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I am Tom Freeland,
a lawyer in Oxford, Mississippi. The picture in the header is my law office.
I'm on Twitter as NMissC
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More about the 2012 Sunflower Blues Festival
This blog post has a good discussion of the situation at the Sunflower Blues Festival. The picture above, from the post, shows the distance from the barrier for the audience for the “free” festival and the distance they were kept from the stage. This set-up was in place for both Friday and Saturday, which meant that for much of the festival, the bands were playing to a huge empty sapce between the stage and the crowd.  21 comments to More about the 2012 Sunflower Blues Festival |
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This is a misleading picture. The entire area to the right of tent on right was open, and you could go close to the stage.
That said, I disagree with the way this was set up.
If you look at the pictures in the linked blog, yes, willie, the area to the right was open. If you read the blog, the musician said you could not hear due to distortions related to the fact that the speakers were geared to the center area in front of the stage–the VIP section.
I think the point of the picture was to illustrate that in all those VIP reserved spaces, there is no one listening to the music.
I am glad I decided not to make the drive over–looks like it would have been a disappointment.
While I can understand those that went to the “free” concert about being out in the boondocks, it is unfair to say that those in the “VIP Sections” were folks not interested in the music. Granted, may be true for some, but there were plenty of authentic music lovers in that area as well. (Not me, sorry to say, but I didn’t get the benefit of those sponsors that were giving away tickets.) But I did talk to many folks who went and they were totally blown away.
But this is always the question – someone has to pay, and when they do they often get benefits for their generosity. When you have a benefactor that is willing to give their money and not receive benefits, that’s great, but it is not the norm.
So – do you want the festival, and keeping it free for anybody who wants to attend? If so, how do you want to pay for it?
I agree, based on what I read here that I wouldn’t have wanted to go if I were in the “cheap” (free) seats. I would have truly enjoyed it if I could have copped a VIP ticket.
But hey, if I got in for free and didn’t like it, I could always have left and not been out anything. Guess some people just like to bitch about not getting enough for their price of admission.
The festival was free, open to all for 24 years, without roped off areas, agressive rent-a-cops, and the like. For many years there weren’t even backstage areas– I talked to both Otis Rush and Ike Turner the years they headlined, and talked to many musicians every time I went.
From stealing blues musicians’ work to this, Robert Plant is cementing his legacy.
If I’m understanding correctly, they had tables set up for people who actually were only there for a few hours. Certainly such a setup leaves a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth as for two days everyone is forced to stand behind a bunch of prime, empty tables.
There should be a better way to balance the need to raise revenue and provide VIP seating, and still offer a good, free show.
CRS, I agree. Would think (maybe being gracious) that the organizers didn’t realize that the “VIP’s” (actually, the sponsors) wouldn’t be there for the entire time. Hopefully they learned something from this experience.
NMC – realize that it has been ‘free’, but assume that it had a sponsorship from somewhere. From what I understand, and admit that is little, this year’s event was an attempt to salvage the festival, so I’m assuming (yes, I know what that opens up!) that they lost the funding that had paid for the festival before.
And – I really don’t like the rent-a-cops at this event or any other place where they are used. Generally have no concept of the purpose of the event, just like the fact that someone gave them some authority for the day.
NMC – always been free? Trying to find who was paying for this previously (you know, nothing better to do at night) and ran across the following:
“Established in 1999, the Highway 61 Blues Festival features local and national blues musicians. The festival lasts two days and includes acts on two stages for a 10-hour event each day. Proceeds from the celebration benefit the Highway 61 Blues Museum, which highlights blues legends and their music. In 2010, tickets cost $10 to $15.”
I can’t say, cause I didn’t go in 2010. Other reports indicated that originally it was funded by “downtown merchants” – something that really doesn’t exist in Clarksdale today last time I checked.
Not arguing with the fact that this could have been handled better – but assuming that the promoters are a non-profit entity, realize that in today’s system the way to get sponsors is to give them something in return such as the “roped off, prime seating” area.
James wrote: ““Established in 1999, the Highway 61 Blues Festival features local and national blues musicians.”
That’s a different event (the Highway 61 Blues Festival). We’re talking about the Sunflower Blues Festival.
Sunflower has always had support from downtown merchants in Clarksdale, a local tourism commission, and other state-level and local groups.
You are so correct, NMC. My bad. That’s what I get for doing a search that early in the morning (or late at night, depending on one’s point of view.) I was looking for the history to see who had been paying for the SRBF previously, and didn’t read this close enough. Ask for forgiveness!
Did find the list of ‘major sponsors’ for last year, assume it is similar this year. Big money seemed to come from City, County, CCC, Utilities, etc. Wondering if it was the same this year with the new “benefits’ provided.
There were actually levels of VIP. My wife and I were in the lowest VIP level as we are every year and it was great like always, with the tent and air coolers being the big reason for us to pay for it. Not that we don’t make adequate use of the open bar and the welcoming party. Those super VIP tables were in the direct sun all day and mostly empty, as you might imagine no matter who had access. They were full for nighttime headliners. At least many of those tables were paid for by supporting corporations and it looked to us like some regular working people (mostly) in the seats. We talk to some of the organizers a little and I assure you that ‘there should be a better way to keep it free’ is a good subject to them if it had some real world alternatives attached.
