Reggae: Past, Present and Future

Moving out and over to WordPress

2007-08-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

That's right, Reggae: Past, Present and Future is moving from Blogger to a new location in the world of WordPress -- taking with it all posts and comments from the last eight months.
See you there.

peace out - Bob

Reggae report from the desk of BART ECKERFIELD #9779 CHP

2007-08-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

This came via the Journal office:

FROM THE DESK:
BART ECKERFIELD #9779
GARBERVILLE AREA
CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL
30 West Coast Road.
Redway, CA 95560

August 7, 2007

Reggae Rising

The California Highway Patrol Garberville Area assisted People’s Production with the “Reggae Rising” musical festival on the Dimmick Ranch. According to the Garberville CHP commander Lt. G.R. Peck, “The planning, preparation, and execution resulted in a flawless operation reducing the loss of any lives and injuries. Lt. G.R. Peck also commented, “The attendees welcomed our officers both inside and outside of the event. Our officers made no observations inside the event to cause them to take enforcement actions.”

California Highway Patrol officers made less than 100 traffic enforcement contacts, approximately 65 notice to appears were issued for violations of speeding, pedestrians failing to follow regulatory signs, and some for mechanical and correction violations. A two car collision resulting in property damage only was associated with the event, and Officer Brian White made one arrest for Driving under the Influence of Alcohol and or Drugs.

Submitted by Officer Bart Eckerfield #9779
Public Affairs Officer

People

2007-08-01T14:01:00.001-07:00

Reggae photog Kim Sallaway sent this recent shot of the Reggae coordinators onsite. It reminded me of what Stephen Marley said when he was in town, "It's not really about the name, you know. It's the people." These are the people putting on the show this weekend. Click on the image and it will get larger. See if there's anyone you know...

Crash course on the clash

2007-07-31T12:13:00.001-07:00

I spent most of yesterday reviewing the history of the conflict over Reggae for a piece that comes out tomorrow, in part by looking back to the stories I wrote for the North Coast Journal since November. It occurred to me that some people coming to this site have no idea what transpired. Those interested in a crash course (from one journalist's perspective) are invited to read these Journal stories from the last nine months:

Basic intro: Clash Over Reggae - Nov. 16, 2006
A long piece detailing the beginning of the rift with back history. It hit the street the day before the fateful Nov. 2006 Mateel Membership meeting. It's far from perfect, but should serve as a primer.

SoHum in Counseling - Nov. 23, 2006
A report on the Mateel's annual membership meeting.

Crisis at the Mateel - Dec. 21, 2006
From the Journal's year-end wrap-up, Top Ten Stories (Scroll down: Reggae was No. 8.)

The Hum: Forever - Jan. 25, 2007
More or less a status update at the beginning of my weekly music column.

Reggae River Rising - Feb. 22, 2007
Reggae Rising announced - Mateel files suit.

The Journal's annual Summer Festival Guide May 23, 2007
It led with a Reggae news update and a comparison to other local festival troubles.

And for a flashback to brighter days, we'll end with Why Reggae? August 12, 2004
A cover story exploring Reggae from various viewpoints.

And Reggae Redux with photos from Reggae 2001

One more thing, look for a major piece on the Reggae conflict in the San Francisco Chronicle in the next few of days (Thursday?) by entertainment writer Joel Selvin. I had a long chat with him the other day (on background) maybe you did too.

(Kim shot this photo of Joel at last night's coordinator meeting.)

Weird inspiration from "Reggae Rising"

2007-07-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this strange bizness this morning by accident.
This interview on the blog, This Socialite's Life with the actor turned director David Arquette explains how he was inspired to write a slasher/horror film titled "The Tripper" after a visit to Humboldt. The movie was released earlier this year on 4:20. According to Arquette, the plot concerns "a group of drugged-out hippies that go out to the redwood forest for a weekend long concert, that get hunted and attacked by a killer that's obsessed with Ronald Regan."

It gets weirder, and more specific...

Interviewer/blogger Josh asks: What inspired you on this movie?

David: I was at one of these concerts at a place called Garberville. It's in Humboldt county. I was at a concert called "Reggae rising." I was looking out at the field, a little wasted, and I thought, "Man, it'd be crazy if a killer came out of these woods and started hacking all these hippies up." That was one of the germs.

OK, I recall someone saying they saw David Arquette at Reggae, but needless to say it wasn't Reggae Rising, it was Reggae on the River. What does this tell us? I suppose that Reggae Rising has supplanted Reggae on the River, if not in the public eye, at least in the mind of one stoned actor.

Incidentally, the festival in the movie is not a reggae concert it's a retro rock fest. Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee) plays a concert promoter who is nothing like anyone I know. Watch the trailer here and laugh your ass off. (Warning it's ridiculously violent.) It's out on video in October.

side note: If you go to The Tripper MySpace, you'll find a banner ad link to Reggae Rising.

Reggae Stage Schedule

2007-07-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

This came from the RR p.r. source. All you lurking playa-haters will have to forgive me for posting "festival propaganda" as one of you put it, but I thought this info might be useful to those planning on attending the upcoming event.
A couple of notes: artists in green are Humboldt homegrown. A journalism prof turned copy editor once explained to me that there is actually no such thing as a "first annual" anything. An event only becomes annual when it happens a second year. That said, here you go:

People Productions WELCOMES you to the 1st Annual Reggae Rising Music Festival

Friday, August 3rd Stage Schedule

Heavyweight Dub Champion: 12:30 AM- 2:00 AM (shown above at RotR 06)
Mr Easy (in Club Rising): 11:45 PM -12:30 AM
Anthony B: 10:15 PM - 11:45 PM
Fantan Mojah: 8:45 PM - 10:00 PM
Richie Spice: 6:45 PM - 8:00 PM
Collie Buddz: 5:15 PM - 6:15 PM
The Abyssinians: 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Queen Omega: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Streets to the Hills: 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Luna and Moese Angel: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Native Opening Ceremony: 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM

Saturday, August 4th Stage Schedule

Ziggy Marley: 12:30 AM - 2:00 AM
Sly & Robbie & Taxi Gang: 9:45 PM - 11:45 PM
Horace Andy
Cherine Anderson
Morgan Heritage: 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Tanya Stephens: 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Wisdom: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Soul Majestic: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Subliminal Sabotage: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Sunday, August 5th Stage Schedule

Damian Marley: 10:30 PM - 12:00 PM
Stephen Marley: 8:15 PM - 9:45 PM
Steel Pulse: 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Freddie McGregor: 3:45 PM - 5:15 PM
Richie Stevens: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Ishi Dube: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

another question for Garth?

2007-07-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Kim posted this as a comment on the Q&A with Garth Epling, so I assume the question is for him. I believe Garth took over as webmaster of the RotR website when Primo went to work for Reggae Rising. (I stand corrected, Garth was not webmaster.) I should point out that one reason Kim might be concerned is that he shot the bulk of the photos in the now-missing RotR online archive. You can find some of his Reggae photos here.

What happened to all of the content on www.reggaeontheriver.com?
The festival now has no web based institutional history, no testament to any good memories shared.
The 2 pages left on the website don't inspire me to hope that the Mateel will rebound from shooting off their feet.
Black background with red copy?
And a page of apologies.
After 23 years that is not the way to treat our history. What would it have cost to keep the content of the website available to anyone who wished to browse through years of good times? Surely the necessary band width isn't so expensive that the Mateel needed to dump everything in order to trim the expenses.
Who exactly made this IMHO foolish decision?
And how does it help the Mateel?
If one wants the Mateel to be long lived, I think we should be continuing our web presence.
What is this saying to the world?
It seems to me to be a further devaluation of the name of the festival itself!

Kim

Garth replies:

Fear not, the complete Reggae on the River archive is still stored on the host site. The Mateel has not abandoned its web presence as demonstrated by the frequently updated www.mateel.org website. The Mateel and ROTR websites are updated solely by volunteers at this point, and plans to resurrect the ROTR discussion board are in the works (again, through volunteer efforts). I assure you, this is not the end of www.reggaeontheriver.com.

rejection notice

2007-07-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of comments showed up in my mailbox from the anonymous blogger Reggae Warrior. One merely reiterated a harmless enough factoid in my interview with the Mateel VP: Garth is not Reggae Warrior. I "published" that one, as they say in blogging terminology.

The second was a reposting of RW's comment on the East Bay Express story, "Reggae vs. Reggae." On his own blog, RW pondered an ethical question aloud: EB-Express editor Nate Seltenrich asked if he would reveal his true identity so the paper could publish his comment as a letter to the editor. He chose not to do so, but did not really explain why.

I have chosen to publish excerpts from his post, basically to show why I opted not to put the whole thing up.

[note: image courtesy of The Black Library]

From: Reggae Warrior
Date: July 28, 2007 10:54:26 PM PDT
Subject: [Reggae: Past, Present and Future] New comment on CB Q&A.

Reggae Warrior has left a new comment on your post "CB Q&A":

"One thing I always try to do when I learn of a dispute or conflict is to ask myself: "what happened?" We all know the basic facts...."

This is followed by a long involved analysis of "what happened" with a premise primarily based on a rumored "smoking gun" e-mail that somehow no one has ever been able to produce. Sorry, but allegations you read in anonymous comments in your blog or elsewhere do not pass the "basic facts" test.

RW offers his capsule history of the conflict misstating some facts and coloring the actions of each side based on his preconceived notion of who's right and who's wrong. From there he returns to rumor mongering: " I suspect, but cannot prove other than by the circumstances, that" blah blah blah... "ambiguous e-mail" ... "That may seem" ..."I believe that" ... "it tells me all I need to know" ... "it should tell you the same."

As host and moderator of this blog, my choice was:

"Publish this comment."
or
"Reject this comment."

I chose rejection since his diatribe violates the simple rule stated above: "anonymous personal attacks and unsubstantiated rumors don’t make it though my filter." It's just my opinion, but I have found that the content on Reggae Warrior anonymous blog is almost exclusively personal attacks and unsubstantiated rumors, and further (IMHO) it ain't funny in the least.

I'm reminded of a speech at that fateful November meeting at the Mateel. Barb Truitt, dismayed at the personal attacks spewed throughout the evening, called for civility and reminded those assembled that things said that night could not be taken back -- and those were words offered in a public forum with faces attached to them. Once the debate went anonymous on the blogs, all hell broke loose and civility was out the window. The flames online proved almost as damaging as the flames of the arsonist who burned down the first Mateel Community Center. The 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love was celebrated with a Summer of Hate in that bastion of hippie values that once called itself the Mateel Nation.

Forgive me for ending on what might seem a trite note, but there's a song that was one of my favorites back in that fabled Summer of Love .

Love is but the song we sing,
And fear's the way we die.
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry.
Know the dove is on the wing
And you need not know why.
C'mon people now,
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try and love one another right now.
If you hear the song I sing,
You must understand,
You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand.
Just one key unlocks them both;
It's there at your command.
C'mon people now,
Smile on your brother,
Everybody get together
Try and love one another right now.
Right now.
Right now!

"Get Together" written by Dino Valente, as sung by The Youngbloods...

CB Q&A

2007-07-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

The Reggae Rising p.r. department sent this short Q&A.
Note: I'm sending my own set of questions today.

Below are a few Questions and Answers recently asked of Carol Bruno/People Productions:

What is different about the event this year?

There will be a smaller population. There will be lots of green grass and lots less dust because we are not doing major construction. Best festival lineup of the summer. Finally able to book lots of women to perform.
Beach area at the Dome site free of campers and cars. Heaven Bus is back with Chris Deckker and the Earthdance Crew.
Expanded Opening Ceremony featuring Native Elders in unison with Rastafarian Elders and drum processional.
The High Altitude Dancehall Club on Friday and Saturday nights. Guest performances by Lexus, Collie Buddz and Mr. Easy, Dancers, Lighting, Sound Systems, Private Restrooms, Large Viewing Screens. Comes with VIP package.
VIP upgrades, along with General Tickets, can be purchased online reggaerising.com or at local outlets including the Dimmick Ranch box office, People Production office in Redway, Streetlight Records in San Jose, San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Check website for complete offerings.

What is the history of your involvement with this event?

I was on the Mateel Board of Directors when the original hall in Garberville was burned by an arsonist. We decided to do a Reggae festival as a fund raiser to help rebuild the building and called it Reggae on the River. I worked in a small trailer and then in two consecutive small offices organizing the festival for five years while we searched, found and purchased the land in Redway. I worked at the Mateel Center for the next 6 years as the Director and produced the festival in house. In 1994 PB, Doug Green and myself founded People Productions and continued to produced Reggae on the River, and other events as independent contractors. We eventually went our separate ways and today I am the soul owner of People Productions. This year Tom Dimmick, owner of the Dimmick Ranch and myself are working together along with the original staff and production team and many of the volunteers who formed the family that has worked together over 20 years to produce the traditional reggae festival in Southern Humboldt. The festival this year is called Reggae Rising.
My company and this staff have worked for many years and earned funds totaling in millions of dollars for the Mateel Center and many other no-profit organizations combined. We do this with love as a gift to our community and to help sustain its needs.

Why reggae music?

The spiritual essence and message in the music. It's church. Reggae Rising is dedicate to the music.

Who are your influences...how did you learn the business?

I learned the business by trail and error and many years of hard work in the school of hard knocks. It has been my life's work and it has brought me much joy and happiness.

Who and what will benefit from this year's event?

27 non-profit organizations and Fire Departments will benefit. Also a payroll of over 500 local people, scores of local business in Garberville, Eureka, Arcata and Laytonville and Willits.
Last year earned many of the non-profits more income than any other past year. They depend on it to fund their projects.

chatting with the V.P.

2007-07-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

A conversation with Mateel Board of Directors Vice-President Garth Epling

With just nine days until Reggae, it seemed a good time to check in with the Mateel regarding ongoing issues. My call to Taunya Stapp was passed off to Mateel Board V.P. Garth Epling...

What's Up?

Well, it's about a week until Reggae weekend and I'm looking for an update from the Mateel perspective. I called Taunya, I assume she called you. Is she still employed by the Mateel?

We're going to contract with her for institutional memory on the legal issues.

You mean as the suit goes forward. What's the status of all that?

The status of the lawsuit? Right now we have a continuance. We had to do arbitration on the Dimmick agreement; that has a ways to go. It's delayed until I'd say late October or November.

Is the end plan with that to re-establish the Mateel's lease with Dimmick to do Reggae on the River next year?

We'll find out whether our lease agreement is valid or not and that will affect many other things, like damages etc. But honestly, even if the lease is proved valid, if there's a hostile landlord then what kind of situation would that be? We'll see how it works out.

I've heard that you were thinking about trying to do Reggae just at French's Camp.

Possibly, although Dimmick does have a three-year lease option that he obtained on that, and I think he's exercised that option so he kind of controls that side of the river as well.

Are you considering doing Reggae somewhere else?

Yeah, although I'd think we're looking at a smaller scale. Talking with our membership and local people, a lot of them want to see Reggae on the River return, but in a scaled back version, certainly under 10,000, more likely in the 8,000 range. We have some feelers out but there's no other site set. Right now we're focusing on the lawsuit.

Do you have an ongoing contract with Boots Hughston and 2b1 to produce the festival again?

Boots had the agreement for this last year and of course was unable to produce it due to all the legal conflicts. We may end up going with him again, certainly. We still owe Boots since he paid up front for Reggae 07.

How much do you owe him?

We owe Boots $150,000. We paid back half of what he paid us, but he's agreed to very reasonable payment arrangements, over three years and no interest, stuff like that. He's definitely here to help the Mateel out and to see Reggae go forward. If there's an opportunity to do Reggae in the future, I'm sure he'd want to step up and help us out with it.

Of course you could potentially just do it yourselves.

If we did it with Boots that would of course eliminate any debt we had with him, but there's also a possibility, if we did it on a smaller community level, that we could easily produce it ourselves. Summer Arts has turned into quite a festival. Ideally we'd like to see Summer Arts move to the [Southern Humboldt] Community Park eventually, but there are permit issues and things to be worked out.

Isn't there a big concert there tomorrow night?

I've heard rumors of that.

My friend has a ticket to see Hank Williams III there.

I'm not sure how that's working. I was talking to the caretakers and they're trying to keep in small scale, but Hank III seems like a pretty big deal.

What do you think about what could be described as the Mateel resistance against Reggae Rising? Mostly it's from some very vocal critics on the blogosphere.

I'll tell you a lot of our membership who did not want to see Reggae Rising go forward are kind of upset at us right now because they don't see us taking direct action against the County and stuff like that. The thing is, we do have legal fund backers, but money is tight and we have to pick and choose the battles we're fighting.

Did trying to stop Reggae Rising on the permit level seem like a losing proposition?

Our attorneys though it might be possible, but they felt the County would put up some heavy resistance and we might even end up having to sue the County to get it done. I don't think we were willing to go there. I know there were some individuals who were going to try to step up to try to block the permit, but it seems to me it's a little too late at this point. We wanted more time. The arbitration (on the lease issues) was originally scheduled for July 11, and our lawyers felt it was crucial to gather more evidence and do a few more depositions with the individuals involved. We have to explain everything to this retired judge.

So the plan was to get that done before the permit was finalized.

We were. But the attorneys said it would be a lot better if we got a continuance and put together more hard evidence. To get that extension, under the advice of our attorneys, the Mateel agreed not to interfere with the permitting process.

That was a shift in the nature of the fight. When I spoke with (boardmember) Bob Stern at Summer Arts he told me the Mateel was going to try to stop Reggae Rising, but it seems like instead you've decided to focus on a damage settlement.

It's all about monetary funds and paying attorneys. Personally I feel that we should be trying to stop something from happening on the same day, same time, same place as our festival, but the attorneys told us, 'You have to choose your battle.'

Jumping back to the middle of May, when negotiations broke down, it seems like there's a very real potential that in standing firm that the Reggae on the River name and trademark was paramount, you may have created a situation where that name may now have no value.

I think the Reggae on the River name still has quite a bit of value. Obviously it lost some value in this whole fight and in the fact that it won't be produced this year.

Do you have any regrets at not taking the deal offered?

I was shocked that the production company (People Productions) did not take our offer. We wanted $200,000 straight up depending on Planning Commission (attendance) numbers. The only holdup was that they wanted to use the Reggae Rising name. Honestly I think if we'd gone ahead and said 'OK, do Reggae on the River produced by Reggae Rising,' that would have devalued our name just as much.

As I understand it, the suggestion was to call it Reggae on the River and say, "presented by Reggae Rising and the Mateel Community Center."

Right. But once the Reggae Rising name was involved, I foresaw it as a delayed takeover of the event. The next year, you've boosted that Reggae Rising name up, advertised it, answered your phone "Reggae Rising," your tickets say "Reggae Rising," then in '08, you go 'OK, we're doing Reggae Rising now,' and you have that much more of an audience. I have no idea what ticket sales for Reggae Rising are right now.

An e-mail I got today says it's 75 percent sold out. If you do the math, that leaves around 2,000 to sell.
On another subject, there's a little controversy about a story published in the East Bay Express and the lack of input from your side. Were you ever contacted by a reporter from that paper?

I had an e-mail forwarded from the office, [sent to] a Mateel.org e-mail address. I think it was one or two days before the article came out. Of course with the low-power mode the Mateel is in, he might have called the Mateel office and not found anybody. Considering that they only talked to one side, I didn't think [the story] was terrible. Whatever. It was what it was.
But, yeah, mainly it's boiling down to financial stuff at this point. I'm watching our bridges get put in on the site right now. Our property is being used. One of the bridges alone cost around $55,000 a couple of years ago. And now we have a $33,000 payment we gave Dimmick; I don't understand the holdup in returning that to the Mateel.

I read in a comment on one of the blogs that the Mateel sent a letter to the Sheriff, the Highway Patrol and other authorities saying that you consider your property as stolen.

The lawyers did draft some sort of demand letter saying, "Give us our property back or pay us for it. And by the way maybe you'd like to send back our lease payment as well. We're obviously not exercising our rights to it."

Do you think they should not use the bridge?

Well, I think all the infrastructure down there is the Mateel's property; it's not even in contention. It would have been nice to have received some funds for it.

I would suppose the use of your property is another thing added to the lawsuit, something a judge will look at.

It is definitely in the legal grounds now. As I said, some members still want to take it before the Board of Supervisors, but I think at this point it might be a little bit late. I don't think the Planning Commission ever officially decided to give the event to Reggae Rising. They just accepted that there was a permit and an event going on.

I'd say they made that clear from the beginning. They did not want to decide if it would be Reggae on the River or Reggae Rising. I'd have to say, in Humboldt County, you just call it, Reggae.

(Laughs.) Yeah. I guess for me it all boils down to who's going to profit from it. It's no longer an event that benefits the Mateel.

But that was once on the table: an ongoing cash stream of $200,000 a year.

Sure. That was our offer.

I guess I still don’t understand why you didn't go for that.

On the flipside, why did they want to use the Reggae Rising name?

Well, from their point of view, because they had invested in advertising, poster and so forth...

What they told us was they were afraid they'd lose ticket sales because they'd advertised Reggae Rising.

And there was a very public announcement that Reggae on the River was cancelled...

This was before that happened. We offered to transfer all the tickets we had sold as part of the deal. The only sticking point was the Reggae Rising name. We offered them, in case they did not sell out, we said we'd take out [the value of] each ticket that did not sell from what they owed us. Really it seemed like a no lose situation for them. But it's all water under the bridge at this point.

What's the status of the Mateel Community Center? You just had a concert on Monday. I heard it went well.

It was a successful show. We're definitely not a production company...

While that was billed as a Mateel Forever show, I heard it was put on with money from one family.

Yeah, we've got some financial backers who are willing to put up their own money, at their own risk, to benefit the Mateel.

Any truth to the rumor they're trying to get Prince to play there?

That's a low possibility. I've heard the rumor and we discussed it in an events/talent meeting, but I don't know if it will happen. We are going to shoot for larger name events, and in all musical genres, not just reggae.

Are the ongoing community programs still using the hall?

We're trying to keep that up. We have just one staffer right now, which is Justin Crellin, who does the events/talent stuff. He's paid for one day a week, but certainly volunteers more of his time. We have various board members and members of the community stepping up to help with the day-to-day tasks of the Mateel. It's going to continue on. We're keeping the doors open. The soup kitchen is still there four days a week. We're tightening our belts and preparing to go forward while trying to keep the community center available.

What do you know about Mateel Partnership for Nonprofits? It that separate from the Mateel?

It's going to be inside the Mateel. It's run by Kate Crockett. She was involved in the Trees Foundation. She evolved the idea of that type of partnership. She's volunteering her time to deal with that partnership initiative.

What's the idea behind it?

Just to raise money for various nonprofits that might have been hurt by Reggae on the River not going forward, and not just for the short term, for years to come.

Are you talking about nonprofits that chose not to have a booth at Reggae Rising?

No, that's not actually the case. Even if a nonprofit had a both at Reggae Rising, if they can show that they had somehow been hurt by the cancellation of Reggae on the River, they would still be eligible to join that partnership, say if they make less money than the year before.

What do you think about the "Reggae Warrior" website?

I honestly haven't read any of that. I've seen his posts on Eric's (SoHum Parlance) blog but haven't gone to the site.

So you are not Reggae Warrior?

No, I can definitely say it's not me. Why was that put out there somewhere? Is someone spreading rumors?

No. Just squelching them before they start.

Positive Vibration

2007-07-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Live if you want to live
Rastaman vibration yeah! Positive.
I and I vibration yeah! Positive.
I a man iration yeah! Irieites.
Positive vibration yeah! Positive.

If you get down and quarrel everyday
You're saying prayers to the devil, I say.
Why not help one another on the way?
Make it much easier.

Say you just can't live that negative way,
You know what I mean.
Make way for the positive day:
'Cause it's a new day,
New time, new feeling yeah!
Say it's a new sign.
Oh what a new day.

Picking up,
Are you picking up now?
Jah love, Jah love protect us. (repeat)

Rastaman vibration yeah! Positive.
I and I vibration yeah! Positive.
I a man iration yeah! Irieites.
Vibes, got to have a good vibe.
Picking up,
Are you picking up now?

by Bob Marley from Rastaman Vibration

Reggae vs. Reggae

2007-07-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

It was just a matter of time before the Bay Area alt. weeklies picked up the story of our local conflict. Eric K. Arnold of the East Bay Express offers a compressed history titled "Reggae vs. Reggae," but since, as he put it, "Neither the Mateel Community Center nor 2b1 Multimedia responded to calls and e-mails seeking comment," the story is pretty much told from the Carol/Tom Reggae Rising P.O.V.

That's the complaint of Georje Holpe of Redway, who wrote the EB-Express to say:

All is not irie

As a member of the Mateel Community Center, I wish to say a few things regarding your one-sided, biased article. For the Mateel Community Center's point of view, talk to their lawyers. The staff of the community center has been laid off, and does not have the funds to hire a slick public relations firm, like People's Productions takes advantage of.

A large majority of the population in South Humboldt and North Mendocino counties are outraged that "People's Productions" — a for-profit corporation — hijacked a two-decades-old community-sponsored event that benefited our local, nonprofit organizations. For all the years Reggae on the River has been in existence, the Mateel Community Center fronted the seed money to put on the festival. People's Productions reaped the profits without having to invest their own money. Carol and Tom's offer of $200,000 was not going to be paid up-front and was not guaranteed. Boots and 2b1 Productions made an offer of $350,000 up-front and half the ticket sales.

Most importantly, "REGGAE ON THE RIVER" IS NOT FOR SALE AND NEVER HAS BEEN FOR SALE. The community is not willing to sell. I'm sure Tom and Carol wish the whole little problem of an outraged community would go away, but all is not irie when Reggae on the River becomes Babylon Rising.

Many of Humboldt County's nonprofit organizations rely on having a food booth at Reggae on the River as part of their yearly income. Many local nonprofits, including schools, volunteer fire departments, the community radio station, environmental groups, feel so strongly that this year's reggae festival is unethical, they have chosen to stand in solidarity with Mateel Community Center by not having a food booth at the festival this year.

For anyone attending the event, be forewarned: All sorts of protests and actions are being planned by the community at large.

note from afar

2007-07-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

this came in as a comment on the post below:

As an outsider this whole mess seems like both sides are fighting over a golden goose by each grabbing its neck.

About a dozen Bay Area friends and I have been attending ROTR since '89 and happily spending our $$ at the non-profits. This year, I could not find anyone willing to go because the vibe seems so bad. I doubt that we are alone in our sentiments.

Seems like there should be a civil way to handle disagreement within your community. At least you'd keep the dollars coming in from outside of it.

Good luck with your war - I prefer peace.

I repeat...

2007-07-15T09:40:00.001-07:00

Happy Reggae (War is Over)
(with apologies to John Lennon & Yoko Ono)

So this is Reggae
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Reggae
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Reggae
And a happy Mateel
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Reggae
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Reggae
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

And so this is Reggae
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Reggae
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Reggae
And a happy Mateel
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Reggae

Reggae War is Over! (if you want it)

2007-07-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

The SoHum "Clash over Reggae"® just gets more and more bizarre, lately lurching from tragedy into farce. I found this note from local politi-organizer Paul Encimer buried in the comments over at the strange Mateel partisan site, Reggae War Justice Watch.

NONVIOLENT NAVY POTLUCK AT TOOBY PARK, GARBERVILLE

Nonviolence on the River will meet again at Tooby Park outside Garberville on Saturday July 21 from 11 am till 2 PM. The previous workshop on July 7 focused on the theoretical – defining nonviolence, consensus and affinity group formation as well as establishing a Southern Humboldt Workshop in Nonviolence to provide ongoing background and preparation in nonviolence.

The workshop on July 21 will take a more action oriented approach. In particular, Reggae Uprising activists will be offering scenarios and role-playing around possible events in Piercy the first week-end of August should the county or courts allow a local corporation allied with a landowner to usurp a community owned event. After some preliminary discussion and agenda setting, the nonviolence workshop will move to the nearby river for scenarios and role playing.

This will be a Nonviolent Navy Potluck so bring something capable of floating you, and perhaps others, on the river. For safety and solidarity, these floating elements – inner tubes, small rafts & boats, rubber and plastic pool creatures – will be linked together. The result will be what organizers have dubbed: FloatZilla. Good swimmers are needed, too.

Other scenarios - for those adverse to water sports - can be entertained meanwhile on the beach. These include the formation of a Critical Mass contingent, various in-town and on-site Reggae Truth Booths, and additional forms of protest.

Organizers from the Congressional Accountability Project will be on the beach as well, to provide updates on the campaign to end funding of the war, keeping our troops at home and impeaching the war criminals.

Activities have included Monday vigils at Rep. Mike Thompson’s offices in Eureka and Ft.Bragg from 10 am on, regular civil disobedience at these offices, phone and email campaigns to Senators and Congressmembers and, in late September, a march on Washington D.C and the occupation of the Congress while in session, with simultaneous local actions. Bring snacks and drinks to share. For more info call Paul at 923-4488 or contact encimer@hotmail.com.

Okay, am I the only one who sees twisted irony in an anti-war activist mounting a naval attack as part of a war on Reggae? The fact that he's doing so while somehow trying to cling to his anti-war roots turns the whole thing into something bordering on true satire, which I must say is something I find in short supply when it comes to the rantings of the mysterious Reggae Warrior.

Side note to Mr. Taylor, or whatever your name is: posting comments on local sites unrelated to Reggae with invitations to your site is tantamount to spam. And if you must do so, you might want to think about leaving the @ out of the web address.

KMUD Pulls Out

2007-07-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

The special meeting of the KMUD Board of Directors on Monday was supposed to focus on the question: "Should 50% of the proceeds of the KMUD Ice Coffee Booth at the Reggae Festival be given to the Mateel Community Center?"

The result was another impassioned community forum, broadcast live on KMUD, about the ethical issues surrounding the ongoing controversy. Sorry I do not have time to transcribe the various speeches, which went on for nearly an hour. Thanks to the amazingly convenient KMUD archive with podcasts and downloads, you can listen to the discussion here.

As new general manager Brenda Starr noted, the money from the booth makes up 50 percent of KMUD's events income. Someone else pointed out that the money is only one percent of the station's total budget. There was a lot more talk that had little to do with money and more to do with moral values.

In the end the 50% to the Mateel idea fell by the wayside with the question turning into whether or not KMUD should sell their famous Mud at Reggae Rising at all.

The meeting concluded with two motions, first one to rescind the previous vote to have a booth. That passed, then a second issue was addressed: Should KMUD decline to do the coffee booth at Reggae Rising?

Said Brenda Starr, "Discussion included its fiduciary and fiscal decision making and 'where's the love?'"

The bottom line: the board voted unanimously to decline participation in Reggae Rising.

There was talk of the impact on the next fund drive and of an alternate fund raiser.

