just curious as to why the nyc shows with bilal and chris dave were taken off the gig page? i'm gonna be in nyc that weekend and was REALLY looking forward to catching them! grrr.

After someone that has already made plans from Atlanta emailed me to let me know it was canceled, I wrote to Meshell's manager. Here was her response:

this is the story with the 2 Iridium dates:
The show was originally conceived with Robert Glasper, Meshell, Bilal & a drummer to share equal billing on the show with Glasper as the musical director - Meshell playing bass only - more a collective jazz exploration. It turns out then that Glasper has shows later that month in NYC that prevent him from mentioning (publicizing) his involvement in the Dec 9th and 10th shows. Without our knowledge or consent the club was advertising the shows as if they were a Meshell show which is misleading, and against the spirit of the original idea, so we decided not to participate.
Please pass on apologies - I hope this email goes some way to allow understanding...
Thanks

I had considered going too, but will never travel that far for a Meshell show after what happened a few years ago with lisa aka meshell_fan. I mean, nothing against Meshell, but we've seen it happen enough times (shows being canceled after being announced) that unless it's on the west coast (I live in Seattle) and the total trip is going to be under $300, I'm not going to risk it. I just don't make that kind of money to be making those kind of arrangements to have them unexpectedly canceled. (Which is why I so rarely see her live.)

And every time this happens, it really disappoints me. The reason this site is online is to provide information. And let's be honest -- the amount of information since kt was her manager has been sporadic at best -- most information is provided by people posting in this forum, followed by some form of confirmation.

And for this site to end up causing this kind of frustration... well it's disappointing. Sure, we could have worse problems than flying out to NYC for no reason, but that doesn't mean it doesn't upset us :\

hey m,
thanks for responding. fortunately my trip (at least this time around) to nyc doesn't revolve around meshell's gigs, it was just going to be a big huge cherry on top... but disappointing as hell nonetheless!!
oh well. thanks for the info... i was just really surprised not to see the dates up when i checked last night once i knew for sure i'd be in nyc that weekend.
have a great weekend!
deshi

i'm glad to hear that's the case

since she likes to perform so much in nyc, maybe we'll hear about something else that comes up at that time...

(rather than 2 or 3 months later lol)

and yet again i owe it to THIS site for saving me some money...i too was on the verge of making plans to travel to NYC for that particular gig...glad i didn't!

unfortunate that this happened, but thanks again m for providing essentially the only forum out there that keeps us all as informed as possible...(and in some cases like this, saved me the price of a plane or train ticket along with the dissapointment i woulda had if i had gotten up there and found no Meshell)...

i owe ya again man!

And thanks to Meshell's manager for filling us in this time around. Having seen the NY gigging scene fist hand, bookers and club owners will jump on anything in ways that are often detrimental to the artists (Sort of the way many of the SMJ shows were promoted last year). Too bad the artists and fans have to suffer the consequences, but its good to know what's going on.

I agree. I'm glad her manager was available to confirm after a fan wrote to ask what happened after they had already made arrangements... which is why I try my best to confirm dates before I post them (either through management or venues). Like Justin said, venues like to post info sometimes before a contract has been signed. (Like this year's Jazz Cafe show in London that never happened.)

Geez I too was thinking about going...I have never seen her live...but because it wasn't her show we decided not to go until it was. I do like Bilal but if Im gonna spend the time, money and effort I want to see her front and center. So thanks for the info anyway....
What about the show shes doing I think on Dec 1st? There is a bunch of artists performing in NY. Is that still on?

good question...

i haven't been told differently (aka "please remove the shows from fmh & myspace")... not that my not being told anything, means anything.

it looks like ledesi is the artist that replaced meshell for the iridium shows...