It was an event that was to feature 10,000 electronic music fans, 12 hours of music and over 40 acts. In dance music terminology, the Electric Daisy Carnival would have been big enough to be what they call a "massive". Although he's adamant his event will ultimately be rescheduled, organizer Noah Balch is still miffed he lost his originally advertised venue -- the Travis County Expo Center.

On Wednesday morning, Balch got word that as far as the Travis County Expo was concerned it wouldn't be a massive, but instead a nothing. Claiming a breach in contract, they had convinced the Travis County Commissioner's Court to cancel his rental agreement.

"I've been with my lawyers the last two days attempting to work this out with the county," Balch said. "This is a problem I believe is within the county itself, with me personally and with these types of events we produce."

Balch's Ark Entertainment has produced five large raves in Austin since 1999. And although Balch said he is properly insured for his Electric Daisy Carnival, the Travis County Expo center says he failed to provide proof within seven days of the event. It's a breach the Expo Center says voids the contract. And while Balch considers it a technicality, Expo Center director Lloyd Evans says it's anything but.

"It's not that simple, especially for the things the country accepts in terms of the safety of the people that attend events out here," Evans said. "That is a very important thing to us, that we do in fact have the kind of insurance coverage we're supposed to have
and in the timely matter we so state in the contract."

Until the insurance snag, Balch thought he had all the bases covered. In a rare move, he'd even worked closely with the Drug Enforcement Agency and Austin Police Department to address their concerns with dance music's drug-related subcultures.

"We've been in meetings with them for the last ten months, just to get approval from them for this one event," Balch said. "What we were going to try to do was hold it earlier in the day and end it earlier so people can be there legally without curfew laws. It's just like a concert. The only difference is the style of music being played."

Balch's events traditionally attract crowds from around the state. McAllen's Fernando Fonseca and a friend arrived in Austin Friday afternoon and decided to get their bearings by finding the Expo Center a day early.

"We were looking forward to seeing Sasha perform tomorrow," Fonseca said. "Then we see the big sign out there that said it was cancelled. It's disappointing."

While Balch scrambles to find a new venue for his event, he said the Expo center's cancellation isn't just a disappointment, but also a decision with far reaching implications.

"It's about more than just the electric Daisy Carnival," Balch said. "It's about music, it's about freedom, about expression and about people being able to congregate and listen to whatever they want as long as it's been done legally. And we followed the letter of the law to the T. And at the last minute, the 11th hour, they attempted to pull the rug out from under us. It was unfortunate."

	For more information
Ark Productions announced Saturday that they lacked the proper permits to follow though on plans to move the event to a downtown parking lot. They say the rave will be rescheduled for a different weekend and that ticketholders can check periodically for more information at Electric Daisy Carnival Web site.