And as Brenda noted, "In light of the situation, a hat was passed for KMUD donations and $600 was raised."

reggae letter

2007-06-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

this mysterious note came to the newspaper via e-mail:

Reggae and psychedelic music and culture is manifest destiny for western civilization for the next 2000 years based on modern science and ancient history. The Humboldt Mendocino line symbolically represents the hippies, flower power, back to the land and there we find the reggae festival, where the main symbol is the lion.

The age we are in is a scientific fact based on PRECESSION of the equinoxes and it changes about every 2000 years. The position of the constellations on the equinoxes shows this, but what does it mean? In Egyptian hieroglyphics, we find written the lord's prayer which includes the phrase "on earth as it is in heaven." They were certainly referring to "the heavens" or the stars. They believed that the spirituality on the earth was symbolised in the stars on the equinoxes.

Even into medieval times great cathedrals were built in Europe so that the sunrise on the equinox would shine down the nave onto the altar. Several thousand years ago the supreme being of western civilization was Amen, the hidden one, who had a ram's head. It was the age of aries the ram, and pharoahs who had names like AMENhotep and TutankhAMEN (king tut) were considered incarnations of god on earth. Do Christians today know what they say in the word Amen? I don't think so.

Jesus and Mary have certainly dominated the spiritual iconography of the west, and what scientific age have we been in for the last 2000 years? The age of pisces and its opposite virgo- the fish represents Jesus and christianity, and the virgin represents Mary. Before the arian age was the taurean age. Ever see a picture of a bull on a cave wall? Why do today's 20 year old kids have pictures of Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia on their walls? It could best be called cosmic manifest destiny.

The lyrics of the psychedelic and reggae music genres are like the bible of the new age of aquarius leo, and Bob Marley (b. Feb 6 aquarius) and Jerry Garcia (b. Aug. 1 leo) are like prophets, despite their faults. California sets the trends, we are at the farthest west point of the state, the psychedelic (aquarius) culture moved here after the 60's, and now there is this giant reggae (leo) thing here.

The ancient Egyptians moved their capitols around because geomancy showed them where the power was. The fish are dying and mountain lion attacks are increasing. The lord works in mysterious ways.

M. W. Randall Arcata, CA

a long conversation with Warren Smith of SNWMF

2007-06-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

The publicist for the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival asked if I might want to talk with Warren Smith, founder of the long-running festival. (That's him in the photo with Ken Boothe.) I said yes, thinking I'd ask him what he thinks about the festive mess here in Humboldt.

We talked last week and the tape sat on my desk until today while I worked on too many other things, took a trip out of town for a convention, then came back to a bunch more work. I spent the last couple of hours transcribing the wide-ranging interview, which touches intermittently on Reggae on the River and Reggae Rising, with sidetrips in many directions including a fairly complete history of SNWMF.

Warren is a good storyteller, someone who takes his time answering a question and I had a great time talking with him. I hope some of you enjoy reading what he had to say.

(I should probably mention that SNWMF is coming up this weekend in Boonville at the Mendo Co. Fairgrounds. I'm pretty sure there are still tickets available. Read on and you'll see why.)

The first thing I told him was I wanted to know what he thought about the state of Reggae business in Humboldt.

"The whole thing has been a sad state of affairs," he began, and our conversation immediately veered off course. (My fault.)

How long have you been in the reggae business?

I got involved in reggae in 1974. I was doing a community benefit in Chico at the time. We were running people for city council -- so I booked Bob Marley. Of course his tour got cancelled.

That seems pretty early on for reggae in America. I think it was the year before when I saw The Harder They Come at the movies and ordered the soundtrack.

I got involved in the very early '70s through close friends living in Berkeley; I was an activist in those days. I was in Chico, I'd graduated and was doing community work, everything from prison support to community gardens. I got my masters in economics and taught for a while, but I was more of an activist than anything. My friends in Berkeley were bringing in 45s directly from Jamaica, so I kind of got hooked on that. Of course I saw The Harder They Come.

So you were saying you tried to put on this show to raise money for some city council candidate?

Not exactly. We had this thing we put together called the April Committee. We'd taken over the student government [at Chico State] from the Greeks and the jocks, got these conscious anti-war people involved. We were going to city council meetings and that was really an old boys network. We put a slate of four candidates up and really worked the town. We actually got all our candidates in.

Sounds a little like what happened in Arcata.

It is. It's a lot like Arcata. So we did this show -- with Marley out, it ended up being Taj Mahal, Booker T, and a little group out of Berkeley called The Shakers - a white reggae group.
You know I bought their album when it came out. In fact I just signed up to be their MySpace friends. I stumbled on their page and a track from the old album came on...

Oh boy. So anyway, during that time there was a little store that opened in San Francisco called Kingston Records, run by a couple of Jamaicans. I got to know them, and when we did the show I brought them up to help do radio ads. Just having real live Jamaicans was rare in those days. So the show was very successful and all, and I started getting called from the Kingston guys saying, 'Hey we're doing this show down in San Francisco and we need your help to promote it. We have Toots and the Maytals, Dennis Brown and Inner Circle with this guy Jacob Miller. We booked Winterland for three nights.' I said,' Yeah, yeah, I'm really busy.' I just didn’t believe them. Finally I said, 'Okay, I'll come down,' and they set up a meeting with Bill Graham. Their office was in the Fillmore close to his. He had rented Winterland to them for $500 a night, but that was about all that was done. I called Toots' manager, none of the bands had been paid or anything like that. Next thing I knew I was involved. It turned out to be an amazing event. We ended up doing Mick Jagger's birthday party that weekend and suddenly I knew the Stones.
The week before Bob came to town and did four or five night at the Boarding House. Of course I got to know Bob, he ended up going out with a close friends of mine. So I was suddenly immersed in Jamaican music. This was July of '75. I moved down to San Francisco and got an apartment, next thing I knew I was in Jamaica. I established a record label in '76, Epiphany Records. We produced a record with Fully Fullwood and Soul Syndicate. When I came back I worked as a booking agent for quite a few years. I had a partner on the East Coast; we were bringing in pretty much all the reggae at that time: Culture, Sugar Minott, Mutabaruka, The Mighty Diamonds, it was going on and on and on. We sometimes had two or three tours going at the same time.

You were booking the tours?

And I had a record label. I was trying to survive on this music, which was hard, but it all kind of worked out. I did that until about 1984, that's when I had a couple of children and my wife wanted me around. So I tossed it all in and went to work on Montgomery Street as syndicate manager for a small boutique firm. I was a stock trader. I spent six years doing that, but also booked a few shows, Eek a Mouse, Leroy Sibbles, a few others that I still had a strong relationship with.

What about Reggae on the River, it had started by then...

It had. Earlier, in 1978, one thing I did was, I went to Jamaica, I was sponsored by the government of Jamaica to do a three-day show. We had it at a hotel and marketed it on the East Coast of the U.S. That was quite an experience. The government was so supportive. They hooked me up with the press. We booked Burning Spear and Culture, Big Youth, Peter Tosh, The Heptones. We called it the Island Music Festival. We had a good turnout. Meantime I was on the radio, I'd never seen press so forthcoming. I could go anywhere. I ended up living at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kingston, which was owned by the government. I finally told them they didn't need some white guy to be doing what I was doing; they could do it themselves. The following year they put together Reggae Sunsplash, based on the same concepts. By then I had done six or seven albums for Epiphany, including an album for Flo and Eddie from the Turtles. I took them down to Jamaica, what an experience that was. So I came back to the states. It was getting harder to do shows. I had some run-ins with the powers that be, mainly Bill Graham Presents. [This story went on, but at some point he wondered aloud how much he 'wanted to see in print, and to avoid stirring up negative memories, I agreed to leave that part out.]

Back on the record... Can I interject a question? How old are you and where are you from?

I'm 61. I grew up in the house I'm living in right now, in a tiny town in the Sacramento Delta called Walnut Grove.

And what was it about reggae? You said you were political, was that it?

Here you have a Third World country that speaks English, and the youth are embracing freedom and justice. It was more that I could handle. I just thought, 'The American people have to hear this.' Third World people singing poetry about their plight. It was like a mission. I took it very seriously. There were very few what you'd call movement bands here. Almost all of the Jamaican bands were movement bands. In the early days it wasn't so Rasta, and if it was, it was still about truth and rights and those kinds of things. I hate to say it, but I think that part of reggae music has really run its course. I see a kind of contraction going on right now among the followers of reggae.

A contraction in the American audience?

It's been getting much smaller for the last four years, but particularly over the last year. This turmoil up in your area has only fed the fire. The younger generations are not embracing it like they used to. It's no longer the cool music in college; in fact there's been a negative reaction to the whole stance on gays. Young people seem to be much more in tune with that and the fact that some of these artists take a Bible on stage and start quoting from it. It's no longer the cool music, and I think we're starting to feel that in the business, it's harder and harder to get them touring. I really think the Rasta thing has run its course.

I did a bit of research on the various Rasta subgroups when this group of lesbian DJs on campus raised a ruckus about Capleton coming to play a show here, so I know what you mean by the Bible-thumping side of it. Then again, looking around Humboldt, where we have a lot of white dreads, I don't think most of them have a clue what it's about beyond the sacred herb business.

The pot thing is so much a part of it. But, yeah, you get the Bobo Dreads and it's very fundamental and nationalistic. With Bob it was more about social commentary. He wasn't so religious. He had such an enormous worldview, and he wasn't out there quoting the Bible like a lot of others since then. A lot of the older artists, guys like Burning Spear, who is Rasta in some ways, he's still a big Marcus Garvey fan, he does a lot of social commentary and again, he's not quoting scriptures. That's the younger generation, they're really fundamentalists, which I worry about sometimes. I don't think that's helped.

Returning to the concert business, when you started doing Sierra Nevada, you called it a World Music Festival...

And the world part has always been very important. I can see the day when reggae might not be able to hold its own. But the idea of mixing up different cultures kind of supplanted the mission of bringing that particular Third World voice out. The festival became something to bring out many cultures and create some kind of understanding. Americans really get lost over here. Many don't travel, many are completely unaware of other cultures, and consequently they get paranoid and jaded. They go down wrong paths. I see this as an antidote to that. I can foresee going even further with world music than we have. It's always hard to get really legitimate acts.

Sierra Nevada World Music Festival is a brand...

I guess it is...

The name is the brand, which I bring up because the battle over Reggae ended up being a battle over the use of the trademark. Is the Sierra Nevada Brewing trademark part of your thing? Did you do the first one in association with them?

No. What happened, when I left the brokerage world, I had my label (Epiphany) and I got a sweet offer from Japan to sell them a bunch of CDs, I hadn't made CDs, everything on my label was in vinyl. The offers from Japan were for CDs of things I had in vinyl, so finally I made this transition from the suit and tie world back into the music business. I believe it was 1989 when I was approached by a Berkeley student who was doing this party and wanted to expand it a bit. He actually did this show at the Yakiyama (sp) Indian Reservation on the Russian River -- he had Strictly Roots and the Itals, $10 for admission and camping over the weekend. He took out an ad in the Chronicle and sold 6,000 tickets. Needless to say, it was a huge success and a disaster. I didn't go to the show, I remember seeing the ad and thinking Jesus, you can't camp on the Russian River for $10, much less on an Indian reservation. They had all these problems and he couldn't go back there. He came to me and said he was going to do another show, he wanted professional help and offered me a good sum of money to do the booking. For the next three years I booked Gathering of the Vibes and did the marketing as well.

Where did you take it?

He found this venue in Marysville. He was a nice kid, but he was having a hard time running a festival. By the third year he'd pretty much burned out. The fourth year, I brought in a partner in Chico and said, 'We should do it.' We called it the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, and yeah, the brewing company was one of our original sponsors. That was in 1994. With Gathering of the Vibes it was reggae with Grateful Dead jamband type stuff. When I did it, I wanted more cultures so we did reggae and world music. I knew the music pretty well and I wanted to bring all these gems out from Jamaica. And we succeeded. We've had some remarkable shows.

Obviously this was parallel to the blossoming of Reggae on the River. How did the two work in connection with each other? Was Reggae the competition?

Well, I never thought we competed with Reggae on the River. I never thought we could compete with Reggae on the River.

You must have been competing for the talent...

Not really. Carol was never interested in what we did. From the beginning she was more involved in getting the more commercial bands. And getting the bands on tour.

Which is what I've heard, she's always brought in bands from Jamaica who would use Reggae as a cornerstone for touring elsewhere.

That's true.

How important is that to the reggae touring business overall? Would acts come here specifically because they had landed a gig at Reggae on the River?

Well, maybe. The fact is, she was in the position to pay a handsome fee for bands. Reggae on the River was sacrosanct. It was a community event, something we couldn't reproduce. There was magic there. You had the redwoods, you had the Eel River, you had the ganja. And you had the community.

Because it was run by a nonprofit for a specific cause with a massive volunteer army...

I used to go all the time. I was just astounded by it. I'm a leftist and I really appreciated the levels of organization and all that kind of stuff -- the fact that the community was running this thing. We were just another show in the face of all that. Although all that's changed. I've got a sad feeling a lot of the magic has left.

From the perspective of someone who lives in Northern Humboldt, I'd have to say that's the saddest thing about what's happened. I don't know if the magic's still there. But when you talk about the success of the organization, wasn't a lot of that because of the fact that Carol was at the head of the command structure?

There's always been controversy over the years. You now Doug Green is one of our MCs. And Mossman is our medical guy. Peter does our security. We share a lot of people. For us, it's our organization. I do the booking and work on the marketing, but I don't really do the show. My wife Gretchen is head of operations and we have a great staff, it's our people who carry this thing out.

As you know, a turning point came when the Reggae staff signed a letter saying they were standing with Carol.

Another issue on that is, as I understand it, she pays her staff really well, I'd say 10, maybe 15 times what we pay. But yes, she had the organization, and she's been doing this for a long time. But you know, I don't want to say a lot more.

Looking at what's going on right now, what's the relationship between the two festivals?

You know we moved to Boonville, almost by default. We'd been at Angel's Camp for five years. The first year was kind of tough. When we started planning the Sheriff came to us and said. 'Well, don't worry about us you guys, we'll get back to you.' Then we didn't hear from them. Two weeks before the show we called again and they told us they wanted $20,000 in 48 hours.

For what?

For the Sheriff's Department. Then they came in and — I'd never seen anything like it — they searched people illegally, they did all this stuff. And the fair manager, Buck King, a good old Republican rancher and one of the sweetest guys you could meet, he ended up calling the Attorney General of California and telling him there was a Sheriff harassing him, putting huge fees on us. He said go to your board. The fairgrounds was state owned, run by a local board. They were all Republicans too, but they kicked the Sheriff off. And for the next three years it was grand.

Then Buck King retired and they brought in this corporate guy from Cal Expo. We didn't really get along with him, the Sheriff came back in. It came to a head on a Sunday. They were marching around, really bothering people. At one point we had maybe 2,000 people on our village stage watching the St. Croix acts and apparently there was a black kid in the middle of the audience smoking a joint. In Calaveras County if you're black and smoking a joint, you go to jail. So they marched into the crowd, everyone was sitting down, and threw this kid in handcuffs. Everyone in the crowd stood up and backed off. Then the band stopped. All of a sudden the cops looked around and they were surrounded by a couple of thousand people, and everyone started booing. So the cops cut the handcuffs off and everybody cheered. I was thinking, 'oh, we have trouble now.'

They were livid. They said we'd tried to start a police riot. It made the newspapers. We'd had 7 or 8,000 people and they'd rousted hundreds of people and only came up with 15 arrests. Things started going back and forth between me and the Sheriffs and it got in the Stockton newspapers and all that. We started looking for another place, every single place we looked at in the Sierras, they'd call the Sheriff and he'd poison the waters. We were having a hard time. I thought it was over.

Then someone called and told me there's these people at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds, and they'd love to talk to you. I said, 'You're kidding.' We met Jim Brown over at the fairgrounds, he was the director. He said it'd have to be a smaller show, which we kind of liked.

How many tickets did you sell?

We'd gone as high as 7,300 tickets in 2001, then after we had the 9/11 thing it got smaller.

How many staff run the show?

We have 400-500 with volunteers and all that, add another 1,000 or so with guests. So we never really picked up back to there to 7,000. It's hard enough now for us to make 5,000 in sales. But we feel really good in Booneville. After Maysville, where we had gangs attacking our people, and Angel's Camp where we had a Pentecostal Sheriff who'd been to Iraq three times, whose wife was chair of the Republican Party. So we said goodbye to the Sierras. It was so different in Boonville, we were working with the people like ourselves, people who would come to the show.

The one thing about the Sierra Nevada that I will really stand on, that I'm proud of, that I fell is the most important thing, and that is our audience. Our audience is not into hard drugs; they're not into alcohol. I think in the early days when Reggae on the River started getting really expensive and would sell out real quick, we kind of had the reggae community that couldn't respond real quickly or those with less money. We always oriented ourselves toward families.

Of course you really do put on a world music show, and on the reggae side it seems like you stuck more with the roots rather than dancehall. I wonder if that contraction in the audience you were talking about has something to do with the fact that the original rootsmen from Jamaica, the guys who created reggae, are dying off.
They are. Same with the audience. We're all getting older. And we can’t go out like we used to.

With Reggae on the River the booking shifted to match the younger audience. The younger crowd wanted more dancehall and that's what they got.

I kind of run at loggerheads with that, particularly when I see what's coming out of the dancehall with some of these artists, especially the more fundamentalist Bobo types. All of I sudden I realized these people have more in common with George Bush than they do with me. They're fundamentalist Christians. They're very sexist towards women. They're anti-gay.

Then you have the flipside off dancehall, the slackness with guns, drugs, violence and big butts.

Yep. All that stuff. And it was no longer this naïve innocent magical kind of thing. I remember in 1976 sitting in Channel One Studios, which even then was in a scary part of town, Maxfield Avenue. Soul Syndicate was working with some of the producers and they'd be there all day so I would go down and watch. The producer would come in and he'd have six or seven singers, each singer would get like 15 minutes to work out their song with the band. Then they would take one, maybe two takes, and it was 'Okay, next guy.' You'd see these kids, and their whole lives they'd waited for this. They had this song and it meant everything to them. They'd go out there and sing their heart out. From a production point of view it was atrocious, but as art it was amazing to see how naïve it was.

It sounds like Ivan in The Harder They Come.

It was Ivan laying it down on a four-track recorder. It was real.

[At this point Warren's phone started making funny noises due to a low battery. I suggested we wrap things up and returned to the topic of Reggae.]

In terms of what's going on up there, I think it's hurt everybody. I think this is going to be a hard year all around. Sales are really down. I don't know that Reggae Rising is going to sell out like Reggae on the River did.

And how are you guys doing?

We're hurting. We could be doing a lot better. We'll be okay, but we're promoting harder than we ever have. It's harder to get that audience. The audience is much more discriminatory these days.

Something that came up in the course of negotiations over Reggae on the River was the indefinite nature of the future ticket sales. If what you say is true, Reggae may not be a long-term moneymaker like it was for the last 20 plus years.

I think this year's going to be the big surprise for people. You had Reggae Sunsplash cancelled. I knew that was coming. No way it was going to work. They couldn't make it work last year, they had UB-40, Toots, Maxi Priest and Third World and they still lost enormous sums of money. This has been going on for a while. It's always a struggle. It's not going to get any easier.

"Reggae Rising Gets the Green Light"

2007-06-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (from Yvonne)

EVENT: Reggae Rising, Festival
DATE: August 3rd, 4th and 5th
PLACE: Dimmick Ranch / French’s Camp, Piercy Calif.

[Humboldt County, CA June 8th, 2007] People Productions and the Dimmick Ranch are breathing a sigh of relief after last night’s Humboldt County Planning Commission meeting in which the Reggae Rising Music Festival was given the green light to move forward, despite the Mateel Community Center’s attempt to have the planning commission revoke the CUP. “I’d just hate to see this thing die” stated Commissioner Bruce Emad.

Reggae Rising Music Festival is a benefit for the Southern Humboldt community and will carry on the 23 year tradition of being one of the largest fundraisers for its non-profits. To date there are 20 non-profits signed on including; all of the volunteer fire departments, Beginnings School, KMUD Radio, Schools Foundation, Garberville Town Square, Trees Foundation, Vets For Peace and the Veterans of Foreign War to name of few. In addition to the support of the local non-profits the festival also has been given the green light from county agencies including; the Mendocino and Humboldt county Sheriff’s department, Cal Trans, California Highway Patrol, Army Corp. of Engineers, Forestry Service and Cal. Fire (formerly known as CDF).

This year’s festival is dedicated to the “Music” and the lineup promises to be unparalleled, and includes:

FRIDAY AUGUST 3RD
ANTHONY B
FANTAN MOJAH
COLLIE BUDDZ
ABYSSINIANS
HEAVYWEIGHT DUB CHAMPION
QUEEN OMEGA
STREETSTOTHEHILL
WISDOM

SATURDAY AUGUST 4TH
SLY & ROBBIE AND THE TAXI GANG with HORACE ANDY
ZIGGY MARLEY
CHERINE ANDERSON
MORGAN HERITAGE
TANYA STEPHENS
RICHIE SPICE
SOUL MAJESTIC

SUNDAY AUGUST 5TH
DAMIAN MARLEY
STEPHEN MARLEY
STEEL PULSE
FREDDIE MCGREGOR
RICHIE STEPHENS
ISHI DUBE
More artists to be announced!

You may notice (or have heard) the Reggae Sunsplash tour is no longer part of the line-up. The whole tour has been canceled. You will note that Morgan Heritage is still listed. Luciano and Beres Hammond are not.

TICKETS AND CAMPING ARE ON SALE NOW and can be purchased online with a credit card by visiting our website at www.reggaerising.com. For more information on Reggae Rising call the hotline at 707-923-4583.

Away From Her

2007-06-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

Call me a slacker. Call me forgetful. I did it again: skipped another Planning Commission meeting discussion of the Reggae permit. Truth is I've been working a lot the last few days and when my wife asked if I wanted to go to the movies, I just plain forgot about Reggae and said yes. We went to see a great film called Away From Her, with a luminous Julie Christie as a woman whose mind is drifting into Alzheimer's. I had made mental plans to TiVo the meeting, but I forgot.

That said, I'm left with a couple of sources for reports on what happened. Eric's blog has another "open thread" -- a dangerous prospect at best -- where 27 anonymous commenters (so far) have offered various biased takes on the proceedings and/or outright lies: from "Carol and Tom surprised everyone by announcing the cancellation of Reggae Rising..." to "The Mateel lost...again" and on to variations on the tired Carol-is-a-bad-person-who-stole-our-show theme. One anon echoed my own opinion that "this spinning is starting to get to me..."

A couple of people hinted at what the commissioners actually did, which was pretty much what I'd guessed they'd do. They put off the final decision on the permit to another day. At least that's what I gleaned from James Faulk's story in the Times Standard. As James reports, the commissioners refused the Mateel's request to pull the permit and shut down Reggae Rising and ultimately put things in the hands of Kirk Girard, whose title, "Community Development Services Director," makes him head of planning staff. (BTW, that's Kirk on the front page in the little head shot labeled Dimmick.)

When I went to the Summer Arts Fest over the weekend I talked with a few people about where things are at and where they are going. When I asked, "What's up with Reggae?" Mateel board member Bob Stern told me, "They're going to try to put on a festival; we're going to try to stop them." He laid out the Mateel's position: that the planning commission had to see that the permit belongs to the Mateel -- he figures the law is on their side and what's right is right.

Here's what I think, and please do not assume that I've "drunk the Kool-Aid," something I heard once again at Summer Arts. From the first planning commish hearing onward, the commissioners have said that they do not want to get in the middle of the battle over Reggae, they did not and do not want to decide which side gets to do the festival based on contract issues -- they left that to the courts -- and they said flat out they do not want to get in the middle of the dogfight over the permit. They are not going to be the ones to take Reggae away from Carol.

Without getting into the question of who's right and who's wrong -- if you're reading this page, chances are you've already made up your mind which side you are on -- I'll offer my humble opinion as to why right and wrong don't matter in one word: Money.

As I told Bob at Summer Art, government officials, be they planning commissioners or supervisors or whatever, are more concerned about money than they are about the law or about right and wrong. And when it comes to Reggae, we're talking about a lot of money, not just the millions that come in for tickets, beer and T-shirts and not the tens of thousands earned by various nonprofits, the uncounted millions that are spent in Humboldt by people coming here for the festival: motels fill up, grocery stores and gasoline stations do more business, people come here to buy all sorts of things -- they spend money. I'm not saying that the commissioners are going to get any of this money -- but they serve the Humboldt County public in general, and a lot of people stand to lose income if Reggae does not happen.

James quotes Commissioner Emad who said, "I'd just hate to see this thing die." Why? Because he's looking at the bottom line for the county as a whole. No one wants to see all that money go away. There's a reason why they call it "the almighty dollar."

Okay, James (Brown) says he's "ready to to do my thing," and "stay on the scene" on another beautiful day in paradise -- we'll see which war they talk about this week...

a couple of letters

2007-06-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of letters came into the Journal this week regarding Reggae. Our paper does not generally run letters that are not in reference to some specific story we've printed recently, and we tend to avoid those that are sent to every paper, but there's no such restriction here.

A couple of notes regarding the sources. I spoke with Devora at length last year after she was denied a spot selling her tie-dyes at Reggae on the River 2006. She was pretty mad then, and as you'll see, she's still mad. If you live in SoHum you know where Anna "Banana" Hamilton is coming from. To borrow a phrase from her letter: She's a brawler.

Subject: ROR

The time has once again come for me to speak my mind about ROR, the Matteel Community Center, and People Productions. Last year I wrote a letter to the Independent about being turned down for vending at ROR by People Productions. In spite of emails to the vendor coordinator and my letter to the editor, I got no replies from anybody at People Productions regarding my concerns. Last year, I spoke to many folks who I encountered at the Summer Arts Festival and at ROR regarding these matters. Literally everybody I talked to felt that having local crafts people at ROR was important; that longtime residents of Humboldt should be fixtures at ROR. Some people expressed their concerns to People Productions and one gentleman was told that PP would be contacting me. That never happened.

In spite of being turned down as a vendor for the first time in 23 years, I went to ROR '06 with my partner who works at the festival. I found the new site to be annoyingly large and impersonal and the festival to have become a chaotic throng. The vendor area, which had expanded, included only about 5 actual craftspeople and fewer locals than before. Apparently PP favors imports and out of the area vendors. I spent most of the festival in the children's area with my stepson, and found this to contain the best vibes of the whole concert. My partner's crew, who worked all night keeping things secure for all of us, were given half a bagel and a piece of fruit in a bag for breakfast. Whatever happened to the famed Matteel hospitality? Apparently PP wasn't carrying on this tradition.

This year, in spite of my negative feelings towards the takeover of ROR by PP, I applied to both festivals. This festival has been my only source of income in August, so I applied to Reggae Rising, against my principles. As I expected, I received a glowing acceptance letter from the Matteel with the sad news that there would be no ROR this year. Also, I received yet another letter saying that PP had no room for this local artist at their festival.

I will not be attending and encourage others to do the same. If you want to support the non-profits who benefit from selling to the Reggae crowd, direct donations work well. Give your community taxes to Epic, Beginnings, Volunteer Fire Departments, the Matteel, et al.

As many of you know, supporting local businesses keeps the money circulating in the community. ROR was great for the non-profit food booths and for supporting local artists and conscious importers.

There is no doubt in my mind that People Productions and Tom Dimmick intentionally stole this festival from our Matteel Community Center. I consider this action to be on par with the takeover of Pacific Lumber by the Maxxam Corporation. There are things that are more important than lining your pockets. I remember when all of you at PP were community-minded. I still remember Carol cooking and serving food at the Winter Arts Festival to benefit our Matteel. Like it does for our politicians, money and power corrupts. Give back our ROR.

Sincerely, Devora Kaufman
Longtime Humboldt Resident, tie-dye artist and charter schoolteacher

Subject: Reggae on the River belongs to the Mateel

OPEN LETTER TO THE PLANNERS AND SUPES c/oEDITOR:
5-25-07
The Long High Road

Can anyone still believe that the "Reggae Rising" trademark, the Dimmick lease option for the Arthur's property, the loss of the Arthur's property in the first place, the moving onto Tom Dimmick's land, the systematic acquisition of Reggae on the River assets, the purchase of properties in the Piercy area by Tom, and this incredible game of bluff poker we find ourselves checkmated in now, just came about as a spontaneous response to the terrifyingly powerful Mateel Community Center's desire for financial accountability by its employee, People Productions? The timeline doesn't support that assumption. No, it is clear that Tom and Carol are positioning themselves, as Taunya said in last week's paper, to establish a new event, thereby skirting the need to pay for Reggae on the River's trademark at all, while hanging it all on the tattered legal thread that Carol Bruno didn't really resign in front of 400 people last fall and T.D.'s piece of paper is more powerful than our whole community.

I believe that the lawsuit being pressed by the M.C.C. will prevail and prove once and for all that People Productions and partners have used unfair and illegal business practices to conspire to capture the Cash Cow on the River. But, if "Reggae Rising 2007" is allowed to go forward with the pre-existing permits of RotR, the Mateel might lose RotR, a priori. That is; "Rising" did it, they possess it, therefore it is theirs.

Well, possession ain't 9/10ths of the law yet. You still have time to write, call or email the Humboldt County Planning Commission and the Board of Supes. Remind them that permits in the Mateel's name may not be transferred to Reggae Rising, and that any action taken by the County that might be construed as a defacto assignation of RotR assets, (including the date and location of RotR), to anyone besides the Mateel might force the Mateel community to add the County into these litigations.

More is at stake here than just Reggae 2007. Over ten years a minimum of $30 million gross is in the balance. The community's ability to determine its own destiny, the size of the event, the margin of return due the M.C.C., and don't forget THE RIVER, are what it's all about. Did you volunteer all those years for the Mateel to give it away? Stand up and fight for it, because these people are brawlers, make no mistake about it.

Thanks,
Anna Hamilton
a former M.C.C. Board member who didn't give it all away 10 years ago.

Wondering what Boots is up to?

2007-05-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

Since Boots Hughston stopped working on Reggae on the River he's shifted his energy to another concert. This press release gives the details.

From: Boots Hughston

Announced Today
World's Long Anticipated
40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love,
San Francisco, Sept. 2, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. - The Summer of Love 40th will be held Sunday, September 2nd at Speedway Meadows, Golden Gate Park, from 10am to 6pm. ADMISSION IS FREE.

Musicians from across the country will be joining San Francisco at ground zero, where it all began, celebrating ""Summer of Love 40th" Anniversary".

