New version of Toledo Talk

Toledo govt's role in booking music acts - City government gets involved in a private business, but it does not monitor its own taxpayer-funded entertainment org.

Jun 19, 2007 WNWO story titled Major Outcry after Raunchy Band Performs in Downtown Toledo :

"Accusations are flying after a raunchy band with a history of performing sex acts on stage was hired to play Toledo's "Rally by The River. But the woman who hired them says it's all a surprise to her. Members of the all-girl band MT-TV, have quite a history of performing nude and having sex with each other, and fans, on stage."

"A Toledo police officer working security there, who didn't want to go on camera, tells us, the lead singer was not wearing underwear---and frenzied fans were tossing money at her. The director of Citi fest says, she believes the lead singer was wearing underwear."

"Meanwhile, the manager at the Blarney Irish Pub downtown says some of his customers left the concert in disgust. The director of Citi Fest didn't want to go on camera, but insists, the organization checks out all bands before they perform. She couldn't explain why she didn't know the band's history other than to say there's nothing mentioned on the band's website."


* MT-TV.com
* MT-TV at YouTube
* MT-TV Wikipedia article
* MT-TV's old band name Rockbitch

"MT-TV is a British female punk/metal/goth band, formed from the remnants of the band Rockbitch. MT-TV, a nine member , an all-female band originally from England and recently moved to the United States after touring Europe."

"Rockbitch was an expat British mostly-female Celtic punk/metal/goth band, best known for performing nude and incorporating sexual acts and Pagan rituals into their performances."

Uh, oh, a religious band paid with taxpayer dollars? Is this a violation of the separation of church and state?

I don't see any problem with this band's "art." Looks like a good fit for Frankies.

But what about what the City did earlier this year with Gator'z?

Feb 2, 2007 Toledo Free Press story titled ‘Safety concerns' cancel concert :

"Through the urging of Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and police Chief Mike Navarre, the owner of a Toledo nightclub has canceled a planned concert by hip hop duo Ying Yang Twins. “There have been past incidents of violence after Ying Yang Twins concerts in other cities,” Finkbeiner said in the release. “They chose the wrong venue. We can't have the potential of violence in our neighborhoods, and Gator'z is in a neighborhood.” "

"Brian Schwartz, Finkbeiner's spokesman, cited a 1998 concert in Ottawa Park that featured Ying Yang Twins as reason to prevent the Gatorz show from happening. At that event, he said, concertgoers brought weapons and set off fireworks creating a “great deal of disorder.” Schwartz also cited an incident in Miami involving the group as reason the city urged Howard to cancel the Feb. 13 show."

"Rock critic Dave Marsh, biographer of The Who, Bruce Springsteen and author of the book, “50 Ways to Fight Censorship,” said Ying Yang Twins are a pop group, not a hip-hop group, and the efforts to cancel the concert are 'ignorant.' “Are they policing after your hockey team plays? Are they going to police the drunks after the Super Bowl parties?” Marsh said. “This is from an ignorant politician and bigoted cops who are not even listening to this music. It sounds like you have a mayor who likes to take the First Amendment and the Constitution into his own hands and rip it in half.” "
posted by jr to art at 6:23 P.M. EST     (12 Comments)

Comments ...

Good tie-in, JR. When I first heard this story, I chuckled that CitiFest booked this musical act without having any notion of what the act was.

But, paired with the Ying Yang Twins story, it's much, much more... "sinister" isn't the right word, but it's all I can think of at the moment.
posted by TheTalentedMrC at 07:57 P.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007     #

Nawww...couldn't be that MT-TV all girl ensemble exhibited a "thug mentality". Did anyone get the "MT-TV Sparklers"?

Someone downtown had an urge for a slew of roast beef subs when they booked this act. One hungry promoter.

Altho I burst out laughing at my initial exposure to this story, I've levelled out to gentle guffaws.

I'm sure they'll be a job opportunity on the city's website. Stay tuned!
posted by BrianInFlorida at 08:11 P.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007     #

I'm having a hard time believing that a booking agent with any kind of a clue wouldn't know about this bands reputation.
posted by katie82640 at 09:27 P.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007     #

"Rockbitch ceased performing in 2002 after many years of pressure from bodies such as councils, police forces and governments. In 2005 the entire latter day Rockbitch line up returned under the new band name MT-TV. This is a music only project without the sex and nudity of the Rockbitch days, (but with a certain amount of stage theatrics.) After a UK tour in summer 2005, they headed to the USA, where they have been touring ever since."


I like what MT-TV (Empty TV) says on their Web site:

"Mindless trash has it's place - it's comfy and nice not to think sometimes, to veg out a bit.........but everywhere? ALL the time? Reality shows, dumb humour, puerile news, knee-jerk politics... MT-TV are with Rage Against the Machine and Bill Hicks on this one..."

"And as for music television? - no videos but plenty of ringtones....pushing rubbish and catchy soundbites telling us what to think of it. The men are bland, the women are blond, then if someone notices what's going on, they wheel out the Rolling Stones or The Sex Pistols to get us all fired up again so we forget."

"And THAT is where the band name comes from...empty television...MT-TV."


I need to pay closer attention to the dotoledo.org calendar. Sounds like the MT-TV concert last Friday would have been a pretty cool show to catch, except for the fuddy-duddy actions by the Mayberry police and Citi Fest. Maybe Toledoans need to lighten up a bit and be a little more open minded to the non-mainstream. Oh, wait, I forgot. Toledo is suppose to be a nice place to raise a family whatever the hell that means. Good soccer fields in the suburbs?
posted by jr at 11:00 P.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007     #

Uh, oh, a religious band paid with taxpayer dollars? Is this a violation of the separation of church and state?

