Hookah Health and Harmony

[Debo]

Hello,
I don't want to sound dogmatic, but was anyone else bothered by the amount of drug use and pot smoking (slightly separate in my opinion) at Harmony Festival? I'm thinking out loud here, but I was so bummed to see so many people completely out of their gourds all weekend. I remember Harmony being a far more conscious event in the past. By the way, this is no reflection on the many fantastic people who put Harmony together. I want to say that hearing Primus, The Flaming Lips, kirtan with Krishna Das, and Natacha Atlas were huge highlights for me.

Still, I was really hoping that it wouldn't be mostly about partying till we can't walk straight, and shopping for the latest counter culture uniform. I got so tired of being bumped into for one. Am I off the mark here? I'm sorry; ya'll don't know much about my background, and it probably doesn't matter much, but I grew up in this area and know it well and am used to "green" culture, but I'm just wondering what this generation is really doing with their grow money. God, I sound old, but I swear I'm under 40. Maybe, that's old to some of you.... Ok, I'm rambling.

I'm just hoping for a lot more from my county. Where is the activism? Where is the consciousness that doesn't have a price tag on it? I'm scared that the folks I saw in this scene this weekend are a reflection of the waning consciousness of this county. This is a call for us to grow up a bit. Oh crap, I sound dogmatic again. I probably should have meditated before I posted this.... Essentially, I shouldn't care what other people do, and I'm open to people's ideas around this posting. Yeah, I know I shouldn't expect much from festie culture. It's just that I remember festie culture being so much more inspiring and dare I say, full of better role models?
Any tactful thoughts on this folks?

[mckindly]

The pot smell was OVERWHELMING! And very possibly a deterrent to next years attendance. I'll have to weigh the options when the time comes.

[Imagery]

I'm afraid that the Harmony Festival has succumbed to the call of the almighty dollar. I moved up here in time to attend the 2004 Health and Harmony event, and attended nearly each year since (except this year). It's been my perception that the vendors have changed significantly over the years, moving more towards the commercial and mainstream - rather than the holistic and earth-wise vendors of years past.

[Barry]

I was rather impressed by the quantity and quality of the vendors/booths in the new eco area, including some very earthwise offerings.

[Sabrina]

I have to say, while I was really only there on Friday (all day to night pretty much) I was impressed that day with how much LESS cigarette smoke there was compared w/ very recent years past. After all that argument earlier on here in Wacco land about smoke at the festival, I was VERY conscious. Although I was not there Sat / Sun. (Well, someone did give me a ticket late afternoon they couldn't use on sunday - so I was there for a short time, but did not really get into the music - Primus was not my thing to stand around listening to although it was like cool movie music or something - I stayed for like one hour)

But Friday, I loved Micheal Franti, and I even squeezed up toward the front, and only noticed one cig. that wasn't near me long. The pot was around a lot, but not as overwhelming as last years, and doesn't bother me as much. Also, I noticed very low attendance on Friday and from what I could see Sunday, it was not packed as it's been. I didn't notice as much over-all drug culture as in the past. I remember the first year they started camping there were people openly selling mushroom brownies and hits of ecstasy or acid seemed like every corner. I didn't notice any this time.

The other thing I noticed improved was the sound decibels of the main stage, it too was tolerable. Last year I couldn't get near the main stage - it killed my ears, was way too packed, and the smoke...

But the thing that Debo is talking about - where is the activism? Where is the consciousness without a pricetag, wondering what the 40 under generation is doing w/ their grow money besides partying it up till you drop, that whole fear of possible waning of consciousness in the community....that's what I've felt for a while; well, at some point things changed in the festival - and you see this same change in some of the so - called conscious festival culture - Earthdance as well - now burning man originally was appealing to me to go one day; not now. I'm going to try the Calif. World Fest. this July. I contacted them to volunteer and the coordinator called me that day to work the volunteer booth! 8 stages in Grass Valley and sounds very sweet.

I love Imagery's photos! I was going to give "gratitude" for his post, but I can't agree with the vendor booths as I didn't check them out as much. I did notice that while I was there I did not see a lot of shopping going on - just lots of vendors. I missed the whole eco area, and was confused by a couple of small stages around the one spiritual oriented building - no food sample building, wah! Also the Tea house was not as nice as last year - every time I went over there It was between gigs of music, and no one new what was up next, or I didn't like what was playing. Last few years had great world music artists. Have no idea what Sat or Sun was like.