CONFIRMED ACTS INCLUDE: Ray Manzarek (the Doors), Country Joe McDonald (Country Joe and the Fish), Canned Heat, Michael McClure (Beat poet), ruth weiss (Beat Poet), New Riders of the Purple Sage, Nick Gravenites Band with David Laflamme, Alameda All Stars (Gregg Allman), Merl Saunders (supporting the effort), Terry Haggerty (Sons of Champlin), Dan Hicks, The Charlatans, Essra Mohawk (Mothers of Invention), Barry "The Fish" Melton (Country Joe and the Fish), Squid B. Vicious, Jim Post (Friend and Lover, Siegel Schwall Blues Band), Paul "Lobster" Wells (DJ) , Chief Sunny Ray, Fishbone, Iroquois Tribe, Dakota Tribe, Seminole Tribe, Emitt Powell and the Gospel Elites. Additional acts are still confirming. For more information and a complete listing of entertainment, please see: www.2b1records.com/summeroflove40th.

Representatives from hundreds of groups are joining the event in support of the principles of peace, love, and understanding. These include:
- The American Indigenous Peoples
- The Seminole Tribe
- The Iroquois Tribe
- Indigenous People of South America
- Speakers from the peace movement
- Speakers from the Free speech movement
- Speakers from the Anti-war movement
- Poets from the beat generation
Events across the nation and around the world are honoring the "Summer of Love 40th" in support of San Francisco's counter-culture. San Diego, Monterey, Vancouver Canada, England, France, Germany & the Czech Republic are all supporting the principals of the 60's generation, and the birth of the counter-culture.

A webcast of the event will be streamed throughout the day at the Apple QuicktimeTM website. For more information : www.2b1records.com/summeroflove40th.

Pop artist icon, Peter Max said, "I am so happy to see a concert is being held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. It's important there is a historical legacy to the message this time period represents. We need to always celebrate the universal values of compassion, peace and love."

PRODUCER: Boots Hughston

Background:

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SUMMER OF LOVE 2007 Proclamation

There are moments in time when a word or thought has such power that it changes history; a generation so involved in the moment that it becomes unstoppable; and a spiritual awaking so profound that its very conception shatters perceptions, halts the world and makes people from
all nations take notice.
It started with a simple four letter word - LOVE! In the 1960's this word became synonymous with a generation and a city called San Francisco. It was a concept, a belief deep in the hearts of all who were there (and those who wished they were). It began with the writers and artists such as Ken Kesey, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the "Beat Generation".
The epicenter of this movement was in certain neighborhoods of San Francisco such as North Beach and Haight Ashbury and in cities like Palo Alto, Berkeley, Los Angeles and New York. These pockets of anti-social, anti-establishment individuals questioned authority and their
surroundings while searching for the real meanings of life and the deeper truths. These small communities of like-minded individuals and "families" of communal creativity focused on poetry, art, folk music, jazz, and rock'n roll, demanding to be free of societal restrictions, restraints and hang up's.
And then one summer it happened! "We Were Everywhere". The pureness of thought exploded exponentially and there were now millions of us. This event, this historical moment which included most of 1967, became known as the "SUMMER OF LOVE".
During this period the Peace Movement was born with the "Human Be-Ins" in San Francisco and the "Love-Ins" in New York. Anti-war demonstrations occurred everywhere and college campuses erupted with thousands of people refusing the draft. The American Indians took Alcatraz and fought for their rights at Wounded Knee. This startled the government; presidents were impeached, wars were stopped, an entire generation stood up and said "Hell No".
Social change was occurring and continued on multiple levels. Out of this orderly chaos came the "movements": The Free Speech Movement, Free Love Movement, the Farm Workers Movement, the Women's Movement, the Gay Movement, the Environmental Movement, the Ecology Movement, the Animal Rights Movement, the Sexual Revolution, the Spiritual Movement, the Student Movements, the Black Movement and the Anti-War Movement.
The message was clear and the world was uniting behind one principle and one thought - LOVE! and its affirmation of PEACE, COMPASSION, and UNDERSTANDING. The word was brought fourth by musicians such as Donovan, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane and then carried on by many of the English musicians like Eric Clapton, the
Beatles, and the Rolling Stones.
Because of this free thinking environment a renaissance of gifted genius' occurred with the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Jim Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Concepts and inventions were coming a mile a minute touching every segment of society and even the
engineering world participated by inventing the computer, the calculator and the transistor.
The Internet, too had it's inceptions in the 1960's as a whole new creative sector of the economy developed within, took hold and became Silicon Valley (later home to Apple Computers). The international community was also in awe of this explosion of creativity as Olympic athletes showed their solidarity by uniting with the winds of change.
All this started with a simple word, a simple thought - LOVE! and a generation willing to stand up and be counted and their willingness to be different.

This period of change is commemorated by celebrating the "SUMMER OF LOVE"
It stands for: Truth and individual freedom.
Freedom of expression.
Freedom for an individual to make a choice - sexually, spiritually and socially.
Our rights to be different and still belong.
Honor in refusing to fight yet honoring those who do.
Creativity, love and respect for all things.
Our right to make a difference.
Our right to think independently. Our willingness to share with others.

In 2007 the 40th Anniversary of the SUMMER OF LOVE will be celebrated with a FREE concert in Golden Gate Park, Speedway Meadows, San Francisco, on September 2nd from 10 am to 6pm. All are welcome.

Boots-2b1

did you have a question?

2007-05-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

This press relaease would seem to be designed to clear up confusion in the marketplace (lots of folks outside Humboldt County are not aware of what's transpired with Reggae), but also to answer a lot of criticism that's showed up in the blogosphere. I'm guessing many of you might come up different answers to these "questions."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
From: The Dimmick Ranch
Date: Thursday, May 24, 2007

REGGAE RISING MUSIC FESTIVAL ADDRESSES YOUR QUESTIONS:

1. What festival will be happening the first weekend in August on the Dimmick Ranch and French’s Camp?

- Reggae Rising Music Festival will be the only show happening on the Dimmick Ranch and French’s Camp in 2007.

2. What about Reggae on the River?

- Sadly, Reggae on the River has been cancelled for 2007. The Dimmick Ranch terminated their lease agreement with the Mateel Community Center Inc because the Mateel improperly purported to terminate their production contract with People Productions. Since the Mateel’s lease contained a contractual obligation to use People Productions for the term of the agreement, this constituted a material breach of the lease with The Dimmick Ranch. Unfortunately, rather than find an acceptable compromise between the parties to resolve the dispute, the Mateel hired a new producer, 2B1 Multimedia from San Francisco and attempted to produce the event despite having a disputed lease agreement with The Dimmick Ranch, no lease of French’s Camp and no agreement with the Cooks Valley Camping Area. For months they continued to promote a show on property they have no legal right to occupy and sold tickets to a concert advertising many artists with whom they had no contractual agreements.

3. Did the Mateel Community Center pay for all of the infrastructure improvements to the Dimmick Ranch?

- No, Mateel shared the cost of infrastructure improvements with the Dimmick Ranch. Tom Dimmick was obligated to provide a significant construction allowance toward the infrastructure. He paid for most of the municipal grade water system as well as the large electrical upgrades. In addition to this, Tom Dimmick also supplied, at no charge, much of the lumber used to create many of the booths, as well as drain rock for the grey water systems, and heavy equipment operating time on the site. In the spirit of cooperation Tom contributed well over the contractual obligation of the construction allowance.

4. Has the Dimmick Ranch and People Production LLC tried to reach an equitable resolution with the Mateel Community Center Inc.?

- Yes. The Dimmick Ranch and People Productions, LLC, have been trying to resolve this dispute with the Mateel for many months. As far back as April of 2006, when it first became apparent that the cost of building the infrastructure to the county’s requirements would potentially impact the event’s profitability in 2006, People Productions suggested licensing the event so the Mateel would have guaranteed income. The Mateel turned down this offer. Even after the 2006 event, The Dimmick Ranch and People Productions presented the Mateel with a bill deferment plan to preserve the Mateel’s cash flow situation. The Mateel was not interested in this proposal either. Many multi- million dollar offers have been made over the months to provide an equitable solution for all three parties, but, sadly, none have been agreed upon.

5. Is it true that People Productions quit?

- No. People Productions was bound by a written contract and could not quit. We contend their contract was improperly terminated by the Mateel Community Center Inc. on December 28th, 2006. On December 27th People Productions sent an email to the Mateel Community Center Inc. reaffirming their commitment to continue to fulfill their contractual obligations to the MCC as the producer’s of Reggae on the River. The only way the contract between the MCC and People Productions, LLC, could be terminated is by both parties following the negotiated and agreed upon procedure as set forth in the contract between People Productions, LLC, and the MCC.

6. Is this a corporate takeover?

- No, that notion is ridiculous. The Mateel Community Center Inc., People Productions LLC and 2B1 Multimedia are all corporations.

- Carol Bruno was one of the founders and visionaries of Reggae on the River and the Mateel Community Center. She has been the festival’s only constant producer since the very beginning. The first 11 years when she headed the Mateel team and then produced Reggae on the River as primary partner in People Productions for the next 12 years with long time partner and friend, Paul Bassis and their exceptional production team of Reggae Coordinators and dedicated volunteers.

- Carol Bruno has also donated her expertise on a multitude of projects benefiting a broad cross section of the entire Humboldt County community.

- Tom Dimmick is a life long resident of southern Humboldt and his family history here goes back to the 1940’s. He purchased the new Dimmick Ranch site from his family in large part to secure a permanent home for the Reggae on the River festival. The festival staff who work with the Dimmick Ranch in unison with People Productions LLC are the same Reggae Coordinators who have been part of the festival for years, many since the beginning over 20 years ago.

7. What about the local non-profits?

- People Productions LLC and the dedicated staff and volunteers have been working for the past four months, voluntarily, to produce and host a world-class reggae festival with a wonderful lineup of music for our dedicated fans from all over the world.

- The festival will enrich the community and support our nonprofit organizations and local businesses that derive so much economic support from the event.

8. Who else will benefit from Reggae Rising?

- Reggae Rising is in the process of forming a foundation to use a portion of the proceeds of the event to support select local and international non-profit organizations. While the Mateel Community Center may well benefit from the event through this charitable giving arm, Reggae Rising feels that reggae music is international and as such, one of our duties will be to give support to crucial international aid organizations as well. We are very excited at the prospect of being in a position to provide some much needed relief in parts of the world that could really use the help.

Prophet R.I.P.

2007-05-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

This sad news, now a month old, came today via a newsletter from the Reggae Festival Guide. (thanks to Kim the archivist for the photo)

A friend of Reggae Festival Guides - Wesley Moore Sr.– known to his friends and family as "Prophet" passed away Saturday, April 7, 2007. His body was to be sent back to Jamaica where he requested to be buried in Irwin above the hills of Montego Bay next to his parents. His wife Holly and daughter Zenzi will accompanied him there.

Sacramento, CA. is celebrated the passing of Prophet by holding a Nyabinghi celebration at Prophet's home on April 21st and 22nd.

Prophet was born on April 22, 1952 in Jamaica. He has seven beautiful children with his wife Holly and two from a previous marriage. He was surrounded by his children as he drew his last breath, with baby daughter Micaela laying on his shoulder and another sibling reading Psalms.

Prophet had struggled with a long bout of lung cancer but he never complained and was sharing words of wisdom and even cracking jokes up to the last minute. On one of the days before his passing, Holly tried to get him to eat something and he told her, "Holly, you don't get everything you want."

The day before that, he told his bredren, "Man is like a green pear tree –today it bears fruit and tomorrow whithers away."

Prophet, known and loved among the reggae and Rasta community was known as an Elder, a chef and a friend to all. He will be sorely missed.

I met Prophet the first time I went to Reggae -- for years he was in charge of the Rasta kitchen backstage -- I found him busy frying batches of fish for early arriving performers, with a pot of callaloo going on the back of the stove. I haven't seen him for a long time and had wondered what became of him.

Anyone out there have memories they'd like to share?

a note from Taunya

2007-05-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

Mateel ED Taunya Stapp writes regarding the lawyer's letter below:

The last communication the Board of Directors for the Mateel had as of the time this letter was posted was dated May 14, 2007 and states: "Please inform your client not to respond to these proposed deal terms with a 'counterproposal.'" That would have been normal business practice to allow the negotiations to continue. The Mateel, in fact, was told not to continue. The new communication posted on Bob's blog had not yet been received by the Mateel at the time it posted.

Regardless, the only sticking point for a one year deal in '07 has come down to the use of the name Reggae Rising. The Board significantly changed its demands in order to do whatever it could to get a deal for this year's festival on behalf of the nonprofit community. It stated one point it would not negotiate on and that was the name of the festival.

It is time for the Dimmick Ranch to put their words into action and cease using the argument that "they can't make any money." It is time to show that the community's well being is foremost in their mindset, as they have said many times, and drop their thinly-veiled demands on the name.

Taunya Stapp
Executive Director
Mateel Community Center

What's in a name?

2007-05-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

This came from Meeka with the following note:

"As the MCC continues to release their attorney letters, We feel it is important that both sides are represented. Enclosed is the final letter from the weekend negotiations."

a reminder: click on image to enlarge

from the Freedom First! art collective

2007-05-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Below is a portion of Neale Donald Walsch's book "The New Revelations: A Conversation with God". However, the original read a little differently. "Reggae" has replaced "God" and "Community" has replaced "Life".
----------------------------------------------
You can choose to take these steps now if changing your world , and the self-destructive direction in which it is moving is what you wish to achieve. Make this declaration:

The Five Steps to Peace:

1. I acknowledge that some of my old beliefs about Reggae and about the Community are no longer working.

2. I acknowledge that there is something I do not understand about about Reggae and about the Community, the understanding of which could change everything.

3. I am willing for new understandings about Reggae and about the Community, to now be brought forth, understandings that could produce a new way of life on this planet.

4. I am willing to explore and examine these new understandings, and, if they align with my inner truth and knowing, to enlarge my belief system to include them.

5. I am willing to live my life as a demonstration of my beliefs.

These are the Five Steps to Peace, and if you take them, you can shift everything on your planet.
---------------------------
I Rule I Eternally,
- brought to you by Humboldt Friends of the First Amendment
(aka the Freedom First! art collective)

hoping healing happens...

2007-05-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

I've been getting a slew of comments from one side or another in the last couple of days, most of them from angry folks who want to vent frustration about one thing or another. I've pretty much been ignoring them. This comment on Taunya's letter from the Mateel perspective seemed different. I'm taking the person's word that they are not one of the anons who have been dueling on the blogs for the last few months. This seems to be someone who took some time to think before blasting off a comment. Yes, some of what they say has been said before, and yes, it's just one person's anonymous opinion, and no, I do not necessarily agree with what's said here, but I think it's worth posting.
If you have something to say in response, please do so in a coherent, thoughtful manner. Don't bother throwing mud or writing something where you replace the "s" with $ (very clever - not) -- you are basically wasting your time and mine...

I am a long time volunteer of reggae on the river and this will be my first post to one of these blogs.... I am saddened by the whole situation , but am also amazed by the mateel's stance and position here. It is really amazing to me how the mateel put's all the blame on people productions and tom dimmick and assumes NONE of the responsibility for the current situation they are in.

I read in one of the blogs how people are comparing people productions to republicans, i must say from my perspective it seems as though the mateel folks are the ones acting more like our current administration than the folks over at people productions. George bush continues to stick to his same talking points year after year when most of the country sees right through him. they use god to justify their actions and unfortunately, a good portion of americans buy into the propaganda presented. I see the mateel doing a very similar thing here, using the moral high ground of the non profit community center to justify their means and course of action. Protecting the community from the corporate "hijacking" as they like to "frame" it. this is just ridiculous.

Something else that doesn't seem to get talked about much is the fact that Tom Dimmick has the most to lose here. He signed an agreement/contract with the mateel based on the fact that People prodcutions would produce the show. Seems like a sound business decision to me. I certainly wouldn't want that size of a festival on my property run by folks with ZERO experience in producing a show of this size and magnitude. Am I the only one who really sees it this way?? All you Mateel supporters, would you have the festival on your property with a producer that had never produced the show before??

Please let's try to look at this situation with some clarity and set our emotions aside. Tom and Carol worked very hard to bring resolution to this issue, it was the mateel that wouldn't budge or presented counter offers that were simply over the top. Come on, this is a show that the mateel wanted tom dimmick to basically sign his land over in the event the show didn't produce the income the People folks promised it would.

Now again, let's get real here, let's just assume that everything was beautiful between the warring parties and none of this bs surrounded the event. Is there any guarantee that the event would continue to produce the income it had over the next 9 years. NO, there isn't. Would it be a reasonable thing to expect the land owner to sign over his property to the beneficiary of the event guaranteeing something he had no control over.

Again, the mateel stonewalled all the offers presented and then blame it on tom dimmick for being unreasonable. Everyone needs to step back and try to look at this situation from a business perspective without all the politics and emotions. If you do, I think you'll have no choice but to agree with my point of view. I see poor business decisions and tunnel vision on the part of the board.

I think the folks running the mateel lost sight of what their job as board members really is. Their job is to secure financially the future of the community center. The fact that the folks at the mateel still feel the value of their trademark is worth so much, either says, they really don't have a clue or they are using this concept as a smoke screen to justify their irresponsible actions over the past 6 months.

The fact that using the name reggae rising on the print material is what seems to be the final deal breaker is really amazing to me....Again it makes no sense to me, how or why the mateel would refuse that, based on all the market confusion that currently exists surrounding this event.

I have heard that people productions have already distributed ten's of thousands of brochures regarding reggae rising...the only way to insure a successful show at this point would be to have both names on the flyer. the mateel's position that that just sets up the "take over" for next year is really ludicrous. The name reggae on the river is so damaged at this point, that it's value that the mateel struggles so hard to protect is really irrelevant at this point.

The mateel may own the trademark ROTR, but the folks at people own the spirit, and that issue can be argued all day and my opinion will not change. The fact that the mateel tries to claim that spirit is again ridiculous to me. Yes the mateel has funded the show over the years, but it has been a team effort, and if it were not for the folks at people producing a world class event, the funds would not have been there and the whole arguement about the ten's of thousands of dollars the mateel has invested in this show wouldn't be there and there would be no show and no funds and no problems (am I the only one who sees it like this??). Without Carol Bruno and PB, the event would not be what it has become today (or yesterday).

Again, the mateel has spent this communities money on a lawsuit that could have been settled months ago, and that settlement would have taken care of the mateel's financial needs for at least the next 9 years... and I may add, that it would have done that in a way where the mateel would have been taking on none of the risk it had assumed in the past, ie; tom dimmick was going to take on the risk of funding the show, not the mateel, big difference.

My understanding is that in the past, the mateel took on the financial risk, but in the new proposals and offers, it would be the producer taking on the risk. doesn't it make sense that the entity bearing the financial risk should get more than an entity not bearing any risk???

It is sad our community can't seem to come together on this issue, and I'm not sure how our community will rebound from this, but I hope somehow some way, healing happens...

Reggae Rising music festival moving forward

2007-05-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

The following was posted as a comment by Primo, former Reggae on the River webmaster, currently Reggae Rising webmaster. It seemed worthy of it's own entry.

May 16, 2007

Reggae Rising music festival is moving forward on August 3rd, 4th, & 5th at the Dimmick Ranch and French's Camp.

Although we are saddened that the talks between the disputing parties were not fruitful, Reggae Rising remains committed to upholding the great Reggae festival tradition that our entire community has come to rely on. The nonprofit food booths are signed on and we are pleased to provide the venue where they can earn the money needed.

We are proud of the lineup that we have been able to put together and look forward to entertaining the Reggae music fans with a superb show. New lineup additions will be announced tomorrow.

We are in unison with Reggae Coordinators that have worked for the past 20 years and are doing what we need to do to make sure a fantastic festival happens this summer.

The Dimmick Ranch and People Productions LLC

Mateel Board Statement on Reggae on the River® 2007

2007-05-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Reggae on the River and the Mateel Community Looks Forward to 2008 and Beyond

[Redway, California, May 16, 2007] It is with sadness and heavy hearts that the Mateel’s Board of Directors announces that it has passed a resolution that Reggae on the River® will not be held on the Dimmick Ranch in August 2007.

This resolution comes in response to the economic pressures of going forward with this event in the face of landowner Tom Dimmick’s refusal to honor the ten-year contractual commitment made to this Board in 2005 when the event was forced into moving. Represented by the then very recent ex-partner of People Productions, Paul Bassis, the owner of Dimmick Ranch along with People Productions have been pressuring the board to sell this event since October 2006. Letters delivered from Tom Dimmick stated that People Productions would not work with the Mateel again and the only resolution seen was to sell this event to him for much less than the amounts projected by People Productions as income for the Mateel. Subsequently, Carol Bruno of People Productions stood up at the Mateel’s Annual Meeting on November 17, 2006 and stated “The only way for me to continue is to propose that Tom Dimmick and People Productions license the event from the Mateel”. Our attempts to work out a deal with them in mediation were unsuccessful. The ensuing struggle that People Productions initiated to take over this event has drained both the community center and the emotions of the community as a whole. The Board has repeatedly stated it does not want to sell the community’s event. For over 23 years, Reggae on the River® has been an integral part of both our funding and our programming content to meet our mission goals.

Throughout, the Mateel Board has repeatedly attempted to resolve this matter in good faith. It was the Mateel Board that initiated the call for immediate mediation in October 2006 before the contract ended. Our needs, as a nonprofit organization, have been mostly ignored. The Board cannot just give away the community’s event and source of financing. Yet, our efforts have been met with delays and stonewalling on the real issues.

Now, months later, without any clear access to the property that we were promised, the Board of the Mateel Community Center made a final effort last weekend with one more offer. This offer was crafted to allow the festival to go on this year under the Reggae on the River® name so that the rest of the nonprofit community and other local businesses would not have to face the same shortfall of funds the Mateel is laboring under.

Given that we were working with a for-profit corporation, the Board believed that, by lowering to rock bottom the amount of money to be paid to the Mateel for this year’s festival, it could bring about a settlement that would allow this year’s event to go forward. The dispute would then be resolved through the normal legal course after the conclusion of Reggae on the River® 2007. Since Tom Dimmick has repeatedly stated that it is his desire is to continue this festival for the good of the community, the Board extended to him the means to show that this was more than mere words. The Board gave Tom Dimmick the opportunity to put these words into action and accept a deal for Reggae on the River® 2007 for the sake of the community. The Mateel’s resolve has been met with a cold shoulder and a demand for yet another capitulation on the name of the event.

Allowing Reggae Rising’s name to be used, even in conjunction with the Reggae on the River name, would set the stage for the completion of the very takeover and degradation of our trademark within three or four years that we have been fighting against all along. Checks could be cut with the name Reggae Rising. Business owners could be contacted with the name Reggae Rising and so on. For the past number of years this same tactic was used by People Production’s use of their name in place of the Mateel Community Center’s. This board ended that move with strong trademark language inserted into the 2005 contract. Now we are fighting the same battle all over again. This was the only sticking point in the one year resolution to the battle.

Now, we have come to that dark hour before dawn where we must give up our ardent push for a Reggae on the River® event this summer and move our resources into providing for 2008 and beyond for the benefit of the community.

The degrading of our property rights in the Reggae on the River® trademark by allowing its use in conjunction with Reggae Rising cannot be allowed to take place. It appears there is no place of moderate settlement. While our position has changed dramatically over the course of the last eight months, the other party offers demanding capitulation have not changed substantially except as needed to delay the lawsuit actions and drive the Mateel toward the brink where the hijacking of our property could be completed without paying a dime to the community for this asset. In the Board’s opinion, these are the defining points of a long planned corporate takeover in Southern Humboldt’s own backyard. Our members have told us repeatedly to stand up against such tactics but to try to make this year’s event happen.

We tried.

It is the Mateel Board’s position that we will prevail in the lawsuit and that the community will see a Reggae on the River® event take place in 2008 and beyond. Our community’s signature event will rest for this year while the Board of the Mateel take the steps necessary to protect it for the future. The original intent of this festival was to rebuild and maintain a community center for the benefit of the Southern Humboldt community at large and not the enrichment of a few individuals.

Additionally, we would like to extend our most profound thanks to 2b1 Multimedia Inc. for coming to the Mateel’s defense when other production companies, fearful of the intense competitive backlash of People Productions, would not step up. 2b1 Multimedia had the courage to take on the challenge for our community when many simply sat on the sidelines waiting for the strongest to emerge in a very ruthless industry. Last week’s push by the Reggae Rising event to undermine Reggae on the River® 2007 are indicative of that ruthlessness. 2b1 Multimedia held on until the last moment possible and we commend their actions on behalf of the Mateel.

We also would like to thank the volunteers, the coordinators, and the members of the Mateel who have stood steadfast with us as the battle for this year’s event raged. It has not been easy and we would like to acknowledge their commitment and perseverance to save this event regardless of personal alliances. We look forward to working on the 2008 production together.

The dispute over Reggae on the River® is not over as consideration of the merits of the Mateel’s position have yet to be adjudicated. It has only begun. The first lawsuit over the lease will be heard hopefully within the next few months and then the lawsuits regarding the unfair business practices against People Productions will follow. The Mateel will be reconfiguring its operations and staffing to align itself for the challenges ahead following the Summer Arts and Music Festival the first weekend of June 2007. We will do our best to keep the public informed by posting commentary on the website and through our regular Board meetings.

If you purchased a ticket please go to your place of purchase for a refund. For more info you can contact Ticket Web at Ticketweb.com or call 2b1 Multimedia Inc. 415 861-1520. For more info please see www.reggaeontheriver.com

How the local community can help:

The Summer Arts & Music Festival is looking for more volunteers. Sign up at www.mateel.org. Write, fax, email, or call the Humboldt County Planning Commission to support the Mateel Community Center’s plan for Reggae on the River® 2008 and beyond. Make clear to the Planning Commission that this community will not endorse an event with the name Reggae Rising if it is to supplant the community event Reggae on the River®. This permit must remain in the hands of the Mateel Community Center. Names and information are pasted below. We thank you for your time and efforts on the community’s behalf.

Humboldt County Website:
http://co.humboldt.ca.us/planning/planning/

Voice: (707) 445-7541
Fax: (707) 445-7446

Email: kgirard@co.humboldt.ca.us (Kirk Girard)
MRichardson@co.humboldt.ca.us (Michael Richardson)

Please cc a copy to office@mateel.org

Reggae on the River is the Registered Trademark of the Mateel Community Center

It looks like the battle is over (maybe)

2007-05-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

from the Mateel website:

May 12, 2007

Via Facsimile & U.S. Mail
Mr. Jeffrey G. Knowles
Coblentz, Patch, Duffy, & Bass LLP
One Ferry Building, Suite 200
San Francisco, California 94111-4213

Re: Mateel Community Center, Inc. v. People Productions, LLC et. al.

Dear Mr. Knowles,

I am writing in response to your letter to Bill Bragg of May 8, 2007, regarding the offer from Mr. Dimmick for a partial resolution of the ongoing dispute between our clients. Bill is out of town this weekend and asked that I forward this response to you.

This correspondence is pursuant to settlement discussions and is inadmissable under Evidence Code section 1152.

The offer is acceptable to the Mateel with the following revisions.

Item 1: The $200,000.00 payment shall be based upon the attendance level set by the planning commission at its last meeting. The payment will be increased by $20.00 per person increase in attendance level that may be approved by the Planning Commission for the 2007 event. Miscellaneous equipment needed for Summer Arts Faire will be returned to the Mateel upon execution of this agreement. Mateel will provide a list of the items prior to execution of the agreement.

Item 2: Acceptable without revision.

Item 3: The 2007 event shall be produced under the name “Reggae on the River.” No other name or trademark shall be associated with its production. In particular, “Reggae Rising” will not be associated with this event.

Item 4: Acceptable, however it needs to be clarified that the present action does not constitute an impediment to Mr. Dimmick’s promotion efforts. Suggested language: “Mateel will refrain from initiating any new legal proceedings that would impede Mr. Dimmick’s festival.”

Item 5: Acceptable without revision.

Item 6: Acceptable, but in addition your client will not assert any claims against Boots Hughston or 2B1 Productions and will indemnify them from any claims made by People Productions, relating to the 2007 event.

Item 7: The only matters relative to the litigation that will be stayed is the scheduling of the hearing before the referee which will not be scheduled to occur within 45 days after the conclusion of the 2007 event but, in no event, shall be scheduled later than 90 days after the 2007 event.

Item 8: Mateel will agree to pay the outstanding billing from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department upon verification that there has not been double payment. Agreement to pay any other outstanding debts depends upon their specific identification with supporting documentation concerning the circumstances under which they were incurred.

It is understood that Mr. Dimmick requires the signed version of the 2B1 production agreement to be provided along with certification from the ticket agency of the amount of tickets sold and the amount in the advanced ticket sales account.

The Mateel would also like to put forth the following proposals for a global

settlement of the dispute between all of the parties. The main terms of the offer are as follows:

Multi-year/Global Settlement

The Mateel will receive $240,000.00 per year for nine years (eight years if a separate one year agreement for 2007 is reached) or $20.00 per head using capacities set by Planning Commission or actual attendance, whichever is less, as long as actual attendance is independently verified by a means acceptable to Mateel. The $33,333.00 paid to Mr. Dimmick as an advance on rent for the 2007 festival year shall be refunded.

Mateel shall be paid the appraised value of infrastructure and equipment divided into nine equal annual installments (eight if a 2007 agreement is reached), no interest. A credit toward infrastructure to be negotiated shall be applied in the event of a separate 2007 agreement. Miscellaneous equipment needed for Summer Arts Faire will be returned to the Mateel upon execution of this agreement. Mateel will provide a list of the items prior to execution of the agreement.

Reggae on the River archives including graphics, old artwork, etc. shall be returned to the Mateel.

People Productions shall agree to provide any and all financial documents that are presently not in the Mateel’s possession that the Mateel may be required to produce at the request of any governmental agency for the 2005 and 2006 events. People Productions shall hold Mateel harmless and indemnify Mateel from any adverse financial consequences that may result from the failure to produce those documents including any back taxes or penalties that may be assessed.

The Mateel shall be provided a promissory note to secure the appraised value of the infrastructure and equipment secured by a first deed of trust on the property on which the infrastructure is located. If a first deed of trust is not possible for that property, another property of equal or greater value may be used to secure the note.

Payment of the other amounts owed pursuant to the agreement will be secured by personal guarantees of Mr. Dimmick supported by his financial statement evidencing sufficient financial strength to meet the guarantee. In the event he has insufficient financial strength to support his guarantee he will provide additional co-signers that do.

All litigation, including the complaint filed by People Productions, is terminated with mutual releases.

Alternate Long-Term Settlement

The Mateel is paid $200,000.00 per year for nine years (eight years if there is a separate agreement for 2007) for a release/assignment of rights under the existing lease, all rights under the existing permit, all claims for infrastructure and equipment.

All other terms of the previous offer concerning archives, financial record guarantees, security for payment and resolution of litigation.

