Reggae on the River @ Eel River

[Drunk Monk]

Cabrillo music festival. Stacy already has tickets

[Drunk Monk]

Mateel board ‘disappointed, shocked and saddened’ about Reggae on the River cancellation
Mateel board plans 'to confer and see what to do next'



Reggae on the River 2019 is canceled, High Times and the Mateel said Monday. Tickets are being refunded. (Times-Standard file)
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By [url=https://www.redwoodtimes.com/author/ruth-schneider/]RUTH SCHNEIDER | rschneider@times-standard.com | Eureka Times-Standard
PUBLISHED: June 17, 2019 at 9:20 pm | UPDATED: June 17, 2019 at 9:54 pm
Members of the Mateel Community Center’s board of directors were scrambling tonight after hearing the annual Reggae on the River festival that’s been held nearly annually was canceled.
“Reggae on the River 2019 has been cancelled,” High Times posted on the Reggae on the River site. “Refunds will be issued to all ticket holders within 10 business days.”
“High Times Productions cancelled the event today,” board treasurer Eryn Snodgrass told the Times-Standard tonight. “The board is meeting tomorrow to confer and see what to do next.”
Board vice president Dusty Hughston also confirmed the cancellation and sent over a statement from the Mateel board tonight.
“The Mateel Community Center is disappointed, shocked and saddened regarding the cancellation of (Reggae on the River) 2019,” the board said. “We are feeling the pain of the community for the loss of local income and much more a tradition. We will continue to pursue all avenues to restore the show. And will undoubtedly have a show at the Mateel the weekend of ROTR. Mateel forever.”
High Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I know this has to be a big blow to the community,” Second District Supervisor Estelle Fennell said after hearing the news. “I don’t know enough about the circumstances to add much more. It’s definitely a surprise. I hope that their contract with High Times has some sort of protection in it.”
The Southern Humboldt resident added the permitting for the early August event was already set.
“Reggae has been a big event, especially in the past,” said Fennell. “I know they have been through hard times and I wish them the best in resolving this.”
High Times teamed up with the financially struggling Mateel in 2018 to put on the event. The 2019 edition was being billed as “3 carefree days of reggae, camping, and positive vibes. Brought to you by High Times x Mateel Community Center,” according to the Facebook event page.
Low attendance at the 33rd Reggae on the River in early August 2017, which is traditionally the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Mateel, among other factors including increased expenditures left the Mateel in the red and the future of the community center in question. That spurred the move to join forces with High Times.
Finances were not the only hurdle for the festival. In May, when the full lineup was announced, there was some outcry over the inclusion of Sizzla, a reggae artist who is the frequent subject of controversy for lyrics that advocate violence, including murder, against the LGBTQ community. One day after Sizzla was announced, High Times canceled the scheduled performer.
Benbow resident Noella Calderon, who has attended multiple Reggae on the River festivals in past years, was not surprised to hear of the cancellation tonight.
She said there has been a decline in the shows in recent years. While she attends other shows put on at the Mateel — and wants to support the local community center — she hadn’t decided whether to attend this year’s event yet.
“People used to flock here back in the day,” she said. “Grocery stores didn’t have any food. There were long lines of people. Now, not so much.”

There's an epic tale in ongoing saga that is RotR.  I'm honored and traumatized to have been a part of that.  I hope they can do something.

Meanwhile, it's also the weekend of Jerry Day, an event I always miss, so there are plenty of options for the weekend for me.

[Drunk Monk]

Troubled NorCal reggae festival reportedly canceled
By Filipa Ioannou
 Updated 12:10 pm PDT, Tuesday, June 18, 2019

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IMAGE 1 OF 74
Reggae fans yielded to the beat and the heat at a past Reggae on the River Festival. Chronicle photo by Timothy Batt

Reggae on the River, the troubled Humboldt County reggae festival along the Eel River presented by High Times this year, has been canceled, organizers announced via [url=https://reggaeontheriver.com/]the event website this week.
"Refunds will be issued to all ticket holders within 10 business days," the site's landing page reads.
The festival, which dates back to the early 1980s, had been scheduled to take place August 2 to 4, 2019, with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Toots and the Mayals headlining.
In recent years, the once-popular festival, which served as a fundraiser for the Mateel Community Center, has run into issues with lackluster attendance, low ticket sales, and mounting debt. The 2017 festival lost $140,000, North Coast Journal reported.
It was only a few days ago that the festival was calling for 2019 volunteers via its Twitter page.  But now, High Times, which in 2018 signed a contract to produce the festival in partnership with the struggling community center, has reportedly pulled out.
"The Mateel Community Center is disappointed, shocked and saddened regarding the cancellation of Reggae on the River 2019. We are feeling the pain of the community for the loss of local income and much more a tradition," the community center's Board of Directors said in a statement.
They added that the community center will host a show the weekend that Reggae on the River was planned to take place.
SFGATE has reached out to the organizers for more information on the cancellation and will update when we hear back.

