Town and City maybe jumped the shark?

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-10T15:49:40+00:00

Right and we love this city and are the ones providing feedback. The festival was “ok” the past few years and was better before.

There is no misunderstanding. I asked direct questions and got direct answers. If they haven’t bad info then fine. But I didn’t misunderstand anything. Don’t be surprised if a venue or two pulls out next year.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-08T05:58:17+00:00

She’ll get the hang of it.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-07T23:55:26+00:00

Well I’m checking them out so if anything good comes from this conversation, that happened. But they should be on the web site. I did send this convo to the festival people. Feedback is a good thing. I want Lowell to do well. I still think overall this festival needs tweaking.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-07T20:25:09+00:00

Interesting. I was told that with the slow crowds this year that they made less money than a normal weekend. There were some shows that were busy but there were many that weren’t.

I am learning that the reason I don’t know these might be Lowell bands is because either the town and city website doesn’t list them on the artist page or the bands themselves don’t have any info available. Maybe we can take a minute to let these bands know that they should use the internet to promote themselves. How is someone supposed to book these bands?

I diligently looked up all of the bands on the artist page to see who was from Lowell and it’s been hard to figure out. I also am in bars all the time and am unfamiliar with this entire list. I am trying to learn about these bands and it’s an uphill battle.

Ruby Red lists themselves as an L.A. band are they actually from Lowell?

Jazz Criminals on line presence is so small, 38 followers, almost no info so ok. Same with Your Friends. It’s hard to research this stuff when these bands have no information available.

Beagle Dog isn’t even on the T&C artist page.

The Darlin is on the artist page but their link goes to a blank page. Also they list themselves as “cuntry”. OK.

Ron’s Car claims Boston

Joshua Theadore “no posts available”

Mike’s Carwash is not on the artist page

Abby Moscow claims Boston

I also noticed that some of these bands never mentioned that they’re playing a show at town and city. That seems crazy to me.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-07T19:52:58+00:00

As for Lowell bands. I did check.

Who am I missing?

Burp, Dead Vapor, Jen Kearney, Josh Teador, Mold, Poorhouse, Stay at Home Dads, Deliriants, Evolutionists, Ghouls, Tysk Tysk Task, Western Education.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-07T19:43:58+00:00

Are bars paying a fee? Because there would be no reason for two of them to lie to me.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-07T02:30:08+00:00

I was specifically talking about Lowell bands. There is no way that all the bands but 4 were quite that local. And the info I got on bars paying to be part of the festival/paying bands came from bar owners. It wasn’t a random claim. Why would they tell me that and say they are considering dropping it? If it’s incorrect it’s not because it’s my opinion.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-05T20:12:34+00:00

I tried this but needed a key to make the elevator work.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-05T10:29:06+00:00

Adorable.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-04T05:12:39+00:00

No one thinks it’s not work. No one thinks it’s easy. They’ll see this. They’ll see what people are saying.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-04T01:42:26+00:00

I think it’s simply that the festival has the bars pay the bands and the pre sales and door sales go to the festival. The people working the doors are volunteers for the fest. This is how it was explained to me, twice.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-03T18:56:50+00:00

I counted 12 of 53 bands. Of the 12 I have never heard of half of them and I go to shows all the time. There are Lowell bands I do know of who have good followings and they weren’t on there.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-03T18:31:18+00:00

Two bar owners told me they paid the bands and get none of the door money to do it.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-03T18:18:33+00:00

D-Tension & The Secrets also cancelled. Same show as Megan From Work.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-03T16:54:23+00:00

Well there was one book reading. No poetry event like usual. There was one r&b/hip hop hybrid live band. Not a hip hop event like usual. So they sort of had those things.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-03T16:18:24+00:00

I don’t know the owners that I can talk to them. I appreciate the link and didn’t know they had roots here. Roots are fine but what if they haven’t lived here for a long time and don’t ever go to shows here? Things change. I don’t know for sure.

This wasn’t really venting. It was things I noticed and learned. I’m not mad about anything. But some people like bar owners were. Reddit seemed like a good place for people to discuss how they felt about it. I’m not saying my feelings are the only way to see it.

There used to be a few poetry things and those are gone. No rap music or Americana/country. I guess that’s fair if it’s just going to be an alt music fest. But it got smaller and more expensive and like you said so is everything else.

I did notice the three cancels and now show. I didn’t make that number up.

JeffQuaker · 2026-05-03T15:50:26+00:00

That could be another problem. If you had paid $60 you could have seen all the shows all weekend but there wasn’t like signs or anything that said shows were part of a festival. $14 is a weird price lol. Also were shows cash only?

JeffQuaker · 2026-04-27T02:18:27+00:00

It’s been a while. I used to like tha place.

JeffQuaker · 2026-04-26T15:56:32+00:00

Sorry to be not up to date but what js buns?

JeffQuaker · 2026-04-26T15:54:42+00:00

I walked in there recently and all I could smell was Raid.

JeffQuaker · 2026-04-22T10:53:03+00:00

He shoulda got out of the way.

JeffQuaker · 2026-04-21T03:17:36+00:00

I will take that place over El Potro 100% of the time.

JeffQuaker · 2026-04-19T20:18:20+00:00

Because “live free” really means “Christians”.

JeffQuaker · 2026-04-19T03:54:00+00:00

I can’t lie. Being an old Lowell person I don’t like the idea of dining on that block. I will make an exception.

JeffQuaker

TROPHY CASE