Mateel retains the Reggae on the River trademark.

Please be aware that an agreement for at least the short-term solution must be reached by this coming Monday, or the transfer of Reggae on the River tickets and proceeds will no longer be possible. I look forward to hearing from you. You can reach me this weekend at my home phone number or by e-mail at

Very truly yours

James J. Aste

May 14, 2007

Email letter received from Mr. Dimmick’s Attorney.

Dear Jim:

I write in response to your email yesterday, attaching a letter dated May 12, 2007.

Mr. Dimmick believes that pursuit of partial resolution is the best course at the point in the process, given the time constraints set forth in your letter and the likely difficulty of resolving some of the parties' differences in connection with a global settlement. Mr. Dimmick is prepared to enter into an agreement to resolve the dispute in part along the lines set forth in my letter of May 8, 2007, with modifications as follows:

Item 1: Payment. Mr. Dimmick will pay to Mateel Community Center, Inc. ("MCC") the sum of $200,000, plus $20.00 per person to the extent the attendance limit is raised from it's current level, with all amounts in excess of $200,000 allocated to a purchase of any interest MCC may have in infrastructure on the Dimmick property or, in the event it should be determined by Mr. Dimmick or by binding third-party decision that Mr. Dimmick owes any other monetary obligation to MCC, toward any such obligation. The choice of how to allocate as between the infrastructure interest or other obligation shall be Mr. Dimmick's. Depending on the equipment MCC seeks for its Summer Arts Fair, Mr. Dimmick may agree to this term as provided in your letter.

Item 2: Rescission of 2B1/MCC agreement: Agreed

Item 3: License/Use of name. Mr. Dimmick cannot agree to refrain from using the name "Reggae Rising" in connection with the event. At this point, there is so much confusion in the market place, Mr. Dimmmick cannot reasonably expect to sell out the event without using that name, especially given the increasing public reports that "Reggae on the River" may not occur regardless of the outcome of the legal dispute. He will, however, agree to place the "Reggae Rising" name in more a of supporting position, such as using the phrase "Reggae Rising presents Reggae on the River."

Item 4. Non-interference. Mr. Dimmick agrees that the pendency of litigation alone shall not be considered an impediment under this term, but believes, as explained below, that the term should make clear that no steps will taken in the litigation at all, except as required by a court or to effectuate a stay, until after the 2007 festival takes place.

Item 5: Transfer of ticket proceeds/control: Agreed, but it should be clear that this includes a transfer of proceeds relating to camping and a list of vendors detailing the status of those arrangements. Mr. Dimmick would not be obligated to vendors, but would consider them on a case-by-case basis.

Item 6: Indemnity/Covenant Not To Sue: The original rationale for requesting indemnity against claims by 2B1 was to protect against a circumstance in which 2B1 objected to the rescission of the agreement with MCC and the license to Mr. Dimmick. Mr. Bragg, however, has indicated that 2B1 will agree to the rescission/license to Mr. Dimmick. We suggest that he sign off on this agreement, and that no one will provide ang indemnity or other commitment regarding refraining from making claims. I doubt we have time to negotiation anything more complicated and, as written, the modifications suggested in your letter are problematic.

Item 7: Litigation Stay: All litigation must be stayed until after the festival. The reason for this is that discovery proceedings are likely to create a significant impediment to the extremely time consuming process of preparing for the festival. Additionally, there is no logical reason why only the summary judgment motion hearing should be deferred. If an overall stay is agreed upon, a deferral of proceeding until 45 days after the festival is acceptable.

Item 8: Payment of 2006 Obligations: It sounds like we do not have a disagreement in principle on this point. From Mr. Dimmick's point of view, he simply does not want outstanding obligations to government agencies or vendors to pose an impediment to the 2007 festival.

Receipt of a copy of the final, signed version of the MCC/2B1 agreement and a certified box office statement regarding ticket sales to the "Reggae on the River" event for 2007, and subsequent approval of the terms above by Mr. Dimmick, are preconditions to any deal. It is therefore urgent that MCC/2B1 provide that information immediately if we are to conclude even a tentative deal by tomorrow.

Please inform your client not to respond to these proposed deal terms with a "counterproposal." Not only is there inadequate time to continue these negotiations, but Mr. Dimmick cannot offer any increased sum, given existing financial constraints and uncertainties, nor can he afford to refrain from using the "Reggae Rising" name. The other terms, too, are all more than reasonable.

I will attempt to contact you later today or early tomorrow to discuss.

JGK

May 15, 2007

Jeffrey Knowles
Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP
One Ferry Building, Suite 200
San Francisco, CA 94111

Re: Mateel Community Center v. People Productions, et al.

Dear Mr. Knowles:

Consistent with my phone message of yesterday afternoon and our phone conversation of yesterday evening, this correspondence will confirm the Board’s response to your client’s last proposal.

Your client claims that there is “confusion” among the ticket buying public arising from his unilateral promotion of a “Reggae Rising” event planned for the same weekend and same location as Reggae on the River such that he is worried about the ability to fully sell tickets for all authorized attendance.

My clients have no doubt that your client and his backers have the ability to remove this “confusion” by clearly removing their competing “Reggae Rising” references from the market place. Reggae on the River has been in place for over 23 years and is well recognized by the ticket buying public. The event has sold out for a number of years.

My clients are not interested in assisting in the promotion of a competing event and will not agree to the use of any competing trademark and in particular, the “Reggae Rising” label in the promotion of the event. The Mateel is, however, willing to address your client’s fears. They will provide a $20.00 credit toward any sums owed by your client to the Mateel including infrastructure when those sums are finally determined for the amount of tickets left unsold for the 2007 event.

As I indicated to you in my messages and conversation yesterday, the ability to transfer advanced ticket sales as part of this offer will expire at 9:00 a.m. this morning. After that time, 2b1 must maintain good faith with those who purchased tickets to the 2007 Reggae on the River and will begin refunding ticket sales.

Since you have advised that any arrangement for the 2007 event would necessarily require the inclusion of a transfer of those advanced tickets, I will assume that there will be no resolution for this year and the Mateel will be forced to announce the cancellation of the 2007 music festival at that time.

Very truly yours,

WILLIAM R. BRAGG

WRB:pl

The next step: a message from Boots

2007-05-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody

After months of trying to settle with Dimmick Ranch and People
Productions, no agreement has been reached. This leaves the
community's festival in jeopardy with hundreds of thousands in
costs and no permit or venue.

To produce an event two things are required - the permit and the
site. In the beginning it was felt that the Mateel as owner of the
festival permit for almost 23 years in addition to their binding
contract with the land owner would have no problems.

Then Dimmick Ranch terminated the Mateel's lease. People Production &
Dimmick Ranch posing as the permit applicant applied for the Mateel's
permit under Reggae Rising. Then "Reggae Rising" (the property owner
and People Productions) announced their intention of doing the Reggae
Rising Festival on the same day, at the same time and at the same venue.
The planning commission who handles the permit process decided to allow
both sides to continue with the application (crazy but true). Then, the
commission would not rule on who the applicant was, stating "let the
decision be made by the courts". Even though the decision is clearly
the commission's responsibility, they skirted it to avoid the
political fallout. This doomed the event to conflict that could only be
settled within the court system. We held out as long as possible in
hopes of a resolution. The Mateel has tried everything in their power to
convince Dimmick Ranch to settle fairly and in good faith.

Without a permit and venue this leaves us no choice but to cancel the
event for 07. All tickets will be refunded at the place of purchase.

We wish to thank all of you for the, love, understanding and support
you have shown 2b1 and the Mateel during these trying times. We know
it's a difficult transition that will not be easy but we will do
everything we can to help alleviate problems.

2b1 was asked to help the Mateel in its time of need, because their
doors were on the brink of closing. Financially they were loosing the
fight for survival. We felt it was important the dream stayed alive.
Humboldt is a community built from the ashes of the 60's, forged by a
self sustaining economy that fostered a world renowned festival. This
adventure spirit, anti-establishment philosophy, and spiritual belief in
unity built the community, which developed a festival so full of love
the world has taken notice. This spirituality is important and above all
must continue.

"Reggae on the River" has become a place of almost religious
importance. It is a yearly renewing of the faith, a time where goodness,
caring for one another, sharing one's love, shedding the worlds
problems, and cleansing from the everyday bull, all happen in the name
of "UNITY". It is a place where we raised our children and met our
wives, husbands, lovers and companions. It is where groups of people
meet from around the world to socialize and renew their faith in our
culture, reinforcing our beliefs and strengthening our morals and
renewing our code of ethics. This is the spirit and love we have all
felt at "Reggae on the River," this is what's important.

2b1 will wait for the courts to resolve the dispute and is 100%
behind the Mateel. Once resolved we believe the community can again come
together behind Reggae on the River's founding principals of love,
spirituality and "UNITY"

Much love and respect,
Boots-2b1

Is that your final offer?

2007-05-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of folks sent me links to this, a "minimum" offer posted on the Mateel website that apparently will be running in some paper or other this week.

Note: If you have trouble reading the small type, click on the image and it will enlarge (just the image, not the offer).

Dimmick Ranch Responds

2007-05-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

You knew the notion that the Mateel was the victor at the Planning Commission Meeting could not go unaddressed. Here's the official reply:

Response to the Planning Commission Meeting from The Dimmick Ranch

May 5, 2007

We entered the May 3 Planning Commission meeting hopeful that we would present a united front and that we were close to a one-year truce agreement with the MCC that would preserve the annual reggae event for this community and the reggae community at large. We left frustrated with the Commission’s ruling and the sense that we ALL lost this round due to the reduced attendance level – unfortunately, the loss now extends to the other local non-profits, as well as the parties directly involved in the dispute.

With festival attendance set at 12,400, the event will experience an immediate 30% income decrease. This revenue cut also makes it financially impossible for the Dimmick Ranch to continue to offer a monetary settlement or truce proposal anywhere close to what the MCC needs to keep its doors open on their current operating budget.

Prior to the Commission meeting, the Dimmick Ranch had put yet another truce agreement on the table, and the MCC was, again, unwilling to discuss it promptly. Further, Mateel attorney Bill Bragg has admitted that the MCC has no show, yet it insists on continuing to fight the fight. This is consistent with what, we are hearing from the agents of artists listed on the ROTR site: that many of the artist are being advertised without contracts or deposits and several are now asking to sign with Reggae Rising. Among the confirmed ROTR NO SHOWS are Shaggy, Ky-mani Marley and Luciano. Meanwhile, Culture, Dubconscious, Dr Israel, the Itals, Eek-A-Mouse and Marlon Asher have all asked to come onto the Reggae Rising lineup.

Yet, the MCC continues to promote a show on property it does not have a right to occupy, with a line up that is not confirmed, and an operational plan for the conditional use permit (CUP) that has limited staffing. In addition, the MCC threatened the county with litigation if the CUP that runs with the Dimmick Ranch property is handled like any other conditional use permit: it remains with the property. Because no new testimony from the applicants was permitted at the hearing, we were unable to provide the Commission with evidence of this.

While we are disappointed in the lower attendance level, we recognize it as a by-product of this dispute and the MCC’s absurd threat of litigation against the county. It is apparent to us that Taunya Stapp and a majority of the MCC Board of Directors support only one non-profit in this community: the Mateel.

Taunya Stapp once stated that the Mateel didn’t need ROTR to survive, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that she may well have to make good on those words. Sadly, it has always been our intention to have the Reggae festival support the MCC while being produced on the Dimmick Ranch by the experienced professionals of People Productions. We will continue to work towards this goal, although the county’s decision has made the financial viability of the event even riskier.

We at the Dimmick Ranch have done our best to keep our dealings professional. While we will, of course, protect our property interests, we have had and continue to have the community’s resources, non-profits, event volunteers and citizens, as well as reggae lovers throughout the state and beyond, in the forefront of our minds throughout this situation. Reggae Rising was launched so the planning and ticket sales for this annual festival could move forward in spite of the ongoing dispute.

Reggae Rising has an outstanding CONFIRMED musical line up; an experienced production team; committed and hard-working volunteers; the support of many non-profit vendors; and the limited number of tickets are selling fast. Our legal position is solid, and the Dimmick Ranch will persevere in producing Reggae Rising to support ALL of the non-profits in our community and for the love and enjoyment of reggae generally. Southern Humboldt, we need your common sense, support and voices to be heard.

Sincerely,

Tom Dimmick
Property Owner

Meeka Ferretta
Ranch Manager

[postscript: an anonymous commenter offers, "an excerpt from the [report by a] Eureka Reporter who was in attendance at the planning meeting this past Thursday:

Commissioner Smith addressed the possibility of revoking the permit if the court didn’t identify who had the right to the festival, but, he said, July 23 was too late.

Commissioner Richard Hansis said he wanted the attendance levels reduced.

“I haven’t seen enough evidence that either party has fully grasped or presented a plan or information that they can handle all the requirements of that attendance level,” he said.

Commissioner Sef R. Murgia said it was unclear who the party was.

“I can’t support a motion that (grants) a permit to an applicant as yet unnamed,” he said.

Smith reminded that the county already has the permit. This is about adding conditions to it.

Mateel declares victory

2007-05-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

I got a note from Mateel E.D. Taunya Stapp earlier today advising that a press release was coming re: the Planning Commission's actions last night. I don't know that I would describe what happened as a "victory" myself, since the commission lowered the attendance level, which will cost whoever gets to do the festival a lot of money, and they threatened to pull the permit entirely if legal issues remain undecided by July 16, but the Mateel is still in the game, which I suppose is worth something.
BTW, I was otherwise occupied and did not attend the hearing personally, nor did I tune it in on my TV (or even TiVo it) so I'm going on press reports by my esteemed colleagues, James from the T-S and Wendy from the E-R, whose accounts you can read by clicking on their respective names.

On another note, I got a call from Boots Hughston of 2b1 this afternoon. I'd sent him an e-mail earlier asking if there was any truth in an anonymous rumor posted elsewhere saying he'd pulled out as producer of Reggae on the River. As I suspected, the rumor is baseless.

One more thing. An anonymous commenter complained in an unposted comment,

"Your "Journal" stories are fun to read and all but your attitude regarding people commenting on "your" blog and your sending them over to Eric's to post stuff your going to read over there anyway leaves a pungent aroma in our quickly warming atmosphere."

Well, for starters, thanks for the compliment, glad you like my "Journal" stories and all. I'm curious as to why you put quotes around the word "your" as applied to this blog. I think I've made it clear in the past, I am responsible for what you read here in as much as I am the person who set the blog up, I'm the only one who posts here (although I mostly post official p.r.) and I'm the moderator.
As far as the comments in connection with the last post, I just don't want to hear a bunch of personal attacks, much less provide a forum for that sort of thing. Forgive my language, but if there's a "pungent aroma" in your vicinity, perhaps it's because you're one of the anonymous trolls who's full of shit. I have a few more thoughts on the effect that anonymous bloggage has had on the "quickly warming atmosphere" down SoHum way, but I'll save them for another day. - Bob

and now for that press release:

REGGAE on the River Victory on Control of Festival Permit
REGGAE on the River moves forward to save event for local community

[Humboldt County, CA May 3, 2007]

The Humboldt Planning Commissioners held steady in their support for the community last evening by confirming through actions, that the Mateel Community Center is still the applicant and holder of the permit for this year’s festival. “We appreciate the planning commission taking the action necessary to maintain the integrity of the decision making process to help guide the community through this controversy.” said Boots Hughston of 2b1 Multimedia, the producer for Reggae on the River. This clears the way for the Mateel, owners of the festival-- for over twenty three years, and it’s production partner, 2b1 Multimedia to successfully confirm its right to produce the festival this year and beyond.

The festival is a crucial part of the social and economic goodwill for the local Southern Humboldt community, a community which has much pride in it’s support over the years for building and maintaining a healthy nonprofit sector in a rural area with limited governmental services. For over twenty-three years the Mateel Community Center has used its largest fundraiser to distribute the goodwill of the festival by developing diverse cultural arts, theater, and music programs for the surrounding communities. Programming includes items like the Mateel Meal for those without resources and acclaimed theatrical performances by local youth through Recycled Youth.

Taunya Stapp, Executive Director of the Mateel Community Center said, “We are grateful to the commission and acknowledge the difficulty of the job, the changes requested, and we are fully up to the task. We have taken their words to heart and we hope to have any remaining issues resolved prior to the deadline set with the Mateel and Reggae on the River prevailing.”

2b1 Multimedia has an excellent reputation and track record for safe large festival events. The Mateel is very appreciative of 2b1’s support and continued willingness to assist in this year’s production. The Mateel commends 2b1 Multimedia for stepping up to ensure this festival stays with its community and music roots.

the river is still rising

2007-05-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's just because I'm generally an optimist, but attending Coco's party at the Mateel Saturday almost had me convinced that there's a way out of this morass that does not include total annihilation.
Then I saw the letter below posted on Eric's blog, and the resulting barrage of comments. Last I checked it was up to 96, and it's less than 24 hours since the letter went up. I don't know Peter Ryce all that well, but I know that yesterday morning he was a beloved schoolmaster, and now what is he? A traitor who should be boycotted (how exactly I'm not sure) shunned, and perhaps drawn and quartered.
It's been suggested that he did not write the letter himself, than Yvonne wrote it (I asked her, she says she did not).
Someone else writes, "We will go to the planning commission and get them to sign off on the biggest drug restriction Reggae has ever seen. You assholes have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into..." which to me says, if things don't go our way, we'll do our best to destroy the festival.
I'm guessing that my weighing in just this much will result in people assuming that I've chosen sides in this battle, something I'm trying hard not to do.
Anyway, I'm reposting this notice because I'm not sure that everyone who reads this blog also reads SoHum Parlance. If you have thoughts on it, I'd just as soon you post them there.

The photo above shows the pizza bread booth at last year's Reggae. Peter is the guy on the right. It was used to illustrate a story I wrote for the Journal, "The Cuisine of Reggae." Read it and you might get a better idea about how Peter's statement came about.

Reggae Rising - on the River

Judge Watson came out with his ruling. He said that the MCC has no basis for a preliminary injunction on Peoples Production. Reggae Rising will go forward.

We believe this is truly the time for UNITY.

Peoples Production has been meeting regularly, on site, and with the coordinators and are able and ready to produce this year’s event. They have shown both the professional caliber necessary to produce the event along with a trained and experienced staff. Peoples has shown that they are fully capable of producing a large Reggae Festival. They have also shown that their support of the non-profits and our community center will be continued.
We support their production of this year’s event!

The MCC should drop any further attempt at litigation or court procedures against PP or Tom Dimmick over this year’s event. The time for fighting is over and we want to move on. The income we, the non profit organizations, receive from the event is, for many of us, our largest annual fund raiser. We cannot continue to do the good work we do without this event. The politics of these past months has been deplorable and we want no more of it. MCC is a community center not at Production Company. Yes, there are unresolved issues, but the current leadership has not been able to affect a timely or satisfactory resolution. This is not the time to sort out. There will be time after the event when they should sit at the table and speak until the air is clear. We do not want to see any more posturing or delaying tactics. This event is less then 100 days out and we need to focus on getting it together if we are to have a world class event in August 2007.

The vendors ask that Reggae Rising keep us apprised of the expected attendance and actual ticket sales on a regular basis so we can gauge our ordering and preparation for the actual event size. We further offer our assistance to help with the planning department or any other agency that wants to see we are united and ready to move on Reggae 2007.

We are saddened that the community has become so divided, distracted and disturb over our Unity Event. This is not how we want to do things or how we have practiced conflict resolution. Doing Reggae 2007 can be a break and a breather.
Take a deep breath, count to ten, do Reggae and then find a win/win solution.

Jah Love,

Peter Ryce for the non-profit vendors of Reggae Rising - on the River

A different sort of Reggae sory

2007-05-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Forgive me if I crow for just a moment, but I just found out I'm a finalist for an award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association's 2006 Better Newspapers Contest. What, if anything, does this have to do with Reggae? Well, the story was one I wrote for the Journal's August 24, 2006 edition, just after last year's Reggae on the River, regarding the greening of the festival, specifically the use of corn plastic.

Here's the beginning of "How Green is my Plastic?"
(click on the title to read the rest...)

THE FORK MOVED ALL ON ITS OWN. Not much, just a slight twist, but it definitely moved. It was the summer of 2004 and I was standing in front of the Rasta Pasta booth at Reggae on the River, eating a hot dish of pesto. I'd left the fork stuck in the hot food while talking with a friend. When I pulled it from the pasta I found that the tines were warped into a claw shape. My plastic utensil had melted from the heat of the pasta pesto.

I learned the reason why from the Whitethorn School folks running the pasta booth: The utensils were biodegradable, made from corn. This was explained further when I took the plate and fork to the nearby complex of garbage cans for proper disposal.

A smiling woman sat on a stool amid the barrels and bags dressed in rolled up jeans and a grey Reggae T-shirt with bold letters on the back identifying her as part of the recycling crew. Her job was to direct festivalgoers regarding the proper disposal of their waste: cans here, plastic bottles and cups there, glass in another barrel and so on.

She explained that the large bag marked "plates and utensils" was destined for composting, one part of a plan to move toward a "greener" festival. While garbage duty was not the most glamorous job at Reggae, she was happy to be playing a small part in making the event waste-free and thus more ecologically sound.
aka PLA

The fork I used that day and the cups used to serve beer and soda were made from a plastic resin, polylactic acid, aka PLA, a material most often made from corn but also using other plant starches including potatoes and wheat.

Just about anyone you ask will tell you that bio-based PLA plastics sound like a great idea. With awareness about the relationship between petrochemicals and greenhouses gases at an all time high (along with the cost of gasoline), people see this new plastic derived from renewable resources as an attractive alternative to our dependence on oil.

Add in the fact that we are getting buried by an avalanche of plastic containers used to carry and hold this, that and the other thing. Around 25 percent of the material in our landfills is plastic.

The notion that bio-plastic is "biodegradable" would also seem to be quite a plus. The people who make the stuff certainly seem to think so. The word is embossed on the handles of the forks and spoons used at Reggae this year.

The use of corn plastic has grown by leaps and bounds since I first heard about it. Last year NatureWorks, a major player in the industry (and the company that makes the cups used at Reggae) signed a deal to supply Wal-Mart with clear plastic containers for produce.

In a press release Wal-Mart noted that PLA plastic will be used for 100 million containers per year and bragged that, "with this change to packaging made from corn we will save the equivalent of 800,000 gallons of gasoline and reduce more than 11 million lbs. of green house gas emissions from polluting our environment." They also pointed to PLA's "ability to provide a price stable product as the price of oil needed to produce conventional packaging keeps climbing higher and higher."

Could there be any downside to this picture of an eco-groovy plastic future? A closer look into the world of corn plastic shows that there are problems yet to be resolved. (more)

Reggae on the Rising River

2007-04-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

This note came in last night from a friend:

Here's my dad's take on the judge's ruling and the two
press releases that came out:

"Reading all this stuff is like reading different
versions of the Iraq invasion from Rumsfeld and
Kucinich! No reasonable person can understand what
the hell the judge ruled nor the reactions of the two
parties to the dispute. Did Dimmick forget there was another
court hearing?

Frankly, I didn't understand anything they said, and
just as frankly, don't give a damn. Redway must be on
the verge of anarchy."
--
My (my friend's) opinion is that at this point the Mateel should
take the best offer they've gotten from Dimmick and
get out now while they still can. I bet their
upcoming member meeting will be interesting.

My (Bob's) opinion? I'm thinking I was right when I waffled on the term unencumbered. After hearing the KMUD news last night where Tom Dimmick explained that the issue of the Mateel's lease will not be resolved until July 11, it's clear the battle is not over. BTW, the KMUD website now has an archive section, which should enable you to hear Estelle's report for yourself even if you did not tune in last night.
That's all for this morning, I'm heading down to the Farmers' Market where I'll probably be asked what's up with Reggae, then this afternoon, some of you will see me at Coco's benefit at the Mateel, where I'm certain the recent news will be the topic du jour.

Reggae Rising PSA and questions from afar

2007-04-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

I got a note this afternoon from my old friend, Gregg (not the same Gregg mentioned below re: the Coco benefit by the way). This is Gregg McVicar, a longtime radio pro, in fact he had the first reggae-themed show in Humboldt County on KHSU way back in the '70s, but that's another story. He's down in the Bay Area now, runs a syndicated show called Undercurrents. He sent me a copy of a PSA that showed up in his e-mail this afternoon (I received the same one) with the following note:

Bob,

What is this all about? An injunction?

Gregg

Around the same time I got an e-mail from a friend in Fresno, someone I camp with when I go the Reggae.

He writes,
I'm confused. Is it going to be Reggae on the River or Reggae Rising? I'm going to guess Reggae Rising because of the article about People Productions and the owners of Dimmick's Ranch partnering up against the Mateel. But I like the line-up for ROTR better.

Sean

I have to admit, I don't have easy answers for either of them. I think I'll have to give Gregg a call to try to explain what's happened to the festival he attended with me one time a few years ago. I don't know that I have a rock solid answer to Sean's question either, nor can I tell him if any of the RotR lineup booked by 2b1 might be incorporated into Reggae Rising if that side prevails -- or vice versa.

One more thing, I was just a little bit taken aback when I read the subject line for this PSA, "Reggae Rising Moves Forward Unencumbered." Does that sound kinda familiar? (See the post below titled "This just in.")

the PSA:

EVENT: Reggae Rising, Festival
DATE: August 3rd, 4th and 5th
PLACE: Dimmick Ranch/ French’s Camp, Piercy Calif.
CONTACT: Yvonne Hendrix, People Productions

COURT DENIES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
AGAINST PEOPLE PRODUCTION and THE DIMMICK RANCH
REGGAE RISING MUSIC FESTIVAL MOVES FORWARD UNENCUMBERED
ZIGGY, STEPHEN, and DAMIAN MARLEY ADDED TO LINEUP

[Humboldt County, CA April 27, 2007]

The honorable Judge Bruce Watson denied the Mateel Community Center’s request for a preliminary injunction against: People Productions, the Dimmick Ranch, and the Reggae Rising Music Festival. This highly-anticipated ruling clears the way for the Reggae Rising Music Festival to move forward unencumbered to bring you the best reggae festival of the summer.

The festival will benefit the Southern Humboldt community and carry on the 23 year tradition of being one of the largest fundraisers for its non-profits. Reggae Rising will take place on August 3rd, 4th and 5th at the Dimmick Ranch and French’s Camp in Piercy, California and will feature three days of camping and world renowned reggae music, situated along the picturesque Eel River.

This year's festival is dedicated to the “MUSIC” and the lineup promises to be unparalleled. We're proud to announce that ZIGGY MARLEY, STEPHEN MARLEY, and DAMIAN MARLEY have just been added. Each Marley brother will be performing their own set, backed by their own band. This is a first in the history of the Marley brothers!!!

In a recent interview, with the Eureka-Times Standard, Stephen Marley was asked: “T-S: As a performer, is that just another show, or is there a special vibe to that place?” Stephen: “No, it's not just another show. As you say, it's not really so much the name as the atmosphere, the people and the vibe. That's why it's not just another show, why it's special. It's just free. The vibe always free spirited, ya know? Down by the river, visit the people and pitch their tents. That type of free lifestyle, that, you know what I mean? When you hear my father say (singing), 'why can't we roam this open country,' it always remind me of that type of vibe, ya know, just being. You pitch your tent, the river is there, ya know, and the greenery, and the scenery. It get no better than that. So, it's not just another concert, but at the same time, it's not the name of it, really, but the vibe of it.”

Other artists confirmed are: STEEL PULSE, ABYSSINIANS, ANTHONY B, COLLIE BUDDZ, FANTAN MOJAH, FREDDIE MCGREGOR, HEAVYWEIGHT DUB CHAMPION, ISHI DUBE, MORGAN HERITAGE, QUEEN OMEGA, RICHIE SPICE, RICHIE STEPHENS, SLY & ROBBIE AND THE TAXI GANG with HORACE ANDY, TANYA STEPHENS, and WISDOM. Please check our website frequently as there are more acts TBA.

People Productions and its staff of coordinators have a two decades plus track record for hosting exceptional music festivals and will produce the event with the same expertise that has given them one of the best reputations in the industry.

It's official: "The Mateel will continue to fight the hijack"

2007-04-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

an almost immediate response to the Dimmick Ranch/People Productions announcement. [Note: a second version of this came in at 6 last night "with typo corrected." I'm not sure what that typo was, but I swapped the new one in.]

[Thursday, April 26, 2007. Redway, CA.] The request made by the Mateel Community Center to have the courts intervene in a timely manner to stop the take over by Tom Dimmick and People Productions of our twenty-three year old fundraising event Reggae on the River has been denied today. The court’s ruling explains that it cannot establish at this time that a monetary settlement made on the merits of the lawsuit, once that lawsuit has been heard in court, will not successfully mitigate the losses the community center will suffer because of the coordinated actions of the private landowner and the previous production company, People Productions.

It is the Mateel’s position that it will ultimately prevail in the lawsuit and that the referee will rule that the Mateel has a right to hold its event per Mr. Dimmick’s original promise to the Mateel when we entered that contract. It is furthermore the position that the Mateel is the only applicant under the conditional use permit and remains the only applicant until it no longer has a right to possess the property or assigns the permit to another. Until then, the Commission should only be dealing with the Mateel as the applicant. Continuing to treat Mr. Dimmick as an alternate applicant only exacerbates the confusion and frustrates the Mateel in trying to protect the community's asset from being turned over to the hands of private individuals for their own private commercial gain.

The Mateel will continue to fight the hijacking of our equipment, records, infrastructure, intellectual property and investment, made by this community for over twenty-three years, by private individuals wishing to reap the gain. We will discuss the current circumstances with our members on May 7th at 6:00 PM at the Mateel Community Hall in Redway. Until then we hope to see our community at the Thursday, May 3, 2007 planning commission meeting to help us ensure the Mateel permit stays with Reggae on the River.

A new era?

2007-04-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

more "details," this time from the Dimmick Ranch...

COURT DENIES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION; TICKETS ON SALE NOW AS REGGAE RISING SECURES RIGHT TO DIMMICK RANCH SITE

Mateel Community Center’s Attempt to Bar Competing Community-Focused
Festival Lacks Legal Merit; Reggae Vibes Continue to Flow Under New Name

PIERCY, Calif.; April 26, 2007 – After a much-anticipated ruling that ushers in a new era for the annual Southern Humboldt community reggae event, tickets for Reggae Rising, a music festival to be held on the Dimmick Ranch, Aug. 3-5, are on sale now.
Long-time producer People Productions and landowner Tom Dimmick have legally cleared the way to move forward with the event and continue to work to address the remaining concerns of the Planning Commission in producing this world-class reggae music festival, benefiting a variety of local non-profit organizations.

