F Yeah Fest's Sean Carlson talks about his alleged Hollywood Bowl scuffle with security

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

The incident has obviously thrown some kinks in Carlson's plans for the weekend, from the annoying (he lost his keys and cellphone in the ordeal) to the more serious (he's beginning legal actions against CSC Security, the contracting firm that runs the Hollywood Bowl security).

"The cops haven't been cooperative at all," Carlson said on Thursday afternoon. "On the site, they didn't want to take our information; they told us to go to the station at Wilcox Avenue. We went there, and then they sent us back to the site. Later I found out that the security guards were actually off-duty cops."

Capt. Beatrice Girmala of the LAPD's Hollywood Division did not return phone calls seeking comment on the incident. Carlson is still mulling his legal options, which were made more difficult by the confiscation of the tape.

"The video's gone, but we have a dozen eyewitnesses," Carlson said. "CSC isn't naming names, and now they're denying that anything ever happened."

Despite the aggravation, Carlson still expects the F Yeah Fest to go on as planned. Aside from a few scrapes and aches, he said, he's physically fine but eager to right what he sees as a case of excessively aggressive security contractors.

"We are pursuing legal action," Carlson said. "They put my life and Michael's life at risk chasing us onto Highland Avenue."

-- August Brown

Photo by Jeremy and Claire Weiss