[scamperwillow]

If you want to go to a really conscious, wonderful festival with very little smoking and not much in the way of drugs at all - family friendly, try the Kate Wolf Festival coming up June 24. Fabulous three days of music for a low price. Not very much in the way of vendors - it's all about the music. Wonderful conscious people go there. I go every year and highly recommend it. This year includes Taj Mahal, David Bromberg, Ruthie Foster, Los Lobos, Bruce Cockburn, Nitty Gritty Drit Band and on and on. Here are the details: https://www.cumuluspresents.com/kate/index.html $180 for three solid days of music AND camping. (It was cheaper if you bought at the early bird price.)

But the thing that Debo is talking about - where is the activism? Where is the consciousness without a pricetag, wondering what the 40 under generation is doing w/ their grow money besides partying it up till you drop, that whole fear of possible waning of consciousness in the community....that's what I've felt for a while; well, at some point things changed in the festival - and you see this same change in some of the so - called conscious festival culture - Earthdance as well - now burning man originally was appealing to me to go one day; not now. I'm going to try the Calif. World Fest. this July. I contacted them to volunteer and the coordinator called me that day to work the volunteer booth! 8 stages in Grass Valley and sounds very sweet.

[The Owl]

I have to say, while I was really only there on Friday (all day to night pretty much) I was impressed that day with how much LESS cigarette smoke there was compared w/ very recent years past. After all that argument earlier on here in Wacco land about smoke at the festival, I was VERY conscious. Although I was not there Sat / Sun. (Well, someone did give me a ticket late afternoon they couldn't use on sunday - so I was there for a short time, but did not really get into the music - Primus was not my thing to stand around listening to although it was like cool movie music or something - I stayed for like one hour)

But Friday, I loved Micheal Franti, and I even squeezed up toward the front, and only noticed one cig. that wasn't near me long. The pot was around a lot, but not as overwhelming as last years, and doesn't bother me as much. Also, I noticed very low attendance on Friday and from what I could see Sunday, it was not packed as it's been. I didn't notice as much over-all drug culture as in the past. I remember the first year they started camping there were people openly selling mushroom brownies and hits of ecstasy or acid seemed like every corner. I didn't notice any this time.

The other thing I noticed improved was the sound decibels of the main stage, it too was tolerable. Last year I couldn't get near the main stage - it killed my ears, was way too packed, and the smoke...

But the thing that Debo is talking about - where is the activism? Where is the consciousness without a pricetag, wondering what the 40 under generation is doing w/ their grow money besides partying it up till you drop, that whole fear of possible waning of consciousness in the community....that's what I've felt for a while; well, at some point things changed in the festival - and you see this same change in some of the so - called conscious festival culture - Earthdance as well - now burning man originally was appealing to me to go one day; not now. I'm going to try the Calif. World Fest. this July. I contacted them to volunteer and the coordinator called me that day to work the volunteer booth! 8 stages in Grass Valley and sounds very sweet.

I love Imagery's photos! I was going to give "gratitude" for his post, but I can't agree with the vendor booths as I didn't check them out as much. I did notice that while I was there I did not see a lot of shopping going on - just lots of vendors. I missed the whole eco area, and was confused by a couple of small stages around the one spiritual oriented building - no food sample building, wah! Also the Tea house was not as nice as last year - every time I went over there It was between gigs of music, and no one new what was up next, or I didn't like what was playing. Last few years had great world music artists. Have no idea what Sat or Sun was like.

I have been involved with the (Health and) Harmony Festival for most of it's existence in one form or other. Through the 1980s and into the 90s, I coordinated the Vision's Art Show and worked with other community members beforehand creating decor usually around some theme or other and loved that energy and the beautiful, hand crafted banners, flags, etc that resulted. The art show aspect was eliminated through most of the 90s so I missed several of them in those years, only attending to see a music act I might have been curious to see... Then in the early 2000s Heather Wakefield was put in charge of decoration and resurrected the art aspect, this time coordinated by Mark Henson, who is a far better business end person than I was... Heather's crew, of which I was an enthusiastic part, made some magnificent banners, flags, sound stage backdrops and free standing fabric pylons that reintroduced the look of human craftsmanship to the event...

Since Hez's departure from the organization a few years back, the look of things changed dramatically... gone were the hand painted decorations, and up everywhere were miles of corporate logos and advertising. Another thing that (for me) changes the whole vibe has been the introduction of encouraged alcohol consumption. There was a time when it wasn't allowed and had to be smuggled in and if caught, you got bounced. Now the place is crawling with shit faced people who seem to have no idea whatsoever of the grand tradition of the Festival, they're just there for the music and to get fucked up (because every time they ever see anyone on TV having a good time, there is drink involved). Personally, if a person has to be high I MUCH PREFER people stoned on marijuana gently tripping around to people messed up on alcohol with all the loss of motor control, vomiting and attendant belligerence... There is a big difference.