Good point Jr. For years pagans have struggled to get the same rights as their other religious counterparts. Maybe they should be equally oppressed by the Sep. Church/State crowd too.
posted by MikeyA at 06:51 A.M. EST on Wed Jun 20, 2007     #

What else can explain all this except that the so-called director of Citi-Fest can only be the usual Toledo political appointee who has essentially zero ability to bring to the job?

I'd also like to hear her explanation how she knew the singer was wearing panties.
posted by GuestZero at 09:03 A.M. EST on Wed Jun 20, 2007     #

Via a psyche777 comment on her blog, a letter to WNWO by an Empty-TV fan. I hope Carty takes this letter in consideration when he talks about "brain drain." And maybe Carty and his henchmen will mind their own business when it comes to music at privately-owned clubs.

Some excerpts from the letter:

"Regarding your story of the “Raunchy” band that was hired to play in the park last Friday, I hope that you have your lawyers on call as your story holds not one ounce of truth, no credible witnesses and the fact that you aired it yesterday as “Breaking News” almost five days after the fact just proves that you have nothing else to report on and that you indeed are the bottom of the barrel for news in Toledo. I was at the show on Friday and the only offensive thing besides the reek of Depends and Ben Gay from the elderly passing out the beer tickets was the opening band, Velvet Jones butchering my favorite covers."

"You have some nerve. The band was great and better than most that come to this barren shell of a city. Yet you would not know this as no one from your staff was there. Instead you half-assed searched to dig up some dirt from the past, misquoting and calling that band MT-TV."

"I have seen this band more times than I can count, and at this “Family Event” full of people drinking beer and playing grab ass on the lawn, this show was toned down to almost Nazi Germany standards to accommodate."

"I am saddened that your station, your staff and story just proves what I have heard since I moved to the area 8 years ago. “Toledo is full of conservative hypocrites”. Downtown is almost dead. People are leaving because of this attitude. Your report was irresponsible and shows that your are the “National Inquirer” of our local news. However, if you find yourself wishing that there were a rock you could hide under, do the right thing. I challenge you. Go get the REAL story and air your apologies afterwards. On Friday I saw a crowd on their feet, enjoying the park, enjoying the music, dancing, and last but not least, spending money!"

You need to read the whole letter. It tears apart the WNWO story. I wonder if WNWO will address the claims made in this letter? Looks like a possible bogus "news" story from WNWO. Maybe the so-called journalistic processes used by WNWO for this story need investigated.

From the letter about the WNWO story:

" “Major Outcry after Raunchy Band Performs in Downtown Toledo” – From whom? Produce names, people, and complaints. I’ll bet you can not."

The only source WNWO states is:

"Meanwhile, the manager at the Blarney Irish Pub downtown says some of his customers left the concert in disgust."

Is that enough to go on for a story?

And like the Wikipedia article states about MT-TV:

"This is a music only project without the sex and nudity of the Rockbitch days ..."

I don't think there's anything here for the almighty Czarty to look into. It seems the Citi Fest person did nothing wrong. I don't care for government being in the entertainment biz, but maybe the Citi Fest person who booked MT-TV should get a bonus or a medal. So some people didn't like the show, big deal. Can't please everyone all the time.

The people who went and didn't like the show, they could have researched MT-TV beforehand and then chose not to attend if they didn't like what they read about the band. The complainers at the Blarney Irish Pub should blame themselves not Citi Fest. The whiners need to take some personal responsibility.

What about the people who knew about the band, attended Rally by the River, and had a great time? Don't their voices count?
posted by jr at 09:45 A.M. EST on Wed Jun 20, 2007     #

Couldn't be any worse than the creepy perv stylings of Pat Dailey. His act is a caricature of the everyday person who likes promiscuity and boozing it up on their free time.

He sounded like he was struggling to talk both audibly and coherently.

And he did do an album with Shel Silverstein, who is arguably the most subversive writer ever allowed into elementary schools.

By default Pat Dailey is more shocking and subversive. He probably wasn't wearing any underwear either. LOL
posted by charlatan at 10:59 A.M. EST on Wed Jun 20, 2007     #

This year: MT-TV. Next year: GWAR! GG Allin would have been good as well, too bad he's dead...
posted by Ace_Face at 11:40 A.M. EST on Wed Jun 20, 2007     #

Yeah, the part about this whole thing that made me laugh the most is the headline "MAJOR OUTCRY..." A "major outcry" to me is a protest at City Hall, not a few people walking into a bar and complaining. WNWO should just hang it up. Have you seen their latest Nielson ratings? Ouch.
posted by dell_diva at 04:34 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 20, 2007     #

Thanks for reprinting the letter, Jr. After going "ouch" a few times at every other sentence, I had to get some Band-Aids. (No pun intended.)

Citi-Fest could book the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I wouldn't care. If Toledo's "conservative hypocrites" don't like it, they should stay at home in their overpriced houses and condos.

I still want to know who's responsible for doing a panty check at Citi-Fest.
posted by GuestZero at 06:30 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 20, 2007     #

careful, GZ...some of us conservatives enjoy the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers...
posted by MaggieThurber at 07:04 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 20, 2007     #

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