(Girl Talk Official Website; www.myspace.com/girltalkmusic) -- Approximately ten minutes into a frenzied set at San Francisco's Be the Riottt Festival on November 11, Girl Talk's sound was cut and he had to exit the stage, leaving the man behind Girl Talk, Gregg Gillis, and his audience angry and confused. Girl Talk's live sets have gained recent notoriety for their sheer madness—hoards of fans on-stage, broken equipment, and routine nakedness. Authorities for Be the Riottt shut Gillis down after only ten minutes, citing the presence of too many fans on-stage as a threat to fellow act The Rapture's gear. Several witnesses attested that no gear was destroyed. Just hours after the episode, Girl Talk's MySpace page was full of comments from fans sympathizing with Gillis and criticizing the way that the incident was handled, considering Be The Riottt's manifesto "One Will Rise".
Gillis also issued a statement, via MySpace bulletin, addressing the situation: "Nov 13, 2006 3:16 PM - Subject san francisco - be the riottt - oops - HEY everyone who went to the be the riottt festival in san francisco, thanks for coming out and paying for those tickets, pretty cool move on your part. thanks to everyone who jumped on stage and made things get really real really fast. i just want to say that the organizers of the show told me it was alright to invite people on stage, so them cutting me off was a huge surprise. i then asked the organizers to just turn me on for five more minutes and we could get everyone off the stage, and they said "no." i asked to have the microphone turned on so i could so "good night" and they said "no." they were worried about a number of things, including The Rapture's gear getting trashed (which did not happen at all), and i told them before i played that they probably don't want to set up the Rapture's gear until after I was done, and they agreed. but then they set their stuff up regardless. SOO, again, it was a blast, and everyone did the right thing, and it was no one's fault that it got shut down. i'll be playing at the Indepedent in January, so you can see a real show if you want. date will be posted on my myspace soon. Thanks Gregg"
In a letter to Girl Talk's booking agent, Sam Hunt at The Windish Agency, one of the promoters of the festival, Sean Miyashiro, expressed his frustration and apologized profusely for Girl Talk's sound getting cut, assuring Hunt the call was not made by the organizers of Be the Riottt, but instead blamed the people who run the venue, Bill Graham Auditorium. Miyashiro seemed to be among those perplexed by the venue's decision, and online speculations for pulling the plug included the set times running behind schedule, or the inability of the venue to cope with Girl Talk's bringing the party to the stage. As Pitchfork's Matthew Solarski so eloquently put it, "Either way, effing lame dudes."
While the plug may have been pulled in San Fran, Girl Talk was thrilled to be nominated for several Plug Awards: Album of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Electronic/Dance Album of the Year, DJ Album of the Year, and Artist of the Year. The Plug Awards will be presented on February 10, 2007 at Irving Plaza in NYC.
In addition, Gillis garnered a top spot at the burgeoning Langerado Music Festival in Sunrise, Fla. this March alongside an incredible line-up of this year's biggest indie and jam artists.
Catch Girl Talk Live:
11/20 Pittsburgh, PA WRCT 88.3 FM
11/24 Pittsburgh, PA Belvedere's
12/01 Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant Street?
12/02 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506
12/07 Sydney, AUS Bar Broadway
12/08 Melbourne, AUS Revolver Upstairs
12/09 Melbourne, AUS The Order of Melbourne
12/31 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
01/12 San Francisco, CA The Independent ?
01/13 Los Angeles, CA Echo
01/19 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brendas
01/20 Boston, MA Middle East Upstairs
01/26 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
01/27 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
02/02 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
O2/03 Columbus, OH Wexner Center
02/09 Brooklyn NY Studio B
03/30 Pittsburgh, PA Andy Warhol Museum
