Hootie won't play at classic rock festival

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

May 27, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Moondance Jam VIII promoter Bill Bieloh announced Wednesday the band Hootie and the Blowfish is refusing to play the annual classic rock festival held just outside of Walker.

Bieloh said although the musical festival signed the Top 40 band to a contract in March, the band has indicated it does not want to perform at an event hosting mostly classic rock bands.

"They have not (yet) canceled, but it doesn't look good," Bieloh said. "They think it will kill their image."

Hootie and the Blowfish were originally scheduled to play at 11 p.m., July 8, the opening night of the three-day festival. So, Bieloh said he has signed singer Eddie Money to replace Hootie that night, and the new schedule that night includes Money at 9 p.m. and REO Speedwagon at 11 p.m.

Should Hootie decide to honor their contract and play, Bieloh said he has left a slot open for them at 12:30 a.m. Friday, July 9.

"They're really jacking us around," Bieloh said. "We're very disappointed because we spent about $20,000 advertising (Hootie)."

Bieloh said he has pulled as much advertising about the band as he could, but promotional items such as pop cans, milk cartons, promotional signs and even the music festival's tickets advertise Hootie and the Blowfish as playing the concert.

"We don't want to mislead people. So we've tried to pull as much of the advertising as we could," he said.

Bieloh said the skirmish developed when the REO Speedwagon band was miffed that Hootie would be closing the opening night and not them. So, the band's representatives contacted Hootie's representatives, at which point Hootie and the Blowfish realized they would be playing a classic rock festival.

They then asked Bieloh if they could be moved to another night so they wouldn't be playing behind the bands .38 Special and REO Speedwagon. However, both Friday and Saturday night were already booked, and it wasn't possible to make a switch. At that point, the band announced its intentions not to play Moondance Jam VIII.

However, the band has not yet announced their intentions in writing. So, Bieloh said, he can't announce that they won't be playing or he would be the one in breach of contract.

"(Moondance Jam) is the biggest rock festival in the state, and to think it will hurt their ablum sales is crazy," Bieloh said. "Plus, their album's in the tank anyway. All it can do is go up."

Pioneer efforts to reach representatives of Hootie and the Blowfish were unsuccessful Wednesday, and Cindy Johnson of T.E.A. Productions of Minnetonka, Moondance Jam's booking agent, said they would not comment until Hootie's cancellation was confirmed in writing.

Moondance Jam, an annual classic rock festival held at Moondance Fairgrounds seven miles east of Walker on Highway 200, officially became the largest rock festival in the state in 1998, according to the festival's website.

The seventh annual event attracted a crowd in excess of 50,000 people to see bands such as Johnny Lang, Steve Miller, Steppenwolf and Foreigner.

In its seven years, Moondance Jam has grown from an audience of 1,500 the first year to last year's 50,000-plus attendance.

Other bands performing this year include John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, Starship, .38 Special, Eddie Money and REO Speedwagon on July 8; Lamont Cranston, Hank Williams Jr., and Lynyrd Skynyrd July 9; and Blue Oyster Cult, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Cheap Trick July 10.