On a day that will celebrate music in Aberdeen, one event that was supposed to take place at Kurt Cobain Memorial Park and underneath the Young Street Bridge just got partially canceled.

The event on the northeast side of town, on June 21, was supposed to start with a clean up of the Kurt Cobain Memorial Park. And then starting at noon, a collection of artists was supposed to play until 3 p.m., on a main stage in the park. And then from 3 p.m., “Juliet Tango,” who is Joe Ty, was supposed to play from 3 to 4 p.m., underneath the bridge.

While the cleanup at the bridge, at 10 a.m., will still happen, the rest of the event has been canceled.

The event, canceled Thursday, was being put on by “Friends of Kurt Cobain,” including The Shirt House — owned and run by Randy Beerbower, with help from Grunge Harbor — owned and run by Clinton “Dogger” Mullins, and Our Aberdeen, was supposed to be a day where musicians donated their time to entertain anyone who popped by. But now, it will no longer happen because of public accusations about Ty’s past and what a few people are calling “threats of violence.”

Beerbower addressed the partial cancellation on Thursday afternoon.

“We have been able to reschedule most of the musicians from our event at downtown venues,” Beerbower said. “Having everything consolidated to downtown just makes more sense. The Friends of Kurt Cobain Park will still have our clean up at the park at 10 a.m., but our people plan to head to the event downtown after we complete it.”

Mullins talked about how Beerbower reached out to him about “putting on an event on World Music Day at the park.”

Beerbower said he wanted to build on what should be a “wonderful event” in Aberdeen. Mullins said Beerbower mentioned having Joe Ty play.

“I expressed my concern with how people have boycotted him in the past,” Mullins said. “I agreed to do the event if Joe was playing under the bridge and my stage I booked was in the park.”

The problems the public seems to have with Ty stem from allegations about his personal beliefs to what he has allegedly done. And it isn’t a few people who have negative feelings about Ty. A lot of people have commented negatively on social media about the musician and questioned why he was booked, and other comments about Ty.

The current problem that’s led to cancelling the show happened after revealing the poster — which shows the lineup, how people should bring a picnic and who organized the event — received a social media comment that didn’t sit right with the organizers.

“Someone should Dime bag him with Cobain’s shotgun,” the commenter posted.

With no other context offered, the reference appears to stem from how the late Darrell Lance Abbott, a worldwide-known musician known as Dimebag Darrell, was killed in 2004 while he was playing on stage.

Beerbower said he didn’t take the notion of there being a threat to be serious.

“I don’t personally believe that anybody was at harm,” Beerbower said.

It’s clear from many people in town that Ty is not a popular person in Aberdeen. Mullins referred to how another local musician “posted on social media where many allegations with no proof were brought forward on the post.”

“Someone on the post stated they should push Joe Ty into the river,” Mullins said. “Then the post was shared with this one I just sent you stating a statement how someone should be murdered while performing. Dimebag was murdered while performing live by a crazy fan with a shotgun. I had a friend contact me to let me know that post was not directed to me but to Joe Ty.”

Mullins, who said he was not the “main booker” of the event, said Beerbower came to Mullins so Mullins would contact Ty to perform under the bridge.

“I had worries about it becoming an issue and expressed these worries early on,” Mullins said.

Mullins wants proof of what Ty has allegedly done before he forms an opinion. He said people have told “lies about me and others.”

“And even someone making a comment about me being the lead singer of Nickelback of Grays Harbor,” Mullins said. “Popular, but most hated musician in the Harbor is my guess by the meaning.”

Mullins said how he’s looking at it from “a scholar perspective,” as in depending on proof.

“I don’t see any proof of the accusations and just stated that I didn’t see any as I was looking at this from a non-emotional perspective of facts,” Mullins said.

As far as cancelling the event, Mullins spoke about how this all started with a “local Grays Harbor musician (who) tries to put on a public event by donating his time and gets death threats.”

“This is exactly what’s wrong with the scene and how I get treated a lot of the time, but it’s clear to me that enough people are disrespectful and making stuff up trying to mess my name up when I’m only trying to help my community (and) that it’s not worth it,” Mullins said.

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.