Are you one among the many who came to downtown Los Angeles on the night of New Years Eve, only to find out that ‘Giant Village 2006’ was cancelled due to severe weather? I am. My friends and I left the Carlos Mencia Live tour at the Long Beach convention center early (in hindsight, a bad move) so that we would arrive in time to pick up our tickets and passes. We arrive in downtown LA around 10.30pm and while they wait in the car, I go to find out where to pick up the passes. The stages on Flower Street looked set up and many people were aimlessly wondering around the general area. I thought it strange at the time that they were not inside. Oddly enough, it wasn’t until I found out that the event was cancelled that I realize there was no music playing! The place was dead silent. Then the news hit home. What! No Giant Village 2006? First, I was struck with confusion because it wasn’t raining anymore and the streets were almost dry. Stages visible from the street looked set up and ready to go. The sky was also almost clear. Didn’t understand it. Then the disappointment hit, ooh such pain! In the proper perspective, my disappointment doesn’t even compare to what some of you must feel. Some people flew in from around the world, many booked hotel rooms and paid for the whole VIP treatment, everybody looked forward to seeing their favorite artist, and somebody was even going to propose. Last year, a couple was engaged during John Digweed’s set and for many people, NYE is THAT special night.

So what happened? Many people feel anger, sort of betrayed, and have questions. Why couldn’t the event just happen or be picked up again a bit later? Many revelers were forced to come up with alternative plans and additional ticket prices on the spot. With closer attention to weather forecasts, maybe this could have been avoided? It stopped raining early’ish and it even rained on another Giant NYE event until 10pm once. Further more, in an interview June Caldwell conducted with Dave Dean, posted December 30th, 2005 in the American Chronicle, Dave Dean is quoted saying, “…LA weather at it’s worst is nothing to worry about…” and that they will accommodate raingear with quote, “a huge coat check” and “There are several indoor seated areas of this event. It’s LA!”

What could have rattled Dave’s earlier confidence about the Giant Village 2006 holding up in spite of rain, what influenced the cancellation decision? Well, according to the postings on giantvillage.com, and information from the Los Angeles Fire Department blog site, a stage collapsed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood due to torrential rainfall earlier in the day during the set-up for another large outdoor New Year's Eve party. According to the statement on giantvillage.com, the decision to shut down Giant Village 2006 was because of your, the artists and the event crews safety. Sure, in hindsight that party probably could have happened with a delayed start. However, as they say; hindsight is 20/20.

There are talks about class action law suits by Black Eyed Peas fans, and there are understandably many aggressive comments from disappointed revelers on different blog sites on the internet. People want refunds and are having trouble getting them. I was upset as well for a while, but once I was over the disappointment, logic sank in. There is a difference between rain and torrential rain. Really heavy rain can cause severe flooding and in LA when it rains, it usually dumps! Although I don’t like it, I understand the decision to cancel the event. Further, I do not believe several ‘conspiracy theories’ that are floating around. First, it would be next to impossible to have a ‘weather cancellation policy’ of the event. The insurance premiums would be too excessively expensive to be feasible. Second, I don’t know this for a fact, but I believe the artists were paid in advance. In the past, un-reputable promoters have often ripped artists/DJs off so now reputable promoters pay in advance. In addition, it said ‘rain or shine’ on the tickets but that is just a saying and although I don’t believe GIANT is legally bound to give refunds, it looks like they will. However it can be tricky, it seems that groovetickets are not honoring GIANT’s offer and from personal experience I have heard nothing from them in spite of many e-mails within the imposed 5-day limit for a refund request. No doubt, GIANT took a huge financial hit in canceling the ‘party of the year’, and they did it for our safety, and not monetarily gains or cutting their losses, which resulted in a GIANT disappointment for all parties involved.

In my opinion, the biggest mistake was not canceling Giant Village 2006; it was the lack of a ‘plan B’. Many thousands of loyal fans were left hanging and most were forced to fork up more money to have a good time at other bars and clubs. The same quick action that cancelled the event could have been applied to come up with an alternate strategy. Something. Anything. Where did all the artists go?

When it’s all said and done, it seems the cancellation of Giant Village 2006 was a premature bad judgment call, but I’d rather have a safe yet ‘bad’ call than get injured. We have had several recent national hurricane examples of what happens when we don’t take the necessary precautions when mother nature knocks on the door. In downtown LA, the rain stopped in the early evening, but what if it hadn’t?

While snowboarding in mammoth after NYE, I saw several unlikely accidents happen right in front of me. One happened on the other side of the road when an east coast band (Julius C) pulled up in their van and parked it in front of their condo to unload, and only moments after, all the snow (six foot deep) from the roof slid down and collapsed their van with three people inside! Nobody got seriously hurt, but it sure was a wakeup call that danger lurks when you least expect it.

The take home message is; even though we missed out on a giant NYE party we are all safe and sound to talk about it. Don’t forget a lot of the money was going to be donated to charity. The real losers are the people who would have benefited from a successful Giant Village 2006 where part of the proceeds would have gone to the American Red Cross and to Chrysalis, a non-profit organization committed to helping the economically disadvantaged and homeless become self sufficient through employment opportunities.

It’s a new year! We are safe! Lets keep things in the proper perspective, and don’t forget that dance music is about Peace, Love and Happiness! Think about all those people we could have helped, not our own petty (in comparison) concerns about a party.

Happy New Year Everybody!