My phone and social media was blowin up yesterday.  People in shock asking me for details, as if I knew anything more.  I did hear from one of the lead promoters that it was cancelled that morning, hours prior to the 'official' announcement, but no details were given.

[Drunk Monk]

Mateel Community Center plans concert in light of Reggae on the River cancellation

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[img=300x0]https://www.redwoodtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ReggaeFolo1-1.jpg?w=546[/img]
Reggae on the River drew thousands in past years. High Times canceled the 2019 event citing low interest and potential losses, Mateel board members said Tuesday. (Times-Standard file)

By [color=var(--primary)]RUTH SCHNEIDER | rschneider@times-standard.com | Eureka Times-Standard
PUBLISHED: June 18, 2019 at 8:31 pm | UPDATED: June 18, 2019 at 8:37 pm
The Mateel Community Center board of directors plans to put on a show the weekend of Reggae on the River in the wake of the unexpected cancellation of the Southern Humboldt tradition.



[url=https://www.teads.com/?utm_source=inread&utm_medium=credits&utm_campaign=invented%20by%20teads]
“We will hold a show the weekend that Reggae would have happened. All other info is still pending. What that means for us: We won’t be participating in Reggae this year,” said board president Megan Gomes on Tuesday night after the monthly meeting. “That doesn’t mean we don’t want to use the hall.”
But before the board can move forward with any event, it needs to determine its standing legally with High Times Productions. When the Mateel and High Times agreed to a partnership in early 2018, the two entities cemented a six-year lease over the Reggae on the River event.

The majority of the board appears to be in agreement — they feel High Times is in breach of the contract.
And the next few weeks will determine the path forward for the Mateel.
“We’re going to find out if they are in breach,” said board treasurer Eryn Snodgrass.
“We have some serious contract negotiations to go through in the next three weeks,” said board vice president Dusty Hughston. “Right now, we’re under contracts and leases and confidentiality agreements. … We all believe it’s a breach but we don’t want to shove our foot in our mouth. (We want to) avoid a big lawsuit.”
High Times did not respond to multiple requests for comment Tuesday.
High Times told the Mateel on Monday the festival was canceled. Board members said the reasons cited for the cancellation were low ticket sales, negative feedback and lack of local support.

Snodgrass said High Times called the Mateel on Monday and explained its issue with the event.
“They were facing a situation of heavy losses,” Snodgrass said. “You can try to sugar-coat it, but that’s why they pulled out — low ticket sales, low interest.”
Despite that, Snodgrass said, the organizers of the event are “being helpful” when it comes to talent, meaning some of the reggae artists might be interested in performing at some other event.
Justine Ketola, a publicist for the Mateel, said earlier Tuesday that High Times didn’t seem to understand the area. Taking on Reggae on the River was unlike other cannabis events the organization is accustomed to hosting and sponsoring.
“My impression is they weren’t really equipped to do a community-based partnership of this model,” she said. “They are used to going from city to city for cannabis cups … It’s been a hard lesson to learn.”
Should another show happen, there appears to be local interest.
There were less than 10 members of the public in attendance at the Tuesday evening meeting at the Mateel. Among them was former board president Garth Epling who said there was interest in the local tourism industry to support a future Reggae-like event. He specifically mentioned the Southern Humboldt Business and Visitors Bureau had reached out.
Some member suggested trying other locations including Benbow Lake State Recreation Area and Southern Humboldt Community Park. But the board seemed more inclined to use the Mateel itself to save on costs.
One community member suggested making the event more interactive, involving art installations and places where people can take photos to share on social media.
“Reggae is kind of boring,” said one woman. “… The river used to be full and beautiful, but it’s not anymore. I think that’s the reason people go to other festivals.”[/color]

[Greg]

“Reggae is kind of boring,” said one woman. “… The river used to be full and beautiful, but it’s not anymore. I think that’s the reason people go to other festivals.”[/font][/size][/font][/size][/font][/size][/color]

They did say attendance was in decline. How will staging a concert improve that attendance?

[Drunk Monk]

How will staging a concert improve that attendance?

Have you been following this here thread of mine? It goes back to 2006.  And it's sheer madness. RotR has always been madness. It's a little late to be asking about logical behavior.  

[Greg]

Logic is my fallback position.

