This is absurd. Taylor Swift and Capital Hoedown. An Editorial.

(Source: MTV)

Hello Taylor Nation,

Before we begin, I just want to state once more before someone tries something funny that I am not affiliated with Taylor Swift or her management.

Here at the Swift Agency, just one guy who you probably remember was going into a bit of a break, we’ve been pulled back in because… well, because of that dead festival known as the Capital Hoedown that was supposed to take place sometime last year. I was one of the fans who bought tickets, I got my money some months down the road and I though I’d never had to report about Crapital Letdown again. I was wrong.

TMZ broke out the news, but they simplified it down to Taylor Swift getting sued over Capital Hoedown. Other sites have gone to the point to say that Canada is suing the Sparkly Dressed. Let me see if I can undo this mess.

For a more accurate story, the account on the Ottawa Citizen comes the closest. This is the newspaper that first broke the story over the event running into troubled waters. The organizer of the event, Dennis Benoit (why do I have to put this name in my blog, dammit) finally cancelled the event back in July 2012 due to “higher than expected costs from the city, upfront production expenditures and lower than anticipated ticket sales.” By then he was in debt with everyone and lost the venue and every single artist (just to be clear Taylor Swift was the last one to abandon ship).

First of all, there was a first litigation in August 2012 where Evo Merchant Services, a credit card payment processing company based out of New York, sued FIRE USA, Inc. from Florida.

Second, FIRE USA, Inc. is now suing Taylor Swift and The Messina Group (They represent Taylor on tours) for costs. They claim the Messina Group had a deal with Capital Hoedown’s organizers (Benoit) on October. 18, 2011 that stated FIRE would pay Taylor Swift $2.5 million for a performance at the country music festival’s 2012 edition.

Third, a representative for Taylor Swift told TMZ the singer has not made any deal with the ticket company, and has not yet seen the lawsuit.

Note: I don’t know why is this mentioned nowhere, but the Ottawa Sentinel itself printed that Taylor Swift’s management returned her securing fee of $2.1 million to the organizers (Benoit). Now, since this article is no longer available on the Ottawa Sentinel you might think it never existed but I did report it back in June 9, 2012. Strangely enough a reference to it still exists on the Ottawa Sentinel’s Jazzblog mentioning the article by name: “country starlet Taylor Swift has returned her $2.1-million fee to Ottawa’s Capital Hoedown music festival.” when they were complaining that it costs more to secure T-Swizzle than to make a Jazz festival. In case you want another reference, 1310 News also makes a reference on the same date.

Of course, it could be that the Ottawa Sentinel took that the post because their industry insider was not reliable. It could be that Taylor has kept the money. So? It’s her securing fee – meaning that she keeps it whether the concert happens or not. The concert didn’t happen. The organizers blew it. Taylor Swift was the last artist to leave.

If you’re really interested in the timeline, you can follow this link to see all my posts regarding Crapital Letdown and how it all went down. It really annoys the crap out of me, but I’m kind of glad I ended up blogging about it. Perhaps it will be useful to someone.

Will we ever know? Chances are no. Lawyers will have a field day and get payed. Or the whole thing will blow over. Why they don’t go after other artists? Well, they go after whoever has the most money. They think Tay might be the most likely to pay them off and forget the whole thing. Wonder what would happen if they’d go after Brad Paisley or Reba McEntire. Me, I’d go after Denis Benoit who’s now trying to set up a concert this year. Where did he get the money this time around? At the very minimum I’d warn any artist to stay far, far away from any of his concerts.

Leave the organizers and ticket companies and credit card processing companies and lawyers to fight over money… I’m with the Blonde With The Sparkly Guitar who bakes cookies at night and calls it a party.

Now can we put this all behind and focus on the BRIT Awards 2013? Of course, that’s just wishful thinking… We’ll have to hear about this for a while.

Coming up on the Calendar!

• February 20: Taylor is nominated for International Female Solo Artist for the BRIT Awards 2013. She will be performing the closing number.
• February 22: Taylor Swift appears on BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show.
• February 26: Caitlin Evanson‘s Birthday.
• March 13: The RED Tour begins.

(Sources: Ottawa Citizen, TheSwiftAgency.com, TMZ, 1310 News)