BOOTS RILEY GETS THE BOOT IN VA

A music performance at the Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival by Boots Riley, the well-known front man for The Coup, ended abruptly with police charges of “abusive language.” Boots was charged with an obscure law even the police had difficulty finding; citing him with § 18.2-416. http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-416. This law has never been applied to a performer. In this situation, Boots’ lyrics were only “provoking” a good time, as the vast majority of the people in attendance were dancing and visibly upset when the festival pulled the plug. The city is pressing forward with the charge – which the city is enforcing for the first time in 26 years. Since the incident on June 21st, numerous false reports have emerged, and Riley is looking to set the record straight.

Riley claims the charges were racially motivated as they are part of a backlash from the recent Afr’Am Festival in Norfolk in which Gospel and R&B performances generated “noise complaints,” despite the performers adhering to the same decibel parameters as all of Norfolk’s other festivals. The Afr’am fest has been the subject of controversy since. Both festivals occurred at Towne Point Park, an area where high-priced condos have recently been built and an impending $11.5 million makeover is in the works.