I've also noticed that recent years, especially now that Clear Channel runs things there, that there is little mention on the pre event posters of the craft booths or the art... Many craft people and food people I talked to paid top dollar for booth space and hadn't even made that back by Sunday... usually they pass that milestone on Friday... we are talking people's livelihoods here, folks... I doubt many will even consider coming back next year. Sadly it seems to have become all about what big name bands they have crammed into each day and how absurdly high a gate fee they can get to please their share holders who probably never even go to such events, they just invested where their wall street booky told them ... $60 (PER DAY!) for a depression era event. Separate admissions for the night events. I think THAT played a huge part in the low attendance mentioned by someone above. I thought the music was great on all three days, not knocking that at all.

Monday at tear down I was waxing cynical and saying the CC people WANT to drive out the crafters and artists through attrition and turn the event into a slick, Shoreline Amphitheater North kind of thing. Then a wise woman friend suggested it was some of that but also just the changing of the guard... it is being handed off to the next generation down and they are making it what it is now... as she so lovingly put it, we knew this was coming some day, rather than grumble about what it isn't anymore, rejoice in what we were able to make it into all those other years... and will continue to influence as best we can as long as we remain involved. The Transformations Art tent was amazing again this year, I was proud to be a part of it again. I hope you all managed to come by and lose yourself a while in the art.

[Barry]

WRAP-UP!

Thanks for your comments, Paul ( Pterosapiens).

I didn't notice more than the usual level of shit-faced people at any large scale music oriented event. I think the degree that you noticed that, or cigarette smoking, was more representative your level of objection to such behaviors along with a confirmation bias. The more you resist it, the more your notice it. Though I noticed both, I didn't find either to be particularly disruptive or in my face. At $8 for a pint, beer was hardly "encouraged". (I should note that I did not attend the late night shows this year, where this may have been worse).

I do miss level of festival sponsored art in the day... I liked Hez's flags and the large Tarot sort of flags that appeared one year. And I appreciate that the alter still occupies a place of honor.

I don't think Clear Channel has any interest in driving out the crafters, but I'm sure the current depression and high ticket prices contributed to the low sales that I also heard was experienced. (Similar to last year, also during this depression). I noticed that I spent less time browsing the booths this year because I was more attached to the excellent music program.

For me, the Goddess grove is where it is at! Great smallish bands, often with a spiritual orientation (Suzanne Sterling's Sunday afternoon set was the highlight for me), a smallish "scene" replete with wonderful (if pricy) vendors, shade, beer and bathrooms nearby (and the astounding density of gorgeous goddesses didn't hurt, either! ) . I was fortunate enough to miss the technical difficulties that plagued the stage for the first part of Sunday.

The volume was a bit down from last year, thankfully, and was amazingly clear! I also liked the new location of the eco area.

Anybody else? How do you think Harmony is evolving? What were your highlights and grumbles?

[The Owl]

The art tent was located right next to an alcohol vendor and there were several scary moments shouting, shoving, almost brawls - sloshing drinks - generally sloppy people... and no, I don't like what alcohol does to people or how the condition of those people changes the atmosphere of an event. Those main stage "technical" difficulties you mentioned were largely alcohol induced... you could see those guys chugging them down between acts and Grace Potter practically having to stop singing and tell them that she had gone from the mic by the organ to the other mic because they were messed up and not paying attention to their job... an artist of her quality shouldn't have to put up with shit like that. You say the boozing's not any worse to your eyes than any other concert event and that is exactly my POINT. It's becoming just another concert - this was not the case for most of the Festival's existence.

Clear Channel - why then was there only micro type mention of the crafts and art on only SOME of the pre event hand bills and posters? Also, not once in the whole weekend did I hear an announcer mention something like while we're setting up for the next act, go check out the wonderful food, crafts and art like in past years. I don't think Clear channel has the food, crafts and art on their radar as even existing.

The Goddess Grove has always been great since its inception - I think it deserves to be it's own Festival. Yes, Suzanne's set was elevating.... I love her anyway, have followed her through all her musical incarnations...

I worked on a lot of those large Tarot images, flags and one particularly nice stage backdrop that got used once and then was carelessly destroyed before I could decently document it.