[Drunk Monk]

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[Drunk Monk]

By the Rivers of Babylon
Where we sat down
And there we wept
When we remembered Zion

mi nuh t'ink dis 'ere weekend be so 'ard

[Greg]

And how can we sing
Sing a sad song
In a foreign land.

[Drunk Monk]

Mateel: ‘This is the house that reggae built and we are still here’
Reggae Legacy event honoring organizer Carol Bruno called a success by Mateel board


The Mateel Community Center in Redway was packed on Sunday as the center presented Reggae Forever: Reggae Legacy, a two-day reggae festival that took the place of the canceled Reggae on the River. (Agnes Patak — Contributed)
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By [url=https://www.times-standard.com/author/dan-squier/]DAN SQUIER | dsquier@times-standard.com | Eureka Times-Standard
PUBLISHED: August 6, 2019 at 5:45 pm | UPDATED: August 6, 2019 at 5:46 pm
The first weekend in August is “reggae weekend” for residents of Southern Humboldt who for the majority of the past 35 years have enjoyed a four-day music festival during that time period. Despite the cancellation of the 2019 event, community members and board members with the Mateel Community Center took matters into their own hands to ensure there would be something to celebrate.
Over the weekend, hundreds of people flocked to the Mateel Center for this year’s impromptu reggae celebration coordinated by the Mateel board of directors. There were five bands and five DJs as the community celebrated “Mateel Forever: Reggae Legacy,” an event that not only kept alive the spirit of a longtime festival but also honored Carol Bruno, who was instrumental in establishing the reggae festival more than 30 years ago.
“With the recent passing of one of the founding members of the festival, Carol Bruno, members felt it was important to recognize her memory and her legacy,” said Board President Megan Gomes. “We sold a little merchandise and as people came by they told us ‘this is what we wanted, this is all we need.’ A lot of people have never come to the Mateel Center, they just went to Reggae on the River, and we are happy to have them come to the center and enjoy the space.”
The original festival was created as a fundraiser for the construction of the Mateel Center and over the course of three decades, the festival became a Southern Humboldt staple, an event that would be missed in 2019 by local residents and those who attended from afar.
“We didn’t necessarily need a four-day festival, we just wanted to come together,” said Gomes. “(Board treasurer) Eryn Snodgrass and (board vice president) Dusty (Hughston), as soon as High Times announced they were canceling, immediately started contacting artists to see who they could salvage — who could come and play reggae music in our community because that’s reggae weekend. This was for the community and we wanted to see them come back.”
[img=535x0]https://i2.wp.com/www.times-standard.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/MateelFollow2.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1[/img]The unity banner that was hung at the Reggae on the River Festival for more than 30 years made its way to the Reggae Forever: Reggae Legacy event held on Saturday and Sunday in Redway. (Agnes Patak — Contributed)
A phone call and an email to High Times were not returned Tuesday.
The future of any further reggae events on what is known as reggae weekend in Southern Humboldt is unclear at this point. High Times Productions signed a five-year contract to operate the festival and they hold the rights to the Reggae on the River name and the website.
Snodgrass said, “we are planning on dissolving that contract.” He declined to provide any details about the specific finances for the Mateel following the festival.
Gomes said the board will meet and discuss any future events.

Gomes noted while Saturday was “close” to a sellout crowd, the Sunday event “was a sellout.”
Both Gomes and Snodgrass pointed out the very real and personal importance the festival played in the lives of so many people. The history, the focus on a small rural community over the course of a few days and the chance to meet with friends you may only see at the festival were all key reasons the festival is beloved.
“We wanted to put a placeholder on the weekend. For us, it’s known as Reggae weekend,” Snodgrass said on Tuesday. “I felt like the community expected and needed this; they wanted something to do that weekend of reggae and we produced two nights of music and invited the community to join us.”
Snodgrass said the Reggae Legacy event was held under the same unity banner used at preceding festivals.
“It has soul, it’s genuine and people responded to Mateel Forever,” Snodgrass said. “They know the struggles the Mateel has had and this is the house that reggae built and we are still here. Additionally, it was a chance to honor Carol Bruno. Twelve years ago we had divisions in the community and that’s one of the reasons we wanted to fly the unity banner and we hung it in the hall for Reggae Legacy.”
Gomes said, in the end, the weekend was without a doubt a success.
“It was a really nice event; it was everything we planned it to be and more,” Gomes said. “This was about the joy, preserving the weekend and bringing family together and I hope the people who were there saw it as I saw it. It was a nice gift the community gave us and we want to really thank the community for coming out.”

