Music Festival reflections

Finally rested a bit, and now I can write some about the festival.
There were some obstacles, as I guess you have heard. Faulty generators blew up some amps. Remedy Drive didn't want to hook back up and you couldn't blame them for not wanting to risk their equipment and their safety.
We were something like two hours late getting started, maybe more.
There was a mad rush to find an electrician - no easy task on a Saturday afternoon.
The guy from Graham's electric came through and got us rolling. The generators were rented from a place in ponca city. One was putting out twice as much power as it was supposed to, and that caused the problems.

Rex Riggs brought us a good generator. It was one he uses for welding.
We got it hooked up but didn't hook up the whole package. There was a long discussion about what to do. I considered trying to move it to a church. No one liked that idea.

Remedy Drive has a nice light show, but we didn't even try that.
We finally got rolling around 5:30.
Cut the acts down some. The musicians got 30 minutes instead of an hour, and we carried on.
We lost a lot of people when we were sitting around in the sun waiting.
I think the crowd would have been better if we had started on time, because a lot of people did leave.
There were people arriving around 6.
I was surprised that we did not have more people. It was on a saturday, and i thought i actually promoted it more this year than i did last year. We even spent more on radio advertising this year.
But there were lots of other things going on the same day, and that probably hurt some.

We did have a decent crowd. Id say there were 300 people there in the evening. Lots of kids really liked Remedy Drive. I liked them too. It was good rock and roll.
Not sure they will be back. Last year before they left, they told me they had a great time and wanted to come back. This year they said they had a good time, and didnt mention coming back.
Can hardly blame them after they lost two amps and had damage to a piano. Probably worth several thousand dollars.
Also a local church, Calvary Chapel, lost some equipment because of the generators.
Not sure how that will shake out.
But we probably wont use generators anymore. Maybe we can get electricity put in.
It shouldnt be as hard as it is to get electricity put in. There are just people who are stumbling blocks that keep it from getting done.
Its a long story. Everyone says do it, even the people who could make it happen, but then they dont do whatever it is they need to do.
The electric companies position is that if it is only used once a year, they wouldnt make anything off it, so they dont want to do it.
I believe that if we had electricity there, and a few events, other people would want to have events too.
KACY tried to have an event there.

Anyhoo. We had some good music.
As I wrote in the other post, someone called the cops on us.
I didnt believe the people who told me that there was a cop waiting at the highway.
But there was. He was nice. Just asked us to tone it down.
The generators started making a buzzing sound, and there was a minor power surge. That freaked the band out so they shut the sound down.
So we did quieten down, but not because of the complaint.

What happened next was very cool though.
Remedy Drive guys broke out their acoustic guitars and sat around the stage and played. People gathered at the stage and listened.
They showed what kind of musicians they are. They played hard and sang loud so everyone could hear even without amplification.
It was a very nice ending to a long day that had been full or trials.

There are lots of questions now. Im too tired to think about many of them
What direction will we go in from here?
Location is a concern. We could just do indoor shows. Would be a lot easier, but not as much fun.
We could do several shows through the year instead of one big one.
We could get more into local talent.
I like the idea of bringing in a band, but ... no matter how good they are, if no one has heard of them, they wont come.
Remedy Drive is a band that is taking off. Their cd is on the charts. They have tours booked across the nation. They are going to be touring with the Newsboys - which is one of the biggest christian rock bands there are anywhere.
So we were lucky to have them.
But would people rather come and see local bands.
Im sure if we put together something like .. .Revival, Butler Brothers, and Julie Sutton, we could get a decent crowd.

AND what is our goal? In one sense, my goal is to promote the levee and develop that area. But maybe the music should be the top priority. I think there are people who share my music vision. Thats an interesting choice that Ill have to think about.

There are many people who worked hard. I appreciate all their efforts. Several people also contributed money, about $5,000. Im pretty sure we will break even, unless we get sued to replace damaged equipment.

I suppose it was not the success it was a year ago, but several people have been encouraging me to press on.
I do want to press on. I just want to re-evaluate the direction.
We need to learn from the experience.
Lesson No. 1 is that small generators are probably not a good idea. I still dont understand why they worked so well last year and not this year. They were the same type of generators.

A bigger one might work.
Getting electricity would be a better option.
Moving is also a possibility. Carla Pike, who is one of the biggest supporters, wants to move it to Curry Field and develop that area.
Im not so sure. There are houses around there now.
Lots to think about.

The music is here

We're all set. Hope you all will come out to the music festival today.
This morning around 7 it was cloudy, and i even felt a very slight drizzle.
There is a chance of rain until 9 a.m., but the forecast for the day looks great.
The show is free. Donations are accepted at the festival's table.

The concert is by the levee of the Arkansas River. Its in that big field northeast of the bridge on Summit Street going south.
We are going to have some church groups sing from 2 until 3.
We start the official program at 3.

There will be food and drinks available. There may be some games such as horse shoes, badminton and so forth. I didn't confirm that with the person so I don't really know.
Lots of different styles of music. Should be something for just about anyone's taste.

