HE 2004 West Cancelled due the worker lockout

Budrew,

Audiogon has the images and should post them very soon. I think management was concerned over my coverage of the Patricia Barber live event which was forbidden to be recorded or photographed.

I got special permission and sent images to Positive Feedback (my other new employer) and Audiogon. Hope they show up soon, some of the concert images are nice.

Max,

It is very disappointing to me that the Chicago show is no more. I loved that city and looked forward to the excellent food, especially the Italian!

An example of how silly it got just before everyone left, a major high end manufacturer (like Jeff Rowland) was hooking up his equipment without having the union electrician in the room. The union charges $50.00 (or whatever the number) to plug the power cable into the wall.

The designer plugged it in, knowing the gear needed extended warm up and when the union people saw this, they threatened to close the room and cut the power off.

My son has been safe to plug in AC cords since he was eight years old. When the local trades people force intelligent people to compromise their exhibit over some silly rule, it changes things for the worse.

The same thing happened with empty cardboard boxes, moving equipment without permission and using extension cords. One manufacturer (a very good friend of mine) fought them and subsequently "lost" several pieces of equipment. When he went into a local office to complain, one of the missing pieces, (an equipment rack) was beside the official's desk, serving as a work table.

He still gets angry when he tells the story.

This really pisses me off. I've been calling the people who run this expo every other day since the strike/lockout started, and every day they've assured me that the show would go on even if they needed to change venues. Now, a week before the show, they cancel it. Believe me, I understand why it's been cancelled. There's no way in heck that they could make it work. What angers me is that they assured me constantly that everything was fine. Roar!

On another note, though I totally agree with Albert Porter's sentiments about the ridiculousness of some union policies, let's make sure not to blame this on the SF hotel worker's union. It's the hotels who are locking the workers out- they're not letting them go to work.

I know it's not what Albert meant, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.

Agreed Omains, its a shame because the high end audio business needs more positive things happening, not negative.

Sorry folks that's why I kept original message short.
I'm upset too. Seeing it posted with several shocked responses including me,led me to figure many don't know yet even as we near Nov 4.
I couldn't bring myself to cross their picket anyway. With nearing holidays the owners may settle faster.

Wow,1st I'd heard of this and I've lived here in SF 16 years.Well i won't have to take off a day from work,oh well guess I'll have to buy right here on A'gon.Some years ago I actually worked at one of the big hotels downtown and it was a toss up who were the bigger hypocrits, management or the crooks who ran Local 2 of which I was a member.Live and learn.