[Scott McKeown]

From some of these comments it seems that some people apparently missed that the whole Eco Village area was moved off the main field at the Harmony Festival this year, where previously it was in the direct line of the sound coming from the main stage, over to a more quiet area around the Well Being Pavilion where there were three speakers stages (not including the stage in Goddess Grove) with different speakers appearing non-stop all day long talking on all kinds of topics regarding sustainability, health & healing, spirituality, etc.

My personal favorites among the speakers who appeared on the one speakers stage that I MC'd throughout the weekend were Caroline Casey, John and Ocean Robbins, James Twyman, Will Durst, Mariel Hemingway, Chief Golden Light Eagle, Brock Dolman, and Elson Hass. But those were just nine of 51 total speakers at the Harmony Festival this year, and that doesn't even include all the hands-on workshops in the Eco-Village on aquaponics, earth building, permaculture etc. or all the other activities that the Sustainable Living Roadshow put together for the Harmony Festival this year in the Eco Village.

Scott

[Barry]

Thanks, Scott!

Anybody else out there who went to Harmony and actually managed to somehow have a good time?
:anyone:

[Scott McKeown]

I've also noticed that recent years, especially now that Clear Channel runs things there

FYI...
Not to single anyone out, but rather just to correct a misunderstanding...neither Clear Channel nor any other corporation runs the Harmony Festival in any capacity, nor has any ownership in the Harmony Festival whatsoever. The Harmony Festival is closely held by a few individuals who are from the community who are either employees or close associates of the Harmony Festival. The idea that Clear Channel runs things at the Harmony Festival or that any other large corporation runs things at the Harmony Festival, such as that runs the Coachella Valley Music Festival and many others, is completely ludicrous, as Harmony is completely run by local people from the community, almost all of whom live in Sonoma County, and everyone who works closely with the Harmony Festival knows that.

The dedicated local people who work extremely hard for relatively little pay to produce the Harmony Festival for the benefit of the community don't mind criticisms of the Festival so much -- we hear it here on Wacco all the time and take all of it seriously as we try to do our best to make the Harmony Festival be the best it can be -- but I must correct factual errors such as that Clear Channel is involved somehow with running the Harmony Festival, as it is not in any way.

Scott

[The Owl]

FYI...
Not to single anyone out, but rather just to correct a misunderstanding...neither Clear Channel nor any other corporation runs the Harmony Festival in any capacity, nor has any ownership in the Harmony Festival whatsoever. The Harmony Festival is closely held by a few individuals who are from the community who are either employees or close associates of the Harmony Festival. The idea that Clear Channel runs things at the Harmony Festival or that any other large corporation runs things at the Harmony Festival, such as that runs the Coachella Valley Music Festival and many others, is completely ludicrous, as Harmony is completely run by local people from the community, almost all of whom live in Sonoma County, and everyone who works closely with the Harmony Festival knows that.

The dedicated local people who work extremely hard for relatively little pay to produce the Harmony Festival for the benefit of the community don't mind criticisms of the Festival so much -- we hear it here on Wacco all the time and take all of it seriously as we try to do our best to make the Harmony Festival be the best it can be -- but I must correct factual errors such as that Clear Channel is involved somehow with running the Harmony Festival, as it is not in any way.

Scott

The annual gathering that is the Harmony Festival convenes once again in the heart of Northern California to bring together the best of leading-edge music, art, and culture. For the first time in it’s history the festival expanded to three days and nights in 2008, — with expanded shows and venues, more on-site camping, and the best musical line-up ever. The “Harmony After Dark” nighttime shows feature three separate venues of music in one epic party zone, all for one price. And this year the Harmony Festival organization is privileged to partner with Live Nation
https://www.livenation.com/, the nation’s premier live music event production company, as the Harmony Festival’s co-promoter. The local division of Live Nation (formerly Bill Graham Presents) brings its long experience and much respected history of producing the Bay Area’s finest concerts and events to help make this year’s Harmony Festival the biggest and best ever. - Live Nation is a spin off of Clear Channel.

[zenekar]

The annual gathering that is the Harmony Festival convenes once again in the heart of Northern California to bring together the best of leading-edge music, art, and culture. For the first time in it’s history the festival expanded to three days and nights in 2008, — with expanded shows and venues, more on-site camping, and the best musical line-up ever. The “Harmony After Dark” nighttime shows feature three separate venues of music in one epic party zone, all for one price. And this year the Harmony Festival organization is privileged to partner with Live Nation
https://www.livenation.com/, the nation’s premier live music event production company, as the Harmony Festival’s co-promoter. The local division of Live Nation (formerly Bill Graham Presents) brings its long experience and much respected history of producing the Bay Area’s finest concerts and events to help make this year’s Harmony Festival the biggest and best ever. - Live Nation is a spin off of Clear Channel.

