Life in the Fest Lane
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According to Jansen, who owned the now-defunct nightclub Avalon, M.O.B.fest actually grew out of meetings he and George Sarikos, an entertainment attorney, had last fall with Leo Lastre, executive director of CNMF. He says Lastre approached them hoping they could help him find more support from the Chicago music community, particularly its clubs. Lounge Ax, one of the best-respected alternative venues in town, has never participated in Lastre’s event, while some participating clubs have been less than enthusiastic about risking a weekend’s income on bands they might not have chosen to book on their own. Jansen proposed a joint venture between Lastre’s organization and one headed by himself and Sarikos. He also wanted to change the name, pull away from Columbia College, which has always been a primary sponsor of Lastre’s conference, and go for-profit. Jansen says Lastre agreed to the plan, but backed out at the 11th hour.
“He kind of bailed on us,” says Jansen. “He said to me, ‘You go do your conference the way you think it should be done, and I’m going to run my conference the way I’ve always done it.’ He didn’t want to give up his executive directorship, and he didn’t want to share the decision making.” But positive preliminary conversations with industry types convinced Jansen he could do a better job than Lastre, so he and Sarikos started M.O.B.fest anyway. It lacks a trade show (a large component of CNMF) and features only three discussion panels (Lastre usually offers at least ten); a pass for all four days costs only $35 (walk-up registration for the two-day CNMF will set you back $250).
Postscript
