Mark Kozelek and his alt-folk act, Sun Kil Moon, have pulled out of a scheduled Saturday tour stop at CityFolk -- and publicly criticized the Ottawa music festival's organizers.

In a posting on Kozelek's Caldo Verde Records site, the songwriter said he cancelled his Ottawa performance "due to unorganized promoters."

He then took his beef a step further Monday -- just as executive director Mark Monahan was giving local media a walking tour of the near-finished festival site. Kozelek posted several links to bad press about Monahan's festivals, including one article about the contentious noise bylaw violation at last year's Folkfest, and two other articles detailing the notorious Bluesfest stage collapse of 2011.

"It is unusual and unfortunate," said Monahan, who said issues between Kozelek and festival organizers were "blown out of proportion" during an escalating e-mail exchange that ended with Kozelek issuing a profanity-laced ultimatum.

According to Monahan, trouble started when festival organizers contacted Kozelek -- as they do with all performers -- to sort out the finer points of the performance, and Kozelek took issue and "pushed back" in a profane tirade.

"And because we have multiple people contacting him about transportation and catering and stage management, he's suggesting that we're disorganized," said Monahan, who said "this hasn't been an issue for any other bands."

Kozelek cancelled his show, then later demanded to be reinstated, according to Monahan.

When that didn't happen, Monahan said, Kozelek posted links to old articles about issues at past festivals.

"My response to him was that he cancelled the show and he's free to make any comment he wants to," said Monahan.

Neither Kozelek nor his record label responded to requests for comment.

Kozelek is no stranger to airing his dirty laundry in public.

Ottawa's festival-going faithful got an earful last year when Kozelek spent much of his set complaining about the noise bleed from neighbouring stages.

First, he bitterly complained about the shuffle beat drifting over from The Claytones, deriding the local act as a "hillbilly band."

The following night, it was main stage headliner The War on Drugs in his crosshairs. Kozelek penned a foul-mouthed song about the band and its "beer commercial rock," which later appeared on Kozelek's website and sparked an enduring feud between the two groups.

It appears local fans will be denied a reprise performance on Ottawa festival stages.

@OttSunHelmer