____

The corporate takeover of the "Harmony" Festival: "Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment." -- from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Nation While "The dedicated local people who work extremely hard for relatively little pay" (Scott McKeown post) are not aware that the $$$ they're not making is creating wealth for Live Nation. Bamboozled again -- it's the corporate American (US) way.
____

[amity]

Responding to all the posts about Harmony Fest, I thought it felt more like a big-concert, Shoreline-type show due to the way they changed the physical layout of everything. My concern is about the Spiritual aspect of the Festival, since that is where my energy usually goes and of which I am acutely aware (I normally volunteer with Trinity at the main altar, although I didn't this year due to other commitments). Some things had definitely changed.

I haven't been going since the beginning, but when I first started going six years ago, the Festival honored the spiritual underpinnings in a big way, with the Goddess Grove right up by the stage. Trinity's Altar was in the center area, with Spiritual reading booths in a row around that. Then Elizabeth made another amazing altar in the corner grove ( the Goddess Grove this year).
This year, instead of the Goddess-honoring area connected to the Eco-Festival area (which I don't think should ever be on concrete), there was a HUGE beer tent there, to the left of the stage as you faced it. I counted about 6 other beer vendors, not counting the local one from Lagunitas Brewing Co (the one that seemed to be getting some business at least). The others weren't getting much business, what with the local grow wafting through the air (as it should be) -- If you smelled a bunch of cigarettes you must have been at another concert!! Beer drinkers definitely have another vibe about them, usually not a very conscious one.

About the spirituality part, it seems to have been diminished since the "Health and" got taken from the Health and Harmony name. Yes, there was a spectacular central Altar by Trinity and her team, who work hard to hold spiritual space there, but there are no, or very few Physic booths (they probably started charging them).

Also, the side altar in the "Oasis" (which wasn't done by Elizabeth this year, and not called Goddess Grove) was completely taken over by wasted teens. Since I am protective of altars in general, I asked the kids to move out if they were going to be eating and smoking in there. They moved three feet forward onto the rug in front of it, making a mess, and every time I tried to go in and sit there (it was a great site for viewing M. Franti, Suzanne Sterling and others) the young punks were back again. The gentleman selling the masks/helmets next to the Red tent even chased boys out after asking them if they were bleeding . . . the red tent is a space solely for women, but it wasn't protected, which made me sad. (Red tents are an important nationwide movement to reclaim our feminine power.)

So it was great to have the Roadshow and all the speakers in the Eco-area (although the Oasis stage competed with it, sound-wise) and to have Golden Eagle and all the spiritual activists there, I feel that Gaia herself and the women/children should be honored more.

That was my other big issue - I couldn't get kid tickets in advance. There was absolutely nothing on the website about kid tickets, and Whole Foods personnel told me they were frustrated, because all the family people were asking about getting kid tickets in advance. So I had our adult tickets, but I had to stand on line friday to get my pre-teen a ticket. They weren't taking debit cards, so I got cash and came back, bigger line. Then they gave me crap, asking me "Is she really 12?" Damn, think I should have paid $45 for my pre-teen kid??
I also thought the difference in day ticket price -- 45 versus 60 at the door -- turned many people away. So, If I could give the Harmony folks feedback -- and believe me, I tried, but everyone claimed to "not be with the people running the festival," I would say honor the Earth, its men, its women (and not just by selling more goddess-wear) and its children. The physical layout reflected poorly on the power of Spirit at the festival. Still, I love HARMONY !

[Scott McKeown]

____
The corporate takeover of the "Harmony" Festival: "Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions.
____

Dear people who are hiding from letting us know who you really are and who seem to be really upset about the Harmony Festival and are making things up about it for some reason --

(BTW...this is not in response to any of the many valid criticisms of the Harmony Festival that are thoughtful and reasonable and which, believe it or not, are appreciated and taken quite seriously. I have my criticisms too -- we all do -- and the challenge has always been to try to do things in a way that reflects our higher values and yet is also financially sustainable. If you were in the shoes of the people who produce the Harmony Festival each year you would realize that it is not so easy, but is actually quite complicated. Trust me on this. If it were so easy you would see a lot of other similar festivals at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds -- but you don't. Although I was personally not quite as centrally involved this year as I have been in the recent past, I know how difficult the Festival is to manage (having been the Executive Director of the Harmony Festival for four years). The Festival always comes up short of its ideal. Harmony management (myself certainly included) makes mistakes and some wrong decisions every year. But I know that everyone involved -- and there are many -- are all trying to make it work for the community as best they can and listen to everything the community has to say about it.)

