I've been keeping up with this thread and until I saw the other paper article I didn't realize that hayseed was the Hayseed of the album "Melic." 'God-shaped Hole' is an amazing song.

We complain about all of this to each other, but we flounder in our dissatisfaction.

But rather than confronting those responsible, or uniting and channeling that frustration into political organizing and action that will call those responsible to act in our interests, we distract ourselves with entertainments and turn the anger on each other.

new zach starkey?

I suspect that BS probably does not deign to reading the weeklies so I gotta tell him....

They DID run a pic (courtesy Christopher Wyant) of Hayseed!!! This will certainly qualify him next year for hours logged in service of the publicity committee.

There's also a crowd shot on page 15 of TOP that features a gent down front and center who may or may not be The Fierce Lime. Prob not though as there is no beer mug hoisted in the upraised hand.

Couple points of contention regarding the article itself:
Participation in the entertainment committee does not required invitation and is open to the public. Years ago it was by invite but that has been abandoned for some time. If anyone tells you otherwise then consider this your invitation. Members come and go as they plz from year to year. In my time I've seen prob 20 or so members come and go w/in their first couple years (a testament to how much fun it can be!). There is no tenure, so to speak. After your first year of participation you will be regarded as an equal. Newbies are sometimes asked to sit back and "take it all in" so that they can get a feel for the process but there is no exclusion on any part. It is true that the selection committee is not currently seeking new members: the fest begins tomorrow. The only time meetings are closed is once the selection process has begun. Selection is reserved to those who have regularly attended meetings leading up to the application deadline. The meeting schedule can be demanding. Usually people simply don't stick it out.

Sometimes in print, or online, or at clubs or parties, a member will make personal comments taken as the word of the committee. The article's very first quote from an EC member is just ridiculous. We'll take it in two parts:
"It's a private party that we invite people to come to for free."
Comfest is certainly not a private party and I can't imagine anything that would inspire such a declaration.

"It used to be to be that we didn't even take applications. We just picked people. If we didn't know you, you didn't play."
I'm not sure who the "we" are but there have been applications ever since I've been involved and this quote is from someone who is new this year. I've heard tell of a time when coughing up an 8-ball and getting your knees dirty somewhere in the block just south of E. Blake and High St could have created some sway but those times (if the stories, no matter how romantic , are to be believed at all) are LONG behind us. This line helps nothing. The only message I glean from it is "Aren't you applicants lucky? At least now you can put in an application before getting snubbed". It is true that at one time there were no applications but at that time the scene was small and the fest was MUCH smaller.
I don't intend this to come across as division among the ranks. People just need to mind how things are said and in turn mistaken as gospel.

The whole guilt-by-hippie-association is pretty tired too. And the "i hate comfest" part about smelly volunteers? Well maybe if you'd pick up your own newspapers scattered around the park that would take care of itself.

Please volunteer, see y'all this wknd!!

In one week i have read in print that
1. the only good band to ever play komfest was gil mantera's party dream
2.rjd2 has the 2nd best record of all time that come out of columbus

Many years ago an artist/dancer friend once said to me, "If you've got the energy to complain about it, you've got the energy to do something about it."

Yeah, I'm sure it was a paraphrase of some old famous quote, but it stuck.

I think Comfest gets so much debate because people/musicians really do feel some strong connection, ownership and even entitlement. I don't see such debates over the Columbus Arts Fest which is the big official city sponsored and funded festival. I think that's because at some level we and our peers actually feel we have some say, control, power, input, influence and chance in the whole scheme of things Comfest. If we didn't we'd probably ignore it or at least move on a little more quickly.

At least on some levels Comfest uses community to indicate it is run for and by private members of the community. It is not a corporate or government sponsored event. It has become, at least according to some reports last year, the largest non-corporate sponsored festival in the nation. Maybe the world.

