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According to a few reports, including one on LJ's LA community page, it looks like you won't have access to Fergie's Humps tonight (or Ben Gibbard's or Jason Bentley's for that matter). Police and Fire officials have supposedly cancelled Giant Village 6 for safety concerns.
UPDATE: The fire department says it was event organizers, not authorities.
Weren't going to Giant Village tonight? Well, you probably still have to worry about this problem as that means there will be literally thousands of LA revelers with no where to go. Expect them to be crashing your party plans in droves.
For those displaced party people still looking to get down tonight, LAist recommends the Temple Bar on the west side and a midnight performance by Breakestra. Get some funk in your life. Tickets are only $40, it's a full night of music and there's free champagne also at midnight.
Celebrate the new year shaking what your mama gave ya.
UPDATE #2: Please don't post Dave Dean's (or anyone's) Home Address and phone # in the comments. It will be removed. The appropriate complaint channel is through Giant's official contact info:
Giant
1735 N VINE STREET
HOLLYWOOD, CA 90028
323.464.7300
davedean@giantclub.com
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I called the helpful Los Angeles Info Line: 311 and asked about Giant Village and the operator confirmed that the even is cancelled by the event promoters. =]
Thanks for sharing the word. I posted some information at the LAFD blog:
http://www.lafd.org/blog.htm
...and was saddened to hear (mistaken) word on the street that blames the Fire Marshal's Office for the cancellation.
Brian
not cancelled by lafd, it was cancelled by organizers
http://lafd.blogspot.com/2005/12/organizers-cancel-la-giant-village.html
According to today's LA Times, fire marshalls did not close last night's New Years Eve concert down. It was the producers who made the call well after 7pm.
The producer is Dave Dean and to get a refund, contact him at -
Dave Dean
[redacted by laist]
Updated Contact Info for Giant Village refunds.
The producer is Dave Dean - contacting this guy directly may be the only way to try to ensure you get your refund (his latest strategy is to "postpone" rather than cancel this event -- this gets Giant out of having to provide refunds).
Let Dave know what you think. I just did, and I feel surprisingly better :) --
Don't forget to tell your friends -
Dave Dean's Home
[redacted by laist]
Dave Dean's Office
Giant
1735 N VINE STREET
HOLLYWOOD, CA 90028
323.464.7300
davedean@giantclub.com
I heard we have another contact about our refund for Giant Village -
You can also contact one of the main marketing people (he's the one who was supposed to alert ticket sellers to stop selling tickets) -
JC FRANCO
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
Nightlife - Marketing - Promoter
WWW.WIREDLA.COM
http://www.wiredlife.org/
MySpace URL:
http://www.myspace.com/jcluvsu
jc@wiredla.com
-or-
jc@chemistryla.com
As of today (Thurs - 1/5), the thousands of people who did buy the $80-$150 tickets still do not know if/when they will be able to get their money back. They were left essentially stranded downtown because the event organizers failed to announce that the event was officially canceled until after it was planned to start at 8:00 p.m. (they finally posted a notice on the Giant website at about 11:00 p.m. Saturday). Retailers, including Virgin Megastore, continued to sell tickets until late Saturday evening.
The fact is, the producers reviewed the event planning long in advance with City officials. The hour-by-hour weather report for the evening was pretty much unchanged throughout the day. And sure enough, the rain had dropped to light showers by the time the producers did their walk through - and stopped completely several hours before the 8:00 p.m. start time.
It is a fact that pre-sales for the event were low, and that most tickets were expected to be sold on-site. THE PRODUCERS FEARED THAT THEY WOULD NOT MAKE THEIR NUMBERS DUE TO RAIN EARLIER IN THE DAY, SO THEY APPARENTLY DECIDED AT THE LAST MINUTE TO TAKE LESS OF A FINANCIAL HIT BY TRIGGERING THEIR EVENT CANCELLATION INSURANCE.
In other words, canceling the event was most likely a business decision -- not a safety decision -- and Dave Dean is trying to blame the City in order to collect on his insurance. Rather than provide refunds, he is now working to schedule a "makeup" event. This guy screwed a lot of people over, and should, as the saying goes, "never work in this town again."
In light of yesterday's LA Times story, there's a new groundswell of anger directed at the LAFD, Giant organizers and the ticket outlets who sold tickets long after the event had been canceled. I bought mine at 7pm (Vigin Megastore confirmed the event was still going on "rain or shine").
This can be found at:
http://undergroundmine.com/jc-giantvillage06.htm
The LA Times dropped the ball with this story yesterday. The AP everone else is writing from is also wrong. People have not seen a refund. We just want our money back and to know the real reason David Dean canceled the show.
This isn't about one lousy NYE, it's about accountability.
To see what some people are saying, check out:
http://blogdowntown.com/
http://dancemusic.blogspot.com/
www.craigslist.com (Search Los Angeles, Under Tickets, Keyword "Giant")
this comment was edited for length by LAist