A View From the Sears Tower's Ledge
Illinois Is Getting Fatter
Mayor Blames Violent Holiday Weekend On Booze, Heat
Kuma's Pats Itself On Back With Block Party
Chicagoan Involved In Mount Rushmore Ruckus
Last year, LaSalle Bank sponsored Looptopia. And they said they'd do it again...except Bank of America bought La Salle Bank, and now BoA is backing out of the deal. And Looptopia is in a few months. Uh, shit!
BoA says they dropped Looptopia they want to "spread out the sponsorships," and given that they only had a verbal commitment to Looptopia, that's within their rights. It just seems like kind of a dick move, no? Reps for Looptopia say they're scaling back--the executive director of the Loop Alliance called it "value-engineering," which ranks up there with "signage" on corporate-speak grossometer--but that the show will go on.
This is the second try for the massive arts event, which drew an unexpected 200,000 people last year after organizers planned on more like 70,000 showing up. [Crain's]
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
Last year was a major clusterfuck.
And they're scaling back? Fantastic.
Also, another great reason to never support BofA.
Looptopia? More like LoopNOPEia.
Another reason to not support BoFA? My 30% APR.
no links to the chicagoist posts of last year? wink, wink...
I'll see your "signage" and raise you a "corporate branding".
I like how BofA puts their bank in an arts center in wicker park and then scales back their support of the arts.
I wouldn't go to Looptopia again after last year's complete bullshit. It was cold, crowded - oh, and completely unorganized.
F* BoA and F* LoopCRAPia
Screw you guys - I'm staying home.
well you can't really blame the cold or the crowds on Looptopia...if you go to stuff, stuff will be crowded. I just thought the whole thing sort of sucked.
Yeah, I thought it was a good event with a variety of options and it was AMAZING to see the attendance. Chicago turned out hard. If they did the same thing but planned for way more people they'd have a great event.
Looptopia last year was not well organized. It was hard to find events, many of the events were overhyped, and they were not prepared for the crowds that they got.
Also, given that most of the restaurants in the Loop did not stay open, they REALLY needed to have some kind of food vendors. Because when people are tired and cold they need food, and none was to be found.
I had a great time at Looptopia last year. I went straight to the Cultural Center for an incredible performance by a Top-rate Turkish wedding band. I caught some of the Red Moon performance on the streets which was cool too. Sure, it was a logistical nightmare, and the cops shut it down way too early (they apparently weren't at all prepared for the number of people that came out). But I think this is a great event for downtown and it's a shame that BoA is bowing out.
Oh my god - you are all such needless curmudgeons. It was the FIRST TRY and as noted in the post attendance was almost tripple what was expected. Don't even bother leaving your homes or bars people, if you are going to endlessly criticize the attempts to do new things.
Looptopia could be a great event, the seeds of a great event were there. They need to hold it about 2 weeks later, to let things warm up a bit more.
More bars and restaurants and businesses need to stay open later.
They need more headlining events at the same time to disperse the crowds. Everyone would head to the same events at the same time and no one could get in. I'm guessing there were a number of events that were mostly emptyness.
Most of all, they need more (and better) bands playing late into the evening at Daley Plaza. That would be the best way to keep the other events from getting overcrowded.
Oh, and Bank of America sucks my ass. Once I pay off my credit card with them, I'm never doing business with them again.
BoA is a cancer.
Looptopia was a huge dissapointment last year. The ads leading up to the event made it sound incredible, but then the night of the event we couldnt seem to find anything worth attending, we were either too late for performances or in the wrong place, and no one seemed to know where the right place was. I will not bother going again. (unless they bring in some awesome bands to headline)