Let me set the record straight again: Live Nation has no ownership interest in the Harmony Festival whatsoever, nor has Live Nation ever had any ownership interest in the Harmony Festival. Nor has any other corporation. Nor has Live Nation ever "run" the Harmony Festival nor is it receiving any money from this year's Harmony Festival. In 2007 there was indeed a promotional partnership deal between the Harmony Festival and Bill Graham Presents (which was purchased by Live Nation) for that one year only where they booked the headlining bands and helped with some marketing and production. This was not hidden but was widely announced in 2007 (I know because I wrote about in the Festival Program Guide) and it was even discussed on Wacco at the time. But even the 2007 Harmony Festival was still run by the local Harmony Festival staff out of its office in Sebastopol at the time and that relationship only happened for that one year and did not continue. Many people in the community know all about this and it is not news.

As previously stated, and now once again here: there is no ownership interest in the Harmony Festival by Live Nation, Clear Channel, or any other corporation whatsoever. Nor has Live Nation or Clear Channel or any other corporation ever had any ownership interest in the Harmony Festival. Nor has Live Nation or any other corporation ever "run" the Festival. The Harmony Festival is and always has been 100% held by a few individuals from the community who are all long-time close associates and/or employees of the Festival. And if the community continues to support the Harmony Festival as the locally-owned, community-based festival that it is, hopefully that will never change.

To the people who are claiming this is not true-- Who are you? What is your name? Why are you afraid to let everyone know who you are?

Scott

[scamperwillow]

"To the people who are claiming this is not true-- Who are you? What is your name? Why are you afraid to let everyone know who you are?"

Scott you can click on their user name and see their profile and real name.

[Scott McKeown]

Scott you can click on their user name and see their profile and real name.

You are right! In the new format I didn't notice one needed to click on a different tab in the profile to see the real name.

Again, neither Live Nation or Clear Channel had anything to do with this year's Harmony Festival, including as a sponsor, and no corporation owns any part of the Harmony Festival. The Harmony Festival always has a few corporate sponsors, such as Whole Foods this year, but none of these companies have any control over the creative decisions made regarding the Festival. The Harmony Festival is a 100% community-based Festival that is locally owned by individuals only who are all long-time associates of the Festival. I hope this finally clears up this issue.

Scott

[Veeja]

You are right! In the new format I didn't notice one needed to click on a different tab in the profile to see the real name.

Again, neither Live Nation or Clear Channel had anything to do with this year's Harmony Festival, including as a sponsor, and no corporation owns any part of the Harmony Festival. The Harmony Festival always has a few corporate sponsors, such as Whole Foods this year, but none of these companies have any control over the creative decisions made regarding the Festival. The Harmony Festival is a 100% community-based Festival that is locally owned by individuals only who are all long-time associates of the Festival. I hope this finally clears up this issue.

Scott

Please excuse my ignorance but Scott how do you know for sure that live nation has anything to do with Harmony? I did the Tea Casbah at Goddess Grove and I was told the reason why everything got moved like the eco village over to the right side of the fairgrounds is because everything to the left was live Nation and everything to the right, like goddess grove was harmony. I'm not saying I know this for fact. I myself, will do things differently next year if I do the tea casbah again. My white canvas tent got tagged, my friends purse was stolen. And teens just wanted to bring in bongs and hang out and leave there trash. None of the people who usually hang out there like last year wanted to hang there much. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to seem like i was discriminating aganst the teens and tell them to leave. But I felt taken advantage of. I provided sun tea for donations. For the most part I think they at least donated something on occasion. Anyway, I went off on a tangent. But it really was different this year. If i go back the tea casbah will be an ez up so my $1500 tent doesnt get ruined. It's sad the generation thats taking over seems to not have a lot of respect for others and there things. DebraLea

[Sabrina]

When I was in the Tea house (Casbah?) this year, I was trying to figure out why it felt different than last year. I'd say, I noticed that the way the entrance to the little lounge area made a straight line to the food window. Last year I think you had to meander your way in, i.e it was slightly to the right or left? (I think) - and there was no music schedule up. I think I remember last year seeing like a chalk board w/ times and gigs. When I asked one of the stage crew about who was playing next he said he really didn't know and that there was quite a bit of "politics" going on about that. For some reason, the way the stage was last year attracted more people to the music (although to be honest I really didn't watch any music in there this time - every time I went by it seemed to be in between sets.). Last year every time I went by there was some amazing world fusion thing going on that attracted me. The food was still great though, I have to say, and reasonably priced!