Now I ain't saying it's all fine and dandy and there are no problems and people should stop complaining or just accept everything. But as many have said, it's usually the highlight of the summer no matter who plays. I'd hate to see people not enjoy it because of some system that can never be perfect. While there may be better or different systems I'm not convinced the results would be much different ... maybe less mysterious, contentious, time-consuming and debatable, but not necessarily better.

Hayseed-

First, you admit that Comfest has the right to use any criteria it wants to select performers – then you harp on the attempted coercion by the committee – because they dared to suggest you volunteer at a festival that is 100% volunteer run. Those bastards! When you go to Comfest this weekend, look around behind each of the stages and see who is lugging gear – bet most of them are in bands – and not all of them playing Comfest this year.

Yeah, Comfest does want bands that actually give back/get involved – so, if you aren’t into that, you could start the Hayseed Festival – oh, but wait you might have to do some volunteer work for that…

You keep insisting that it isn’t that you didn’t get a spot, but that it was about the e-mail – the one sentence suggesting that volunteering might help you get a spot another year – one of your quotes in the Other Paper article contradicts that: “It really burned me as an artist, to suggest that my art was secondary to how much equipment I schlepped… I’d prefer to be picked because they liked the music.” I’m pretty sure I read in one of your posts that you couldn’t list any shows for the committee members to check out – did you submit a cd or other sample of your music with your application? Because I’m just wondering how they could even determine if they liked your music…

And being told in an e-mail – did you expect someone to show up at your door and tell you? Did you consider the number of applicants and how much time it would take to contact everyone individually? The e-mail also seemed to be an invitation to become more involved – but you chose to be indignant about the whole thing. Comfest is a year round thing – there is plenty of opportunity to get involved.

You have lived here for barely over a year – maybe you should spend some time getting involved in the local scene (I know you’ve dropped a lot of local musician names – but that isn’t what I’m talking about) – and look into the history of Comfest a bit – see how much it has grown in more than 30 years – and realize that it is bigger than you – and there is a lot more to it than you think – and that a sense of entitlement doesn’t go very far without anything to back it up.

If you can’t see how amazing it is that there is a free, non-corporate, volunteer run festival like this, then you are definitely missing the core of it – you aren’t going to find that anywhere else.

I was born and raised here and have been living in New Orleans for the last nine years – and I haven’t missed a Comfest in 20+ years. For me, Comfest is three completely stress free days that I look forward to each year – and it represents all of the best things about Columbus.

drove by the park tonight to the eagle and saw tents and such...so. excited. i'm looking forward to 2Cow/brainbow tomorrow and earwig/miranda sound on saturday especially...

had to go to the grocery store tonight, because i'll be damned if i'm moving my car the next three days. got the weekend off and a spot close to the house and i'm staying put.

there are a few times of the year when i am perma-grin happy:

shark week
christmas
birthday
comfest

it really is one of my favorite things about columbus.

first of all... there's this...


now that comfest-time is here...
who's gonna start the annual thread were we try to determine who "won" comfest??

1point3 @ noon on Friday. Everybody come on out.

Now all the bullshit is over. Lets all have a good time. See you at the offramp.

hugs & kisses
Heidi and Felixx

I've been on an at home vacation and geeking out in preparation for Comfest ...

Visit http://mobile.cringe.com/ for mobile-friendly Comfest and Live Shows calendars.

Share yr Comfest: text COMFEST to 41411 to subscribe.
You can send messages to all other subscribers. Just begin your message with the word COMFEST and send it to the number 41411. Find out when bands are starting and ending, if they have special guests and whatever else comes up. Invite yr friends to share too.

Search Live Shows: text CRINGE to 41411 to search.
Just begin your message with the word CRINGE followed by the first 3+ letters of a band or venue to search. You can also include the day of week (it defaults to today). Send it to the number 41411.

P.S. I'll be at the Comfest Band Merch booth much of the weekend.

We're just townies in a college town
We collect the mugs and pal around
Meet new friends and see the old
Comfest supports local rock and roll
rock and roll
rock and roll yea

and with that, we say goodbye to the pre-festival thread and hello to the comfest 2008 in-progress thread: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23873