As producer Kevin Saunderson pulls out, the electronic community waits for city to turn switch on or off.

D etroit's problem-plagued techno music festival seems to have hit another speed bump on its way to what would be its seventh Memorial Day takeover of Hart Plaza.

On Friday, Detroit techno pioneer Kevin Saunderson, producer of last year's FUSE-in: Detroit's Electronic Movement, said he would not return to produce this year's event.

"I am out of the equation," Saunderson said on the phone from a tour stop in Frankfurt, Germany.

The move leaves the festival -- which has been in financial disarray for years -- without a producer and its future, yet again, up in the air.

City officials were not available for comment Friday.

Since its launch in 2000, the event -- which symbolized and recognized Detroit as the birthplace of techno music -- has changed hands three times. Carol Marvin and Pop Culture Media produced the first three Detroit Electronic Music Festivals, while Saunderson's childhood friend and fellow techno pioneer Derrick May produced the festival in 2003 and 2004 under the name Movement.

The 2005 event marked the first time the festival -- or any Hart Plaza event -- charged admission in an attempt to stem the red ink and break even. But the festival again lost money and Saunderson estimates he owes a sum of $250,000 -- $65,000 to the city of Detroit, the rest to vendors who haven't been paid for their services. He hopes to be able to pay back the money within five years.

But charging admission -- $10 per day or $25 for the weekend -- did provide the first accurate count of festival attendance. FUSE-in sold 41,000 tickets, an eye-opening contrast from the festival's early years where crowds were estimated at more than 1 million.

FUSE-in lost money last year because there was not enough time to promote it, says Saunderson. FUSE-in's lineup -- a strong bill that included Slum Village, Mos Def, Juan Atkins and Richie Hawtin -- was announced just three weeks before the event, in early May.

Ideally, Saunderson says, he needed an additional six months to promote the event, in part to give overseas visitors, of which the festival has attracted a healthy number over the years, time to make travel plans.

Saunderson says if he were to do it again he would eliminate some of the music stages and book less talent. Last year's festival featured 120 artists on four stages, many of whom donated their time to play the event.

Saunderson says he took the reins of the festival last year because he feared if he didn't the festival would have been canceled. "I guess I gambled and I lost," he says. "And maybe not. Maybe in the end, the festival goes on and maybe I can be involved somehow down the line in the future."

Saunderson, who says he hasn't had any direct conversations with the city about this year's festival, says he'd happily come on as a consultant and believes the festival is still viable and can make money given the proper direction from a production company with the time and resources to invest in the festival.

"I'm sure it will get there. Whether it's with me or without me, it will get there," Saunderson says.

Submerge Records president Ade Mainor, director of last year's FUSE-in fest, says he expects the city to make a decision about the fate of the festival in the next 30 days.

"I don't think the city or the electronic community wants to see this thing go away," Mainor says. "It's just one of those things where it's always last minute."

If the festival were to take some time off, Mainor says he doesn't necessarily think that would be a bad thing.

"From a business point of view, it would be nice to take a year off and regroup, or maybe do it later this year, later in the summer, and really take the time do it right," he says.

Movement producer Derrick May says a Memorial Day without the techno fest would be "unfortunate," but it would give the city "a chance to sit back, look at opportunities to make it better, and help make it a long-term event. It doesn't mean it's over -- it's not over until it's over. There's still an opportunity to do it, to re-brand it, to go out and talk to people and resell it as part of the rebirth of Detroit, which is more of a stillborn child at the moment."

In a separate statement released Friday, Saunderson said he's "been told" the city of Detroit is "in negotiation right now" with companies who will be able to pay for festival expenses outright.

Words by: Adam Graham / The Detroit News

More info: www.fuse-indetroit.com

(source: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060217/UPDATE/602170443 (The Detroit News))