has paid close attention to this incident. Better have a backup plan as well.

2 comments:

grif said...

I was surprised to see the Cadillac Ranch listed as a venue for MPMF but this isn’t the first year for Midpoint so the GM should have known that it is all about the Indie Rock.

To the credit of the MPMF coordinators, I listened to the bands that were set to perform at the Cadillac Ranch and I will say that they had more of a mainstream sound than say the ones performing at Know Theatre. I think the GM of the ranch dropped the ball on this one and could have communicated with the MPMF folks on what would fit their clientele (whatever that would mean).

I will say that I never liked the Cadillac Ranch to begin with and would have avoided going there in the first place. Their service is horrible. I went there once and waited over 20 minutes for a server to acknowledge my presence. Perhaps I didn’t fit their ideal clientele.

MPMF did a lot better when it was just on Main Street. You didn’t have to worry about traveling across town and finding parking to catch the next band. Unfortunately the media exaggerated the “riots” and that was the fall of the Main St. area.

Scott Griffith said...

As I said to Cadillac Ranch corporate in my feedback to them,

"If you hoped to have people talking about Cadillac Ranch coming out of Midpoint Music Festival, consider it mission accomplished."