Reggae Rising, Day 2-- Positivity Prevails

Here are the impressions of the second day, as well as general impressions of the Reggae Rising Festival in Humboldt County for two FP representatives:

Like last night, there was a notion of grandiose faux-integrity that seemed to cling to the Dimmick Ranch during the second day of the new Reggae Rising festival. There was also a lot of positivity, as festival director Carol Bruno of People Productions (P.P.) and venue owner Tom Dimmick seemed overwhelmed but satisfied with the results of their efforts when they sat down for a press conference during the second day.

"Everything that we could have possibly dreamed of is happening this weekend," said Bruno.

It's doubtful that she's telling the complete truth in that statement, though. Now a hot topic of Northern California music circles for more than half a year, Bruno and Dimmick's tense legal battle with the Mateel Community Center (M.C.C.), of which Bruno was a former leader, ended with People Productions effectively gaining control of the permit to hold the festival from the Humboldt County Planning Commission and Superior Court in April. Later on, with a 2007 festival in their pockets, Bruno and Dimmick asked Mateel if they would let them use the festival name for $2.4 million over the next 10 years, which Mateel rejected.

That response is quite curious, as Mateel fired People Productions in December last year for essentially wasting too much of their money. M.C.C. executive director Taunya Stapp fired the first shot of the so-called "reggae war" when she made a presentation last November detailing an audit of People Productions financial records and concluded that P.P. business practices that caused an overall loss of more than $200,000 in M.C.C. income from the 2005 and 2006 festivals.

Perhaps Mateel didn't accept the name offer, because it believes that it'll get the festival sometime in the near future. After all, if one were to log on to the organization's website right now, they'd find a section of it is still dedicated to the now-defunct Reggae On The River 2007, abandoned once it became clear that the planning commission was not going to act on the permit issue and a request by Mateel to get an injunction from the Sup. Court failed. But with the precedent that's been set this summer, festivalgoers should expect that this festival isn't going to change hands for a long time.

So, there you have it. This year's fight for the right to hold a festival that's considered to be the finest annual collection of reggae artists in the U.S. left Mateel without a festival and People Productions and Dimmick with a black eye from the local community and weary from the scramble to get artists and vendors on board. But enough of this negative nonsense-- here's the report on the music:

Your intrepid FP reporters got to the festival at 4:00, right as Chirstian rapper Wisdom was finishing up his set with one of his more popular songs, the catchy "Rise Up". The crowd was about as lively as it was ever going to get, with a cluster of 2,000 fans hugging the guard railing, a few thousand more chilling in the shade of a couple 200 square foot umbrellas and other shade structures.

In between Wisdom's set and that of Tanya Stephens, festival MC's would shout out random calls and praises of the festival, which seemingly served to keep those caught stoned in the 80-degree heat from nodding off, and not much else.

When Tanya Stephens did get on stage, she was quite the firecracker. In between songs such as "These Streets", she offered opinions on everything from open and/or theoretically non-existent marriage to the leadership in American government. "Let's hope that we never elect another motherf***er like George Bush," shouted Stephens, who said at a backstage conference that she means everything she says onstage. "I'm not schizophrenic. Rather than bringing the personality of a 'star' into my everyday persona, as other singers do, I'm more about bringing my regular self onstage. I'm not much different on the stage than off." In response to Stephens' verbal aggression, the crowd cheered as fiercely as it ever would that day.

The reception of senior players Sly & Robbie later on that night could compete with that of Stephens, however. The duo of Lowell "Sly" Dunbar's effect-laden drumset went along perfectly with bassist Robbie Shakespeare's agile phrasings to get a solid beat that slid from one dub to another, all under a reliable horn section, guitars, and singer Horace Andy's light falsetto stylings.

At times throughout the two days, especially during Sly & Robbie and Friday night closer Heavyweight Dub Champion's set, the sound team could have been a little bit more meticulous in their establishment of the sound mix coming through the festival's speakers, but the vibes still came through crystal clear.

On another note, there should also be a limit on how many times the MC's, singers, and other bandmates at the festival, can put the word "rising" in the same sentence as "freedom", "revolution", or "reggae" (except when saying the festival's name, of course) at future festivals. The extent to which four aforementioned words were used most likely gave some at the festival a headache and some a bad trip.

Although there wasn't much visible or audible enthusiasm from the crowd during Friday or Saturday, that doesn't mean the masses weren't happy. In addition, an outdoor reggae festival in the mountains of Northern California simply cannot and should not be put under the same critical lens as, say, a jazz festival at Lincoln Center, because the audience more often than not just wants to hear something that makes the great vibes they're already feeling (due to quality time spent with friends and family, the nice weather and scenery, controlled substances or a little bit of everything) even better.

In general, a festival such as Reggae Rising is created for the express purpose of rest, relaxation, and reggae coming together to create a certain thing the French call "Good Times," with no one ingredient more integral to the recipe than any other; this year's Reggae Rising, in its programming and now-controversial choice of location, struck that balance perfectly.

