Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Talk About Weird Music...."who got the money?"

I was watching The Partridge Family many years ago and Keith was in trouble with his Mom so he looked over to his brother Danny Partridge for some reassurance and Danny's line to his Mom was "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's probably a...?" and this is what I refer to as the classic “caught in a lie line” ...Gee, who’s the reporter on this one... is the Editorial Staff asleep at the switch...."That promoter has been identified in the past as P.E.I.’s Dave Christian, who also organized the Shoreline Music Festival." --- The Guardian has always reported the promoter as Summerset Music Festival… but the bottom line is "Who Got The Money?" Mark Carr-Rollitt says that his and his partner's Company got none of the $400,000.00 Government money so I'm guessing they did it for free.... surely there are some roving reporters who can figure this one out.... somebody got the money and the rumour today is that there is another $200,000.00 not accounted for.... this attempt to clear the air only raises more questions... one of the news items in July about the Shoreline Music Festival promoter is about canceling a concert and bands having trouble getting paid http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2006/07/26/shoreline-short.html but they must have cleared that up as the good folks at Tourism appear to have peeled them out $400,000.00 none of which was given to Conference and Events Management... I also have some land in Florida the duck might like...
Company offers clarification of concert role

EDITORIAL STAFF
The Guardian
Conference and Events Management attempted to clear the air Monday about its involvement in the Summerset Music Festival in September. Mark Carr-Rollitt says his company was not the promoter and in no way received the $400,000 the provincial government spent on the Alanis Morissette concert. The Vista Bay site in Alexandra drew rave reviews but fewer people bought tickets than originally hoped.Carr-Rollitt said Conference and Events Management Inc. began discussions with the promoter of Summerset Music Festival in November 2007 to organize a concert on P.E.I. and was hired as the event manager. That promoter has been identified in the past as P.E.I.’s Dave Christian, who also organized the Shoreline Music Festival. The provincial government jumped on board in July, eventually spending $500,000 on the show. Of that, $100,000 has since been paid back but taxpayers are out the remaining $400,000. The Guardian has learned that with just days to go, Christian wanted to stop the concert for reasons no one will talk about on the record due to confidentiality agreements. Speculation is poor ticket sales. Carr-Rollitt said his company and government realized that cancelling the show was not an option and decided to proceed without the promoter because everything was ready to go and the province’s reputation would have taken a major hit in the concert business had the show been cancelled.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tim , Please keep digging and posting on this. The current government seems to be well meaning , but completely naive. It's like giving my 16 year old control over the family finances.

Anonymous said...

There are a number of questions and only a few hints at the answers: In August 2008, A concert was announced and the promoter was said to be "Summerfest Music Festival Inc.". The owner and operator of this company at the time was listed as David G. Christian. In September 2008, "Summerfest" was apparently transferred with Mark Carr-Rollitt and Myrtle Jenkins-Smith listed as the shareholders and directors. In October 2008, after the concert, the name of "Summerfest" was changed to "Outside Music Festival Inc." but the owners and directors remained Mark Carr-Rollitt and Myrtle Jenkins-Smith. All this information was found on the government of PEI website, so there is no secrecy here. The questions remain, though, where did the money go? Did it go to the musicians and workers? Did it go to David? How did the transfer to Mark and Myrtle come about? Did they get paid the money? Why did the company change hands? Why did the company change its name? Where did the money come from? Was it part of the Department of Tourism budget? What legitimate government processes allowed for such a pay out to a private project? Was it government money or "Immigrant Investor" money? An examination of the corporate records of "Summerfest" may answer some of these questions.

Anonymous said...

It looks to have changed hands again, if you check the directors and shareholders list.