Genie, I think that after 30 years of my time and performances donated to this event it owes me more than an escort off the grounds by the SPD. They certainly do not deserve a cut of my CD sales that I might sell there on my own to fans that have already paid (donated) to enter the grounds. Nor does this festival need to send out teams of security clones to seek out and demonize my efforts for entertaining folks at this event.

If this event knew how to entertain the people that walked into it's gates, I wouldn't have had an audience in the first place. They'd all be happy as clams listening to the many volume knob displays that the festival had scheduled. The fact is, at this point, this event knows little, if anything, about how to run the entertainment aspect of this event properly. That's because the entertainers that play this event have been given a back seat to every other aspect represented. Due consideration has been granted to the vendors of food and crafts because they pay so dearly to sell their wares and products there.

The musical acts, that receive no pay for their folk art, craft, talent, and performances at this event, have now become just another cash cow to be milked. Every year the busy little minds of those running this event dream up new ways and means to take advantage of everyone involved, especially the musical acts. All the while they offer as little consideration as possible in return. It's a typical scenario of haves and have nots being trotted out. If you have the $ to pay, you get accommodated. If not, you don't.

It reminds me of something that a friend of mine told me long ago. He said, if folks offer you $25 for your talents, they treat you like you're worth $25. Likewise, if they offer you $2500, they treat you like you're worth $2500. Unfortunately, this event offers nothing. They demand to glean percentages, that they have no right to, from those who already freely offer their entertainment. I wonder how this event managed to survive all those years before they started gouging the musical acts.

Stage volumes on the large stages this year were as loud or worse than any previous year. They continue to feature loud electric acts on the main stages. What that kind of scheduling has to do with folk arts is beyond me.

For years a minority of drum heads have inundated this event and have hogged the available listening environment, making it impossible for the majority of those playing lower volume acoustic instruments to be easily heard anywhere on the grounds. I put forth a suggestion that this overly volumed minority be given a room 'indoors' to display their thumping. Removing this single factor would benefit the greatest number of musical artists represented at this event by lowering the over all din created by the actions of the drum minority. Instead of heeding this simple suggestion, this event did just the opposite. They crammed as many acoustic players as they could fit into indoor venues. Then they granted the drum heads a tent of their own right in the thick of the event. There they could gather to create even more cacophony via their activities.

That noise level, more than anything, is what drove me to the very northern edge of this event to try to find a quiet location to play and entertain folks.

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned the 5000 volunteers that the festival hosts. If you like to get into a discussion of just how many wasted man hours volunteers have put into this event, I'd be happy to describe the dozen or so volunteers that were all standing around and doing nothing for hours at the volunteer booth that I was set up next to just before I got the boot.