The ruling, issued by The Honorable Judge Bruce Watson after a hearing on Monday, April 9, denied the Mateel Community Center's request for a preliminary injunction against Dimmick and the Reggae Rising event. Parties to the lawsuit originally asked the judge to withhold his ruling in favor of progressing settlement negotiations; however, these talks have failed to produce a settlement, and the parties requested an expeditious ruling from the Honorable Judge Watson on Apr. 13.

“The entire Reggae Rising team feels a tremendous responsibility to this community – both the Southern Humboldt community and the broader reggae community. In living up to that responsibility, I have been through weeks of active settlement talks with the Mateel Community Center,” said Tom Dimmick. “The Dimmick Ranch has repeatedly offered the Mateel a yearly guarantee that would have funded its operating budget for the duration of the conditional use permit, but this offer was turned down. I also included payment for the infrastructure on my land and even went so far as to add a one-year deal for 2007 that would allow 2B1 to recover most of the costs it has incurred to date. Yet, the Mateel has refused to recognize the value in a 23-year veteran producer and has over-valued its trademark.”

Dimmick added: “The Mateel Board appears to be interested in a long and drawn out fight over ‘what could have been’ rather than ‘what is.’ In the meantime, we’re moving forward to put on the best reggae festival yet, which will secure relied-upon funding for our local non-profits.”

Dimmick owns the river-side land on which Reggae on the River was held in 2006 and controls the vast majority of parking and camping area necessary for hosting Reggae Rising in 2007. People Productions, a locally owned company, is led by Carol Bruno, who has produced the event since its inception, and employs many of the experienced coordinators who have worked Reggae on the River for 23 years.

The Dimmick Ranch was originally leased to the Mateel in 2005, with provisions for infrastructure development and “Item 10,” which assures that People Productions would serve as the production company for the term of the lease. In hiring 2B1, a new producer out of the Bay Area, the Mateel materially breached its lease with Dimmick.

Reggae Rising will benefit and feature goods and services offered by a variety of Southern Humboldt non-profit organizations.

“We are truly saddened by the deep divide that this entire situation has created within our community. However, this ruling places our focus squarely on the future and the many preparations necessary to make Reggae Rising a positive outcome from what has been a trying period. We look forward to putting the peace and love back into the community and the reggae music festival,” said Bruno.

The entire production team for Reggae Rising is committed to presenting a great community event what will bring attendees the music, food, beverage and merchandise they have come to enjoy in years past. Visit the Web site at: www.reggaerising.com.

This just in...

2007-04-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

A well placed source tells me that Judge Watson issued his ruling on the Mateel request for a preliminary injunction today.

He ruled against the injunction, which would apparently mean that Reggae Rising can now move forward unencumbered.

Details as they become available...

As promised, some details. I got a call a few minutes ago from Mateel E.D. Taunya Stapp. She was not happy about this post, in part because she learned that the judge ruled against the Mateel, but also because she feels I overstated things, first by omitting the word preliminary in my description of the injunction (correction made) and second by suggesting that Tom Dimmick and People Productions are now "unencumbered." (For what it's worth, I did waffle a bit by saying "apparently.") As she pointed out, the ruling does not decide any of the issues brought up. She suggested I call the Mateel's attorney, Bill Bragg, to have him explain what this means.
I did.
He had not seen the ruling yet, which, he explained, has to do with when his people check the mailbox at the courthouse. Dimmick's lawyers picked up the ruling earlier in the day.
To quote Mr. Bragg regarding what it means: "It's as clear as mud. It does not resolve any of the sustentative issues.
"If the preliminary injunction was denied, the case remains open."
Bragg and Stapp both figure the focus may now shift to the permit. As I pointed out to Taunya, it seemed pretty clear at the first hearing that the Planning Commission does not want to make the decision about who gets to put on Reggae, nevertheless the Mateel side was adamant in stating that the permit is in their name.
Taunya contends that Reggae Rising would have to get its own permit.
Bragg agreed that the Planning Dept. does not want to rule on the question, but, he said, the Mateel could force the issue by suing the county to make them decide.
As Tanya put it, "Now we're going to have to play hardball."

S. Marley on Reggae in the Times Standard

2007-04-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

For some reason the Northern Lights section was omitted from my morning paper today. Someone sent me this except from Thadeus Greenson's interview with Stephen Marley where the subject of Reggae on the River comes up.

T-S: You've been to Humboldt County before, for Reggae on the River, right?

Stephen Marley: Yeah, many times.

T-S: As a fan, it's a very special place to see a concert, with the river and the vibe, have you heard it might not happen this year?

Marley: Yeah, I heard about it.

T-S: As a performer, is that just another show, or is there a special vibe to that place?

Marley: No, it's not just another show. As you say, it's not really so much the name as the atmosphere, the people and the vibe. That's why it's not just another show, why it's special. It's just free. The vibe always free spirited, ya know? Down by the river, visit the people and pitch their tents. That type of free lifestyle, that, you know what I mean? When you hear my father say (singing), 'why can't we roam this open country,' it always remind me of that type of vibe, ya know, just being. You pitch your tent, the river is there, ya know, and the greenery, and the scenery. It get no better than that. So, it's not just another concert, but at the same time, it's not the name of it, really, but the vibe of it.

T-S: So, even though you think the name might end, you think the vibe will continue with shows there?

Marley: Well, I hope the name don't have to end. I'm just saying, it's not really about the name, you know. It's the people. So, if the people should change, then maybe the vibe of it will change. You know what I mean?

T-S: Well, a lot of people would say that the vibe has changed since it started.

Marley: That shouldn't be. It should get better, if it's going to change in that sense. It shouldn't change to something else. No. 'Cause it's been years. I grew up on the river, you know what I mean, sometimes when we don't even have a record out...

[Note: the quote Stephen makes about "open country" comes from Bob Marley's song "Rebel Music."]

REBEL MUSIC (3 O'CLOCK ROADBLOCK)

I, rebel music
I, rebel music
Why can't we roam this open country
Oh why can't we be what we want to be
We want to be free

3 o'clock - roadblock, curfew
And I've got to throw away
Yes I've got to throw away
Yes I've got to throw away
My little herb stalk

I, rebel music
I, rebel music

Take my soul and suss me out
Check my life if I am in doubt
3 o'clock - roadblock
And hey Mr. Cop, ain't got no
(What you say down there)
Ain't got no birth certificate on me now

I, rebel music
I, rebel music
Take my soul and suss me out
Check my life if I am in doubt
3 o'clock - roadblock
And hey Mr. Cop, ain't got no
(What you say down there)
Ain't got no birth certificate on me now.

another Reggae on the River

2007-04-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

This showed up as a comment on an unrelated post, I decided to main page it since it seems to relate to the trademark issue in a roundabout way.

Reggae on the River Press Release

Vidalia, LA (OPENPRESS) April 25, 2007 -- Henry Turner Jr. and Flavor and Cosmic Force will co-headline the 3rd Annual Reggae On The River with special guest performers Ricky Starr and Cat the Mystic, along with selected acts from the Vermont Reggae Festival and traditional blues, gospel, African, Caribbean reggae and world beat music acts, to be announced soon.

This years’ theme for the two-day, family oriented, event is ‘Irie Healing, One Love –Aiding Racial Harmony’. The festival will also feature cultural food presenters, Jamaican/African & Native American arts and crafts booths, plus an on and off site Irie One Love Reggae themed art gallery, as well as a spoken word, court vibing poetry and storytelling. For an additional treat WMPR's DJ Selector from Jackson, Mississippi, will be performing with other guest DJ’s. Pre and after parties are scheduled, in Natchez, at Bobby J's, Under the Hill Saloon and Different Accents.

Admission is free, until 2pm, but in the spirit of love, a donation of $7.00 in cash or non-perishable food is appreciated. After 2 p.m. general admission/donation is $10.00, students and senior citizens $5.00, children 6 and under free at the gate, advance tickets $7.00. Donations benefit Feed the Hungry in Vidalia, Louisiana and The Stewpot in Natchez, Mississippi.

The festival will take place at the Vidalia Amphitheatre, located at 100 Front Street, Vidalia, Louisiana, from noon to midnight. Event producers are Ras Cathe’ and Henry Turner. For tickets log on to www.brownpapertickets.com or call Ras Cathe’ at 225-993-5595, Henry Turner at 225-952-0784 or Joanna Ballard at 318-868-3840.

Reggae On The River honors the 100- year-old tradition of marching from Vidalia, Louisiana to Natchez, Mississippi on Memorial Day, to honor the “Civil War Freedom Fighters” buried at Natchez Memorial Cemetery. This tradition was started by members of the Grand Army of the Republic, along with their Women’s Relief Corps organization.

Additional information contact:
Marcia N. Groff
310/855-0498
Entertainment Enterprises
656 West Knoll Drive, #104
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Addendum: I asked the Mateel's attorney, Bill Bragg, about it. He said it was a potential dilution of the trademark and the organizers have or will be asked to cease and desist using the name. Then I took a moment to look at the festival website -- it turns out it's actually called Reggae on the Mississippi River. Does that alter the potential trademark infringement?

The Coco Benefit

2007-04-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

This is the first portion of my column, The Hum, which hits the street tomorrow in the North Coast Journal. I called Coco today and just heard back from him a few minutes ago. He wanted to clear up one thing in particular. I thought his cancer was in his throat. It's in his tongue, and he's hoping that might mean something to someone who can help...

It was one of those phone calls. The caller-ID on my phone said St. Joe's. Not a good sign. It was my good buddy Gregg calling from a hospital room where he was visiting our mutual friend Coco Hogan, a longtime Humboldt resident, someone I've known since I started going to Reggae many years ago. Coco was a SoHummer back then, one of the guys who helped build the Mateel. He's been living in Eureka for a few years for reasons I needn't go into here, but he's always been a constant at Reggae, one of many hardworking volunteers who do what's needed: haul garbage, recycling, whatever, always with a warm smile.
I just talked with Coco for a little while -- it was a difficult thing for him to do. He's been diagnosed with tongue cancer, a serious bummer and, no, he doesn't have health insurance. What he wanted me to know was that he has a way to bring together the dueling forces down SoHum way: The Coco Benefit.
"I get along with everyone," he told me, "and they'll all be there." Friends arranged the event, which takes place this Saturday, April 28, all day, from 1-11 p.m. with free organic food, auctions, both silent and live, music by The Non-Prophets, Black Sand, Skunk Train, Something Different, Quantum, Corry Hanna, Anna Banana, Chris McCurdy and Peter Childs, Darryl Cherney, Andy Barnett, Andravy Mayes, Kim Sirean, and others plus a dessert potluck and a healing circle. Admission is whatever you can afford -- you know the drill. This is why you have a community center, a place to gather to help out a friend in need.
While it may bring the community together for a day, the party won't end the deep rift that's developed in SoHum over Reggae. That's a different healing circle. Coco's benefit brought me to the Mateel website this morning, where I found a just-posted file containing a series of offers and counteroffers between lawyers from both sides laying out possible scenarios for financial resolution. It's complicated business, and that's really what it boils down to, a business deal that will likely result in Tom Dimmick buying or renting the Reggae on the River trademark and doing the show with People Productions. That said, there's still way too much bad blood -- you can read it between the lines. My opinion? It's time to heal, make a deal and move forward, forget the past and get the party going.

Mateel Board of Directors' Summary of REGGAE ON THE RIVER(TM) Offers

2007-04-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

The official Mateel press subcommittee met this afternoon. This is the statement they came up with, sent by Garth Epling. You'll notice some of it is redundant from the previous post pulled from the Mateel website:

[April 24, 2007. Redway, CA].

There has been a call for the Mateel Community Center (MCC) to be more forthcoming with details of the negotiations with Tom Dimmick over the future of Reggae on the RiverTM (ROTR). We have been as open as possible without disrupting the flow of our settlement talks. In the interests of dispelling rumors and, more importantly, keeping the community informed, we have posted Tom Dimmick's written offers made outside of mediation on the Mateel website and provide here a brief summary of the complex offer on the table at this time.

The MCC's Board of Directors does not want to sell ROTR. We would prefer that Tom Dimmick honor our lease and allow 2B1 Multimedia to produce the show and for the community to have an event this year. 2B1 Multimedia owns the license to produce Reggae on the RiverTM in 2007. Any deal that we make to sell ROTR will be subject to approval by the membership.

On the table are two offers to Dimmick. One is in the form of a lump sum payment by Tom Dimmick for the trademark, the right to produce the music festival, and the infrastructure. The alternative is a sale of the same things with payment on a yearly basis as long as he continues to produce the event. The counterproposal put forth by Tom Dimmick indicates he is not interested in endowing the Mateel up front, but instead would like the Mateel to still share the risk of ROTR being produced every year by making yearly payments.

The MCC has realized and expected to realize $250,000 annually from ROTR for the next nine years and that the Mateel paid for and owns the infrastructure that exists on Dimmick's property. In Mr. Dimmick's published letter to the community, he estimates this value to be around $300,000. Standard accounting practices require the inclusion of any labor to the construction of a long-term asset. The MCC's Board of Directors is confident that the actual cost of the infrastructure is much higher and have initiated an appraisal. Along with the value of the infrastructure, the Dimmick Ranch also is holding onto a lease payment of $33,333 made in October 2006 towards payment of the lease for 2007, even though Tom Dimmick has stated that there to be no valid lease in place between the MCC and himself.
In short, the Dimmick Ranch is holding on to community funds of the MCC, while we are forced to conduct fundraisers to raise money so events like the high school prom that happened last weekend could go on.

The MCC Offer to the Dimmick Ranch

The Mateel Community Center fully recognizes the importance to the broader community of nonprofits needing to have the event this year. We have asked, and will continue to ask for, a guarantee that the same non-profit vendors that attended ROTR last year would be offered the opportunity for the remainder of the present lease term. We included a non-competition clause that prohibits Dimmick from producing any event on his property during the first week of June so as not to conflict with the Summer Arts Fair. We've also asked that they allow all coordinators who worked the 2006 event to work on the 2007 show.

Thus, our initial offer to the Dimmick Ranch or through a company in which he has the majority ownership is that he shall purchase the right to produce Reggae on the River and the ROTR trademark for $2.9 million (the lump sum option). Additionally, Dimmick would pay us for the professionally appraised value of the trademark.

The equipment used to produce ROTR belongs to the organization whose funds were used to purchase it unless that entity has been reimbursed. Any equipment (canopies, stoves, refrigerators, furniture, etc.) that Tom Dimmick needs to produce ROTR in the future will be made available to him either by sale or rental. The MCC would retain the right to reproduce and sell all ROTR trademark materials including graphics and posters that pertain to ROTR events prior to the 2007 event. The MCC will receive back all its original art and graphic archives from past ROTR events.

The People Productions lawsuits would be resolved by an agreement to complete an accounting of the 2006 event; an agreement by People Productions to provide all documents necessary to perform an audit of any of the prior events in case any audits are conducted by government agencies; and an agreement to indemnify the MCC for any damages including additional taxes and/or penalties the MCC is ordered to pay by any government agencies resulting from the failure of People Productions to produce documentary support for such an audit.

2B1 Multimedia will assign its license to Tom Dimmick for the payment of $342,000. 2B1 Multimedia will have shared video production rights to ROR through a separate agreement with Tom Dimmick.

Performing artists booked by 2B1 for 2007 festival will be transferred/renewed to Tom Dimmick. 2B1 ticket sales account will be transferred to Tom Dimmick in a manner to avoid fees/charges from ticket sales agency.

We've also offered Tom Dimmick an alternative for him to purchase the ROTR trademark with the right to produce ROTR through a production company formed and owned by himself. The payments would be $240,000.00 per year or $20.00 per ticket, whichever is greater, with the ticket sales to be handled by an agreed-upon ticket agency. Tom Dimmick would give assurances of the production of the event by a certain date every year which will then obligate him to make the minimum payment to MCC for that year. If those assurances are not provided, the MCC would have the option to repurchase the ROTR trademark for $1.00 and produce the event itself. MCC would have an option to lease Tom Dimmick's property for a minimum of five years in the event that the festival reverts to the MCC.

The infrastructure that presently belongs to the MCC on the Dimmick property would be purchased by Tom Dimmick at its appraised value and paid over the remaining term of the existing lease. Additional terms would be the same as the alternative offer above.

The counter-proposal

In response, Tom Dimmick has offered $200,000 per year, starting in 2008. Tom Dimmick could choose at any time not to do the festival, leaving it to MCC, who would have a hard time scrambling to find a producer. If we could not find one, the MCC would get nothing.

Tom Dimmick would pay $320,000 over nine years for our infrastructure and equipment.

For this year, Tom Dimmick would purchase 2b1 Multimedia license from for the $342,000 that he has spent so far. The MCC would have to pay off any artists booked that People Productions doesn't want in their show.

Tom Dimmick requests all of 2b1’s to-date ticket sales for ROTR, which to our knowledge have far outstripped the sales of tickets to Reggae Rising.

Tom Dimmick's offer limits our access to the disputed ROTR books for the 2005 and 2006 concerts.

Final Thoughts

Negotiations are not over. Above we presented the initial exchange of offers. But we are still far apart. The Board of the MCC remain committed to protect the non-profit community center's assets for future generations. Whether or not there will be a Reggae on the RiverTM this year in 2007 or not remains Mr. Dimmick's choice.

the other fax

2007-04-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

See next post below for explanation...

re: the faxes

2007-04-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

I figured out how to post the faxed material, and in the interest of both sides' willingness to lay all cards on the table, I will post the rest of the material, but not til later tonight -- first I have some other work to do. You'll find one fax below. Double-click on the individual pages and they will get large enough to read without your microscope.

one of the faxes

2007-04-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

from Dimmick Ranch

2007-04-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

This just in... [Note: this too came with scanned PDFs (referenced herein) that I will try to post some other way. Any tips?]

Dimmick Ranch Press Release
April 24, 2007

In fulfilling the Dimmick Ranch commitment to this community, we have been in active settlement talks with the Mateel Community Center as evidenced by the documents posted to the MCC Web site and those that follow. In the interest of transparency, we have included the following to ensure the public a near complete view of negotiations. We have excluded a “100-Year Deal” offer presented by Boots Hughston and Taunya Staupp over Easter weekend as the MCC has stated that the third-party negotiations are not legitimate offers, despite the board’s approval of Boots’ negotiation attempts. These details were not made available previously in the interest of advancing the discussion; however, at this point, the parties are at an impasse.
Our goal in these proposals, as we have maintained since last fall, is to produce a successful event on Dimmick Ranch that supports our community and makes public safety a priority. This is why I originally entered into the contract for public use of the Ranch and included “Item 10” in the original lease agreement that assures People Productions will be the event producer for the term of the lease. I was banking on 23 years of production history and the capable local groups and individuals that have made the annual reggae festival happen.

Based on these failed negotiations and aggressive tactics, we question the MCC’s goal and call on the community to question its goal, as well.

Prior to drafting the formal proposals you see here and in the interest of avoiding a public spectacle, I suggested to the MCC board that I was willing to negotiate a truce. This included leaving the Reggae on the River name untouched (to avoid our current dispute over its value), substantial payments to MCC, provisions for reimbursing the MCC for the infrastructure improvements and ending the Dimmick Ranch’s relationship with the MCC. These early attempts were rejected.

The last offer made to the MCC by Dimmick Ranch includes:

· $342,000 to 2B1 for the 2007 license of the trademark in "Reggae on the River" name, and

· A guarantee of $240,000 per year (nearly $2 million total) to the MCC for the remaining eight years of the conditional use permit (CUP).

This offer wasn't accepted either, as the MCC has acknowledged. The counter proposals put forth by the board are exorbitantly expensive and filled with aggressive controls and constraints on the use of my property, not just for the term of the lease, but forever. All seems aimed at ensuring the MCC a steady income stream from the ROTR name in perpetuity – an unreasonable goal given that no trade name has infinite value, and I have been willing to preserve the event for the community under the Reggae Rising name. In fact, two other annual music festivals in the U.S are already using the Reggae on the River name. The MCC has also refused, despite repeated requests that might help to inform our offers, to make the details of its agreement with 2B1 available for review.

With the launch of Reggae Rising in February, we paved the way toward fulfilling our goal. In developing the Web site, talking with the local non-profits and coordinators and securing top-notch talent, we’re moving forward to put on the best reggae festival and community fundraiser yet.

We are truly disappointed that we’ve been unable to resolve our differences quickly and quietly.

Very sincerely,

Tom Dimmick

The Mateel's offer

2007-04-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

This is the contents of a PDF posted on the Mateel website this morning detailing the Mateel's offers for Reggae. I'm still reading it, but thought I'd throw it up here in the meantime since most would not find it on their own.
[Note: When you read this you will get to a point where the PDF includes Tom Dimmick's lawyer's response to the offer. It's a scanned document so it's not going to show up as text here. I'll try to figure out how to post it, but in the meantime you'll have to download the PDF. (http://www.mateel.org/rotrdoc_01.pdf)

Mateel Community Center

[April 24, 2007. Redway, CA] There has been a call for the Mateel Community Center to be more forthcoming with details of negotiations with Tom Dimmick over the future of Reggae on the River. We have been as open as possible without disrupting the flow of our settlement talks. In the interest of dispelling rumors and more importantly, keeping the community informed, here is a summary of the current status of negotiations.
The MCC Board of Directors does not want to sell Reggae on the River(T). We prefer that Tom Dimmick honor our lease and allow 2B1 Multimedia to produce the show. We have recently put on the table two offers to Dimmick. One is in the form of a lump sum payment for the trademark, the right to produce the music festival and the infrastructure. The alternative is a sale of the same things with payment on a yearly basis as long as he continues to produce the event. We have included the recent exchanges made in official negotiations plus two formal written offers presented to the board prior to the ending of People Productions’ contract.
Any deal we make to sell ROTR will be subject to approval by the membership. The gross proceeds for this event in 2006 exceed 2.5 million dollars according to records kept by People Productions.
Negotiations are not over. But we’re still far apart. It remains this Board’s commitment to protect the non-profit community center’s assets for future generations.
____________________________________
LAW OFFICES OF
BRAGG, PERLMAN, RUSS, STUNICH, RUDOLPH & EADS LLP
WILLIAM R. BRAGG 434 SEVENTH STREET Telephone: (707) 442-2927
RANDY S. PERLMAN EUREKA, CALIFORNIA 95501 Fax: (707) 443-2747
LISA A. RUSS E-mail address: RHBAP@pacbell.net
ANDREW J. STUNICH
JASON J. EADS
PAUL HAGEN MAILING ADDRESS:
P. O. Box 1248
* * * * * Eureka, CA 95502
DONALD B. ROBERTS, of Counsel
ANNE M. RUDOLPH, of Counsel
RONALD F. ANGELL, Reted
irMICHAEL J. HILL, Retired
April 11, 2007
Via fax (415) 989-1663
Jeffrey Knowles
Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP
One Ferry Building, Suite 200
San Francisco, CA 94111
Re: Mateel Community Center v. People Productions, et al.
Dear Mr. Knowles:
The Board has decided to make the alternative offers to Mr. Dimmick that are attached herewith. One offer is in the form of a lump sum payment for the trademark, the right to produce the music festival and the infrastructure. The alternative offer is a sale of the same things with payment on a yearly basis as long as he continues to produce the event.
The following factors were considered when making these offers:
1. Ms. Bruno (People Productions) who has been producing this event for many years projected that the Mateel would make at least $240,000.00 per year, even after Mr. Dimmick and People Productions were paid their guaranteed amount.
2. The Mateel retains ownership of the infrastructure it paid for which presently exists on Mr. Dimmick’s property.
____________________________________
3. The Mateel will be giving up any right to negotiate a users fee from Mr. Dimmick for the infrastructure if he wants to produce other events on his property.
4. In addition to the $240,000.00 projected income, the Mateel was to receive wrist bands with a value of over $41,000.00.
5. There is definite bonus value to the trademark over and above the projected income off the ROR event. The Mateel has generated significant income from the trademark and festival for 23 years and has no reason to believe they would be unable to do so for the next 23 years.
Once you have had an opportunity to review these alternative offers, please give me a call.
Very truly yours,
WILLIAM R. BRAGG
WRB:pl
cc: John Vrieze (fax 444-9586)
The Attached Offer from MCC to Dimmick Ranch
Single Payment Buyout -
Mr. Dimmick personally or through a company in which he has the majority ownership shall purchase the right to produce Reggae on the River and the ROR trademark for:
$2,945,500.00 discounted to present cash value;
To this amount would be added the appraised value of the trademark arrived at by a mutually agreed upon qualified appraiser.
Additional terms would include:
____________________________________
A non-competition clause that prohibits Mr. Dimmick from producing any event on his property during the first week of June for the remainder of the present lease term;
An option by Mateel to use his property for an event during the first week of June for the remainder of the present lease term;
A requirement that the same non-profit vendors that attended ROR last year would be offered the opportunity for the remainder of the present lease term;
All coordinators that worked the 06 event would be offered their positions for the 07 event.
The equipment used to produce ROR belongs to the entity whose funds were used to purchase it unless that entity has been reimbursed. Any equipment Dimmick needs to produce ROR in the future shall be made available to him either by sale or rental. Terms to be negotiated.
The Mateel would retain the right to reproduce and sell all ROR trademark materials including graphics and posters that pertain to ROR events prior to the '07 event;
The People Productions lawsuits would be resolved by an agreement to complete an accounting of the 06 event; an agreement by People Productions to provide all documents necessary to perform an audit for any of the prior events in the event an audit is requested by any governmental agency; and an agreement to indemnify the Mateel for any damages including additional taxes and/or penalties the Mateel is ordered to pay by any governmental agency resulting from the failure of People Productions to produce said documentary support for such an audit;
The Mateel will receive back all its original art and graphic archives from past ROR events.
2B1 Multimedia, Inc. will assign its license to Dimmick for the payment of $342,000.00 paid in three consecutive payments; May, June and July of 2007.
2B1 Multimedia, Inc. will have shared video production rights to ROR through a separate agreement with Mr. Dimmick.
____________________________________
Performing artists booked by 2B1 for 07 festival will be transferred/renewed to Dimmick.
2B1 ticket sales account to be transferred to Dimmick in manner to avoid fees/charges from ticket sales agency.
The Alternative offer would be as follows:
Periodic Payments -
Mr. Dimmick will purchase the ROR trademark with the right to produce ROR through a production company formed and owned by Mr. Dimmick;
The payments will be $240,000.00 per year or $20.00 per ticket whichever is greater, with the ticket sales to be handled by an agreed upon ticket agency;
Mr. Dimmick shall give assurances of the production of the event by an agreed upon date every year which will then obligate Mr. Dimmick to make the minimum payment to Mateel for that year. If those assurances are not provided the Mateel shall have the option to repurchase the ROR trademark for $1.00 and produce the event. There will be an option to lease Mr. Dimmick's property for a minimum of 5 years in the event the license to produce the festival reverts to the Mateel.
The infrastructure that presently belongs to the Mateel on the Dimmick property shall be purchased by Dimmick at its appraised value paid over the remaining term of the existing lease.
Mr. Dimmick will return the $33,000.00 rent deposit.
Additional terms would be the same as the alternative offer above.
____________________________________
Attached is the Dimmick Ranch’s Attorney Reply to the MCC offer. This is a scan of a faxed document. We will update it with the text document as soon as possible.
i i
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
LAW OFFICES OF
BRAGG, PERLMAN, RUSS, STUNICH, RUDOLPH & EADS LLP
WILLIAM R. BRAGG 434 SEVENTH STREET Telephone: (707) 442-2927
RANDY S. PERLMAN EUREKA, CALIFORNIA 95501 Fax: (707) 443-2747
LISA A. RUSS E-mail address: RHBAP@pacbell.net
ANDREW J. STUNICH
JASON J. EADS
PAUL HAGEN MAILING ADDRESS:
P. O. Box 1248
* * * * * Eureka, CA 95502
DONALD B. ROBERTS, of Counsel
ANNE M. RUDOLPH, of Counsel
RONALD F. ANGELL, Retired
April 18, 2007
Via fax (415) 989-1663
Jeffrey Knowles
Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP
One Ferry Building, Suite 200
San Francisco, CA 94111
Re: Mateel Community Center v. People Productions, et al.
Dear Mr. Knowles:
I appreciate your comments put forth in your April 13th correspondence. They do not, however, change my clients viewpoint with regard to the value of this festival. They continue to be willing to accept Ms. Bruno’s projections of approximately $290,000.00 income that would be available to the Mateel through the production of the event for the remainder of the original agreement term. Historical income would indicate that your client is exposed to little risk, especially given the fact that the Mateel is reducing that income figure to $240,000.00 and the infrastructure cost that affected net profit in the last two years will not impact profit going forward. If your client does not want to commit to that amount the Mateel will share the “risk” by settling for $20.00 per ticket with ticket sales certified by an agreed upon ticket agency.
____________________________________
The Mateel cannot agree to your clients “put” and “call” provisions. Although creative, it places the entire risk of the festival success on the shoulders of the Mateel. As I am sure your client is well aware, in order to obtain a production company under normal circumstances, that company would want to have some guarantee of multiple productions and would have to have significant lead time. Your clients proposal provides neither. It would give your client the ability to notify the Mateel that he did not want to produce the event in any given year with the knowledge that he could take it back the very next year. If the Mateel was unable to scramble and get a production company interested in the event, your client could then reenter with his own company and not be obligated to pay the Mateel anything.
Ms. Bruno recognized the need for a significant notification period in the event the Mateel had to change production companies. She agreed to a two (2) year advanced notice if she decided against renewing the contract.
The only security that the Mateel has concerning the payments that would be owed to it is the ability to regain ownership of the festival in the event your client defaults with adequate time to find a qualified producer.
With regard to infrastructure, you are correct that we disagree. The over $300,000.00 in improvements were made under paragraph 7 of the lease. They remain under the ownership of the Mateel and Mr. Dimmick may not use them without the Mateel’s prior consent (paragraph 7(d)). The Mateel is willing to resolve this issue by giving your client the option of having the infrastructure appraised at full replacement value followed by a sale to your client spread over the remaining years of the original agreement or leaving the infrastructure in the ownership of the Mateel as per the original lease.
Incorporating the above comments, the Mateel’s revised proposal is as follows:
SINGLE PAYMENT
In my previous correspondence I explained the basis of the lump sum payment amount. It is based on Ms. Bruno’s projections of income over the life of the original agreement, plus the value of the wrist bands reduced to present cash value with a return of the $33,000.00 rent payment that Mr. Dimmick has been holding. To this would be added any additional value of the trademark arising from your client’s ability to continue to produce ROTR indefinitely in the future. The lump sum payment option is still available to your client.
PERIODIC PAYMENTS
Mr. Dimmick will purchase the ROR trademark with the right to produce ROR through a production company formed and owned by Mr. Dimmick;
____________________________________
The payments will be Twenty Dollars ($20.00) per ticket sold with ticket sales to be handled by an agreed upon ticket agency;
Mr. Dimmick shall give assurances of the production of the event for the next two (2) years by an agreed upon date every year. If those assurances are not provided, the Mateel shall have the option to repurchase the ROR trademark for One Dollar ($1.00) and produce the event. There will be an option to lease Mr. Dimmick’s property for a minimum for five years in the event the trademark and right to produce the festival reverts to the Mateel.
Mr. Dimmick shall have the option to have the infrastructure which presently belongs to the Mateel appraised at replacement value with the resulting amount to be paid to the Mateel over the next eight years. Alternatively, the infrastructure will remain the property of the Mateel with the right of Mr. Dimmick to use it upon obtaining prior written consent from the Mateel. Such use shall be subject to a separate agreement between the parties which is reasonably satisfactory to each.
Mr. Dimmick’s payments shall continue up through the year 2026.
Mr. Dimmick will return the $33,000.00 rent deposit.
ADDITIONAL TERMS
The same non-profit vendors that attended ROR last year will be offered the opportunity for the next eight years;
All coordinators that worked the ‘06 event will be offered their positions for the ‘07 event;
The equipment used to produce ROR belongs to the entity whose funds were used to purchase it unless that entity has been reimbursed. Any equipment Dimmick needs to produce ROR in the future shall be made available to him by sale or rental. Terms can be negotiated.
The Mateel will receive back all its original art and graphic archives from past ROR events and shall retain the right to reproduce and sell all ROR trademark and copyright materials pertaining to those events.
2B1 Multimedia, Inc. will assign it’s license to Dimmick for the payment of $342,000.00 paid in three consecutive payments; May, June and July of 2007.
2B1 ticket sales account will be transferred to Dimmick in such a manner as to avoid fees/charges from the ticket sales agency.
____________________________________
The Mateel and 2B1 shall be responsible for any liability to performing artists booked by Mateel/2B1 that are not booked by Mr. Dimmick as long as agreement is reached prior to April 19th, 2007. If agreement is reached after that date Dimmick shall accept a transfer/renewal of the performing artist booked by 2B1 for the ‘07 festival.
The People Productions lawsuits shall be resolved by separate agreement between the Mateel and People Productions.
The Mateel will pay the outstanding debts as indicated in your last counter offer and will relinquish the ROR website.
Very truly yours,
WILLIAM R. BRAGG
WRB:pl
____________________________________
Further Clarification From Mateel Attorney on Arbitration 04/18/07
LAW OFFICES OF
BRAGG, PERLMAN, RUSS, STUNICH, RUDOLPH & EADS LLP
WILLIAM R. BRAGG 434 SEVENTH STREET Telephone: (707) 442-2927
RANDY S. PERLMAN EUREKA, CALIFORNIA 95501 Fax: (707) 443-2747
LISA A. RUSS E-mail address: RHBAP@pacbell.net
ANDREW J. STUNICH
JASON J. EADS
PAUL HAGEN MAILING ADDRESS:
P. O. Box 1248
* * * * * Eureka, CA 95502
DONALD B. ROBERTS, of Counsel
ANNE M. RUDOLPH, of Counsel
RONALD F. ANGELL, Reted
irMICHAEL J. HILL, Retired
April 18, 2007
Via fax (415) 982-5287
Ellen Schuster, Sr. Case Mgr.
JAMS
Two Embarcadero Center, Suite 1500
San Francisco, CA 94111
Re: Mateel Corporation Center, Inc. v. People Productions, LLC, et al.
JAMS Ref. No. 1100050821
Dear Ms. Schuster:
This letter will constitute plaintiff’s (Mateel Corporation Center, Inc.) exclusion and ranking of the candidates proposed for designation as the court referee in the above-referenced litigation.
Plaintiff respectfully requests that the following individuals be stricken from the list:
Hon. Harry W. Low (Ret.)
Kenneth D. Gack, Esq.
____________________________________
The remaining candidates are listed in order of preference as follows:
Hon. James L. Warren (Ret.)
Hon. Charles A. Legge (Ret.)
Hon. Daniel Hanlon (Ret.)
Hon. Laurence K. Sawyer (Ret.)
Hon. W. Scott Snowden (Ret.)
I note that you sent the list of arbitrators to the attorneys representing People Productions, LLC. The only issues being referred are issues involving the causes of action against Mr. Dimmick. The court declined to refer any of the causes of action involving People Productions, LLC. They were referenced by the court as being allowed to “participate” but no substantive dispute with that party was referred tot he referee.
People Productions should not therefore be involved in the selection of the referee, or of the fees. I have discussed this with their attorney, Mr. Vrieze, and he is in agreement.
Very truly yours,
WILLIAM R. BRAGG
WRB:pl
Enclosure
cc: John Vrieze (Via fax 444-9586)
Jeff Knowles (Via fax 415-989-1663)
Jim Aste (Via fax 445-2961)
Taunya Stapp
____________________________________
The following are other previous offers written by Mr. Dimmick. This was received via email on 12/19/2006.
Taunya, Bruce, Garth..et al: Attached you will find a letter drafted by my attorney. It is my mediation letter that I gave to Steve Brown in strict confidence, but did not allow to be read by anyone from the MCC, in hopes that the mediation would result in a realistic solution that we could all go forward with. That, obviously has not happened, and the time has come for me to step in and resolve this situation once and for all. After speaking with Michael Richardson at the planning department yesterday, my direction has become quite clear. He stated flatly that the reason we got such a big permit was because PP was the producer and they have a 23 year track record of success. He went on to say that if the event has a new producer all of the state and county agencies will likely place more restrictions on the permit and keep a watchful eye on the event until the new producer proves their diligence. It is going to be very, very difficult for ROTR to succeed with out PP as producer. Furthermore, the producer you are negotiating with has a track record of running afoul of the government authorities and a reputation for not paying artist's royalties and publisher's royalties on recordings that his company makes. In the interest of protecting my conditional use permit, and continuing the tradition of a large scale community fundraiser, I am prepared to terminate your lease and produce a new festival of similar size and scope in 2007. This festival will mitigate some of the damages your breach of the lease has caused me, but I will be forced to seek additional damages via litigation if necessary. Please read the letter from my attorney and consider it a starting point for a resolution that we can make today. I would consider licensing ROR for a shorter length of time at a
____________________________________
discounted rate in lieu of damages. This would give you time to find a new site and make all of the arrangements to use it. The equipment and improvements on my site would remain here. I feel that licensing the event to me at no charge for 2 years is very fair as is a 3 year license for $100,000. I would also consider an offer from you to buy out the remaining term on your lease. $600,000 plus the site improvements and equipment saves you well over $1,000,000 dollars in fees and damages. Perhaps you can find a turn key venue for ROTR 2007. I feel that the MCC leadership is capable of making a responsible decision tonight in our closed session meeting. I must insist that we do everything we can to resolve this today. If the MCC cannot make a decision, or put a reasonable counter offer on the table for me to consider tonight, then I will proceed with further legal action. Please understand that I am moving forward in a considerate, solution oriented manner and that time is of the essence and we can resolve this today. I also insist that this email and terms of this offer be held in strict confidence. Sincerely, Thomas M. Dimmick
____________________________________
The following letter was hand delivered to staff at the Mateel. This was prior to Carol Bruno announcing at the Mateel annual meeting that she quit.
October 17, 2006
Dear Mateel Board and Staff:
This letter is to follow up on the issues and concerns I raised in my letter to you on October 11, 2006. Carol Bruno has told me, in no uncertain terms, that she will not, under any circumstances again produce the ROTR event for the current MCC administration. I believe we all know, or can surmise, the reasons for this decision. She is finishing up on the permit requirements with the county out of love for the event and the community it serves.
Quite frankly, no one could produce this event as well as Carol and People Productions. For 2007 they know what improvements to make, both in infrastructure and concert dynamics. It is a line item in my contract that she produce this event, as it is a line item in the contract I have with the bank that gave me the loan to purchase the venue property. I have no desire to terminate the ROTR contract I have with the MCC, nor do I want to replace ROTR with another large scale community event, nor do I want to see the MCC close its doors because of costly over runs in these transitional years. Sadly, however, this is the direction our entire project is being pushed.
After weighing many potential options and scenarios, I see only one that makes real sense for all of us. It is my hope that the MCC will seriously consider licensing the ROTR event to the Dimmick Ranch. This simple move guarantees the MCC a constant income, Gives the Dimmick Ranch authority over all the improvements and equipment on its land, and gives PP the freedom to continue producing this event to the best of its ability. The licensing option also quickly, cleanly diffuses the most dangerous component of all the recent hubbub…. we get this potential for, customer loosing event and organization tarnishing bad press behind us as fast as we can.
My attorney could draw up the license agreement tomorrow afternoon. The basic tenants of the agreement would be:
A nine (9) year total license of ROTR to the Dimmick Ranch for the sum of $120,000 per year. Paid in quarterly installments.
License would include outright ownership of all improvements, and equipment currently onsite, including bridges, as well as ownership of the ROTR conditional use permit and the lease agreement with Tom Dimmick.
The Dimmick Ranch would also grant to the MCC 200 general admission passes as well as 50 premium passes and group camping for the premium passes.
____________________________________
Dimmick Ranch has the option to renew at the end of 9 years.
In the event that the MCC is sold or goes out of business, the ROTR event would belong out right to the Dimmick Ranch.
Tom Dimmick would also immediately refund the $33,333 payment recently made for the 2007 season.
I feel this offer is reasonable and expires in 72 hours. In light of the sensitive nature of the subject matter, I would appreciate this being addressed in a closed session meeting. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me, my phone # is [removed for privacy concerns].
Sincerely,
Thomas M. Dimmick
*Note from the MCC: other informal offers from Mr. Dimmick have been discussed or presented through third party negotiations but have not created any productive responses. They can be discussed at the next board meeting upon request.

