The death knell’s a-tolling for BlackCreek music festival

We knew the BlackCreek Summer Music Festival was in a financial pickle (when the “Ode to Joy” chorus is complaining about being stiffed, things aren’t looking good), so we weren’t surprised to hear that the ambitious concert series is a no go for 2012. The notice on BlackCreek’s website mentions a search for a new financing strategy, but it also quotes organizer Kevin Albrecht as saying there are “certainly hurdles to clear in order to move forward.” Translation? BlackCreek has to pay a lot of dough—from several hundred thousand to several million dollars, depending who you ask—to performers, suppliers and staff before anything can go ahead. It looks like fraudster Garth Drabinsky, who served as BlackCreek’s artistic director, has yet another reason to sing the jailbird blues.