Field Report Jan. 2015
A brief meeting was held on Jan 1 in an undisclosed location in Vermont. I’m not going to sugar coat the proceedings here because the truth is it did not go as expected. Or rather, the spirits who arrived may not have been what we had expected. To bring some good news first, there were excellent musical signs including a spoken word / hip hop act, and an innovative mixed rhythm fundamentalist quartet. The performances were very exciting eye openers. However, the organizational efforts were clouded as before discussions had begun, fights had already broken out. Punches were thrown. Attempts to restore order were well executed but futile. One party attendant stood in the fire and mooned the congregation. Many were the falls into the snow that evening and expletives exchanged. In the end we had to abandon the premises completely to allow order to descend once again into the chaos. Hardly an auspicious beginning!
In the end however cooler heads prevailed and showed great discipline as well as empathy and compassion. Perhaps some lessons were learned. While venues were discussed as well as policy guidelines for the first annual festival rehearsal, the only real decisions made were to meet again in late February and follow a few venue leads.. and to ensure adequate and competent security staff at the event as a top priority.