Tom
Flying Robert Plant’s band over from England, souped up audio, security required at events expecting certain sized crowds ran the tab up to $200,000., well over double the usual cost. VIP was the only way to pay for it, but obviously adjustments will have to be made and will be made.
Not having a headliner is always an option to restore the mood of prior festivals and may well be the way to go. Sunflower has been a unique free festival for years, and trying to go large has its pitfalls. I’m afraid many of the usual blusers will not return and that is truly a
problem.
The guys in charge are close to signing another huge name for next year. Is that a good or bad thing for the festival? What do you think? I don’t know.
Wow. My vote would be to sign BB King (who has never played Sunflower, I always assumed because they could not afford him) for under half of that and reduce the need for security and sponsorship.
They’ve had serious blues headliners over the years– Little Milton, Ike Turner, Jay Blackfoot, Otis Rush, Lattimore, Bobby Rush, etc. I hope they don’t abandon that approach, which defined the festival.
I’d be interested in knowing how much it cost to get Plant for “free.” It’s one thing for him to waive his regular fee, but sometimes when artists do this there are still all sorts of riders in their contracts regarding sound, security, food, etc., and one wonders if the festival had to pay his band members anything. I’m imagine that taking a ten-piece professional band plus presumably large crew on the road would have cost Plant a significant amount of money.
Regarding Clarksdale having the VIP tents to make extra money this year, I would argue that the main purpose of having someone like Plant coming for free would be that the extra 10 – 20,000 visitors would bring in tens of thousands of dollars more revenue for the festival in t-shirt and drink sales, not to mention what the city would make in sales tax.
@Snake: The same thought of sock puppetry had occurred to me as well.
A perfectly good concert is being spoiled, let’s not do it. If it’s not broken, no need to fix it.
I say choose someone like Cassandra Wilson or North Mississippi All-Stars as a headliner and be done with it. I thought the whole point of the Sunflower River Blues and Heritage Festival was to highlight the Delta blues, and for that, no out-of-town “big name” needs to be brought from a distance.
One could prefer artists who have a connection to Mississippi, other than mentioning it in a song decades ago. We go to the Sunflower every year and we really enjoy the local artists – often more than those brought in. But the connection to Mississippi is about government money. Being in a ‘depressed area’ there’s government money help to pay local artists, but not to pay the others.
Sunflower was founded to feature artists from Mississippi, and it was many years before someone who wasn’t from Mississippi was booked on the festival (exceptions were folks like Bobby Rush, who was born in Louisiana, but has lived in MS for decades). The founders, Jim O’Neal and Patty Johnson, were dedicated to keeping it all Mississippi, but they haven’t been directly involved since the late ’90s. The bylaws didn’t specify Mississippi, but did so in intent: “to preserve, promote, perpetuate and document the blues in its homeland.”
Government money that is tied in to featuring Mississippi artists would come through the Mississippi Arts Commission Artist Roster, which helps subsidize more traditional artists who have been vetted by MAC. I’m not aware of these other funds available to support “depressed areas” that are applied to pay for just Mississippi artists, nor are friends of mine who sponsor festivals — one friend who runs a festival says that applying for the existing (and relatively meager) funds is such a pain that he chooses instead to just seek out donors.
Here’s the link to the roster — if you have a non-profit organization you can apply for partial underwriting if you book any of these artists http://www.arts.state.ms.us/artist-roster/index.php
I am a long-time Sunflower River Blues Festival attendee , having been to the last 15 festivals. I can say that the issue re the area in front of the stage ruined my family’s enjoyment of the festival this year. It’s fun being able to sit in chairs away from the stage, but able to walk up close to the stage to watch and hear a favorite performer. That “intimate” experience was missing this year. I took pictures on the huge, nearly empty area in front of the stage even at 7:00 pm with Jimbo Mathus on stage. Pitiful. Had I known about the VIP requirement to sit or stand in that area, I would have considered it, but with many family members and friends in attendance with me, that would have been impractical. Our crew more than paid our share with the large amount of $4 beers purchased. If that setup for the festival continues, I won’t bother attending. IF I go for the festival, I will strictly be barhopping to check out the great local talent. I also question turning the festival upside down for Robert Plant, who did not perform blues, but mostly space age music not to my taste. Quite a stretch away from the usually most pure blues festival still left. I left the festival very disappointed and shaking my head in disbelief. The phrase “screwing up an anvil” came to mind.
I have an idea that would take care of both issues… 1. how to reward the sponsors with something special. and 2. how to allow visitors access to the stage. Provide the sponsors their special tables, but not directly in front of the stage. move it back about forty Feet, and have it on a raised platform, about 18 inches high.. make it a square with the sides at a 45degree angle to the front plane of the stage (front point 40ft from the stage). This Arrangement would allow people to sit or stand in front of the stage, and yet the VIP crowd would be elevated just enough so that they could still see the performers seated at their tables.. People behind the vip section would still be able to see the stage over the heads of the Seated VIP section. VIP section would placed so that it surrounds the Mixing Board, which is generally where the sound is the best.