Larry English of last night’s Concert on the Square band, “Zydeco T” wrote in this morning recapping the events of yesterday evening and requested I try to obtain an explanation for why the sound company pulled the plug on the concert at 8p with little warning.

“There were 1000 people expecting us to play til 9:00. dancing kids, grown ups, it was shocking. The plug was just pulled at 8 pm. No amount of money or begging would change anything.”

I sent a note out to DBA president Scott Drake and Decatur Book Festival Executive Director Daren Wang earlier today for clarification.

Scott returned my email, confirming English’s account of how the sound crew was unwilling to stick around, adding…

I offered to buy his crew dinner or pay extra so we could have another hour, but he said no they were leaving.

Daren also replied promptly, accepting responsibility for the Sunday night event not being listed on the sound company’s task list for the weekend, and apologizing to the city’s Katie Abel for putting her in the position of having to break the news to an unhappy crowd that the concert was over.

However, Daren admitted he was also surprised by the sound crew’s “unwillingness to make things work”, noting that Ron Simpson’s sound company “has earned the highest accolades in the festival business.” According to Daren, Simpson was “off the grid last night, otherwise this would have had a significantly different outcome.”

Simpson chimed in shortly thereafter, verifying Daren’s statement. He apologized and accepted full responsibility for the incident, promising to make things up to the festival as soon as it could be arranged.

September 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 • Noon-1 p.m.

Blue Sky Concerts are held every Wednesday in September from noon until 1 pm at the bandstand on the square and sponsored by SunTrust. Bring your lunch or pick up a sandwich from one of our many terrific restaurants.

Co-Sponsored by: Lotus of Life, Kaiser Permanente, Little Shop of Stories

• September 1 The Dammages – Rock
• September 8 The Jim Pearce Band – Jazz
• September 15 Angela Easterling – Americana/Roots
• September 22 Wendy Jans – Pop/Soul/Jazz
• September 29 The Conundrums – All women’s African drumming group

Trae sends in this pic of Decatur-branded kid he came across last week at Starbucks.

Over at The Decatur Minute, Catherine alerts us to a community workshop being held by the city this coming Thursday, September 9th from 6pm to 8pm at city hall to discuss the scheduled railroad crossing improvements at BOTH McDonough and Candler Street and the streetscape improvements along North McDonough.

You can read the details of the proposed changes to both the railroad intersections in the Streets section of Decatur’s Community Transportation Plan (pdf).

Here’s the summary statement of the problems addressed for South Candler to get those juices flowing…

The intersection is too complex and intimidating for most pedestrians and bicyclists. In particular, the “Path” on the northwest corner is circuitous in that three street crossings are required just to avoid the most obvious direct crossing of Trinity Place parallel to the railroad tracks. Some crossings do not meet the minimum requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. None of these are “complete streets” as they do not include adequate facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.

The left-turn movement across the railroad tracks from northbound Candler Street to westbound Howard Avenue is problematic and contributes to a vehicular crash history that is higher than at any other intersection in Decatur. Residents living south and southeast of downtown are not likely to walk across this intersection unless they must.