Bill Hicks deserves a monument in Houston, DAMMIT
The folks who organize FPSF are a sordid and disparate group of people who come from every different age and background. ( It may be a fact that we collectively have more felony convictions than college degrees.) But there is one commonality between all of us: We are all admirers of late great Houston comic-philosopher legend Bill Hicks. Hicks is one of the world’s most influential comics and the closest thing to a philosopher to ever come out of Houston. While in high school at Stratford, Hicks would sneak out at night to perform at downtown Houston comedy clubs. Yet despite being world renowned, there does not stand a single monument to this native son. We want David Addicks to build a statue of Bill Hicks and erect it AT ELEANOR TINSLEY PARK park as a tribute to the man who taught us to laugh at the absurd, question the dominant paradigm, and stick it to the man with a smile while chuckling. Help us spread the word about this. Donate to the cause.Tell your city council member that you support a Bill Hicks statue at Eleanor Tinsley Park. We will soon release donation and cost information on this project. STAY TUNED.
GREATEST. IDEA. EVER.
Great idea. Do it. Bill Hicks is one of the greatest comedians of all time.
Bill Hicks is my hero…..i first heard him when i was in jr high school….it was on TOOL’s Aenima…then i bought a cpl of his cds….dangerous and arizona bay….life changing…..gave me the courage to speak my mind, and to be a better person….i feel like we all got robbed by his death, and a statue is a wonderful idea…..when we saw the tribute at the fest it gave me chills….i couldnt believe bill was being played to all those people…made me happy….thanks guys…lets get this statue built!!
Bill Hicks was the man, but “the folks who organize FPSF” have no business recommending any statue displaying the likeness of Bill Hicks. Case in point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo
I understand that for some reason the organizers felt it necessary to add major-label music stars to the bill. I shuddered at the ticket prices when I first heard of them. Then, I saw the lineup. While none of the top-billing artists receive much of my time or any of my money, I can understand why it might be expensive to lure them to Houston to perform outside during the month of June.
Then……I saw the sponsor list.
Jeep
Chipotle
Budweiser
Playstation
IKEA
Red Bull
Seriously, to pay the bills you needed six MAJOR corporate sponsorships? All of which have global advertising campaigns targeted directly at the core audiences of musicians headlining the festival?
I got in when an unused ticket crossed my path, you didn’t get any of my money. Well, not until I paid $2 a bottle for water on a 94-degree day. Seems kind of odd to have over a 100% markup on such a necessary item in the Houston heat, especially when you consider that I saw at least 4 young festival attendees showing severe signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration. I bet they wish they would have given you the extra 35 bucks for the “fancy-pants” tickets! Lesson learned!
Congratulations, you have taken something that could have been special and made it a cheap derivative of ACL, Coachella, Warped Tour, Lollapalooza, etc.
To cleanly paraphrase the words of the great Bill Hicks,
“Quit Putting A Dollar Sign on Everything on This Planet!”
In response to “Don’t make me laugh” (AKA “i’m to pussy to post my name.” ) I will respond to two stupid ass points you make.
PART I - Water (or Learn how to read, dumbass)
“Well, not until I paid $2 a bottle for water on a 94-degree day. Seems kind of odd to have over a 100% markup on such a necessary item in the Houston heat, especially when you consider that I saw at least 4 young festival attendees showing severe signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration. I bet they wish they would have given you the extra 35 bucks for the “fancy-pants” tickets! Lesson learned!”
Had you bothered to read the website or ask people at the festival you would know that water was provided for free by the festival. Here is the quote from the FAQ page:
OH wait, we failed to account for stupidity when we put the festival together. Our bad.
PART II
“Seriously, to pay the bills you needed six MAJOR corporate sponsorships?”
I answer your question by reposting this sentence from you - ” I shuddered at the ticket prices when I first heard of them.” Imagine how much more you would have shuddered without those sponsors. If you want there to be no sponsors the prices would go up exponentially. You can’t have it both ways, dumbass. Welcome to the economics of hosting big festivals.
Look Hicks is a great guy, a big influence, and I even met the guy ages ago and he was great individual but Hicks’ world view was also a product of his not having been a commercial success. Remember, he went to LA and got a part in a sitcom pilot that thankfully never took off ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHdEs21B4SE ). Had the show been a success, I tend to wonder how different he would have turned out as a performer but the fact remains that it would have been supported by sponsors if it had.
Tell you what, don’t watch broadcast television. It’s free because of sponsors put that money up front. Don’t watch PBS or listen to NPR becasue they have sponors. Don’t listen to KPFT becasue some business caters their fund drives and they get a nice little mention on the air for their work.
So, if you want to be religious about it, I invite you to only purchase, cosume, and support only items with no trace whatsoever of sponsorship in them. Don’t use Google, don’t read the newspaper, don’t go to a movie theatre that has previews, etc.. Walk the walk fool, then I will give two shits about your absolutist stance.
you took the words right out of my mouth Rmon