Reggae: Past, Present and Future

Ok, wait. No, just a minute. Wait, no, wait just a minute. Carol Bruno/People Productions/Tommy Dimmick say they offered a multi million dollar deal. No wait, just a minute.... They offered multiple million dollar deals? No wait... just a second....... didn't Carol Bruno/People Productions quit? Twice? Didn't she fail to deliver the cash in 2005? Didn't Carol Bruno claim that if the show has to go on in 2006 she had to have a NEW contract? "Ok, ok Carol here is the NEW contract that gives you EVERYTHING YOU WANT so that you will pay us, the Mateel, the money you are promising for 2006. "So Carol are we going to get our money?" "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes." ........... (Sept 2006) - The Mateel thinks "Well maybe this is going to work out and it was all worth it to deal this nightmare of a production company." "Hello. Mateel? This is Carol Bruno/People Productions. I'm just calling to tell you that I will have your check for you real soon. 16 grand..... You don't like it? You should consider yourselves lucky to have me, Carol Bruno/People Productions do your fundraiser for you. You are very ungrateful. I quit!" Carol Bruno/People Productions, Paul Bassis on his soapbox (KMUD RADIO), hangers on, uninformed friends and family, PB, paid employees and Les Sher says that the Mateel are unfit and do not know how to manage the money that Carol Bruno/People Productions were so kind to let them have. The Mateel board and Executive Director ("And who did she have to pay off to receive that title. We never got a title like that. It just isn't fair") should lose their jobs because they expected Carol Bruno/People Productions to acually pay them the money they were promised. Sheesh. Who do these Mateel board people think they are anyway? Why don't they just go away like the others did in the past. Didn't they get the memo that said "It is easier to resign the board that to deal with Carol Bruno/People Productions (and now Tommy Dimmick) than to try and get what is due to the Mateel? You didn't see that memo?
Well Carol Bruno/People Productions just wants to make it perfectly clear so that there will be no misunderstanding that anybody could be confused about, be well aware of and want her friends and family and partners and hangers-on to know in front of all you 400 people that "I Carol Bruno, owner of People production, quit. Resign. Don't want the job anymore. Terminate my contract that I forced you to sign."
"What do you mean you hired somebody else?" "We will give you money . Millions of dollars. We give you our worthless word."
So now those mean board members and the Executive Director don't want to take their worthless word. What kind of assurances do you give? "Well, well well, well, well. Just trust us"
Ok, so what would you do? Would you take the word of Carol Bruno/People Productions or would you look elsewhere and use somebody who will do the job with total transparency? Would you put your money on somebody who has let you down for two years and almost bankrupted the Mateel and has been a huge pain in the ass to work with for 20 years and bad mouths you at every turn and has a problem of upholding their end of the deal or would you give somebody else who has produced big shows in the past and has a track record of doing what is right and does not seem to be too demanding and well, just seems like somebody you would rather work with after all these years of nightmares? What do you think is the right way to go on this?
My vote is to give Boots a try. Could it possibly be any worse. Is that at all possible?
(All the quotes here are just the way people have said things have transpired. They are not verbatim words out of the mouths of the people they are attributed to.)
 

Let's see, the new festivals supporters are "all convinced" that the Mateel and "2B1" don't have the resources or the venue to pull off Reggae.

You people are doing everything you can to make sure that the venue is not available. Despite your efforts in this regard Judge Watson will be the one to make the final decision.

No matter what the judge decides your group has shown by your mutinous behavior that what you think is more important to you than what is right. To schedule a festival on the ROTR weekend at the traditional location is telling. These actions on your part indicate that you place your desires above the best interests of the community as a whole. Shame on You.

If you are the "Mateel", as you say you are, why don't you work through the organization to change things rather than acting like kids taking your ball home thereby ending the game?

What does it mean, "a foundation will likely be formed"? Do you expect the community to rely on such a flimsy proclamation and give you their support? Pretty big expectations considering the events of the past two years wouldn't you say?
Davido
 

I have a few questions about this latest press release.
How much money did Mossman make off ROR 2006?
What do you see as the MCC mission ?
What profits? What likely foundation?
What Guarantee?
Who makes the big bucks?
Will PP take less off the top?

Why is it so hard to deal with the Mateel every time?
Where does your sense of entitlement come from?
ZenDog
 

Wow. My friend Sandy asked me why the MCC didn't take a year off from producing ROTR to figure out how to fix this and keep our community family together? She suggested that we might have held a couple of really great benefits for the hall to keep it open in the interim until the 25th annual was produced enthusiastically by the community. We wouldn't have let the hall go under from lack of finanacial support.
We would have avoided this very public nastiness. The world is now watching us.
call me I am curious too.
 

We all want the Mateel to survive, we just don’t see it happening with the present Executive Director. We basically are the Mateel, we are the members……

We have met the enemy and he is us.
 

Somebody up here asked "what is... the Mateel's sense of entitlement?" Simple.

The Mateel Community Center OWNS Reggae on the River. People Productions was a contract service provider that has performed very poorly and quit when its performance was questioned. The Mateel just wants its festival to be held and to benefit its owner.
 

We basically are the Mateel, we are the members……
is this guy for real??
I have lived in this community, in southern humboldt, for 32 years, and I can tell you this guy is NOT the Mateel, NOR does he speak for the Mateel, or any one else in southern humboldt that I know.
Shame on you Mr.Mossman, shame on you.
 

