Hmmm, in my zeal to defend my friend from the abuse, that I myself have suffered from via this event, I may have gotten a couple of my facts misconstrued. My apologies to those who I may have misinformed via my posts here. There's a lot to review and understand about what's going on here.

I received a phone call from someone who claimed to represent the festival, perhaps the person who posted here, I don't know. They wouldn't take responsibility for posting here. Nor would that person come online here or at facebook, where I have also been posting about this and post publicly their or the festival's side of this matter. They did not wish to go on record in print. Since this was simply a voice on the other end of my phone, who I did not know personally, or recognize, and I could not get the person to join this thread or any of the posts on facebook, it's difficult for me to consider what they had to say as any more near credible.

While trying to counter the points being made on the phone with the person, I found that they were upset by my posting about this online. To that, I would merely point out that it was upsetting to me too when I was being escorted off the grounds of the festival last year by the police. I'd like to have the same power to use police authorities against those who would enact and defend such restrictions of our first Amendment rights.

First, I should point out that after re-reading the event's info page about street performing, I found that my comments about how the event is asking us to pay to play are technically wrong. The event merely wants us to pay $10 to "vend" our recordings. Given that this fee to offer our recordings to others at the event never existed, until some enterprising coordinator for this event came up with the idea of charging street performers to "vend" their wares, I still see it as an unnecessary tax on those who already provide free entertainment to folks at the festival and I feel that it should be abolished.

Then there's a $20 fee for a temporary business license that this event imposes on those who would wish to "vend" their recordings at this event. According to the person speaking on the phone, the event claims that it is the city of Seattle that has forced this fee into their list of rules for street performers. Again, I've been going to this event long enough to recall that there was a time when such fees did not exist and question why they exist now.

The city gets free entertainment from all of the various performers that have been donating their time to this event. Isn't that enough? If the event is run by a nonprofit entity and the performances are free to enjoy and this is the largest free event of its kind, I think that the city is already getting their money's worth from the entertainers. I know of no other event that has this kind of imposition placed upon those who are already donating their time to make an event happen and again, I don't feel as though this tax or any tax is fair for the city to impose, via this event, given the benefit that they already get in free entertainment.

The voice on the phone also claimed the whole issue of their contacting the IRS was a misunderstanding. They said that my friend merely misunderstood what was being said and that I acted upon a my friend's misunderstanding and misrepresented the event's actual position on this matter. I admit that I perhaps did just that, not knowing the validity of my friend's information on the matter. I trusted his word. That's something that friend's do. Again, I was merely acting, on his behalf, because he was my friend, someone who I have helped many times in the past. It's not unheard of for a friend to defend a friend against foes.

However, the information regarding the Court's decisions about our rights and this event's acting in defense of the unconstitutional rules that they have in place via police force is another matter altogether. The person on the phone said the event was the victim and that the city of Seattle was to blame for the event's use of unconstitutional restrictions. The city forced them to use the rules. To me this sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.