-- Ross Moody And Zach Rehm

Reggae Rising, Day 1- Fun And Games At Piercy

Here are the chronicles of two Festival Preview representatives on the first night of the Reggae Rising Festival:

After meandering along CA highway 101, described by the festival website as, “Five to six hours of spectacular scenery”, we pulled into the entrance-way to the festival, a long snaking road of yellow caution tape, only to be denied entry by security.

“Come back at 8:00 a.m. for your passes. Will call is closed for the night,” said the bearded gatekeeper.

Well, of course that wasn’t the end of the proceedings that night. Heavyweight Dub Champion was set to go on in an hour, and we learned that there were shuttles that took people past the guards and into the festival grounds itself.

After finding a place to park in nearby Benbow, we waited on a lonely dirt road for a shuttle to take us to the promised land. We met a couple of cordial drunks who were helping themselves to vodka straight out of a half-gallon bottle. They had been coming to the festival for 12 years and knew the Dimmick family (the folks that help make the festival possible by leasing their land to the festival each summer). A long, drawn-out legal battle between the organizers of Reggae Rising (People Productions LLC) and Mateel Community Center (who started the original festival at Dimmick Ranch years ago, previously called Reggae on the River) threatened to stop the festival from happening this year. After Tom Dimmick decided to allow People Production to run this year’s festival, it was necessary to move the festival grounds a couple thousand yards up the hill from the spot where the Reggae On The River used to be.

After a short ride on the shuttle, which eerily played a soundtrack of demonic punk music and oldies (no trace of reggae, ska, or dub on the bus’s playlist), we stepped off and heard the festival MC’s big, booming pronouncement of Heavyweight Dub Champion’s arrival. Knowing it was crunch time, we quickly made our way down a short dirt road to the concert area. Along the way, we saw an untold number of freaks and longhairs (the titles are quite apropos in this case) who very looked carefree and happy, with that great stoned look on the faces suggesting they had no job and didn’t care, or that they had pulled a no-show today and were prepared to quit on Monday.

At the gate to the concert area, we were met with more resistance from the staff. “I can radio in and ask [the folks at the press tent] for a pass, but I can tell you right now that they aren’t going to give it to you,” said the guard.

After no less than six more conversations with gatekeepers and confused volunteers, we finally made it inside-- we slipped in without any identification or pass whatsoever, not even a wristband.

The struggle we had endured was well worth it, however, Heavyweight Dub Champion’s mix of straight hip-hop sampling and percussion and the endless building echoes that give Dub its appeal made for quite a soundtrack to the chilly mountain night. These guys got their wings in the mountains of Colorado, but they are adept at taking their urbanized industrial soundscapes and making it fit any environment.

Dub pioneers Mikey Dread, and Augustus Pablo would be taken aback if they were at the festival today and listening to HDC’s take on their already haunting, ethereal derivative of reggae. The volume is louder, the tempo is faster, and the melody is more chromatic than ever. The MC’ing was more prevalent than times past as well. The vocals did not just consist of little phrases thrown behind the rhythm here and there, as in the classic dub style of old. Vocals took center-stage as MC’s A.P.O.S.T.L.E. and Stereo-Lion railed against the Bush administration and mainstream rap. It’s quite ironic however, that A.P.O.S.T.L.E. dedicated a minute-long rant to the monotony and commodification of rap, telling fans to, “Kill the DJ! Burn the radio! Throw a brick through the window of the corporation!” as he lists Top 40 stars NWA, 2Paq, and LL Cool J as influences on his MySpace page.

On a later number, the stutter-step rhythm of HDC’s beats was accentuated with a lengthy and intensive strobe light blast across the canyon. Pyrotechnics were also a feature in numerous songs, with a scantily clad, hula-hooping woman prancing across the stage with up to six torches at once.

While the performance was a bit over the top and not in line with the sound of traditional dub, the show kept the crowd standing and cheering for two hours. It provided entertainment that one can only achieve after driving into the heart of Northern California and throwing oneself into a thriving Reggae atmosphere. Leaving the bustling crowd, the two FP representatives couldn’t help but feel satisfied with the first night of Reggae Rising.

-- Ross Moody and Zach Rehm

Win free tickets to Telluride Blues & Brews Sept. 14-16

Note: The contest entry deadline has been extended to 5 pm MST on August 24, 2007

Think you know your stuff when it comes to blues trivia? Answer two of the three questions in our quiz correctly, and you'll be entered to win two free full-festival passes to Telluride Blues & Brews.

Going into its fourteenth year, TBB runs Sept. 14-16 in Telluride CO. This year, the festival presents Los Lonely Boys, Keb' Mo' Band, and the Black Crowes as headliners, guaranteeing an exciting experience to festival-goers.

For more information about this festival, see these Festival Preview articles:
Lineup (mostly) set for Telluride Blues & Brews
Black Crowes fill out Telluride Blues & Brews lineup
A mix Of Southern flavors to hit Telluride this September

How to enter
To enter the contest, complete the blues trivia quiz and provide your name and email address. (All entrants will be subscribed to the free Festival Preview newsletter.)

The contest ends August 24, 2007. One winner will be chosen at random to receive two free all-festival passes.

Good luck, and if you need a hint, look closely at the Festival Preview R&B blog. For more blues trivia, see the Festival Preview section of the TBB program available onsite at the festival.