[Sabrina]

The Harmony Festival always has a few corporate sponsors, such as Whole Foods this year, but none of these companies have any control over the creative decisions made regarding the Festival.

Scott

I also wanted to quickly comment that I was happy not to see Verizon as a sponsor again - Whole Foods is a much better choice.

[zenekar]

You are right! In the new format I didn't notice one needed to click on a different tab in the profile to see the real name.

Again, neither Live Nation or Clear Channel had anything to do with this year's Harmony Festival, including as a sponsor, and no corporation owns any part of the Harmony Festival. The Harmony Festival always has a few corporate sponsors, such as Whole Foods this year, but none of these companies have any control over the creative decisions made regarding the Festival. The Harmony Festival is a 100% community-based Festival that is locally owned by individuals only who are all long-time associates of the Festival. I hope this finally clears up this issue.

Scott

____

Scott, how do you explain this?: "And this year the Harmony Festival organization is privileged to partner with Live Nation" https://kadmusarts.com/festivals/1113.html Maybe Live Nation has no "ownership" of the event but they are definitely profiting from it and have influence. Would you agree or do you deny it?

Attila
...

["Mad" Miles]

Whole Foods is a much better choice.

Sabrina, my lovely sweet friend, I cannot agree with you here. Whole Foods is notorious for its Greenwashing, Overpricing, Union-busting management. And its CEO who basically blamed cancer and other diseases poor people suffer from on their stupidity and laziness, for not buying his expensive food which would purportedly prevent them from becoming ill. This has been extensively discussed in multiple threads here on waccobb.net.

[zenekar]

I also wanted to quickly comment that I was happy not to see Verizon as a sponsor again - Whole Foods is a much better choice.

___

Considering Whole Foods' corporate business practices, anti-union stance and their bogus organics from China, they are not any better as community partners than Verizon.

Attila

[Veeja]

When I was in the Tea house (Casbah?) this year, I was trying to figure out why it felt different than last year. I'd say, I noticed that the way the entrance to the little lounge area made a straight line to the food window. Last year I think you had to meander your way in, i.e it was slightly to the right or left? (I think) - and there was no music schedule up. I think I remember last year seeing like a chalk board w/ times and gigs. When I asked one of the stage crew about who was playing next he said he really didn't know and that there was quite a bit of "politics" going on about that. For some reason, the way the stage was last year attracted more people to the music (although to be honest I really didn't watch any music in there this time - every time I went by it seemed to be in between sets.). Last year every time I went by there was some amazing world fusion thing going on that attracted me. The food was still great though, I have to say, and reasonably priced!

Just to be clear the Tea house is different from the Tea Casbah. Tea house is off on it's own. Tea Casbah was in the middle of goddess grove.

[Sabrina]

Thanks! I did not realize that. I did not experience the Tea Casbah then. Sorry. My feedback was about the tea house.

[Sabrina]

This has been extensively discussed in multiple threads here on waccobb.net.[/URL]

It's ok Miles. I basically agree with you and Atilla. I never said they would be the "BEST" sponsor, just better than Verizon. I fully agree that Whole Foods in not my favorite place. I never shop there if i can help it. It's just, I suppose, when trying to find a large sponsor with enough $$$ - I don't know how their selection process went or how tough it was, i.e. other companies maybe having given as much as they could for the year, else where, etc. I just recall Verizon having a large fancy display full of phones and other technology to test out, complete w/ sales people who said they were selling nothing, but nevertheless approached me to see if I was familiar with Verizon - I really did not like that. Whole foods with all it's controversy is better than Slaveway (Safeway) or Verizon. Any one with an outstanding idea for the best sponsor should get on down to Harmony and offer up! I was just sorry I didn't find the Whole Foods booth with lots of free samples, was there one?

[Scott McKeown]

____

Scott, how do you explain this?: "And this year the Harmony Festival organization is privileged to partner with Live Nation" https://kadmusarts.com/festivals/1113.html Maybe Live Nation has no "ownership" of the event but they are definitely profiting from it and have influence. Would you agree or do you deny it?

Attila
...

