News

Plankfest pulls plug on this year's gig

It's the way the music biz goes, says the festival's founder: no money, no show.

By HELEN ANNE TRAVIS, Times Staff Writer
Published October 13, 2007

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DADE CITY - Several local bands learned a tough lesson Friday - gigs are not always guaranteed.

Plankfest, which would have celebrated its third year as Dade City's home-grown alternative music festival next weekend, was canceled Friday afternoon.

"A person who I thought was going to financially back me pulled out at the last minute and I don't have the funds to pull it off this year," said organizer Brad Ash, 38.

The cancellation wasn't a surprise, Ash said. Preparing for this year's festival hasn't been easy. Some of the band members have been belligerent with him and he's had to referee fights among the musicians, he said.

"You know when you have a gut feeling that something's not right? I have been having that the past couple of weeks. Usually my gut's pretty dead-on."

Ash, a special education teacher at Pasco High School, started Plankfest in 2005.

"I realized a lot of our kids don't have the means to get down to Tampa to see concerts or shows. So I thought let's bring something to them," Ash said Thursday, before Plankfest was canceled.

It was originally a school event held on the football practice field. Ash found a portable stage in the auditorium, he set up an awning and called in some concession stands. One hundred people came to watch high school bands and a few college groups.

Ash moved the festival to the Pasco county fairgrounds in 2006. By then the event had a MySpace page and bands came from around the state, even from as far away as Atlanta to play, he said. Three hundred people showed up.

Plankfest 2007's lineup consisted of seven alternative music bands, with styles ranging from ska to Christian rock. Ash had hoped that as many as 500 people would come this year. Proceeds, he said Thursday, would go toward building a skate park in Dade City.

There's no official plans for such an area, but it's been talked about by many residents. Allison Todd, co-owner of the Coffee Mug downtown, started her own fundraiser for a skating area. Ash said he wanted to do his part.

"I was a skater all through high school and college. I remember what it was like being yelled at by adults and business owners," Ash said.

It made sense to him to tie Plankfest with the skate park efforts. Music and skating have always gone hand in hand, he said.

When skating first became popular, most of the kids listened to the hard-core punk music of the '80s, Ash said.

"It was aggressive. It was rebellious. It was anti-establishment. The music reflected the values that we had - I'll say 'we' because I was one of them."

But his efforts to help the skaters in Dade City are no more. Plankfest, Ash said, has been canceled until further notice.

He wasn't looking forward to telling the bands that the show was off, he said.

But Ash, who has played drums or guitar in one band or another most of his adult life, knows that cancellations are common in the showbiz life.

"It's just part of being in music," he said Friday.

Helen Anne Travis can be reached at 352 521-6518 or htravis@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 12, 2007, 21:31:38]