Jackson Free Press

Note: As the JFP went to press, the organizers of Hobstock cancelled the event altogether.

Controversy surrounds what could have been one of the biggest music festivals in Mississippi history. Hobstock, named after founder Jeffery Hobgood, was/is slated to take place from July 18-20 on 2,000 acres between Grenada and Greenwood. The festival began as a one-day jam of local bands; this year they were hoping to make it huge. Originally, as seen in JFP ads earlier this spring, the lineup included jam-band greats Widespread Panic and Gov't Mule along with 20 other bands like Taj Mahal and even the Mississippi Mass Choir. Tickets went on sale March 22.

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y mid-May rumors started circulating among ticket buyers that the festival was canceled due to financial problems. In an article in the Grenada Star dated June 10, Hobgood said the show will go on, albeit with the original lineup changed.

The organizers of the event—Hobgood, local lawyer David Brewer and talent buyer Arden Barnett—have proven to be unreachable by phone after numerous attempts. The official Hobstock Web site is bare except for two phone numbers, which either ring and ring or else are answered by an answering machine. Has Hobgood skipped town? Hobgood was quoted in the Grenada Star saying: "I want to dispel any rumor that I have run off to Florida. ...I have been away from my office planning the event." As of press time, bands originally slated to play, including Los Lobos, Little Feat and Taj Mahal, do not show Hobstock on their concert listings.

Shelley Allen of Jackson said that Hobstock had "messed with the wrong group of fans." She says she is putting together a class-action suit on behalf of all the ticket-buyers. They are demanding full refunds and are crying fraud. There have been numerous complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau and the state Attorney General's office. Attorney General Mike Moore is now saying that all ticket-buyers (not just credit card buyers) will get refunds.

But they won't get refunded their summer vacations. Lee Morgan, a bartender at Fenian's, said, "The only reason I skipped Bonnaroo [music festival] for Hobstock was because it was in Mississippi, and I felt like I should support things here." He says he's "pretty bitter" about the experience but is trying to get over it. He's planning to see Widespread Panic in Mobile the weekend of, er, "Notstock."