note from Carol

2007-04-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

I'm far from home, nowhere near Humboldt, but when I checked my mail this morning (on a friend's dial-up, which is maddning) I found this third-hand note. The hearing starts in a few minutes. Needless to say I will not be there, but if someone wants to send me a report, I'd love to hear what happened...:

I have been waiting to send you this email in hopes that Tom has been able to reach a settlement with the Mateel. They have been working for days. He has made a very nice offer that would solve the problems and guarantee them generous income into the future.

Right now, I do not know if they are going to accept or decline. If they decline, then we will be having the Injunction hearing tomorrow morning [Monday] at 8:30am in the Eureka Court House.

If they accept, then the hearing will only be to set a new date to give more time to finish the details of the settlement..

We do need folks and the coordinators to come and show support. I was hoping that you could send out an email for everyone to encourage them coming up for the hearing, Peace, Carol

(semi) live blogging on Planning Commission (via TV)

2007-04-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit bummed that I forgot to turn the Planning Commission hearing on when it started, or even TiVo it. I have a whole lot going on right now workwise, I'm preparing to get out of town for a week and I had pretty much forgotten the whole thing until a friend sent me an e-mail asking about a bet we have going. He's a longtime attendee (who shall remain nameless unless he outs himself) who is betting that Reggae is not going to happen this year. I say there's too much riding on it for it not to happen, it's too important to Humboldt County. He's buying me dinner at my favorite top secret restaurant at Reggae this year if it happens. I will buy him dinner in town somewhere if not. Anyway, he sent me a prodding e-mail last night asking where I'm taking him to dinner. I read it at about 7 o'clock and it jarred my mind to turn on the Humboldt Access TV feed of the hearing.

I missed Undersheriff Downey, who told the commission about rampant drug use at the festival. As reported by my newsy T.S. counterpart James F.G. Faulk, Downey contends it was like hot dog vendors at a ballgame or something like that. Having attended Reggae for many years, I'd say that's an exaggeration, but it's not news that people get high at Reggae, and yes, there are drugs to be had, mostly pot and mostly on the fringes from my observation. Apparently the high sheriffs are planning a more high profile for this year's fest with an onsite command post, hopefully not in the concert bowl where it blocks the view.

I also missed Taunya Stapp's presentation. And the Mateel lawyer. I caught the tail end of the Mossman, who seems to be the new operations director. From what I heard he was arguing that the festival is safe enough, and attendance numbers should not be lowered.

I hit the record button on my DVR and was going to get back to the other work I was doing, but the hearing dragged me in. I've been trying not to get obsessed by the troubles of SoHum since there's a lot of other things going on in the world, but the drama at the meeting was irresistible. Now I'm regretting the fact that I did not go in person, but what the heck, it was on TV. After I heard P.B. and Tom Dimmick speak, then the People Productions lawyer, Brad Floyd, I decided to spend the evening watching live and figured it might be a good idea to take some notes, but first there was a break, so I blogged some hot off the screen news immediately:

7:30 Break time right now. The lawyer from the Mateel just dropped some interesting tidbits: He says a referee has been enlisted to mediate, someone from JAMS, whatever that is (anyone know? thanks Bodie). This person will have power of a judge and could settle things as early as next week. (Somehow I doubt that.) The most shocking thing the lawyer said was that Reggae Rising (or will it be called RotR if they come to an agreement?) anyway whatever it's called, it will have a zero drug tolerance policy. Really? And there will be 50 uniformed security (rent-a-cops) patrolling the grounds for enforcement. I don't know if t-shirts qualify as uniforms -- if so what color would they be?
This suggestion was in response to a report by the under sheriff (which I missed because I tuned in late) who basically said drug sales at Reggae were out of control. Apparently the cops video-taped drug sales activity on site. (Anyone know where to find the vids on YouTube?)
The lawyer also said that People Productions and Reggae Rising will honor 2B1's Reggae on the River tickets, although he provided no details. (We'll get back to that idea later.)

Bouncing back just a little, Paul "P.B." Bassis addressed the board before the lawyer, saying pretty much what you'd expect, something to the effect of we've done a great job in the past and everything's fine, so don't mess with the numbers.

Tom Dimmick followed and again repeated his faith in P.P. to do a good job. One thing he said struck me, that a proposed deal with the Mateel would leave the Mateel with "the lion's share" of money from the festival. It's a potent image since the lion is a reggae symbol, but I suspect he's misusing the phrase lion's share. He has proposed giving the Mateel $10 from each ticket and that does not meet the definition as I know it.

(intermission over, from here on it's from my notes)
later on...

Boots spoke after the break, said People Productions has done a good job in the past. Then added: "The only problem is a drug problem." He reiterated that "absolutely no drugs" will be allowed. "No drug dealing or drug paraphernalia." His suggested enforcement would be different: undercover not uniforms. Violators would apparently be escorted to the gate and have their wristbands confiscated. Regarding ticket sales, Boots says Reggae on the River is only going to sell 4,000 for now, since contract issues are still unresolved as is ultimate possession of the permit. Another bomb dropped: Boots says he has secured two backup venues, I guess in case things don't work out with Tom Dimmick and the Mateel claim on the lease. (Where else would you put that many people?)

Piercy resident Cherie Porter was next, ranting about her longstanding complaints about impact on Piercy, but also suggesting that the commission "look at the Reggae chat boards" if they are still wondering about drug use. She also suggested that the sheriff or some other police agency should monitor all onsite communication, I suppose to see what emergency personnel are hearing about drug/violence problems. (Dan G. any comment?)

New Mateel board member Joe Hiney spoke next. The commission cut him off when he started to talk attendance numbers (he addressed that at the last meeting), instead Joe said, "Let's talk about drugs!" According to Hiney, "Everybody knows there's a lot of druggies at Reggae." He mentioned that the medical folks have a tent for trippers, then went on to say that Ecstasy is a big problem, one that led to rapes and molestation (did it? or is he repeated unsubstantiated rumors) with X "being slipped to girls to get into their pants."

[side note: Joe called Thank Jah Friday morning. They asked him if Boots really has two venues lined up and where they are. He said yes, but would not be specific about where. However he did mention later that the concert might not end up being in Humboldt. Where then?]

Keith Bowman spoke next, said that there's no drug problem in his campground, which BTW is in Mendocino County, not Humboldt, so the Mendo sheriff is the one who deals with it. Bowman says they (the Mendo cops) do not want to be on site. They want self-policing, which is what they've done, and it's worked. Bowman also supported Tom Dimmick's earlier plea to leave attendance levels alone, not drop them. And he hinted there was some sort of movement on the Mateel v. Dimmick/P.P. front: "We're on the verge of something good."

One more guy spoke, I did not get his name, but he basically said the festival has gotten too big in recent years "bringing L.A." up to Humboldt. He figures the commission should drop the numbers.

At that point to commission's discussion began. They asked for planning staff (Michael Richardson) to reiterate recommendations . He repeated what he'd said at the prior meeting about attendance, that last summer's count was over by around 1,400, so they should reduce sales by that much. Other issues that came up, drugs, greywater etc. should be addressed in the operations plan of whoever does the festival.

Generally speaking the commission seemed very unhappy that the issue of who gets to do the festival had not been resolved since the last time Reggae took over their bi-monthly meeting. One said flat out, "Everybody's concerned that the dispute won't be resolved."

Returning to the above mentioned promise that Reggae Rising will honor Reggae on the River tix, the chairman pointed out the flaw in that concept. What if both sides sell 10,000 tickets? That puts the show way over capacity. He later suggested that trying to turn people away at the gate would lead to riots in the street.

Commissioner Mary Gearhart suggested that a proper count was needed, not just of sales, but of the total number of people there.

Commish Sef Murgia noted, "We're not in Kansas anymore," and went on to suggest, "We're going to mess with the permit, change the number or whatever." His analysis for the promoters: "You may be a victim of your own success." He also pointed out, "There is only one permit, and we're not likely to issue another." So: there's just one festival.

Commish Hansis made reference to ramped up drug enforcement at the Oregon Country Fair and restrictions of drug use. (Is that true?) He says that it led to a decline in attendance by 10,000. (Again, is that true? I did a Google search and found little supporting evidence.) He wondered if Reggae attendance would drop off if drug use was banned.

Another commish (Emad maybe, I missed his name) borrowed a phrase from the renegade coordinators and said the commission has "no confidence" in the producers, at least when it comes to accurate attendance numbers. He wondered if there are people who do festival counts professionally and suggested that the county might ask the producers to pay for the county to hire an independent auditor to do a "verifiable" audit of attendance. He did not name names, but I'm guessing the commission has figured out that Bob Barsotti, who did the "independent" audit last year may not have been the most independent choice.

Boots spoke briefly in response to this, saying that there are people who do such counts, and the way they do it is by using an aerial photo, creating a grid and estimating by extrapolating. He suggested that the police routinely do it that way, and maybe they could do the count.

Commish Emad wants to set "milestones" (a recurring theme) and wants better accountability. He worried about "business as usual" with excess wristbands being issued. He quoted Sheriff Phelps as estimating that 20,000 attended last year. (Was that an official statement?)

When decision time came, the commission seemed hesitant. The Chairman (Jeff Smith?) wondered if they could put their decision off by 30 days "to see who ends up with the festival." He added forcefully, "The B.S. needs to stop." "Things need to get healed." Then pointed out that, "One side or another is selling tickets to an event that's will not occur." He questioned, "How can we set milestones when there are two parties?" adding, "The parties involved are putting the whole event in jeopardy by dragging this out."

Commish Kelly admitted that he "discounted half of what I heard tonight because I see a lot of greed." He figures anyone who says everything is fine and there are no problems is lying because they're worried about losing money. His overall analysis, "It has gotten out of the control of the producer."

Planning director Kirk Girard agreed with the chairman saying he's concerned about dealing with dual operators each submitting plans. "It's really inefficient, but we can do it." One of the commissioners suggested billing both sides for the county's time, something that Girard said is already happening.

The chairman then suggested setting a deadline for 30 days from now for the two sides to come to some agreement about who's doing Reggae. As Girard pointed out (quoting many others) the clock is ticking. Some signoffs are due 60 days before the show. (It's 120 day away as of today.)

Discussion then turned to whether they should decide anything at all tonight. Someone suggested (that's what they do at these meetings) that they could at least set a "target number" for attendance. They chewed on that for a little bit with Murgia saying they should drop the numbers as per staff recommendation, Emad repeating his "no confidence" complaint, and finally Mary Gearhart saying they should leave the numbers where they were last year at least as a target. The crowd clapped and cheered that idea. When the board finally voted on it, Gearhart's motion passed unanimously, with the proviso that it was just a target and could be changed if the board wants to.

With that one thing decided (sort of) the commission was ready to move on to other business. You could tell they'd had enough of the Reggae crowd by the way they suggested they get out of the building as soon as possible.

So, the festival, whoever runs it, seems to have dodged a bullet tonight, an expensive bullet at that. Do a little math and you'll see that what was at stake with the ticket numbers could easily have cost the event a couple of hundred grand.
Will the dueling parties follow the commission's advice and come to an agreement post haste? I'd say it's about time. (tick, tick.)

Mateel Response to Dimmick Press Release

2007-04-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

As Mateel Executive Director Taunya Stapp fires back, I'd have to say it does not really look like a compromise is brewing. As Tom Dimmick noted yesterday, tonight's Planning Commission meeting, where they will set the attendance level, may be as confusing as the last one, with "two shows, two producers and one permit," and the SoHum community still in stand-off mode.

We appreciate Mr. Dimmick's growing concern over the developing situation. The impact of his proposed shadow event is affecting a broad swath of the community. The Mateel Community Center never asked to sell this event. The "generous" offers Mr. Dimmick refers to in his press release do not meet the fundamental needs of the Mateel. Instead, we believe, they meet the fundamental need of Mr. Dimmick and associates to own the asset which we have invested community money into for over twenty three years. Mr. Dimmick's first pressure "offer" came in mid October of last year. This was months prior to the contract with People Productions ending. It continued with another pressure tactic offer on December 19, 2006 in which Mr. Dimmick cites that the Mateel should give him the event for free for two years. Subsequent discussions have included the stipulation that the Mateel not have any nonprofit food booths at their event. All offers are based on limited financials which the Mateel cannot verify. The board of the Mateel has always been looking for solutions to this situation and will continue to look for equitable solutions.

Open Letter to the Community from Tom Dimmick

2007-04-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

You may have heard Tom Dimmick on the KMUD news today. Here's the release that showed up via e-mail reiterating much of what he told Estelle.

April 4, 2007

An update on the status of negotiations between Mateel Community Center and People Productions/Dimmick Ranch:

With a critical planning commission hearing set for later this week and a court date early next, I continue to pursue and remain open to settlement options. However, if the dispute is not resolved, we will go into Thursday’s hearing with two shows, two producers and one permit.

Over the past several months, PP and Dimmick Ranch have made a number of generous offers to the MCC, aimed at providing the MCC with the income stream it seeks while retaining the community benefits and financial viability of the event. Most recently, the Dimmick Ranch offered $10 per head on the total capacity granted by the county for each of the remaining nine years on the permit and $300,000 over nine years for the equipment and infrastructure on the site. The capacity range should be 12,900 to 16,900, pending the annual ruling of the planning commission. I believe this offer is eminently fair and could provide upwards of $200,000 in annual income to the MCC. It effectively replaces (or improves) the income stream the MCC enjoyed in the past, while reducing the business risk the MCC had been bearing.

I originally got involved because ROTR was in dire need of a new home back in 2005 or else the MCC stood to lose the event’s financial benefit. I leased my family ranch to the MCC for the festival with the assurance that PP would be the event producer for the term of the lease. As I have expressed, I am very attached to this land and would not entrust it to just anyone. But I am also a member of the community, and I very much wanted to retain the tradition of this festival.

For the past two years, event profits and the MCC’s revenue have suffered due to the site move, which was a massive undertaking. However, I originally got involved to help secure the MCC’s financial base, and I have been negotiating to license the event with the same goal for the MCC. All while ensuring that the event to be held on my property is staffed by the same capable, local professionals and community volunteers who have put it on safely and with the community’s support for decades.

The latest offer, outlined above, was made to the MCC nearly two weeks ago, and the Board has been unable to come up with an official counter-offer. Time is running out.
Waiting for litigation is not the answer. Apparently the MCC Board was unable to assemble a quorum last Thursday evening to create an authorized counter-offer to my settlement proposal. I continue to hear the argument that the ROTR trademark is priceless community property; however, unless MCC negotiates to preserve it, it will have no value to anyone. I am offering to provide MCC with more than fair value for the asset. The settlement offer on the table ensures that the lion’s share of the event profits go directly to the MCC.

The unofficial counter-offers I have heard kicked around, but not officially presented, are so much more expensive that, based on the event history and capacity, the only way to make this feasible is to commercialize the event – thereby negating the community benefit. Accepting a “commercial” license at closer to $19 per head would mean no non-profit food booths, far fewer volunteers and less community involvement. The Dimmick Ranch simply doesn’t want to go down that road with the MCC because we recognize that the magic of this reggae festival is that it is by and for the community. The answer lies with us – the community.

Sincerely,

Tom Dimmick

PEACE FLAG PROJECT

2007-03-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

This note came today from People Productions. It's purely a symbolic thing, but maybe that's what SoHum needs right now, something to symbolize an end to the discord. How can it hurt? The photo is something I shot in Venice Italy summer before last. The "Pace" flags are everywhere in Italy and are available at all sorts of stores and from street vendors. - Bob

At a recent meeting of the Reggae coordinators, People Productions, and Tom Dimmick, many heartfelt emotions were expressed concerning the discord running through our community concerning the annual Reggae on the River festival. The overwhelming consensus was the need for a peaceful solution within our community to bring about healing. Through this need we decided to create a "Peace Flag Project" in Southern Humboldt.

The “Peace Flag Project” seeks to bring our whole community together through a shared purpose; a peaceful solution to the unresolved issues between People Productions, Tom Dimmick, and the Mateel Community Center.

Throughout history peace flags have been displayed in many cultures around the world as a sign of diversity and inclusiveness, of hope and of yearning. The entire community is invited and encouraged to contribute to this Peace Flag Project by sharing in words, or in pictures, your prayers and positive affirmations. These prayers will then be sewn into various displays that will be hung throughout Garberville and Redway.

To participate please bring by your prayers, pictures, and positive affirmations in the format of an 81/2' x 11' size of paper to The People Production office located at 176 Rusk Lane in Redway or email them too people@peopleproductions.net.

Now is the time to unite as one, to let your prayers and hopes be heard for a peaceful solution.

For more information please call People Productions at 707-923-4599 or visit our website at www.peopleproductions.net.

from the Mateel Executive Director

2007-03-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

I sent a copy of Tom Dimmick's latest statement to Taunya Stapp for comment. What follows is her reply. I also inserted a specific question about Summer Arts at the end...

Taunya writes:

First, we'd like to clarify that the Mateel Board never initially asked to sell the event. We are being forced into the situation of considering selling the event by the actions of the private parties involved.

The Board was looking into licensing options after 2005 failed to deliver. It is part of our mission program (to fulfill diversity) plus as our largest asset the decision should go to the membership for a vote. We never discussed selling the event.

We found that licensing wasn't that easy over a long term -- that some entity so inclined could easily jump the event [take over the trademark] after three years. Some of the earlier activities of People Productions showed they had already been working this idea, whether purposeful or not.

Therefore we were left with the option of a short term very controlled license, or creating a production contract with a company responsive to our needs and accountable. Selling the event was not considered a viable option to fix the relationship with People Productions.

As our original statement back in December mentioned, the board, after much debate, decided to license the event for one year so that the Mateel community could come together and decide the long term future of this event. Our press release announcing the termination of the production contract (December 28, 2006) had this statement at the very beginning:

“The MCC board feels that a short term licensing of the event is the best course of action. This will protect our intellectual property that is Reggae on the River and give us time to gather community input on the direction of the show.”

Long term contracts with People Productions have never worked well even though they provided operational funds. We took the crisis People Productions created this year and decided to change things into a positive future for the Mateel.

People Productions, in my opinion, has been very good at crafting moments of dire crisis for the Mateel. These events suck all the lifeblood from the organization until solved to People Productions' satisfaction. Arguably, any time the Mateel has tried to do something, ask for something, or to diversify its income model in a way that did not meet the needs of People Productions, this same type of crisis event has cropped up. This is an ongoing cycle easily identified throughout the boards and management groups that have been at the Mateel.

This year we chose to stop that crisis cycle in the Mateel by using the opportunity of having to cancel their contract to call for a year of long term planning for the Center. This would allow us together, as a community, to decide what future of Reggae on the River would best suit the Center's needs. We could brainstorm, look at options, research those options, and make a normal business decision on our direction.

We are not sure what “offer” Tom Dimmick is referring to at this point. We had two demand letters from Mr. Dimmick received before the contract with People Productions was terminated. One suggested he receive two years for free. We have also heard from a third party about a "suggested offer" and believe this to be what Mr. Dimmick is referring to in his Open Letter.

This offer left the Mateel out in the cold for the first year; had the Mateel turning over its permit to Dimmick (because he doesn't have a permit to do Reggae Rising) and had him attempting to get another one for Mateel the following year. It also states that Mr. Dimmick will do multiple events on his property by subcontracting to Dansun Productions and People Productions. The Board of the Mateel have repeatedly stated they will not work with People Productions again. That discussion/offer also included excluding nonprofit food booths from our show.

Additionally we have stated we will not enter into a long term contract offer with any of the private parties, and that they will need to find financing up front considering what we know of their long term plans. Finally, if Mr. Dimmick is asking for a license, there are more money issues involved that just a per year fee. Again, it makes us very nervous to sign a ten year contract when we have been made aware of Mr. Dimmick's long term plans. We have equipment, infrastructure, lost value to our trademark from the confusion Reggae Rising has created and Mr. Dimmick has promoted, our permit, the value of the lease agreement as well -- all need to be considered should we consider any arrangement. Then we also have our membership to consult as well.

I keep hearing that Summer Arts might actually be on Dimmick Ranch, which, for various reasons, including permit requirments, seems like something very complicated to do. Is the Mateel considering that?

No, the Mateel is not seriously considering moving Summer Arts. Summer Arts will be at Benbow again this year.

a response from Boots Hughston

2007-03-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

After receiving the statement from Tom Dimmick yesterday (see below) I forwarded it to Boots Hughston for comment. Boots had called me earlier in the day disputing unattributed allegations posted in a thread on SoHum Parlance by someone who calls himself Omar.

"Omar" wrote, "As I hear it... The ED of the MCC gave Boots the final say on whether the agreement would be accepted.
To Be One decided that HE is going to produce the show.
The offer was rejected by him.
We all lose."

Tom D. mentions, ""More than a half dozen offers – offers that allow the MCC to recoup its expenses for the Dimmick Ranch infrastructure and equipment AND realize a return on this investment – have been put on the table. Offers for lucrative licensing arrangements have been made. All are aimed at avoiding litigation – an expense, and one with the potential to involve costly damages for our community center. I’ve actively and aggressively explored settlement in formal settings, through 'friends' and directly – all the while making it clear that I am open to counter-offers."

