Sunday, July 29, 2007
rejection notice
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...
Labels: reggae
Friday, June 01, 2007
a couple of letters
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.
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.
Labels: reggae
