2006 City Stages

The 2006 City Stages was the 18th annual edition of "Birmingham's World-Class Music Festival". The festival took place on nine stages around Linn Park and 5th Avenue North on June 16-18, 2006. The weather was clear and warm with highs of 94° of Friday, 90° on Saturday, and 88° on Sunday.

Weekend passes cost $35 in advance. Day passes were $28 at the door. The title sponsors were Waldrep Stewart & Kendrick and Lanny Vines & Associates. New this year were large-scale video screens at the Miller Lite and Coca Cola Classic stages. Linn Park's public wifi access was be launched during City Stages weekend.

American Idol champion Taylor Hicks was a late addition to the festival, making three unpaid appearances, first on Saturday night performing "Gin & Juice" with Snoop Dogg, then on Sunday afternoon fronting his former band, the Little Memphis Blues Orchesta, and with the Allman Brothers later that evening.

2006 also marked the debut of Atomic Dogs, created by Zack Werner. Steve Lowery's drawing of bluesman Mance Lipscomb was used for the festival poster.

Line-up

Friday

• Peter Searcy
• The Bridges
• Joshua Radin
• L'Angelus
• Advent Five O'Clock Band
• Leaving Shiloh
• Larry & Sandy Faulkner
• Leaderdog
• The Connection
• The Bridges
• Ryan Reardon & the Levee Breakers
• The Blondells
• Trapt
• MJ & Jasean
• Con Funk Shun
• Jan Hunter
• James McMurtry
• Sonia Leigh
• Puddle of Mudd
• Morris Day & The Time
• The Shame Idols
• North Mississippi All Stars
• Caddle
• Cameo (scheduled for 10:45, started closer to midight)
• Shinedown
• John Hiatt (with North Mississippi All Stars)

Saturday

• Happy Singers
• Doug Singleton
• Smoke & Mirrors
• Imagination Movers
• Ryan Kinder
• Second Shift
• Tommy Gardner & Patti Townsend
• Mingusphere
• Butch Horsely
• Rinsel McIntosh & Renee Johnson
• Looney Mill
• Tommy Sorrells
• Martini Shakers
• Sullivan
• Rollin' in the Hay
• RazzMaTazz
• Michael Warren
• Mindtrip
• Jonathan Baumeister & Collin Parrish
• Ron Demetrovich with the Broken Hill Band
• Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble
• Deputy 5
• The Deadline
• Summerfest
• Eliot Morris
• National Sacred Harp Convention singers
• Radney Foster
• Chris Bailey & Melissa Foti
• Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys
• Rantings of Eva
• Paula and the Pontiacs
• Isla
• Flyleaf
• Tommy Emmanuel
• Bloodlet Signature
• The Villebillies
• On Purpose featuring Dwight Houston
• Matchbook Romance
• Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble
• Kiss Me at the Gate
• The Plimsouls
• Marian McKay and Magic City Sounds
• Bobby Bare Jr
• 13 Ghosts
• Yellowcard
• Los Lonely Boys
• Lynam
• Hank Williams Jr
• Snoop Dogg with Taylor Hicks
• Beitthemeans

Sunday

• Beyond Me
• Delta Aires
• Greenbrier Handbell Choir
• Anderson Brooks
• Kurt Carr
• Shariff Simmons
• Ladies' Night Out, with Ray Reach
• Latin Rhythms Band
• Ken Edwards & His Well Strung Band
• New City Church Youth Choir
• Elnora Spencer, Caroline Shines, and Debbie Bond
• Red Rock Junction with Gigi Scott
• The Rewinds
• The Bluerunners
• Tabernacle Baptist Church Choir
• Lynne & Steve Edmondson
• Donna Brooks
• Alexi Murdoch
• Patton James & the Synchromatics
• Joe Krown Organ Combo
• Heaven Bound Music Ministry
• The Ackleys
• Oteil & the Peacemakers
• Renewed Hope Ministry
• The Duhks
• Billy & Bobbye Keyes
• Little Memphis Blues Orchestra with Taylor Hicks
• Walking on Water Music Ministry
• Phi De I
• The Grass Roots starring Rob Grill
• Zac Brown Band
• Frankie Velvet and the Veltones
• Cathedral of the Cross choir
• Brandi Carlile
• Rebecca & Tom Zurn
• The Derek Trucks Band
• Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone
• OK
• The Singing Jays
• The Creole Cowboys
• The Warblers Club
• The Subdudes
• The Allman Brothers Band (with Taylor Hicks)
• Meteorite
• Heritage Pipes and Drums
• The Beach Boys
• Chad Fisher Group
• Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives

Finances

City Stages 2006 cost $2,400,000 to put on and carries $530,000 in debt from previous years.

For the 2006 festival, $100,000 was provided by the Jefferson County Commission Arts Fund through the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham and $50,000 (plus police service and use of the park and streets) were provided by the City of Birmingham.

Day pass sales for the event were disappointing, with 2,500 sold on Friday, 6,200 on Saturday, and only 1,300 on Sunday, for a total of 10,000. Organizers had hoped for 14,000, even without the last-minute appearances by Hicks.

Organizers had said that they expected a net revenue of approximately $40,000 to apply to their debt service. The shortfall in day-pass sales leaves approximately $126,000 needing to be made up in advance weekend passes, VIP packages, concessions, sponsorships and fund-raisers above their expected levels. Figures for most of those elements will become available before the end of June, with final numbers calculated by August 31.

Notes

• Snoop Dogg was a late addition to the line-up, replacing reggae singer Sean Paul, who broke his foot in May.
• The VIP tent was catered by Anthony Marini of Local restaurant, who also prepared a soul-food feast of fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed pea salad and smoked collard greens for headliner Snoop Dogg.
• Police and officers of the Alabama Beverage Control Board used undercover teenagers to investigate illegal beer sales by the mostly volunteer vendors. On Friday 7 vendors and 10 underage drikers were arrested. Two others were arrested on suspicion of selling marijuana. Over the weekend a total of 68 arrests were made for underage drinking, and 6 for other "minor offenses".

References

• Colurso, Mary. (June 6, 2006) "Stages plans for big Snoop Dogg, Williams crowds." Birmingham News.
• Kemp, Kathy. (June 17, 2006) "The Stages light up." Birmingham News.
• Kemp, Kathy. (June 19, 2006) "Steady crowds, nice weather make for 'fabulous' festival." Birmingham News.
• Colurso, Mary (June 20, 2006) "Sales of day passes for Stages disappoint." Birmingham News.

External links

• City Stages website
• City Stages photos on Flickr.com