Here’s some relevant news just on the heels of Jazz Day.

Lauryn “Crack Clown” Hill is scheduled to appear at Switzerland’s prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival on July 11, according to AllHipHop.com, but since this is the chick who basically paved the way for Amy Winehouse’s shenanigans, there’s about a 50/50 chance of her actually showing and probably a 99% chance of it being a shitshow if she does roll through.

No shade, I love Lauryn (at least, I did from 1994-1999), but she has a history of mental instability and irresponsibility in terms of showing up on time to gigs (if at all) ever since she publicly blasted the music industry and went into virtual hiding in the early 2000s.

Like many of you easily called Amy Winehouse being dropped from Coachella, I’m going to put the same lack of faith in this turning out any way except bad. Of course I hope to be pleasantly surprised, though. But seeing as all of her live outings in the past decade have been described using words like “trainwreck” , “disaster”, “bizarre” and “fiasco”, I won’t hold be shelling out the dollars to see this (oh, and I also can’t afford to fly to Switzerland. If you can, there are some other hot people on the ticket: Herbie Hancock, BB King, Steely Dan, George Benson and more).

So the question remains: why do event organizers continue to book acts like Hill and Winehouse even in the face of extreme uncertainty of success? Maybe for bragging rights if they pull it off. Maybe to see a good performance, though even if they show, there’s no guarantee it will be coherent or entertaining. Or maybe they’re just like the rest of us fans, clinging to the slight hope that one day these obviously talented performers will get it together and live up to what they are capable of: greatness. Me, personally, I’ve given up.

Torn and confused wasted and used
Reached the crossroad which path would I choose
Stuck and frustrated I waited, debated
For something to happen that just wasnt fated
from “I Used To Love Him”, Lauryn Hill & Mary J. Blige

–John Juan
“The Cool Down”, Mondays 8-10 pm