As one of the people who was putting on that event/debacle ('Voodoo' in Sept.
1994), I'm really interested in hearing Acquaviva's story.
At the make-up party the following summer ('Fantastic Voyage'), Acquaviva tore
it *up*.
A long time ago, I wrote this about Voodoo:
Security arrived on the scene and found a theatre building had been
transformed into a fantastic performance space, and several dozen people
milling around waiting for the doors to open. Not knowing what to do, they
called the venue's management, trying to find someone who could tell them
whether everything was OK. The only person they could find was equally
uninformed, but pretended to have the authority to disperse the crowd and
cancel the event.
When the promoters called that person's authority into question and produced
evidence that the space had been legitimately rented, the dubious venue
representative felt threatened and had security bring in the local police. By
coincidence, county sheriff deputies had been responding to a bogus riot call
at a college in another town. So not only did the police show up, but a
squadron of officers in full riot gear arrived as well.
In spite of contractual obligations, the venue renter, who was present the
whole time, caved under the pressure and agreed to let the party be shut down.
There was nothing we could do. Meanwhile, hundreds of carloads of people
arriving for the party were told to turn around.
By 1am or so, what was left of Voodoo was moved to a club in Dayton. It lasted
just long enough for Joey Beltram to spin for a packed house. But then the
club owner, who had insisted on charging people extra to get in, got cold feet
and closed down early.
A lawsuit was later filed against the original venue. The matter was
eventually settled out of court. The proceeds, after expenses, helped defray
the cost of Fantastic Voyage.
On behalf of the Illuminators, I apologize to anyone who came out for Voodoo
and felt they wasted their time and money. There is nothing worse for a
promoter and performers than to have many months of planning and commitments
of time & money turned upside-down by losing the space at the last moment. We
hope we made it up to everyone with the amazing event that was Fantastic
Voyage.
