Sunday, August 30, 2026

Why we won’t have coverage of today’s Charlie Parker Jazz Festival

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival takes place this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park. 

Although EVG applied for press credentials for backstage access, as we have in previous years, organizers declined our request, saying they had reached capacity. 

Given the festival’s location on our home turf — and our past coverage of the event — the decision is disappointing and a little puzzling. 

As a result, we will not have coverage from today’s festival — save for these set-up pics — and will reassess our coverage in future years.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a shame, you've covered it for years. Very disappointing.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, they DO realize that Grieve is the eyes & ears of the EV and that Stacie Joy is its most outstanding journalist, don't they? Is there possibly something else going on here? Did they object to any past coverage?

dwg said...

That's a shame, you've covered it for years.

CHurt said...

The bastards!! Bird cannot be happy with this.

Christopher Pelham said...

Well, that’s rather shocking. Are credentials given first come, first serve? Should you simply apply earlier next year?

Anonymous said...

This probably isn't a big conspiracy by Big Jazz but a mistake by one person.

Anonymous said...

Maybe if you had your jorts on.

VH McKenzie said...

This is now the anit-Streisand effect: if my local team can't cover it, I'm not interested.

Shadowwhispers said...

Well Fooey! I'd say try again next year, but don't make it an A1 priority or anything.

marjorie said...

What the hey?? You ARE East Village journalism. I'm with VH -- now that I know they denied you access, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is dead to me.

Anonymous said...

Hell no! EV Grieve front row.

Anonymous said...

Weird

Anonymous said...

They’re in the East Village but they didn’t allow the voice of our local neighborhood to participate?! This isn’t soulless midtown, respect our neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

Seriously? Well, la-di-dah!

Carol from East 5th Street said...

What nerve! Don't they know who you are?? The eyes and ears of the East Village!

Anonymous said...

Booooooo

Anonymous said...

TOTAL IGNORANCE

katinka Jane Williams and Billy Lyles said...

We should all call WGBO and complain about this!
This neighborhood has been a gracious host to this festival for many years and Charlie Parker House is across from the Park!
Something is very wrong here !
This neighborhood was one of the first contributors to get this festival off the ground and running!

Anonymous said...

Even i didn't realize that, thanks for the intel!

Anonymous said...

Bird was happy with the heroin supply in the park

Anonymous said...

Big jazz, awesome!

Anonymous said...

I remember that Sam Turvey (when he was a resident of Avenue B) was a major force in bringing the Charley Parker Jazz Festival to Tompkins Square Park to help the East Village and the park. It was a labor of love by our neighbor Sam. He would be sad that an event that began by the community and for the community has this year excluded a beloved bedrock of the East Village which is EVGrieve. WTF?

Tim B said...

Unfortunate as this is the ONLY place a lot of people are likely to see any coverage.

Anonymous said...

Organizers should be ashamed - Lame

Fresh Coast FC said...

Thank you for your efforts and commitment to the neighborhood!

cmarrtyy said...

2 questions: did evgrieve insult/slight somebody... or are the promoters getting too big for their britches? Just asking. Really insulting considering all the positive coverage over the years.

Anonymous said...

Not likely where he scored heroin in 1955 but, since I sense a note of puritanical judgement, your talent, whatever it may be, doesn’t begin to compare to the talent of an even strung out Charlie Parker

Grieve said...

No slights or insults... made the usual request as in past years... and the coverage has always been straightforward... will always do a post or two about it as a previews then a recap with photos of the performers, crowd shots, etc.

mvd said...

Dang. I specifically came looking to see if you would mention what might have been going on among the folks breaking the stage down afterward. There was what sounded like a long, very intense argument among a bunch of people as they were working last night, and I was curious

Shadowwhispers said...

Charitably, perhaps some new intern or someone's dim nephew was in charge of issuing press access and they got the anxiety and did a dumb. Maybe this can be corrected next year.

Exterminator said...

Back in the 1960’s, Charlie Watts published a book about Charlie Parker called Ode To A High Flying Bird. It was a tiny book of captioned drawings. A gem.