So, let me get this straight. Tom D. says that out of the kindness of his heart and his and Carol and People Production's concern for safety and the welfare of the nonprofits of the area he is putting on a Reggae festival in the place and time the Mateel had intended.
Because they are convinced that the Mateel and the new production company can't do it (um, because the place and time have been preempted?) and because they don't like the Executive Director of the Mateel Community Center, duly hired by the democratically elected Board of Directors the membership of the Mateel voted into place, who have the responsibility to see that the resources of this crucial nonprofit are kept for the community, and for the many, many community endeavors (far beyond reggae) that our nonprofit community center puts on.
The community center that was assured, by People and gang, that everything was fine, that money was coming. (and the auditor still waiting for sufficient figures from PP)
The Board that took fiscal responsiblity seriously, thereby making People uncomfortable.

And what's the set up of People Production and Dimmick? Who elected them? I forget. To whom are they answerable? Sorry, I must have missed that part.
All this talk about concern for the poor nonprofits of the area seems to miss one...the community center itself, which, whatever they may say, they seem determined to destroy.
 

Anon 5:17
I believe that you misunderstood. My questions were aimed at David Moss aka Mossman.
Where does his and PP and Tommy's sense of entitlement come from? They are the Mateel yet they attempt to steal its main asset? twisted logic at best.
ZenDog
 

I am Mateel member and regardless of what you think of whom and who you want to bash and blame .I still want to know how the comunity center spent 496 thousand dollars in 2 years . I witnessed the presentation by the ed at the mateel meeting and saw a lot of bad bussiness practices .The center was paid off,they don't pay property taxes,alot of the programs like feat first dancers have grant's.We need to look at where our money is going same old practices will cost our center with what's going on . How much have we spent on lawyers so far please give us an amount ....
 

Please come on in. We'd be happy to go over this with you. A large portion of those funds, as projected at the annual membership went towards the investment in the new site. A large portion of the loss was listed as recoverable from ROTR over the long term. This includes attorney's fees paid on behalf of ROTR.

Taunya Stapp
Executive Director
Mateel Community Center
 

Assuming the money was necessary, why did the MCC turn down People Production's proposal for a 10-year contract in exchange for 200K per year guaranteed? That's 2 million dollars...The way I heard it, Carol and PP made this proposal soon after last year's show, when People saw that the Mateel's agreed upon cut of the proceeds would would be way less than expected...
 

That's a valid question. I could hazard a guess, I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with interpretation of trademark law, but I'd rather let someone from the Mateel board or perhaps the E.D. address it.
Taunya?
 

It depends on the details. Although if this is a reference to what they addressed at the annual meeting last November (their offer from July), I read then the email comment from our attorney in response to the demand that the board decide whether or not to accept that offer in a 24 hour period or there would be dire consequences. It is called a naked licensing agreement. A naked licensing agreement would be a very bad decision for MCC to enter into with this production company given their past behavior. I believe the ending comment I read on that note, a personal one to me from the attorney, read something like "Only a moron in a hurry would accept this agreement."
 

I can quote from the only publicly available document, this was handed out at the MCC Membership Meeting.
Written by Hannah Nelson ( Operations Manager/ROTR Lawyer/Law Enforcement Liason 10 yrs. )
"Details of the offer were"
"1. Mateel recieves $200k regardless of outcome of event"
"3. The only caveat is force majeure in which case NO ONE GETS ANYTHING ......" (emphasis mine)
4. - 11. Clauses specifying who pays for assignment of leases etc. , how long they have to negotiate (20 hours PP lawyers and 7 days in which to complete )
then the real bottom line
"12. ...... if conditions in any year result in the event only being able to earn $300k then there is a get out clause."

All other offers were made by Tom Dimmick or PP during mediation . It is their lawyers who inserted more stringent confidentiality conditions on the two sides. All they have to do is agree in writing to void this condition and we would all be able to hear the truth.
“May the pure light shine upon us”
Rohn
 

This is where the People Productions crowd change the game/rules. They say that the Mateel spent $496,000 over two years blah blah blah. The Mateel should have blah blah blah. The Mateel wasted the money on lawyers etc. YOU HAVE TAKEN YOUR EYE OFF THE BALL! You see, People Productions, by saying this stuff, are saying that they are the ones who should decide what the Mateel should spend the Mateel's money on. The bottom line is THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH Reggae on the River®. Nothing!! People Productions are saying "Since we don't think you are spending your money properly we are NOT going to give your any more money. In fact we are going to take the show away from you and make it our own." Who do they think they are? PP did not pay the Mateel for two years and then Carol Bruno/People Productions and when they were asked about it she quit (she should have been terminated years ago). I know I keep repeating it but it keeps getting forgotten and twisted into the Mateel's fault and these people who say the Mateel spent their money wrongly need to be reminded that it has nothing to do with what is going on now. NOTHING! Carol Bruno/People Productions quit and are trying to steal the event and make it their own. Make no mistake about it. If anybody has a problem with the way the Mateel spends it's money or with the way the Executive Director does her job, take it up at a Mateel meeting because it has nothing to do with Reggae on the River®. This is very very important to understand!!!!
 

Who knows how much money it took to move the ROR site? Who knows how much work and cordination it takes to put on a show of this caliber? Is Carol speaking from her heart? Is Boots familar with Humboldt. Didn't Boots work for PP a few years ago? Why did he leave????? Why are both shows selling tickets? I know people buying tickets for both events... We need to solve this community problem fast, before it gets any worse!!! Jah Rastafari