Here is the schedule
2 area church groups ... praise music
3 Tim Durham............ folksy tunes with humor
4 rafa carmiri.......... classical guitarist, english and spanish
* Tim and Rafa may alternate 30 minute sets.
5 ashley reynolds....... contemporary christian praise tunes
6 geof kimber........... contemporary with an australian flavor
7 julie sutton.......... blues
8 remedy drive.......... indie rock

Come on out.
This isn't your grandmother's gospel music.

City commission, dog, cat license

City meetings, worksession is 5:30 p.m. Monday.. Regular meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday
The city is fixing to pass an ordinance requiring the licensing of dogs and cats. It will cost you $5 for every spayed animal you have, and $10 for those not "fixed."
* Agenda Items.
* Receive presentation from Winfield Mayor Mike Ledy and Assistant City Manager Gary
Mangus.
* Proclaim October 2008 as Spinal Health Month in Arkansas City.
* Review bids and award contract for Chestnut Avenue underpass paving project.
* Consider ordinance amending Chapter 5.08.070 of the Municipal Code clarifying definitions of Contractor and Business licenses.
* Consider ordinance adopting electric franchise with Westar Energy.
* Consider ordinance adopting dog and cat licensing in the City.
* Consider ordinances levying various special assessments for code enforcement activities including weed mowing, junk vehicles, debris removal, and replacement of sidewalks.
* Consider Mayor’s appointments to City Boards. (Voice vote).

the veep debates

I didn't watch the vp debate and from news reports ive read, looks like I didn't miss much.
Im still working on last minute details for the concert.
It does seem that the VP candidates are more important this time around. But the partisan bickering seems to reach to any issue now.
Politicians being politicians, tend to like to distort things, or spin things, in their own way. Here is a link to a story that shows the reality of some of their claims. Both candidates stretched things. Just a little reality check on both.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/debate_fact_check

Music Festival

Less than two days away, Oh My Goodness.
THings are going well for the music festival. We are just tying up loose ends now.
The only thing I really need at this point is people to volunteer to help with parking, directing traffic basically.
THe concert will be from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m., so it isnt likely that people could do the whole thing.
But if you could do an hour or two, and want to, let me know.
Email me at musicfestival@sbcglobal.net

Come on out and see and hear the music
there will also be good food available.
and we have a tshirt

mayor apologizes

After meeting with the area NAACP president in Wichita last night, Arkansas City Mayor Mell Kuhn issued an apology for his Men In Tights performance on Sunday that some found vulgar and racially insensitive. Check back in the afternoon for a full story.
"It has been brought to my attention how offensive this was and I absolutely agree that it was shortsighted of me not to see that in the first place. I am sincerely sorry and I sincerely apologize for the offensive nature of my actions. This was not CASA, this was of my own volition, and I take full responsibility for my actions. The buck absolutely stops here". - Mayor Mell H. Kuhn

What the mayor said

Here is the mayor's response.
This is part of the story from today's paper.

Kuhn, in a telephone interviw Wednesday, vigorously defended his actions. He said the name was meant to have the slang meaning. “The connotation was absolutely intentional,” he said.
Was it vulgar or sexist?
“It’s a judgement call people will have to make,” he said. “I don’t think so.”
He also said that he got the idea of the character from the movies, “Norbit” and “Big Mama.” Both are comedies featuring African-American men portraying over-the-top black women.
He said he ran everything he planned by CASA officials, and that the audience found it all hilarious.
“I didn’t spring this on anybody,” he said. “I don’t give a damn what people think. It’s a bunch of b...shit.”
Just the act of cross dressing can be offensive, so his act was within the bounds of the show, Kuhn said. He said he also did a fart joke and made a play on words with a tacit reference to the b-word.
Kuhn said he is not going to apologize for anything. Every decision he makes as mayor upsets somebody because that is the nature of the business.
“All this PC is b...shit,” Kuhn said. “We go around walking on eggshells all the time, we don’t get anything done.”
One of the judges, Marian Hedges, superintendent of Central School District. said she did not detect anything racial in Kuhn’s act. She also said a lot of the names and actions are over the top because of the nature of the event. “I certainly was not offended by any part of it,” Hedges said.
Some people in the audience were upset.
Mary and Phil Jarvis, of Winfield, said they understood the name and the racial element. Their son was with them and was offended, too. they said.
Phil Jarvis said he thought Kuhn was trying to talk like a black person in interviews during the contest. Mary Jarvis, the former CASA director, said she knew what the name meant, and would have not allowed it.
As some readers noted, there is a past tradition of white people appearing in “black face” make up and lampooning black and speaking in a derogatory manner.
Kuhn said it was not “black face,” and that he did not really carry out the character. It turned out to be more of an exotic, gypsy-like women, he said.
“I can’t do a black accent,” he said.
He followed that comment by saying that one of his jokes was to ask whether the contest judges were municipal or federal judges.
Asked whether that was meant to be a racial joke about black crime, he said it was not. He said CASA was part of the court system.