Last week, William “Cadillac” Banks, Sr. spoke to the Pensacola Voice about the TDC not recommending that he get $385,685 to fund a two-day music festival. For that amount of money, he promised to bring at least 29,000 people to Pensacola from 29 cities from six states—Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.
Banks said that he wasn’t making a profit on the proposed event. Banks told the Voice, “It’s sad when it comes to Black people, we’re non-existent.”
The Pensacola Voice writes, “What it boils down to is Pensacola does not want African Americans dollars in Pensacola. Bringing 29,000+people to lodge in hotels and eat at restaurants brings economic growth. Is that not what the city is looking for?”
According to the Voice, Banks, who is listed on his Facebook page as law clerk for William R. Richbourg since 1993, and his company Banks Enterprises, has been the concert business for five years. He brought the First Gulf Coast Summer Fest to Pensacola five years ago and in 2009 the Bar Kay’s & Cowboy Troy to the Pensacola Fairgrounds, plus Keith Sweat, Charlie Wilson, Dru Hill, and Silk in 2010 to the Pensacola Civic Center (The Sweat Hotel 2010 Summerfest). He also presented Maza featuring Frankie Beverly, and Zapp Band in October 2010 at the Pensacola Civic Center.
Banks ended the interview with a plea for the African-American community to come out and support him at last night’s commission meeting: “The time has come that we as a people voice how we feel. We cannot afford to sit around and say nothing!â€
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The promise of 29,000 people for $385,685 appears to be “Pie in the Sky”. Hangout Fest has sold 35,000 two-day tickets with $1.5 million of BP money on top of their other sponsorships, putting total budget at nearly $3 million.
I don’t see how Banks can bring in about the same number of people for 10-20 percent of the money– he has said his concert will be free. This would be the largest event he’s ever promoted in this area.
Talk comes easy.