I asked Boots about this, and about something Tom says regarding traffic mitigation: "We instituted the sale of Thursday night arrival, Pre-Sale Camping for the Dimmick Ranch and Cooks Valley Camping Area, and this effectively solved the traffic problems. This crucial mitigation has already been overlooked by the new producer... The promotion of the event has already violated the spirit of the traffic plan we worked hard to hammer out."

Boots responds:

The offer Tom speaks of is the same Carol offered when she quit some months ago. Take 200K per year for 10 years and give them RotR. He says he’s made offers that have substance, but to my knowledge he has not.

On the other hand 2b1 suggested to Tom a deal might be possible if Tom would consider dropping his lawsuits against the Mateel and board members and the Mateel would consider dropping theirs lawsuit against him. I suggest the show remained as RotR owned and operated by the Mateel, the same as it has been for 23 years. I even explained that 2b1 did not necessarily have to be promoter. I felt this was a very clean way for everyone to get out of this mess.

In reflection I realize he doesn’t want to resolve the problems. His intent is to to take control of the festival one way or another. Just as Tom stated he bought property to have the festival and his intent was to make money. He acts like the festival is somehow already his. It’s sad he doesn’t realize his actions are tearing the community apart. The Mateel has come to him many times trying to resolve the problem. Ex-members of the Mateel have also tried to negotiate with Tom and all have failed, he refuses to even consider a different offer.

This morning he called and rejected my proposal stating he felt he had a stronger hand and wanted to talk to the Board directly. I told him I would pass this on to the Mateel.

Concerning Tom’s remarks stating we have over looked early arrival. He is mistaken, Thursday early arrival has been implemented. We are not forcing them to camp in the neighboring areas as they did last year. We are allowing early arrivals to camp on site as well. This and other options well be on sale shortly.

Other info: Many fault the Mateel stating that the Mateel sued first. The truth is People Productions had already filed a law suit against the Mateel, they just didn’t serve the papers. They was the first to sue, not the Mateel.

Much Respect, Boots-2b1

(note from Bob: I also forwarded Tom's latest statement to Garth Epling from the Mateel Board for comment. I have not heard back yet, but will post his response when I do.)

Dimmick Ranch Press Release - March 15, 2007

2007-03-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

This showed up around the same time at the note below from 2b1.

Open Letter to the Community From Tom Dimmick

This community and I have enjoyed Reggae on the River for 23 years. In this spirit, I purchased the Dimmick Ranch and structured a lease for use of the land. That lease was intended to help fund the land’s purchase and the insurance policies necessary for a large-scale event, and in the greater sense, to serve as the new “home” of our annual reggae festival.

Through my experience with the MCC, as a neighbor and landlord, I came to know People Productions and developed confidence in their ability to manage this large-scale event. This played into my willingness to purchase the land and take on the accompanying liability. It also drove me to include PP explicitly in my lease with MCC for use of the land. When Mateel removed PP as producer, the lease was clearly breached and, as a result, terminated.

To ensure public safety, mitigate county agency requirements and accommodate the festival, more than $400,000 worth of infrastructure and equipment were needed. Of this expense $300,000 was covered by the MCC, while I contributed more than $100,000 – a figure above and beyond the $50,000 contracted amount.

We spent countless hours implementing the requirements of various state, county and city agencies to make the 2006 ROTR the best it could be. We also worked closely with MCC members, PP, community volunteers and many of the regions’ non-profit organizations. Together we developed new operational plans for every area. CHP and CalTrans concerns about traffic flow on Friday morning and a new entry location for the festival, necessitated a complete revision of the traffic plan. We instituted the sale of Thursday night arrival, Pre-Sale Camping for the Dimmick Ranch and Cooks Valley Camping Area, and this effectively solved the traffic problems. This crucial mitigation has already been overlooked by the new producer who lacks institutional history.

PP has the institutional history to produce this event. Carol Bruno and much of her staff have 23 years invested in ROTR. I’ve taken in the festival, invested in it and given it a permanent home when it might have otherwise been “homeless” or worse. Yes, the MCC profits the most from this event. But the way I see it, we all have an investment here, and we all stand to lose.

More than a half dozen offers – offers that allow the MCC to recoup its expenses for the Dimmick Ranch infrastructure and equipment AND realize a return on this investment – have been put on the table. Offers for lucrative licensing arrangements have been made. All are aimed at avoiding litigation – an expense, and one with the potential to involve costly damages for our community center. I’ve actively and aggressively explored settlement in formal settings, through “friends” and directly – all the while making it clear that I am open to counter-offers.

To preserve an annual reggae festival for Dimmick Ranch, PP, the fans and our local non-profits that rely on it for their funding, Reggae Rising was launched. While I’ve had an early legal victory in avoiding a temporary restraining order that would have barred the event, I’ve continued to work toward an equitable win-win-win settlement for the three parties invested in the event – and a win for the community.

Now, MCC is selling ROTR tickets to a venue they do not have a right to occupy. The promotion of the event has already violated the spirit of the traffic plan we worked hard to hammer out. Continuing in this manner will hurt us all and threatens to bring down this fine tradition due to safety concerns. It most definitely increases the chance that the lawsuits will be fought to completion. If that happens, any chance for a reasonable settlement with the potential to preserve the original spirit of event and the financial integrity of the MCC AND the Dimmick Ranch will be gone forever. If the MCC continues on its current path, it may well bring down not only itself, but also the festival that has become so important to the community.

Despite the lawsuits, festival confusion, and community division The Dimmick Ranch and People Productions remain committed to helping the MCC through its’ financial short falls. The Dimmick Ranch and PP agenda is to: produce and host a world-class reggae festival that’s safe for all attendees, heals the community spirit, and supports our nonprofit organizations, including the MCC.

Very Truly,
Tom Dimmick

... on the River bandlist

2007-03-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

Note: I received two e-mails this evening around the time I was discussing Reggae business on KHUM radio. One was an updated list from 2b1 of who is booked for Reggae on the River. Much is on the RoR website already but there are two significant additions: Ky-Mani Marley — somewhat surprising given the long relationship Carol Bruno and People Productions have with the Marley boys — and Luciano with Dean Fraser, which struck me mainly because Reggae Rising has announced Sly and Robbie with the Taxi Gang — and Dean Fraser is closely associated with the Gang.
(The photo above shows Luciano backstage at Reggae 2001.)

Something that is not clear at this point is whether the various bands and booking agents have signed exclusive contracts. Presumably only one producer is going to actually get to do Reggae in August. What happens to the bands booked for the festival that falls by the wayside? An artists' agent I spoke with earlier today who has acts booked at each festival could not provide a definitive answer. ~ Bob

from Boots-2b1

Bands we have so far.

The Roots
Angelique Kidjo
Ky-Mani Marley
Luciano and Dean Fraser
Lee"Scratch"Perry
Culture Featuring Kenyatta Hill
The Itals
Mad Professor
Wailing Souls
Sierra Leone's Refugee All stars
Norris Man
Marlon Asher
Lutan Fyah
Norris Man
Little Hero
Neutral Sisters
Dubconscious
Dr Israel

A Conversation with Tom Dimmick

2007-03-07T17:01:00.000-08:00

When I received a copy of the judge’s ruling this morning, a note from Meeka Ferretta asked if I might want to talk with Tom Dimmick. I said, yes, and got a call from him this afternoon.

How do you interpret the judge’s ruling? The press release says it “clears the way.” How do you see it? Is it as cut and dried as that?

It’s definitely a step in the right direction for me, and maybe a precursor of things to come, with the preliminary injunction and ultimately the lawsuit situation. It’s basically the equivalent of winning round one or whatever.
I think it’s a motivation for the Mateel to revisit its stance and its approach towards me. Hopefully it will open the door to some of these settlement concepts that have been getting kicked around for quite a while.

Can you give any detail on what you’re offering?

What I hope we can arrive at is a settlement that makes everyone happy. I’d love to see the Mateel make the money it needs to from the Reggae event, enough to continue doing its thing. And I need to have my long-term security needs met as far as feeling like the event is properly staffed with experienced people. All the offers are about nailing down the right amount of money so everyone can walk away feeling good.

Are you still talking about licensing the Reggae on the River name to avoid confusion? In Humboldt County people are more aware of what’s going on with the festival. On a national and international level they may not know what Reggae Rising is. Bottom line, would you like to get the name back.

There’s a lot attached to that name, both good and bad at this point. I think internationally, Carol Bruno’s name is as important as Reggae on the River, when it comes getting the good artists and the respect of the people who’ve come to enjoy this amazing show over the years.

That may be true for those involved inside the reggae business, record labels, managers, booking agents and so on. But what about the average reggae fan? Will it make any difference to them? I guess what I’m asking is, how important is the name?

Maybe not as important as it was six months ago. It’s just really sad what’s happened here over the course of this dispute. I’m not saying that the name is off the table, but...

I’m assuming you announced a festival with a new name because you felt you had no choice.

That’s right.

There were licensing offers...

Definitely.

So, is it too late to revisit that idea?

I guess I can say that that idea is not all that attractive anymore, basically because of all the negative comments about it being a corporate take-over, which is ridiculous because we’re all people. We all work together; we’re from the community. I have to be evasive about that... let’s say it’s not a priority.

What do you think it will take to heal this wound? That’s the way I see it from the perspective of Northern Humboldt, that the community seems torn apart by all this. What will it take to end it?

It’s going to take a creative solution, a reasonable settlement and a good solution that everyone can get behind and work toward. When we find that and can do it, we’ll look back and say, wow, that was something, but hey, look where we are now. In the end it has to work out.

You use the word “settlement,” which is a legal term. Is that what you’re thinking at this point, to end things out of court by settling between the two parties?

That’s been the concept the whole time, but communications broke down. It just a matter of getting the people together to come up with a real solution and do it.

In your press release you say you “remain open to working together on this.” What do you mean by that exactly.

That if we’re going to make a settlement it needs to work for everyone. We’ve all suffered losses in this dispute. If it’s going to work, we all have to work together.

At the Planning Dept. hearing Thursday you made a comment that seemed to be a response to rumors that there are plans to turn Dimmick Ranch into some sort of year-round concert facility. Do you have any more to say about that? From talking to the Planning Dept. [Michael Richardson] I know that that the EIR could be amended to allow for more concerts.

For 362 days a year it’s a quiet peaceful place and we love it. Now with all the infrastructure and everything there, there’s an opportunity also. Certainly down the road, we would like to add some really top-notch entertainment, but presently we’re just trying to get through the situation right now.

I can see how you’d be eager for this summer to be over.
Returning to the court decision. What everyone seems to be asking is, now that round one is over, what happens next? Has anything changed?

We’ll see. It’s not over. Again, I’m hoping that the door’s open to make a settlement. The clock is ticking. It’s so late in the year. For any event to happen, decisions need to be made right now.

Is there work to do on the site?

Not really. The site is pretty much there. There’s some fencing and stuff like that to be done here and there, but no major construction efforts for this year.

Because all that was taken care of last year...

That’s right. In fact that was basically what led to the whole dispute.

You mean the fact that the added cost of setting up the new site meant there was not as much profit?

That’s right.

Presumably without the set-up costs, there’s more potential for profit this year...

That’s absolutely correct.

One has to wonder, what if...

(Tom is quiet for a little while thinking...) You know I know the answer to that, but I don’t want to go there. We need to get beyond all that.
If you look at what happened at the Planning Commission meeting, it appeared to be a concerted effort to discredit People Productions. It was just ridiculous.

From were I was sitting it seemed pretty self-destructive. All the commissioners were going to decide was how many tickets you can sell, and those limits will be made on whoever does a festival. I can’t imagine what they left that meeting thinking.

Things were blown out of proportion and exaggerated. It was really a sad thing. I hope that the event can bounce back from that.

The planning staff had recommended selling less tickets. I’m thinking whoever does the show just lost a couple of hundred thousand dollars from that night.

Pretty much. I have to say, I felt somewhat vindicated in my choice of producer at that point. It was a choice I made a year and a half ago, and I plan to stick with it long-term.

Anything else you want to add?

Just that we’re working toward a solution that the whole community can get behind. I’m actually cautiously optimistic that we’ll reach a solution, and fairly soon. I’m hopeful. I think we can get there.

So you’re feeling optimistic?

Cautiously optimistic, but yes, I am.

The Mateel's Reaction

2007-03-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

This just in...

Mateel Community Center Statement Concerning Reggae On The River Court Action

March 7, 2007. Redway, CA.

On March 6, 2007, the California Superior Court declined to issue an ex parte temporary restraining order requested in mid-February 2007 by the Mateel Community Center (MCC). That order would have helped the MCC to immediately proceed with plans for Reggae on the River 2007 without interference from the proposed event Reggae Rising. This competing event is being promoted by People Productions and landowner Tom Dimmick for the same site on the same dates that the MCC has held their event for the past twenty-three years. People Productions has been producing the event under contract for the MCC for the past thirteen years.

"Obviously, the MCC is dismayed regarding the temporary restraining order and we are preparing for a longer struggle to fend off the takeover of our community event as we move past this first step in the legal battle, " said executive director Taunya Stapp. The ruling states that "… plaintiff has not at this juncture established great or irreparable injury will result, nor that pecuniary compensation would not afford adequate relief." Importantly, it does not say that MCC would not likely prevail on the merits, only that money damages would fully compensate the MCC if it is successful in the underlying lawsuit.

The MCC maintains that it holds a valid lease with Mr. Dimmick and will prevail in the preliminary injunction hearing set for March 26, 2007. A separate order from the California Superior Court orders People Productions, Carol Bruno, and Tom Dimmick to explain to the judge why they should not be enjoined at the upcoming hearing. We have been and we remain the applicants on the event permit from Humboldt County Planning Department. As it stands, the alternate proposed event, Reggae Rising, does not have a Conditional Use Permit nor have they applied for one.

We had hoped we could bring a quicker end to the community’s current plight over Reggae on the River through the restraining order. Now we head to the preliminary injunction where actual evidence will be given and each side in the dispute will be heard. We thank the community for the wonderful support received and acknowledge the dedication of the board, staff, volunteers, coordinators, and members of the public who have continued to give so much to the effort to retain Reggae on the River for the community’s benefit.

The Ruling

2007-03-07T08:37:00.000-08:00

Mateel Community Center Inc. v. People Productions LLC, Carol Bruno and Tom Dimmick

Plaintiff (Mateel C.C. Inc.) filed an ex parte application for a temporary restraining order and request for an order to show cause re: preliminary injunction.
Defendants (P.P. C.B. & T.D.) filed opposition.

In determining whether to issue a TRO a court must consider the likelihood plaintiff will prevail on the merits at trial, and balance interim harm to each party if the injunction is or is not granted. Interim harm considers the adequacy or inadequacy of other remedies, the extent of irreparable injury, and the need to preserve the status quo. (CCP §526(a); Abrams v. St. John’s Hosp. & Health Center (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 628). The plaintiff has the burden of proof on each issue. (Savage v. Trammell Crow Co. (1990) 223 Cal.App.1562).

The court will deny the application for a TRO finding that the plaintiff has not at this juncture established great or irreparable injury will result, nor that pecuniary compensation would not afford adequate relief. (CCP §526(a) (2) and (4)).

The application for a TRO is denied. An OSC will issue re: preliminary injunction.

Dated March 5, 2007

W. Bruce Watson, Judge of the Superior Court.

Note: an attachment shows that the ruling was executed March 6, 2007 with copies set to lawyers for all parties.

What does it all mean? [Note: an earlier version of this post also included two quotes from legal briefs that I've since learned have little or nothing to do with the above ruling. I have removed them to avoid further confusing an already confusing situation. - Bob]

Dimmick Ranch Press Release

2007-03-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

This came via e-mail from Meeka about an hour after the Journal went to press last night.

COURT CLEARS WAY FOR DIMMICK RANCH, PEOPLE PRODUCTIONS
TO HOST AUGUST REGGAE FESTIVAL

Dimmick Ranch and People Productions, LLC today secured an early legal victory in defeating the effort of the Mateel Community Center, Inc. to obtain a temporary restraining order aimed at preventing the Reggae Rising festival, scheduled for Aug. 3, 4 and 5 on the Dimmick Ranch. Judge Bruce Watson rejected Mateel’s request to require Tom Dimmick, owner of the Dimmick Ranch, to allow Mateel to use his property for its Reggae on the River event and to prevent the potentially competing festival from taking place on the property.

“I am gratified that the Court affirmed my rights,” said Tom Dimmick. “I believe that Mateel’s decision to pursue this course was misguided, and I hope the Court’s decision today encourages Mateel to revisit its approach to this dispute. I remain committed to hosting a summer music festival that is safe and beneficial to the community as a whole.”

The Court’s decision represents a setback to Mateel’s claims that People Productions was properly terminated as producer of the Reggae on the River festival and that Dimmick was not entitled to terminate Mateel’s lease to use his property.

“As pleased as I am with today’s ruling, I would love to see this community come together for an incredible reggae festival this summer. I have made several generous settlement offers and remain open to the possibility of working together on this. The bottom line is that we’re all neighbors, and we’ll still be neighbors after this dispute is over and regardless of the ultimate outcome,” Dimmick added.

Dimmick expressed confidence that he will ultimately prevail in that dispute. He also indicated that he will seek to have the remainder of the case, including claims he will bring against Mateel, resolved under a provision of his lease with Mateel that calls for a private referee to decide all issues in such a case.

Thank you,

Tom Dimmick

Reggae No. 1 - 1984

2007-02-27T19:58:00.000-08:00

Another treasure from Kim's archives: Reggae on the River No. 1 at French's Camp with Humboldt's own Rod Deal on stage with The Dreadbeats.

[Note: Kim's online Reggae archive just goes back to 2000, but he's been shooting since the beginning.]

Listen to Rod's song, Shockwave by clicking on the title (thanks to Humboldtmusic.com).

You can hear more of Rod's music at the I-Deals's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/roddealandtheideals) Don't forget to friend them.

The poster above is on Pernell's Reggae on the River West Side Posse Webpage
where you'll also find more posters and his "Unofficial RoR History," which is pretty good, although it has not been updated too recently. It ends with a little bit about Rod.

I was not at that first show (maybe because my son was born that year) but I'd love to hear some memories from those out there who attended.

Michael Richardson - Planning Dept. Point Man

2007-02-25T16:35:00.000-08:00

This interview with county planner Michael Richardson took place on Friday, Feb. 16. Some of the issues discussed are also covered in the Executive summary of the Planning Commission report, which can be found here on Eric's blog.

What is the status of the Reggae permit at this point?

The permit has been approved for ten years; last year was the first year so they’ve got nine to go. Part of the approval was a condition that they submit annual reports documenting things that went wrong and how effective the mitigations requirements were.

For example?

There was a requirement that they keep the dust down by taking certain steps. There was a requirement that they have a certain number of firefighters on site and that they have an emergency response plan, that they do traffic mitigation on the freeway and such. The report showed how well those conditions the planning commission imposed are working, how well they mitigate the impacts.

Who exactly is they?

In this case the report was submitted by Carol Bruno, People Productions.

As you are probably aware the Mateel has filed a lawsuit against Carol Bruno and against Tom Dimmick, the property owner, challenging his right to break their lease. Also Dimmick and Bruno have announced a music festival called Reggae Rising on the same weekend as Reggae on the River. Both sides seem to be marshalling their forces to attend the planning commission meeting March 1.

Oh great.

What will happen at that meeting?

We’ll be recommending that the Planning Commission receive and file the annual report. And we will set the attendance level for this year’s event.

Has your staff made a recommendation for that level?

It hasn’t been finalized yet [it has since] but tentatively I’m suggesting that they not increase the attendance levels.

What are the official levels?

(He takes a minute to find a document, then reads from it.) The attendance level shall range from a low of 8,500 ticket sales plus 2,000 personnel to a maximum of 14,500 ticket sales and 2,400. Attendance approved for the 2006 was 10,500 sales and 2,400 personnel. We’re recommending that they not increase it for 2007.
[Note: the final report actually suggests a drop by 1,488, a number whose significance will become clear later in this interview.]

Where does the low number come from? 2005?

Yes. That was the approved number up until 2005.

For French’s Camp, not including Dimmick Ranch.

Correct.

And the highest number is the potential maximum within the next ten years?

Right.

Boots Hughston of 2B1, the producer hired by the Mateel mentioned an independent count of the actual attendance. Do you know anything about that?

Yes. That’s included in the report submitted.

Do you know who did the count?

You’ll see that they signed it. It’s awfully hard to read the signature so it seems we do not know who it is.

This was someone hired by People Productions?

Apparently.

[Not to spread idle rumors, but a reliable source told me the report was done by Bob Barsotti from the Hog Farm. Barsotti did not return my calls asking for confirmation.]

And what were the numbers?

They say Thursday there were 8,306. Friday it was 13,618. Saturday: 15,888. And Sunday it was 13,451.

So the peak on Saturday exceeded the permit.

It exceeded the permit by more than 1,400.

Is that a problem?

Well, I think so. And I think the Planning Commission will have a hard time approving an additional increase, especially given that there's no explanation offered as to why the levels exceeded what was approved. And there was no proposal regarding how to keep that from happening in the future.

A major bone of contention between the two sides is this permit. You’ve been quoted previously saying the permit is for the property itself. The Mateel says it’s their permit because they put on the event. Which way is it?

Well, we issued the permit to the property owner. The permit runs with the land. Any contractual arrangements between the property owner and the Mateel are outside the scope of the permit.

So it’s not your business who runs the festival.

That’s right. There are conditions of approval that any producer will have to meet, that’s what we’re focused on. All of the reviewing agencies have to be onboard, the Army Corps, Fish and Game, Dept. of Forestry, Fire Protection, Caltrans, CHP, the Sheriff. They have to demonstrate that they have the support of all those agencies going into it.

Those supporting Reggae Rising have repeatedly mentioned concerns regarding "safety and security." That would seem to be obvious things those agencies would be looking at, and presumably the Planning Commission would also be looking at the same things. Is there an issue with safety and security in your mind?

I think a lot of the mitigation efforts in place address those concerns. So yes.

Are they adequately addressed?

In some ways yes. For instance the traffic mitigation measures put in place seemed to work really well. According to the traffic engineer hired to monitor all that there was no point where traffic was backed up beyond the Piercy exit, which had happened in years past.

Have you had input from the residents of Piercy regarding the plan for the festival?

We haven’t received anything in writing yet. We did receive a phone call, a voice message from (garbled Porter) complaining about some things, but there was no follow-up.

Have you received any public comments?

Not yet. [Note this interview took place before there was a call to write Richardson with concerns.] We’ve had comments from some of the agencies. For instance the Heath Dept. was not so happy with some of the ways they dealt with securing the permits last year and the work that was done covering those permits.

What do they look at?

They were mostly concerned with the drinking water system. I forget whether they had issues with waste disposal.

Back to the permit, as far as the Planning Commission is concerned the festival will move forward and who produces it is not an issue.

We are anticipating that the use permit will be used.

There has been talk about the potential for additional concerts using the same facility, Dimmick Ranch and French’s Camp. What would that entail?

They’d have to modify the approved use permit.

But no additional permit would be required.

That’s right.

Would you see any major problems arising from another 2 or 3 concerts in the course of a summer?

Certainly the Piercy residents might speak out against it, as the have in previous years. It could be that the only reason they’re willing to accept the event is that it occurs only once a year. More times to them may equal more impacts.

What is the direct impact on Piercy? The concert is down the road a few miles.

They submitted comments last year when the commission was looking at approving the current permit. They noted that traffic blocks those on-ramps and creates an inconvenience. I don’t know that that happened when the festival took place (in 2006).

Aside from possible complaints from Piercy, do you see any other problems that would come with having more than one music festival?

If you were to assume that the other festivals would adopt the same mitigation measures, then you could make the argument that the environmental impacts are reduced to less than significant levels, so there would not be additional environmental impacts from more than one event per year.

What else is on the agenda for the March 1 meeting where the permit will be addressed?

There are four items on the consent agenda. This one (Reggae) would come after any items pulled from the consent calendar. The only other item is a project from public works concerning a Coastal permit for construction on the hole in the Hammond Trail.

As far as the hearing goes on the Reggae permit, what do you consider to be relevant public testimony?

I think when the chairman kicks off the public comment section he’ll have something to say about that. The relevant testimony will be in regard to the use permit and the ability of the county to impose new restrictions on that use. I think they’ll ask that the testimony just apply to those areas and not get into all the other drama that’s surrounding the event this year.

"Put this on the blog if you want"

2007-02-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

Andy writes saying:

Put this on the blog if you want

Everyone down here who opens his mouth on all this claims "cred" in some way or other. Yeah, yeah, me too. I fell in love with the sohum vibe at the Fireman's Hall (Levon Helm show in 81), helped build the new hall, and did various projects for the MCC Boards over the years. I helped conduct two community-wide surveys that gave info to the board before the MCC/PP split, and during Katherine M's tenure. Here's my hit.

The audit confirmed what seemed obvious to me: ROTR was run like everything else down here: friends hiring friends with a lot going unrecorded. $300M with no paper trail? 3000 unaccounted wristbands? 11000 given away to staff/volunteers/guests? Woah. That's WAY over the permit, right? Is that a business or a potluck?

The sad part: the MCC knew all this was happening-- or should have seriously
suspected-- for YEARS. But the money kept coming, so, "shut up and trust
us" worked for everybody. Until the cow dried up.

The MCC trusted their star milkmaids (PP) to keep churning out the cream
from the cash cow. Fine. But to let the milkmaids keep the cow under lock
and key with no input on how the old cow was cared for??? I'm not saying
there was skimming. PP has always done the best job they can, in my view.
But they had nothing to lose and got their cream first. To expect PP to
watch out for the MCC? That's the MCC's job.

Both parties blew it big time.

Now the slack in the tether holding the cash cow in check is being reeled in
FAST. Too bad Judge Watson has to do it. PP and MCC just didn't have the
balls to face the music and grow up, act like adults, admit mistakes and
face the music.

Carol says she'll give a guarantee. With what? The last two years tanked.

Is the MCC gonna FORCE Dimmick to have ROTR at his place? Not possible in
America. All they can do in the best case is to sue him for loss of use. How
do they expect to prove value with no figures? Now THERE'S a victory for the
community.

Is Boots nuts? He signs over $300M with no clear path to putting on a show?
Oh. I forgot. He loves the Mateel. Cool.

We are all crazy down here. Maybe this will wake us up to the lunacy of
counting on 10 to 15 thousand kids from the Bay Area to fund our hideout in
the Redwoods. It's back to pay as you go, folks. Heather Kornberg, MCC Board
member, 2nd generation Mateelie, had it right. Each affinity group has to
reach out for the REAL community support.

The money is here. Is the will? As far as a music festival goes, get over
it. Look to the future of Hip Hop (Spearhead et al). Get over it.

Onward,

Andy Barnett

another bit of history

2007-02-23T14:32:00.000-08:00

The original Mateel Community Center in Garberville, a November morning, 1983

Countersuit

2007-02-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

I'm still working my way through Tom Dimmick's counter to the Mateel's request for a preliminary injunction.

The short version: the "opposition" flips the Mateel's allegations, saying that the Mateel can't prove it's case, that the suit "has no hope for success on its merits," and that rather than the People Productions interfering with the Mateel's plans to produce a reggae festival in August, it's the other way around.

Dimmick contends that the Mateel breached its lease agreement by firing Carol Bruno who was still performing her duties as producer of Reggae on the River. Proof? Exhibit A is an e-mail dated Dec. 27, 2006, sent by Bruno to Mateel E.D. Taunya Stapp letting her know she was ready to submit the wrap-up report on Reggae 2006 to the county planning commission. This was "the day before Mateel purported to terminate the agreement."

"Accordingly, Mateel's continuing public statements that it proposes to hold an event on land it no longer has the right to occupy, along with its new producer's efforts to hire acts that are likely performers as an event Mr. Dimmick is fully entitled to hold on his own property, constitute tortious interference with Mr. Dimmick's economic advantage and unlawful obstruction of Mr. Dimmick's efforts to mitigate his damages from Mateel's breach of the lease. Mr. Dimmick fully intends to recover any and all resulting damage from Mateel."

There's a lot more, basically saying that the Mateel's suit has no merit. Dimmick concludes by asking the court to deny the Mateel's request for a temporary restraining order or, in the event that a TRO is issued against People Productions plans for Reggae Rising, to require that the Mateel post a $250,000 bond to cover possible losses in the case the TRO is later reversed.

another slice of history

2007-02-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

photo of the day from Kim

I remember this shot from the 1980's very well. The roof trusses gave shape to our community center.
Chris Walker fell from these trusses while putting his ass on the line reaching out to get it done. Luckily he wasn't seriously hurt.
Nice bounce, Chris, old buddy.
We didn't think we were building the hall to house a three ring circus of bickering, or to stage death duels in the ring of public opinion.
We built it to share our collective skills and knowledge to create fun, and opportunities for ourselves, our kids, and their future families. Read that; our family.
It is the House That Reggae Built.
Is it also going to be the house that Reggae tore apart?
I am praying for that not to happen.
I can show you all the smiles in my files that prove that we are capable of what we set our minds to when we have a plan and some leadership.
I refuse to believe the better days are past.
I have always been an optimist because it has served me better than being a pessimist.
It is time for some Unity to emerge from this struggle.
Please, please, please.
Kimba

"Urgent!"

2007-02-21T17:08:00.000-08:00

a note from Bob: This e-mail from Casandra showed up in my mailbox today along with other Reggae oriented things. I've started transcribing the interview I did with Michael Richardson, who is mentioned below, and will post it soon. From talking with him I'm not sure what good it will do to send him stories about your experiences at Reggae -- unless they relate to the permit in some fashion.

Members and friends of The Mateel Community Center,

The planning commission needs to know your views, opinions and experiences about Reggae on the River. If you have positive experiences working with and confidence in the Mateel Community Center and 2B1 multimedia please show your support.

Email your letters of support for The Mateel Community Center to retain the Conditional Use Permit for Reggae on the River to:
Michael Richardson
mrichardson@co.humboldt.ca.us
Please c.c. to Casandra@mateel.org

Show your support- Wear your Mateel Forever T-shirt, Reggae on the River T-shirt, or Mateel Community Center hats and T-shirts when you attend the following meetings.

The Planning Commission Meeting on March 1st @ 6:00pm in Board of Supervisors' Chamber, Humboldt County Courthouse, Eureka, California.

The Hearing on March 5th @ time-TBA at the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka. It is unknown at this time if this hearing is open to the public, so please stay tuned.

Come into The Mateel Community Center office today to sign the petition!

Please forward this email to all your friends and family so we can retain the permit for Reggae on the River and prevent our most important economic community asset from being privatized.

Mateel Forever!

