Zack and I had a nice, peaceful lunch today with WGOW's Jeff Styles and spent most of the time talking about Riverbend. We, of course, mentioned all of the "dream acts" that we would love to see play the festival. Jeff (who is on the selection committee) is always looking for suggestions, and we all agreed that the fact that the festival is really a "family festival that also happens to have music" gets in the way of the organizers being willing/able to book more "hip" acts because they have to account for things like steady vendor traffic. It is truly a case of "give the people what they want," and Chattanoogans seem to want bands like .38 Special. Which is fine, I guess. I've always thought, however, that marketing strictly to Chattanoogans was almost suicide because only certain types of acts will do well here. If the festival drew MUCH bigger acts and marketed to people outside the area, it would (undoubtedly) do much better.
Talking with Jeff -- going back to our Outlook days -- is always a breath of fresh air, because with my current crazy, sleep-deprived, fast-paced schedule, it's nice to chat with somebody who isn't in a huge hurry and who just wants to talk, and who doesn't have a tightly-scripted "goal" or "plan" for the conversation. It forces me to breathe. Which is nice to do in the middle of the day sometimes.
Regrettably, due to some weird magnetic interference, the radio I bought last summer won't let me pick up WGOW FM in the office, so I'm forced to switch over from WGOW AM to ESPN radio at about 10 everyday, which is fine...especially when Dan Patrick and Rob Dibble come on the air. The only thing bigger than Rob Dibble's mouth is the huge mural of his head on the wall of his alma mater, Southington High School, back home in Connecticut. Whenever I would cover games at that school I would crack up. The mural is, like, 50 feet high by 50 feet wide. Other than "Imus In The Morning" (which has produced, hands down, some of the consistently best AND funniest radio EVER...ask to borrow my tapes sometime), Patrick and Dibble might be my favorite hosts ever. Just killer, funny stuff.
Bill, I've always thought that an indie stage would possibly the the biggest bang for the buck. I'm sure you thought of it, but bands like My Morning Jacket, The Shins, and Bonnie Prince Billy have huge followings (even in Chatty) and still charge crazy low fees.
Posted by: Bill at January 6, 2005 12:51 AMWhere in Chattanooga do I have to go to meet people who listen to Will Oldham?!? =o