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On a cold day late January, I had the opportunity to sit down face-to-face with one of Superfly Production co-founders, Rick Farman. We discussed topics ranging from planning the festival, the Manchester locals, and even politics at Bonnaroo.
Inforoo: How aware are you of the "culture" that permeates Bonnaroo? Do you believe the, sometimes, wild genre blending is creating a new breed of music fan?
Rick Farman: We are pretty aware. I think we are a part of a much bigger thing, which is ultimately -- access to music has changed drastically the last five to ten years. People don’t get their music primarily from radio anymore or what is the point of sale in record stores, but from their friends who are turning them on to new music through the Internet. Looking at someone’s iPod, you usually get to see the kind of eclectic music that most people are listening to, anywhere from jazz to country to that guilty pleasure. Bonnaroo started at the cusp of Napster and fans getting their information online and that is where some of the music blending stems from. Bonnaroo is an extension of the broadness of music people have access to, We try to be the filter, to put a little bit of focus or glue on bands that give live performances, that have grass roots followings, and that are true artists. We have our ear to the ground as much as possible as much as one could.
Inforoo: How far out do they usually have the schedule made up? What is the latest they have ever scheduled a band (Has Superfly ever added a band less than a month out?)
RF: It is definitely a work in progress and is constantly evolving. We have been booking artists earlier every year, just because it’s on the minds of managers and agents and the bands. They book their tours around it. Planning does take about the whole year. There’s a core group of people that we work with who will take the ideas of others and will make the decisions; they’ll focus on booking the bigger names, and then work on filling in the flavor to balance out the lineup.
Inforoo: Do you look at other fests and think “We should try to bring this to Roo?”
RF: We are all aware what the other festivals are booking, but we can’t say we see something on a festival, that it makes a difference one way or another. We definitely have a vision how we want to shape the music programming and we stick with what feels right in our gut and what we want to see to a certain degree.
Inforoo: Where do "jam bands" fit into the diversity the lineup?Is there a loyalty? Is there asense of gratitude to that "scene?”
RF: There’s no doubt that that is the core of what we started with, and that we’re always recognizing that. The world of “jam bands” is actually pretty elastic, even though one can identify when something isn’t, like when something is a jazz band. It often is open to interpretation. We need to keep the flame and exponents of this world alive in the minds of our audience.
Inforoo: How did SuperJam come about?
RF:Superjam started in New Orleans, and we just got a little bored of the typical New Orleans sound. Would George Porter play with someone? Would he play with Stanton? Would Henry Butler play with George and Stanton? Then, we just kept at and the response was great and much bigger than we thought. The biggest one we ever did would eventually become the band Oysterhead.
So, we took the experience to Bonnaroo. It is difficult to pair up musicians, but it’s a lot of fun. We enjoy being creative in this set-up which you don’t get with the typical concert experience. I didn’t think we’d get the people together, but nine times out of ten, the musicians are like “Oh, cool, I’d love to do that.”
Inforoo: What is the most insane moment when creating the festival?
RF: There are actually two moments for me. One is when we open the gates. For me that is one of the most exciting times of the festival. We work on the festival 361-2 days a year and then we are there and it’s finally happening. I usually will go up the front gate and talk to the fans to see where they are coming from and get a feel for the crowd. I just personally feel there is a lot of energy around that moment. I also think the first night when we have a headliner because there is that many people gathered in one place at one time having one shared experience after all this craziness going on of everyone scattered seeing every different thing that we have there and everything comes into one and that is the “might” of Bonnaroo right there.
Inforoo: There have to be some incredible backstage moments, so could you share one or two?
RF: I got to meet James Brown. That was the only musician I ever taken a picture taken with. Last year there were some pretty cool moments with John Paul Jones, Abby and Uncle Earl and Jim Jarmusch. John Paul and Uncle Earl had a little jam session going on. It’s not really as exciting as people think. What we have heard is that many of the artists who play are just as excited about seeing other musicians play as well. Meeting up with their friends who they haven’t gotten to see all year. There’s a definite parallel between that and what the fans are experiencing.
Inforoo: Why was there a switch from publishing the live sets on your own to going with iTunes?
