Thanksgiving Atlanta 2007 - A Recap
Posted on November 30, 2007
Filed Under Entertainment
Promoters and event planners in the US and the greater Kenyan Diasporas alike should take cue from Thanksgiving Atlanta 2007. The message sent by the contingent of Kenyans who descended upon chilly Atlanta, Georgia was loud and clear:
“We want it big; we want it better.”
Locals and revelers from all over the country started pouring in on Wednesday November 21st for the 4-day event and were anxious for what had been dubbed the ‘Thanksgiving Experience’ by one camp of promoters and the ‘13th Annual Thanksgiving Re-union’ by the other side. Either way Kenyans were spoilt for choice.
Two Sides
2Kat Solutions, an Atlanta based event-promotion outfit, together with Kenyaniyetu banded together to run the thanksgiving event under what was mostly construed to be a unified theme, a colossus of a get-together under the banner ‘One People, One Party’. From an insider’s take, the two parties, which had never worked together before, sought to harness each other’s resources to protect what had been an event mostly promoted and managed by locals. As such, the ‘One People One Party’ theme was heavily promoted together with appearances by Kenyan artists Nonini, Longombas and Amani.
On the other side, Take-Over-Djs (TOD), a professional DJ unit in tandem with ‘Genge Entertainment’ sought to introduce new concepts to the 13-year old tradition, amongst them a Live Band & DJ set, bigger and better venues, showdowns amongst famed turntablists from Kenya, performance by Kenyan artist JuaCali and day time family-themed events. Promotion began early in the year with mixed CDs and Flyers being distributed in cities across the nation. TOD estimated that over 7,000 CD’s had been distributed by the commencement night on Wednesday November 21st.
Déjà vu?
We have witnessed what happened in Atlanta before. Rival promoters going at it, one side protecting a home-town event and the other trying to break in. We witnessed it in San Diego at the annual Rugby 7’s tournament and again over the memorial weekend, the ongoing struggle between two cities; Houston and Dallas. The singular effect is that it splits a crowd but more often than not, the events themselves are usually similar in style thus very little differentiation. This time, however, things were a bit different.
2Kat-KenyaNiYetu
Overall, I felt like 2Kat and Kenyaniyetu, despite great venues (Club Esso, Club Pure) and slightly new and innovative marketing concepts ( FlatPanel HDTV lottery) and excellent music (an experienced DJ lineup certainly helps) struggled against a TOD marketing campaign that had long been in place for this event. It is important to point out that 2Kat has been at the forefront of some ground breaking events in as far as event-promotion is concerned. They were amongst the first to bring famed Kenyan DJs to the states.For instance, Homeboyz’ DJ John, CapitalFM’s DJ Adrian, DJ Pinye and CodeRed DJ Sytlez have all found their way to the states on 2Kat’s direction. Their pedigree is well documented amongst the greater Atlanta community. Perhaps this may have been a contributing factor to the late start as far as marketing was concerned since they may have felt like they already had the audience’s ear, being a local outfit.
However, Amani, Longombas and Nonini, inasmuch as their celebrity can pull a crowd, did little to dent the buzz around having JuaCali at the TOD camp. Furthermore, and this is a lesson to be learnt, if you have a two-person group such as the ‘Longombas’ or ‘Deux Vultures’ being able to showcase only one member of that group, for whatever reason, can be quite a tricky proposition despite the help of a live band. 2Kat’s Sunday event venue was also changed at the last minute and as such many people were shocked to arrive at an empty and locked ‘Bombay Grill’. Despite numerous text messages and a disclaimer on their website (pretty hard to see if you ask me because directions are on the lower half of the flyer – the disclaimer should have been there) most ended up at the TOD’s ‘Kwaheri Night’. Even more perplexing was the appearance by Nonini at TOD’s ‘Kwaheri Night’. Why would Nonini – here on 2Kat’s tab – be at a TOD event? These are some of the questions the 2Kat duo of June and Daisy will have to ask themselves going forward.
TOD – Genge Entertainment
TOD on the other hand, could learn a lot from the major gaffes we witnessed at their events. Firstly, from an insider’s take, they knew way in advance that the Homeboyz’ DJ John and DJ Kaydee would not be able to make it (from what they said were contractual obligations to the fledgling Homeboyz Radio Station) and still continued to market the event with both in their lineups. The revelation that both would not be in attendance was not made until the last minute by TOD. If said contractual obligations existed, we all know they would have been in place long before TOD decided to make it public that they would not attend. Secondly, at their events at ‘The Temple’ no one bothered to make the call for ‘last call’ as is the case at most clubs. As such, the bar was abruptly closed leaving quite a number of patrons having purchased tickets for drinks, with their tickets in hand and no recourse to get their money back. This was truly tacky! In addition, their sound system was wanting for most part. It is quite embarrassing for a maestro such as JuaCali to be performing on stage and have the amplifier system shut down thus having no bass at all. This was a problem that inexplicably persisted for two nights (Friday and Saturday).
TOD is a young and bright star in the Kenyan community in the USA however. Their concepts take away from the regular events we have almost become wont to attend. Despite the gaffes, the DJ-Live band event was quite interesting, it is truly something to listen to ‘Banjuka’ live and Flex’s ‘Amejibeba’ on a Dr. Dre beat on a live set. Our all-star DJ’s didn’t disappoint and TOD’s attempt to introduce what they dubbed ‘The Next Generation of Kenyan Entertainers (DJs)’ was also gracious. If they set the trend, our next generation has a lot to live up to. JuaCali, an exquisite performer in his own right, also brought the house down. It is easy to see why he has become such a popular performer and personality especially amongst Kenyan youth. He is truly something.
Winners - Losers
So who won? In my opinion there were no winners or losers. Does TOD walk away thumping their chest and declaring supremacy? Hardly. Does 2Kat walk away disappointed? Again, hardly. The singular most common response from members who attended both events was that the atmosphere was great. Each was entertained. TOD had a bigger crowd but 2Kat had a much better managed event (despite Sunday). In addition, this should be cause for them to cheer, despite a well-oiled marketing machine employed against them, 2Kat managed to hold their own for most part. TOD can learn valuable lessons from the problems they witnessed as far as crowd-control and managing such grand events; they can only get better. Those of us who understand the complications of event management can appreciate what we were able to experience in Atlanta. We were all entertained by both sides and look forward to future events in the area. In addition our hosts were classy and pulled all stops for our entertainment purposes. This event certainly sets the stage for quite an interesting ‘Thanksgiving Experience’ 2008. Hope to see you there.
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Magaidi.com is the journal of the African kid. A diary of sorts, a collection of musings and a discussion point on the way forward for the motherland.
Thanks for that great round up. I think one thing that I have also heard from a few sources here and there in ATL is that people tend to see 2kat and their party goers as clique while TOD is seen to be more people friendly hence the large numbers showing up.
I also think that both groups appeal to 2 diff demographics. But like you said alot needs to be improved on for both groups. I think you may have heard how one night the Temple was shut down by the cops for having too many people in it. Plus yes the abrupt closing of the bar that one night was upsetting.
Let’s see what happens next year though.