That is totally false. How many times do I need to say this? Live Nation is not profiting from nor are they influencing the Harmony Festival whatsoever. I have no idea what this website is about or how they got that false info. I've never heard of this website and we never submitted this info to them. There is no way I or anybody else can control everything that some obscure website on the Internet says, although we will obviously try to have that corrected. Perhaps this website came up with this based on something they read about the 2007 Harmony Festival, which I explained earlier. As a member of the Board of Directors of the Harmony Festival and as one of the part owners I can tell you that Live Nation has no ownership whatsoever, nor is profiting at all from the Harmony Festival, nor is any other corporation. No corporation has a seat on the Board. All Board members are individuals who are connected in some way with the Festival. The idea that Live Nation is somehow profiting from the Harmony Festival is totally absurd and almost comical to those of us who closely work with the Festival.

By the way, come down and check out the Harmony Festival office sometime at Sonoma Mountain Village and you can meet the staff who are the local folks who make all the decisions about the Festival. Believe me, there is no corporate ownership, profiting, or influencing whatsoever. I suppose you can just think that I am lying about this and maybe you will never be convinced otherwise. But I'm confident that people who know me in the community know I wouldn't lie about this. It's almost surreal to me that I am still having this conversation. Let me say it again: the Harmony Festival is 100% owned by individuals and is completely controlled by the Harmony Festival staff and Board of Directors with no corporate ownership, profiting, or influencing involved at all. How many more ways can I say this?

Scott

[Sabrina]

Just came home late and checked email to see Scott explaining himself again. I'd just like to chime in that I too have heard all the rumors about corporate take over of harmony, etc. and felt there was a difference over the years myself, as I've earlier stated; but I tell you, one thing I do know, in my experience with Scott McKeowin, which can mainly be described originally in a business sense and later developing into community comradere, he is a very ethical and diplomatic person whom I trust with telling the truth, and coming from the heart. Actually, the way I feel now is that I can only blame myself for taking part in any perpetration of continuing to repeat and believe what now really sounds like hearsay that has not been straightened out about corporate take over of Harmony. My conscience now tells me that I won't participate in the particular talk that has been about corporate takeover etc. because this is really the first time I've heard it stated so strongly by someone I do respect, trust, and find to be quite ethical, that there is no corporate ownership partners, etc. with the fair. I think that many of us who really miss the way some aspects of the fair used to be or wish things were not becoming a certain way need to really step up to the plate and perhaps get more involved; go to the office as Scott suggests and offer up your / our suggestions.

[Veeja]

That is totally false. How many times do I need to say this? Live Nation is not profiting from nor are they influencing the Harmony Festival whatsoever. I have no idea what this website is about or how they got that false info. I've never heard of this website and we never submitted this info to them. There is no way I or anybody else can control everything that some obscure website on the Internet says, although we will obviously try to have that corrected. Perhaps this website came up with this based on something they read about the 2007 Harmony Festival, which I explained earlier. As a member of the Board of Directors of the Harmony Festival and as one of the part owners I can tell you that Live Nation has no ownership whatsoever, nor is profiting at all from the Harmony Festival, nor is any other corporation. No corporation has a seat on the Board. All Board members are individuals who are connected in some way with the Festival. The idea that Live Nation is somehow profiting from the Harmony Festival is totally absurd and almost comical to those of us who closely work with the Festival.


By the way, come down and check out the Harmony Festival office sometime at Sonoma Mountain Village and you can meet the staff who are the local folks who make all the decisions about the Festival. Believe me, there is no corporate ownership, profiting, or influencing whatsoever. I suppose you can just think that I am lying about this and maybe you will never be convinced otherwise. But I'm confident that people who know me in the community know I wouldn't lie about this. It's almost surreal to me that I am still having this conversation. Let me say it again: the Harmony Festival is 100% owned by individuals and is completely controlled by the Harmony Festival staff and Board of Directors with no corporate ownership, profiting, or influencing involved at all. How many more ways can I say this?

Scott

Thanks for clarifying how you know this information. I for one didn't say, I did not believe you. But could you explain what live nation did for the festival? If you don't want to talk about this anymore I understand. Just curious why I was told live nation was the left side of the fairgrounds and harmony to the right. Maybe, the people who told me were joking. They have been working harmony for years, so I took them seriously. It doesn't even really matter all that much. Harmony is changing. Things have to change sometimes to keep going, I guess. Changing of the guards. it can't be an easy job you have. I appreciate all your hard work. I know a lot of older harmony goers are saying this was there last year. You have to admit it does seem a little corporate. The people who don't like this feel will move onto other festivals or create there own. Like Gaia Festival. I know a few vendors that rent there booths for around $1800 and have been there for years wont be back next year either.One vendor usually made her booth fee by Friday. This year she barily made it by Sunday. Part of it had to do with the economy but the ticket prices scared people away. Harmony had less people this year. If you keep the ticket prices where they were you would have had more people made the same money and the vendors would have been happier.