[Drunk Monk]

The first weekend in August - the weekend of ROTR.

I've been sorting my lams to post on sitonmyfacebook. It was really confusing. My very first lam was for RotR in 2001. I made lams for every show since then, but RotR was cancelled in 2007 and Reggae Rising rose for 2008-2010. RotR didn't return until 2013. I think that jives with what I've posted here. I'll have to reread it later and check.

I skipped 2018 for Europe. 2019 was cancelled. And 2020, there was covid. 

I'm looking over my festival gear. Looks like it'll stay in storage for all of 2020. RotR is posturing for a 2021 show. We'll see. Hope my gear is still okay next year. Hope there are festivals next year. I'll wear a damn space suit if needed. I'm so cravin summa massive sound.

[Drunk Monk]

High Times, Mateel dissolve Reggae on the River agreement

• Sonia Waraich
  
  
• September 9, 2020 at 3:21 p.m.
  
  
  
• Categories:Local News, News
  

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Cannabis company High Times Productions and the Mateel Community Center in Redway announced Sunday the dissolution of a licensing agreement to put on the annual Reggae on the River festival during early August. A press release from the Mateel cited the event's location and unexpected costs among the reasons, though a recent piece in Politico stated the cannabis company is shifting away from live events altogether. (Times-Standard file)
High Times Productions’s brief involvement in Reggae on the River is no more.
The cannabis behemoth and Mateel Community Center in Redway, which has been putting on the annual event for almost 40 years, announced the dissolution of the partnership in a press release Sunday, citing unforeseen costs and the event’s location on the Eel River as the main reasons continuing a partnership was impossible. The event was canceled in 2019.
“It is with great sadness that we had to make this announcement,” High Times CEO Kraig Fox said in a statement, “but High Times has nothing but respect for the Reggae on the River legacy, and wish it success in overcoming the obstacles presented by it’s unique location.”
That means the Mateel now has the rights back to Reggae on the River, said Justine Ketola, spokesperson for the Mateel, though it always retained control over the event’s trademark.
“It’s similar, if you will, to how Trump licenses his name to hotels,” she said. “It was a way for them to capitalize on the cannabis industry in Humboldt and get their foothold in an event.”
High Times was involved in organizing vendors and sponsors, marketing the festival, and putting together a local team that would produce the event, she said.
Part of the agreement was that the cannabis company provided a large infusion of cash for the center’s Summer Arts Festival in 2018 that was considered its upfront licensing fee, Ketola said.
“They went above and beyond to try and assist with a difficult situation, and at no small risk or cost to their organization,” Eryn Snodgrass, of the Mateel Community Center Board of Directors, said in a statement.
Beyond that the agreement was for three years with the potential to extend it to six, Ketola said, but now it’s dissolved and the Mateel has “no ties to High Times whatsoever.”
A recent piece in Politico on High Times details how the company has shifted away from the production of its magazine and events to buying cannabis dispensaries.
High Times took a financial loss in trying to produce Reggae on the River, Ketola said, which is in large part because of the changes that have happened in the local economy and population.
“Who’s buying those tickets?” Ketola said. “It was a lot of local people working in cannabis and related industries and that all has changed.”
At this point, Ketola said it’s unclear when the live events that sustain the community center will be allowed to resume given the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were planning on having Reggae on the River come back this year,” Ketola said. “Before the pandemic, that was the goal.”
All of the arts groups have ceased to function, and the community center, which has plenty of space in its hall, has been focusing on doing drive-thru dinners and hosting social events, such as baby showers and memorials, to keep the doors open and pay some bills, she said.
“But with the fire season now, it changes everything,” Ketola said.
The hall was opened up to fire evacuees and their small pets on Wednesday.
As of Wednesday at 2 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office issued immediate evacuation orders “for the areas south of Highway 36 in Bridgeville, and all communities along Alderpoint Road down to the Mendocino/Trinity County Line” because of the Hopkins Fire, which was “progressing northwest,” according to a Facebook post by the Office of Emergency Services.
For more information about the Mateel or Reggae on the River, visit mateel.org. If you would like to support the community center by becoming a member, visit mateel.org/become-a-member/.
Sonia Waraich can be reached at 707-441-0506.

[Drunk Monk]

Humboldt Permits Reggae On The River's Return

https://soundcloud.com/kmudnews/humboldt...ers-return

next year...

maybe...

[Drunk Monk]

Pon da replay!

I'm looking at my 2024 summer schedule this year and it is packed tighter than a SoHum bowl at harvest. 

I have two consecutive three-weekend runs in July & August. I used to live for that when I was younger. 

This might be the year that kills me.