[FA Worldmusic] Marcel Khalife, more info

[Dmitri Vietze]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the interest and support in Marcel Khalife and his North
American tour. What happened in San Diego was that the local presenting
organization,  Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition San Diego, had
been in talks with the Salvation Army San Diego theater since February 2007.
The desired concert date was available, they met with the theater manager, and
they followed the theater's instructions for reserving the venue: made a
deposit and gave proof of insurance and a security arrangement. They were in
touch with the theater's staff, exchanging information about lighting and
sound, and about seating charts and ticketing. There was no mention of an
application or review process until July 31, when the theater manager emailed
an application form, saying it was just needed to collect information for
their contract. One concert organizer said, "All along she [the theater
manager] expressed nothing but excitement about the event and Marcel." The
presenters filled out the form (which said nothing about a review process
either) and emailed it to the theater manager on 8/1/2007 and made an
appointment to go to the theater and sign the contract on 8/17/2007. On
8/13/2007 the manager sent the following without any explanation:

"I regret to inform you that The Salvation Army has respectfully declined to
book your event at The Joan B. Kroc Theatre at the Salvation Army Ray and Joan
Kroc Corps Community Center.  We wish you all the best for a successful event.
Your deposit refund is being processed and you should receive it in one to two
weeks.  If you have any questions please contact my administrator Captain John
Van Cleef."

The concert organizers immediately called the captain who said the event was
inconsistent with their views and is divisive and unballanced and will
alienate the Jewish community, and asked why they aren't inviting an Israeli
artist to perform together with Marcel. The captain then said the decision was
that of the SA board of directors. But through a former board member, the
concert organizers found out that the decision was made by the local staff and
not by the board.

When "Middle East in Focus," a radio program on KPFK in Los Angeles invited
both a concert organizer and someone from the Salvation Army on September 5,
the Salvation Army issued a statement including this excerpt:

"In our opinion, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition's single-focus
agenda seemed inconsistent with the goals we have for public use of our
center."

This was the first that the organizers had heard that the venue had an issue
with the presenting organization, whose mission focuses on the rights of
Palestinain refugees. The concert was always planned as a performance, not a
political event.

The San Diego concert is still scheduled on October 14 at a differett venue,
The Birch North Park Theatre (www.birchnorthparktheatre.net/index.htm). The
rest of Khalife's tour is unaffected by this incident, except for the wide
level of interest by the media in what occurred in San Diego.

I hope that answers some of the questions posted here.

Much respect,

Dmitri Vietze
rock paper scissors, inc.
music at rockpaperscissors.biz
www.rockpaperscissors.biz

{{music of global significance}}

p u b l i c i t y   f o r   t h e   w o r l d



----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Hochman" <shochman at pacbell.net>

>I was curious about that as well.... What is the exact nature of the
> problem? Who forced the change? Was it the venue management itself, and
> if so what was the official stated reason?

> glenn tamir wrote:

>> Can anybody find out exactly who is creating the problem for Khalifi?  The
>> e-mail says that the venue is causing the problem.   I would like to know
>> the facts so that I can look into this further as this is most disturbing.