Casandra Taliaferro

Special Projects
Mateel Community Center

Official Reggae Rising Press Release

2007-02-21T00:25:00.000-08:00

Apparently this went out over the weekend, but for some reason the Journal was not sent a copy. It was forwarded to me today by a third party.

Feb. XX, 2007

EVENT: Reggae Rising, Festival
DATE: August 3rd, 4th and 5th
PLACE: Dimmick Ranch/ French’s Camp, Piercy Calif.
CONTACT: Carol Bruno, People Productions LLC

People Productions and the Dimmick Ranch are pleased to announce a summer Reggae festival, benefiting the community, in the Southern Humboldt tradition. Reggae Rising will take place on August 3rd, 4th and 5th at the Dimmick Ranch and French’s Camp in Piercy, California. The festival will feature three days of camping, music and the beautiful Eel River.

The festival will be a fundraiser for the Southern Humboldt community and its nonprofits. People Productions and its staff of Coordinators will produce the event with the expertise that is based on a 22-year track record hosting similar festivals. The Dimmick Ranch location, which has secured all necessary permits, as well as a lease to the adjacent French’s Camp property, promises a safe, festival-friendly environment for sponsors, volunteers and attendees.

“We are saddened that our attempts to resolve our differences with the Mateel Community Center – attempts that have included two mediation sessions and three multi-million dollar offers with the potential to preserve the fiscal health of the MCC -- have not produced a reasonable solution for all,” said Carol Bruno of People Productions. “However, the South Humboldt community deserves its annual reggae festival and the proceeds from this annual fundraiser, which support many of our regions non-profits. People Productions Dimmick Ranch and our many local supporters are committed to maintaining this tradition through the Reggae Rising benefit.”

Artist lineup will be announced soon and tickets are on sale now at www.reggaerising.com.
For information call the hotline at 707-923-4583.

Mossman responds

2007-02-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

I would like to comment on the remarks that Boots made regarding Reggae medical and me. I am David Moss, "Mossman." I have been the medical coordinator at ROTR for over 10 years. First I would like to comment on the fact the "no one is indispensable." I agree with that statement, but let me clear up some "spew" or what I would call, misinformation.

First of all, Dr. Ross Chapman is a great guy, but he doesn't do Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, I do SNWMF along with my long time assistant, Patte Rae. Dr. Ross works as a volunteer for me at that festival. While Dr. Ross is a great guy, he has no idea of the logistics involved with coordinating the event. He has no personal relationship with any of the local agencies, ie: sheriff, CHP, Parks & Rec, CDF Ambulance Helicopter, etc... I am rarely able to even get in touch with him until the day of the event, so I would think that his ability to be available to handle all the personal issues will be minimal at best.

Dr. Bustamonte, excuse me, RN Bustamonte (once again check your info Boots) also works for me as a volunteer at that event. I think Boots, once again you should get your facts correct before spewing them out there. Misinformation does nobody any good. While the Bustomantes are excellent people and some of my very close friends, I doubt highly that they are up for the task of coordinating Reggae medical. Just because they showed up to one of your meetings doesn't mean they are now heading up your team (if we can even call it that at this point). While they are very capable at what they do, I don't believe they have the experience to pull together at team capable of doing Reggae. I haven't spoken with them since reading this article but intend to, and suggest you do as well.

As for Diana Totten, the fact that you can even post such misinformation amazes me. Where in the world (or should I say) when in the world did Diana ever tell you she would consult with you??? The fact that you are misleading the public into believing you have all these critical positions filled and covered speaks volumes (at least to me) as to how you are going about handling this event. One piece of non factual information after another.

As for the critical Incident team you mention that the Bustomantes have, please, again, I love them and have much respect for them, but they have no critical incident team, not in the sense of the team that we developed over the past 3 years at Reggae on the River. Also, I too have spoken with the critical incident team you mention in your interview and it seems that once again we have conflicting information. NONE of the actual Critical Incident Team is coming or thinking of coming back to an event that is being produced by someone other than People Productions. Thought you should know that, rather than trying to make people think you have all these very critical positions covered. You are a disaster waiting to happen and that really scares me!!!

Finally, I just want to say, that I appreciate the comments that Boots made about me personally, but to date we have never formally met, so I'm not sure how he draws his opinion. I will say that I did attend one of the meetings he held early and I was not impressed with the staff that was present. I expressed some of my concerns for the safety of the event and he said he wanted to talk with me privately. To this date, he has yet to attempt to talk with me about anything regarding the safety of patrons, volunteers or staff at Reggae on the River. It really amazes me how cavalier of a stance he is taking with such an important part of this show. Boots, if you want to continue to mislead the public, go for it, but the mess will fall directly on your shoulders -- remember you're here to "heal this community," I think those were your words at one of the first meetings -- Not doing such a good job at this point....

Mossman
Reggae Emergency Services Coordinator,
SNWMF Emergency Services Coordinator,
Health & Harmony Festival Emergency Services Coordinator

Boots on the ground

2007-02-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

I called Boots Hughston of 2B1 Multimedia, the firm hired by the Mateel to run Reggae on the River 2007, on Friday, Feb. 16, at his office in San Francisco for an update at a crucial juncture in the future of Reggae: the Mateel had just filed its lawsuit and Reggae Rising had just been announced.
(photo by Kim from last week's coordinator meeting at the Mateel.)

We are halfway though February. In the past Reggae on the River tickets have gone on sale early in March with some sort of tentative a line-up announcement. Where are you on planning? Any acts confirmed?

We have confirmed somewhere between 22 and 23 out of 27 acts I’m planning to book. Contracts and deposits should be going out this coming week. I don’t really want to say exactly who the acts are at the moment because I don’t want to give the other side a pecking list to bump our acts. It’s already happened a little bit already.

I’ve talked with some people in the reggae industry who have told me both your production company and People Productions are bidding on some of the same acts.

That’s partially true. What happened is, we started booking in January. We pretty much got out ahead of them, but I did find out that it looks like they have Ziggy Marley on hold and they might have Burning Spear who they pulled off of our side and they also booked Anthony B, out of the 22-25 acts we had partially confirmed.

So in those cases, you’d been working with the booking agents, but through...

Through their friendships or whatever, it blew our deal.

The Mateel lawsuit seems to imply that [P.P.] is using its business contacts to dissuade people from working with you.

That’s starting to happen, but the good news is, we’ve been in business for so long it hasn’t really hurt us too much. But we’re only a week into their attempt to mess up our show. I personally feel that Carol should be above that and know it’s not the right thing to do. I don’t think she’ll stir the pot much more; it would not be smart for her legally. It could become real damages. The intent of that lawsuit is to make sure that People Productions does not interfere with the Mateel’s show. The whole idea is to keep them from jeopardizing the survival of the Mateel. What happens from this point on becomes a pretty serious matter.
The good news is we have most of the show booked. We plan on putting out a press release around the first of March stating all the acts. Tickets go on sale as of March 1. That’s where we’re at.

So you are moving forward under the assumption that Reggae on the River will take place as in the past, but with 2B1 as production company.

They way I look at it is this: There’s a binding contract with Dimmick and he can’t just say it’s breached; he has to prove that breach. So there is a venue [for the show]. That’s the first thing that needs to be proven in a court of law. If he wants to prove that the lease is breached, more power to him, but I don’t think he can do it before August 2 comes around.
The next thing is the permit process and our interpretation of the permits. There’s a history of 24 years of the Mateel having the permits. Just because a [Planning Dept.] employee working out of Eureka sees a different interpretation doesn’t really mean that’s the way it is. The permit is in the Mateel’s name on Dimmick’s property. It’s not the landlord’s permit; it’s the Mateel’s permit. We have the permit hearing March 1, where we’ll be discussing mitigation on the CUP filed. Some of this will be addressed then. I believe Michael Richardson is a good guy; he’s just been swayed by other people’s opinions. I think it will come back around toward the Mateel.

It has been reported that you have already paid an advance on the licensing fee. Can you say how much?

Yes. I gave the Mateel $300,000, to kind of bail them out, to keep the ball rolling.

So you gave them the full fee upfront?

Yep. I gave them the full amount. It should keep them going for a year or two. That’s the intention.

What if the judge decides for Dimmick and People Productions and you don’t get to do the show?

Technically the Mateel wouldn’t have an effective license and I guess the contract would be null and void.

They’d owe you that money.

They would, but there’s no argument between us about it. I’m a big boy and I understand how things go. I’ve looked at the negative side as well, but I respect the community and this is my way of helping out.

So you are not planning on foreclosing on the community center to get your money back?

(laughs) No. No I’m not.

There was some speculation about doing the show at French’s Camp without using Dimmick Ranch. Is that an option?

The permit is for Dimmick Ranch and Arthurs’ (French’s Camp).

Is the Cook Valley campground included?

From what I’ve been told that’s a separate permit held by Bowman. I think that’s from Mendocino.
As to Dimmick, the Mateel still has a binding contract and he’s going to have to prove that’s not a valid lease. He’s saying that he is relying on People Productions [as producers], and since the Mateel hired an outside company, that contract is breached. But People Productions breached the contract with the Mateel by overselling tickets, -- an outside entity clicked the tickets and showed there were more sold than was permitted, let alone the other 12 or so breaches addressed [in the suit]. That means the Mateel had to find an outside producer to fill their fiduciary responsibility as a nonprofit. They have a business to run. They had to hire somebody; they hired us. And we’re going to try to do a heck of a good job.

Do you see the fact that a number of coordinators have pledged loyalty to Carol as a major hurdle? How do you move forward without all that institutional memory?

The first thing is, when something like this happens, all the top guys’ heads roll and they’re replaced with other people. And there’s good reasons for that, one is because the loyalties lie with the former boss. The new promoter doesn’t want to deal with disgruntled employees, so he gets new people.

You’re talking as if you’ve seen something similar happen.

I have.

Can you give a specific example?

Burning Man. All the heads rolled at Burning Man, not once or twice, but three or four times in the last 20 years.

Aren’t they in the middle of a court battle for control of the festival right now?

That’s true too. Then there was the North Beach Photographic Art Fair we did. I did it for 14 years, then it became the North Beach Fair, which is now in its 35th year. They’ve had three or four board struggles, cases where all the heads rolled and everybody was rehired to start all over again. It happens. And it usually happens around 10 or 12 years where people start getting unhappy with what’s going on. People get tired and so forth.
But on my end here, I want to keep everybody aboard. The reason why is because I want to keep the community intact. I feel that all of the coordinators have earned their place, earned their keep. What I’m trying to do is remind them all that the door’s not closed. They’re welcome to come back any time. I understand their loyalty is with Carol, and I actually respect that. I pretty good with it. As to the amount of coordinators, there’s roughly between 100-120 coordinators from last year rank and file. Out of those 120, between 60-70 have been to our meetings, maybe even more. There are 20 or so who are definitely not coming back. They’re etched in stone that if it doesn’t happen Carol’s way it’s not going to happen. Then there are a lot who are on the fence, waiting to see what happens in the next few weeks.
I want to keep the same organization as much as I can but I’ve already made plans to incorporate new people, to bring new people in, and if we don’t fill the coordinators position in the next few weeks, I’ll start putting those new people in. I’ll bring some up through the ranks, and where I can’t fill positions I’ll bring in outside people.
I’ll give you an example. Medical for instance. I love Mossman, he’s really intelligent and a fine person, and I think he’s done an excellent job, but he’s not the only guy in the world who can do medical. There’s Dr. Ross Chapman who does Sierra Nevada and many other festivals; there’s Dr. Bustamante and his critical response team and there’s others like Diana Totten who’s said she’s willing to consult and help us. We’ve talked to others from the Critical Incident Team who are interested and might change their mind and come aboard. In my mind the door’s wide open; I’m not closing it on anybody. It’s looking like we’ll have people who have been here before, just a different captain.
Reggae on the River is a complicated festival -- no doubt about that. In my mind the reason has to do with it going back 25 years, it goes very deep in the community. You have people who have down the same job for 20 years and maybe their brothers have some other job moving the rebar or digging ditches. When something like this happens it gets pretty complicated. You lose one guy then his brother may not want to do it either -- a complicated infrastructure has grown up around Reggae. I’ve done shows with 35,000-40,000 people where we had 300 volunteers, not 4,000. I’m not saying you don’t need volunteers, but we could do it with less.

Getting back to what happens next, it looks like it’s going to be in the hands of lawyers and judges for who knows how long.

Let’s put it this way: The Mateel is moving forward 100 percent. They have a binding contract with Dimmick and he has a contract with the Arthurs. Whatever happens next depends on Dimmick proving that his contract is invalid. He has to go to court to prove there’s a breach. Until that happens the show moves on. You can’t impede the Mateel from doing business. Everybody’s marching forward. There’s a huge amount of loss to the community if this doesn’t happen. I think it would be smart for everyone to get along and stop all the fighting.

From my perspective it just seems so sad. I read the comments on the blogs and see all this backstabbing and it gets depressing. I’ve always thought of Southern Humboldt as the last remnants of the old hippie culture of the ‘60s and all the strife makes it seem like a dream has died.

That’s the way I feel too. It’s hard to believe people are doing what they’re doing. I’m still fighting for the goodness, and the good will prevail. The morals from the ‘60s were really important. Without us this would be an uglier world. You’d have everyone living in Eichler homes with everything painted green and pink...

In houses made of ticky tacky...

We changed all that. Our generation changed that. We stopped a war. We made music that was never heard before. All that came from our generation, and it’s not going to come to an end. I always thought of the Mateel and Humboldt County as the last bastion of those wonderful hippie values. And I don’t think the dream is over.

At that point my tape ran out. Where things go next remains to be seen...

13 Causes of Action: The Mateel’s Lawsuit

2007-02-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

The Reggae Suit

As predicted in the Hum last week, The Mateel Community Center has filed a lawsuit in the court of Judge Bruce Watson in an attempt to stop People Productions and Tom Dimmick from moving forward with their own Reggae festival the first weekend in August, in place of Reggae on the River.

I’m not a lawyer. That said, I’ve compressed much of the legalese trying to explain the suit clause by clause in layman’s terms the best I can. Suits like this one are long and necessarily redundant. What you see in quotes comes straight from the document. Otherwise the language is my interpretation and reduction of the Mateel’s allegations. As they say on the radio and TV, the opinions expressed are not those of this blogger or this blog. If someone reading this is a lawyer and you see something I got flat out wrong, let me know and I'll adjust accordingly.

A special rule for comments on this post: No anonymous comments allowed whatsoever. If you have something to say about this sign with your first and last name. And don't waste your time crafting clever insults, they will be rejected. This is serious business.

“Mateel Community Center, Inc., a California non-profit corporation, Plaintiffs, vs. People Productions, LLC, a California limited liability company, Carol Bruno, an individual, Thomas Dimmick, an individual, and Does 1 to 20 inclusive, Defendants.”

“Complaint for damages for breach of contract, interference with prospective economic advantage, misappropriation of trade secrets, infringement of trademark, unfair business practices, conspiracy conversion, accounting, declaratory relief, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction.”

An intro simply states that the Mateel owns the trademark for Reggae on the River® and contracted with Carol Bruno and P.P. to produce the festival on Tom Dimmick’s land in 2006.
I assume adding 20 unnamed John/Jane Does as potential litigants is routine. I do not know who they might be. (Maybe you, if you are working on Reggae Rising.)

Then comes the meat, 13 causes of action:

Cause No. 1: Anticipatory Breach Of Contract (against People & Bruno)
The Mateel contracted with P.P to produce Reggae for 6 years starting in 2006, with an option for the next 4 years, with P.P. working for a set fee and the Mateel sharing the net profits.
In a roundabout way with lot of history, the suit basically says things did not work out as planned -- not enough profit went to the Mateel.
The Mateel asked for an audit to try to explain why there was less profit than anticipated in 2005; they allege that P.P. did not supply sufficient information to complete the audit.
In Oct. 2006, Mateel heard from Dimmick, saying Carol told him, “in no uncertain terms, that she will not, under any circumstances again produce the ROTR event for the current Mateel administration.” The next day Bruno sent the Mateel Board a letter proposing an agreement to end the production contract, stating that “the reality is that I am finished with the fighting and the amount of energy the persistent bad relations takes is not worth it to me.” At the Mateel membership meeting Nov. 17, Bruno, again declared she would not produce Reggae for the Mateel under the then-active contract.
On Dec. 28, The Mateel served notice of termination of People’s production contract based on “anticipatory breach of the contract.” Because of that breach the Mateel “suffered damages in the amount not yet fully ascertained -- to be determined...”

No. 2: Breach Of Contract (against People & Bruno)
PP contracted with the Mateel to handle all aspects of production and presentation of ROR, but ultimately breached the contract by “failing to pay for the equipment, supplies and assets needed for ROR, failing to deposit all receipts from ticket sales in the ROR account, and failing to inform Mateel in a timely manner of the extra expenses being incurred.” The result: “lost profits in an amount as of yet unascertained.”

No. 3: Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage (Against People & Bruno)
Under the contract with People, the Mateel “reasonably expected to continue hosting future ROR events and derive economic benefit therefrom.”
Knowing that, “People failed and refused to produce the event in a professional manner.” The Mateel “believes that defendants collected revenues from the sale of wristbands which were not reported as ROR revenues; failed to adequately monitor payments to subcontractors; failed to adequately monitor payments to employees; and failed to adequately monitor payments for supplies.”
Further, PP knew that the Mateel has contracted with a new producer (2B1) after terminating the PP production contract “with the intention of producing future ROR events and deriv[ing] economic benefits therefrom.”
“Despite such knowledge, defendant, and or its agents, interfered with plaintiff’s business by promoting a Reggae event at the same time and same place as ROR; conspiring with the landowner, defendant Dimmick, to terminate Mateel’s lease of his property; contacting prior ROR employees, contractors, coordinators, and performers in an effort to dissuade them from working for Mateel and the new producer; refusing to return property owned by Mateel which is necessary for the production of the event; and using plaintiff’s proprietary information to promote their own music festival” specifically Reggae Rising.
As a result of this “intentional conduct,” Dimmick has terminated the Mateel’s rental agreement and “many employees, coordinators and volunteers have informed [the] Mateel they will not work for the new producer” [Boots Hughston].
This will ultimately lead to “lost profits and loss of prospective future revenues in an amount as of yet unascertained but within the jurisdiction of the Court.”
The Mateel sees the actions of PP as “willful and malicious, in that defendants knew that their failure to produce the event in a professional manner, and intentional acts to disrupt the production with the new producer, would cause plaintiff to lose the benefit of the subject business” and that the Mateel “would be unable to continue producing ROR” make money from it. The Mateel asks for “punitive damages in an amount which the Court deems appropriate.”
Further, “unless restrained and enjoined by order of this Court,” PP will disrupt the business relationship with 2B1, because PP is “in possession of personal property, and plaintiff’s proprietary information that is necessary for the production of the event, which constitutes a misappropriation of trade secrets.” The Mateel also alleges that this interference with ROR will cause “injury to plaintiff’s reputation in the musical industry and its good will.”

No. 4: Negligent Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage (Against People & Bruno)
This seems to repeat allegations in No. 3, concluding, “As a proximate result of defendants’ conduct plaintiff suffered damages in the form of lost profits and loss of prospective future revenues in an amount as of yet unascertained but within the jurisdiction of the Court. Plaintiff prays leave of Court to amend this Complaint when such sums become known.”

No. 5: Conspiracy to Interfere with Prospective Economic Advantage (Against People, Bruno & Dimmick)
Incorporates all of the above (each cause does so) and adds Dimmick into the equation:
“Defendants People and Dimmick have formed a partnership for the purpose of conspiring to interfere with plaintiff’s business relations, by producing a Reggae festival at the same location and time as the annual ROR festival.”
Knowing that the Mateel had planned a festival to be produced by 2B1, “defendants, and or their agents, disrupted plaintiff’s relationship with its new producer by wrongfully terminating plaintiff’s lease of property from defendant Dimmick; purchasing an option to lease land previously used by plaintiff for parking and camping for ROR (French’s Camp); promoting a Reggae event at the same time and same place as ROR” (Reggae Rising) and hiring the old crew. Again, resulting in potential lost profits to be determined.

No. 6: Misappropriation of Trade Secret: Statutory (Against People & Bruno)
This section basically says that Carol Bruno’s legendary Rolodex (my language, not legalese) belongs to the Mateel since she was employed by the nonprofit when it was compiled, and she should not be using it to produce a festival of her own.
“The database has economic value in that it contains information not generally known within the trade and represented many years of research and communication.” Said database is “a trade secret which merits legal protection from defendant’s misappropriation” in that has reason to believe that PP “used this information to contact prior ROR customers, contractors, coordinators, volunteers, suppliers and performers with the intent to injure plaintiff.”
Dec. 28, 2006, when the Mateel terminated the PP contract, “due to defendant’s anticipatory breach” they asked PP to hand over the Rolodex, which at this point has evolved into a collection of digital databases. PP did not do so and “continue[d] using plaintiff’s database to try to produce their own event and to disrupt plaintiff’s ROR event, thus, “defendants will be unjustly enriched by obtaining business profits through unfair business practices.” The Mateel alleges that this also was “willful and malicious” meaning the Mateel is “entitled to punitive damages,” and “reasonable attorney’s fees.”

No. 7: Misappropriation of Trade Secrets - Common Law (Against People & Bruno)
Reiterates No. 6. again alleging that “defendants were willful and malicious in that defendants misappropriated plaintiff’s database with the deliberate intent to injure plaintiff and benefit itself. Plaintiff is therefore entitled to punitive damages.” (A lawyer can probably explain the difference between statutory and common law secrets.)

No. 8: Conversion (Against People & Bruno)
Here the Mateel adds “certain identifiable funds in an amount not yet fully ascertained” to the above, saying “plaintiff has expended time and money in attorney fees and staffing to pursue the converted property, all to plaintiff’s damage in an amount as of yet unascertained but within the jurisdiction of the Court,” which “justify the awarding of exemplary and punitive damages.’

No. 9: Accounting (Against People)
This portion of the complaint basically says that the Mateel hired PP to produce Reggae 2006, but has not received an adequate accounting of net profit. The Mateel believes it might have money coming.

No. 10: Breach of Contract (Against Dimmick)
The Mateel entered into a lease/rental agreement with Dimmick on July 27, 2005, “for the purpose of putting on the ROR festival.” The Mateel paid $33,000 in advance for ROR 2007, and notified Dimmick of a change in producer, “as provided for under the Agreement.”
Then, “on or about January 19, 2007, Dimmick breached the lease agreement by notifying plaintiff it had unilaterally terminated the agreement,” resulting in “damages in the form of lost profits in an amount as of yet unascertained but within the jurisdiction of the Court.”

No. 11: Declaratory Relief (Against Dimmick)
Since the Mateel leased land from Dimmick to put on RoR, “An actual controversy has arisen and now exists between plaintiff and defendant concerning their respective rights and duties.” The Mateel “contends that the lease does not require that ... People be the exclusive producer for ROR.” Dimmick contends that “the lease requires Mateel to use defendant People as the producer for ROR, and plaintiff’s retention of a different producer directly breaches the lease.”
The Mateel asks the judge to sort out “its rights and duties,” and to declare “whether the lease requires defendant People to be the exclusive producer.” Again the Mateel “suffered damages in the form of lost profits in an amount as of yet unascertained but within the jurisdiction of the Court.”

No. 12: Unfair Business Practices (Against People, Bruno & Dimmick)
“During the relevant time period set forth herein, defendants committed, and continue to commit, acts of unfair competition as defined by Business and Professions Code 17000” including “intentionally interfering with plaintiff’s economic relations” by using the Reggae database to produce a non-Mateel Reggae “in violation of its duty of good faith and fair dealing,” due to this “unfair competition” the Mateel (and 2B1) have “been restrained in hiring performers, contractors, and coordinators and therefore ... continue to suffer damages in an amount not yet fully ascertained but to be determined according to proof at trial -- plus interest.”

No. 13: Injunctive Relief (Against People, Bruno & Dimmick)
In brief: The Mateel wants Tom, Carol, etc. to stop it right now.
Specifically, plaintiffs demand that defendants stop:
“1).promoting a “Reggae” musical festival on the same date and location as plaintiff’s Reggae on the River (“ROR”) musical festival;
2). denying plaintiff access to property on which they hold a lease with defendant Dimmick;
3). contacting contractors, coordinators and volunteers of prior ROR festivals, to discourage them from working for the current producer of the Mateel’s musical festival; and
4). using information defendant gained as agent for plaintiff, such as lists of contractors, coordinators, performers and volunteers, to promote their own musical festival.”
Otherwise “the Mateel will not be able to sell tickets, and its producer will not be able to contract with performers, hire coordinators and contractors for the 2007 ROR event, which will prevent the ROR festival from taking place and destroy the Mateel financially.”
“The full amount of damage is not now known.”

The rest of the suit goes back through the 13 causes, in short asking that the court stop People Productions, Tom Dimmick and associates from moving forward on their festival, “for a declaration that the lease [with] Dimmick does not require that People be the exclusive producer of ROR,” additionally The Mateel wants damages, general and punitive and attorney fees and “such other and further relief as the court may deem proper.”

Flash from the past

2007-02-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

Reggae photographer Kim Sallaway sends me (and a bunch of other folks) a photo every day. This one from his archives was extra.

the year was 19&84.
It was back in the day.
Shelby designed the t-shirt.
This was the sound booth...
You can publish this one if you want.
Jimmy would really be happy.
Kim

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING -- Reggae on the River/Rising

2007-02-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

PUBLIC NOTICE

HUMBOLDT COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

On Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 6:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matter can be heard, the Humboldt County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing in the Board of Supervisors' Chamber, Humboldt County Courthouse, Eureka, California, to consider the matter listed below. If you have specific questions regarding the proposed project contact: contact: MICHAEL D. RICHARDSON, Senior Planner, at (707) 268-3723.

Review of the Annual Report for the 2006 Reggae on the River Music Festival. Case No. CUP-04-38M; MATEEL COMMUNITY CENTER (REGGAE ON THE RIVER EVENT) applicant; File No. APNs 33-271-05, 33-271-07 & 33-041-23; Cooks Valley area. Review of the Annual Report for the 2006 Reggae on the River music festival. The approved Conditional Use Permit allows the event to be held over the first weekend of August, from Friday to Sunday for the next nine (9) years on the 120 acre property known as Dimmick Ranch (a portion of the former site east of the river will still be used for camping). Ticket sales were allowed to increase 12,000, and with the commensurate increase in staff and volunteers, the total number of persons at the event was allowed to increase to 14,400 persons. Campers were allowed to enter the site a day earlier (Thursday), although the hours of the performance remained the same. The Planning Commission will be setting the attendance levels for the 2007 event. The applicant requested ticket sales be allowed to increase to 14,500 ticket sales plus 2,400 personnel for a total of 16,900 persons for the 2007 event.

THE PROJECT SITE FOR THE MUSIC FESTIVAL IS LOCATED IN THE COOKS VALLEY AREA ON THE EAST SIDE OF US HIGHWAY 101 EXTENDING EASE FROM THE INTERSECTION OF COOKS VALLEY ROAD WITH US HIGHWAY 101 ON THE PROPERTY KNOWN AS THE "DIMMICK RANCH" (240 COOKS VALLEY ROAD).

Any person may appear and present testimony in regard to these matters at these hearings. The Planning Commission needs ONE ORIGINAL AND 14 COPIES of any materials submitted either prior to or at the meeting. The Planning Commission's decision will become effective if an appeal is not filed within the appropriate filing period. An appeal may be filed by any aggrieved person and must be submitted in writing with the required fees to the Planning Division of the Humboldt County Community Development Services before the end of the appeal period. If appealed, the decision will not become effective until the appeal is resolved. If you challenge the nature of the proposed action in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Planning Commission, at, or prior to, the public hearing.

General questions regarding the Planning Commission, the permit process, submission of materials, and other information not specific to this project may be obtained from the Planning Division of the Humboldt County Community Development Services, 3015 "H" Street, Eureka, California 95501. Telephone (707) 445-7541.

http://co.humboldt.ca.us/planning/commission/noticing/7-0301/mateel.htm

note from Bob: I spoke with Michael Richardson on Friday and will share his answers to my questions here as soon as I work my way through the interview.

Why I didn't publish your comment...

2007-02-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

This note showed up in my mailbox last night.

Anonymous has left a new comment on (one post or another) saying,

“it isn't that easy to put your name to every idea/thought that you want to post when you live in a community like southern humboldt. why don't you stop censsoring so many posts, Mr.Arcata????????”

Since you asked, I’ll try to explain. First, I must point out that I do not reject all that many comments. I don’t actually get all that many, although things seem to be picking up in the last few days with the important new developments. I’m guessing the fact that Eric has asked for a moratorium on name-calling and rants may have moved some of that over here. (Not that it worked on his blog.)

It’s pretty easy to sit down at your keyboard and crank out an angry letter lashing out as some person or force you don’t like. In fact, I’d say it’s all too easy. The result is a battle of insults and falsehoods, unsubstantiated rumors and often downright cruelty. You say it’s hard to put your name to something like that, well it should be. Each comment that comes to this blog requires a judgment call from me: Publish or Reject. I read what shows up in my mailbox and decide if it’s something that moves the discussion forward. Most of the comments I reject say something like so-and-so is an asshole or a greedy something-or-other, or worse. I don’t see any need to publish such thoughts. If that’s censorship, I’m guilty.

You refer to me as “Mr. Arcata,” which is suppose is intended as some sort of insult, or is meant to imply that I’m not from SoHum, so I can’t possibly understand what you face. It may be that all you know about me is what you can read in the upper corner of this page. Let me fill in some details.

My full name is Bob Doran and I’m a journalist by trade. I am employed full time by the North Coast Journal where among other things I write a music column called The Hum, and edit the arts section of the paper. I’ve been covering Humboldt’s music scene for a long time; I have attended Reggae on the River for 15 years, always with press credentials. I’ve known Carol Bruno for over 15 years, same with Boots Hughston, and P.B. and Mossman and Doug Green, and pretty much all of the players in this drama. I’ve known Taunya Stapp since she took the job at E.D. for the Mateel. I also know a number of the playa-haters in the conflict. I’ve spent hours at Reggae talking with all sort of people about how the whole thing works, and more recently I’ve spent hours on the phone talking with various parties about what’s going on in SoHum, both on the record and off the record. I’ve tried to use the information I’ve gathered judiciously and not to become a tool of one side or another.

I did not set this site up as an unfettered forum for anyone who wants to blast someone they don’t like with an uninformed rant. Frankly I don’t see a lot of value in publishing “every idea/thought” you might want to post anonymously. The bottom line is, this is my blog, it’s my party, I set the rules. You got a problem with that? Take your business and your nastiness elsewhere.

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Posted by (moderator) Bob Doran (shown above in a vendor's booth at Reggae 2006) to Reggae: Past, Present and Future