Jam In The Dam will not return in 2009. The event’s promoters have announced that the Amsterdam festival will take a year off, in no small part due to health issues surrounding the event’s founder, Armand Sadlier. A statement on the Jam In The Dam website explains:

If you are not a frequent guest at our message board you may not have heard about situation that the JitD founder, Armand Sadlier, finds himself in. You can click on ‘message board’ to get more details, but the long and short of it is that Armand is in need of a double-lung transplant.

_Even in the wake of going through this process, we were striving to still present the show in 2009. We have sadly come to the conclusion that since this is his baby, and something that requires his personal attention, that it just wasn’t feasible to pull off the show for 2009. So, it is with great sadness that we announce there will not be a Jam in the Dam for 2009. _

_We know that many of our fans will be disappointed, but the best thing is for Armand to focus all of his efforts on recovering, and getting back on the case for 2010. Maybe the US economy can also rebound a bit in the meantime. The euro was at an all-time high last year, and made things more expensive than usual in attending this one-of-a-kind event. It has already fallen back within seven cents of where it was two of the first three years, so hopefully that continues. _

This is by no means a farewell, and we expect to be back strong for 2010, which will be the ‘new’ 5th Anniversary of the show. Later this Fall, Larry Shapiro will have finished the video capsule from 2008, so we’re all looking forward to another slice of Larry’s outstanding work that always brings us right back to Amsterdam. All of Larry’s past masterpieces can be found on the homepage.
_We want to thank the fans profusely, for supporting this show each year, as well as the artists who have agreed to participate. We know it takes much more time and effort to attend than all other festivals, but we know many folks who said it was the time of their lives. _
_Looking forward to providing more of those times, and please send out some positive vibes for our founder, can’t have too many of those! _