RF: We figured to make it more available in more places and it seemed to be too constrictive to just have it on LiveBonnaroo.com. We were able to make figure out arrangements with the bands and iTunes and thought it was a good idea for people that are searching for a particular band and are able to see live Bonnaroo sets in their search.
Inforoo: What are the relations between Manchester and Roo really like? (The town can't love us that much, can they?)
RF: It’s pretty positive. The people in Manchester to a large degree enjoy having the festival in their community. They have a sense of pride that it is there and a sense a pride that they are able to do the things they need to do to make it work with us because that is a big challenge. It takes smarts, ingenuity, and creativity to make this work in their community. The one thing that is absolutely consistent is that people in Manchester respect the way they are treated by the fans. We always hear “The audience here is really nice to us. The may look a little different, but they are very respectful to us.” When the audience realizes they are guests, it goes a long way.
Bonnaroo, of course, is a national festival, but the southeast is our biggest ticket purchasers. Last year, though, we had about 15 countries in attendance. If you can’t make it to a Bonnaroo or you’re looking for a new experience, we recommend checking out an international music festival. Glastonbury, Lowlands, Roskilde, Fuji Rock are some of my favorites. We love going there just as much as festival planners but also as fans.
Inforoo: What do you think is worse: mud or dust?
RF: That’s a tough one. I think we will get a lot better dealing with each and we learned a lot about the dust situation. On a logistical standpoint, mud is a little tougher. I don’t think it will ever get as bad like it did in ’04. Now that we own the property we have been able to do certain things such as putting more gravel walking paths leading to Centeroo and in the main venue. We have actually just did a bunch of grating to the property to make the water flow to certain areas that we have been working on months after the festival ended.
Inforoo: What is one thing you wish you could do at Roo but is too crazy or simply can't be done?
RF: One of my partners had been lobbying hard to put in a roller rink out there. I wanted to do bowling personally, but it was not logistically and cost feasible. When we do something, we want to do enough of it so enough people can participate in it.
Inforoo: What kinds of changes can we expect now that you own the farm, and will the changes will be visible this year?
RF: There is not a lot of things that are going to happen initially. We are going to do things that are smart from an operational perspective that will help us put more attention to details on the cooler things and making it more comfortable for the people operating there and the fans of course. One of the biggest things we have on tap for this year is a huge art installation, which will hopefully be a permanent thing that we are currently working on right now.
Over time, we are hoping not only just through Bonnaroo, but other events that we can potentially do on the property that we will be able to build more amenities and permanent infrastructure and things that will upgrade the whole experience. It will take us a little while to get there. There is a lot of thought and work that needs to go in to planning these things properly and we just need to let things develop in a proper course of time.
Inforoo: Regarding the whole planning and running of the festival, what kind of mistakes have you made, and what did you learn from them?
RF: I am sure we have made countless mistakes really. Having one entrance the first year was a mistake, but at the same time until that happened we would not be able to convince everybody to let us bring in traffic in various directions or have an exit off the expressway. Each year we look at the whole event and say we did this really well, and we didn’t do this well and let’s try to improve it.
One of the strongest things that we have is an extremely experienced and caring staff. The people that put on the festival, the department heads, the people that over see every major area on down to the people doing the day-to-day work such as the clean vibes crew really take pride in the festival and their job. Because they do, we are constantly looking into ourselves on how we can make the festival experience better. Our goal has been to say we are good at it by year five and great at it by year ten. Talking to other festivals organizers from all over the world and from our own experience we have learned there are always things to do better.
Inforoo: Do the organizers spend much or any time in the thick of the crowds such as the jam-packed tent crowds, main stage, or even the camping areas?
RF: We spend a decent amount of time out there. I try to watch a lot of shows out from the audience. I try to make one big trip out a night out in the campgrounds to see what is going on and at least a trip once a day.
Inforoo:The comedy tent is one the draws for Bonnaroo. Did Superfly expect the comedy tent to be as successful as it has been?
RF:I was a little nervous about it. It was something that I spearheaded. The first year we did it we didn’t have a lot of big names and I wasn’t sure if people would take time from checking out all the music to go see it, but they did…it was packed the entire time. I suspected it would be because it seemed an amazing crossover. It seemed like the people who watch South Park, Comedy Central and things like that were a similar audience with the Bonnaroo goers.
Inforoo: What has been the biggest highlight in the comedy tent so far?
RF:Lewis Black has really embraced the festival in a big way. It’s really great to see someone of his stature and intellect to be excited at Bonnaroo. One of the other highlights was David Cross last year with the “deadneck” skit, which was fantastic.
Inforoo: What do you hope to achieve with the festival in five years?
RF:I hope we become a rite of passage in America that people have to go to Bonnaroo at least once and that people get involved with the community and participating in it throughout the year weather it is the Bonnaroo website, Inforoo, or friends that they made there and spread the word of all the things that have happened at the festival. We also hope to continue to evolve on not just the music programming, but the arts programming as well. We want to be more dynamic and interesting. We are not going to do the same festival every year. We want to give something that resonates a certain quality and artistic-ness that makes people want to continue to enjoy the festival.
Inforoo: I’ve noticed a connection between Bonnaroo and other major cities, such as New Orleans and New York City. How do these cities (and any others) and their music/culture influence the festival?
RF: New Orleans for sure. We started our business down there and it has such a great musical heritage. We were inspired by Jazz Fest and started out business doing a lot of show during the Jazz and Heritage Festival. Even the name of our festival came from a Dr. John album, so the city is very much about who we are. We are hoping to extend on this year by working on a new concept that will expand on New Orleans being a part of the festival. As far the New York aspect many of us that work for Superfly are from New York or have lived here. It has shaped us as people basically, so it has shaped us what we produce.
Inforoo: Bonnaroo seems to focus more on the environment than other festivals. This idea of combining environmental awareness and music came about how and when? How much of an impact do you think this has made on the concertgoers?
RF: I just think from day one this was apart of our ethos. We knew right off the bat that Clean Vibes was an important organization since they have the experience doing the Phish events and knew they were the right people to bring in. We (the promoters) are in the mind-set, trying to be as kind to the planet and people as we can.
My partner Rich is really the one who oversees the Planet Roo initiative, pushing not only the message but pushing us toward action to a greener festival. We tend to think this is the mind-set of our audience that they care about the environmental issues as well.
Inforoo:Head Count was a big player in 2004; will this be a focus this year since it is an election year?
RF: Absolutely. We love working with the Headcount people and we have a lot belief in that organization. We feel that people should be participating and hopefully the Bonnaroo audience is like minded in that world can make a difference. We are not going to make one position or another. We respect everyone’s opinions. You have to be in it to complain about it. Whatever impact that Bonnaroo has for getting people motivated to participate will ultimately lead to a positive impact in some capacity to make a contribution to make the country better itself. We will be waving that flag high this year.
Post by the3penguins on Mar 11, 2008 13:31:05 GMT -5
Nicely done! Cool to read about the success of the comedy tent. Surprised he didn't mention Chris Rock there though; what more evidence do you need of the popularity?
Well, this was just before the lineup was announced. He did mentioned that there were a couple different additions to the comedy tent this year. I am assuming that was Chris Rock and david ross's late night show. I didn't put that in since that would have been old news.
There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard. No song that I could sing. But I can try for your heart Our dreams, and they are made out of real things Like a, shoebox of photographs With sepiatone loving Love is the answer
A little feeling in my gut that I get of late when I think about these cats running the world with hate
Post by ☮ superbek ☮ on Mar 12, 2008 0:04:51 GMT -5
oopsikillednana said:
Very nice. Interesting that they installed drainage grates.
hmmm...I might have misread but I thought they said they have been doing grating to the property. I assumed they meant they used a bulldozer or something to level the land or vice versa to manipulate the flow of water...
Very nice. Interesting that they installed drainage grates.
hmmm...I might have misread but I thought they said they have been doing grating to the property. I assumed they meant they used a bulldozer or something to level the land or vice versa to manipulate the flow of water...
Hmm...could have been. That would be "grading," though. It could have just been a simple typo, I dunno. What's the verdict, Jerzee?
Edit: I checked, and it probably does mean grading. My bad.
great interview, but a question regarding the expansion of thursday night is conspicuously absent. did you ask and not get a good answer? forget to ask? just wondering if you got ANY kind of vibe on that issue.
Good job... 80 minute interview? Damn. Good thing you didn't do a transcript of that. Our Girl Talk interview was about 45 min and the transcript is already over 40 pages!