rant against folk festival sponsor

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: GUEST,Peace
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 06:08 PM

I hope I would have turned, pointed at the logo and said, "Batman's here!" Da da da da da da da da . . . .

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 06:06 PM

VWs were the vehicle of choice for thousands of lefty pinko hippy radical beatnik freaks much more recently than they had anything to do with Hitler. And before the 1960s, as Arkie points out, VW production was a critical aspect of West German economic recovery under Allied occupation ~ again, more recently than the Third Reich.

Corporations with sufficiently deep pockets to sponsor cultural events of any kind usually make at least some of their money in activities that many thinking people will find objectionable. VW is hardly alone in this regard.

Shell Oil has been a major sponsor of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival since Katrina; they stepped in at a time when a lot of help was needed and some previous sponsors were no longer able to contribute. Shell maintains a fairly visible corporate presence at the festival, including an exclusive VIP area with free eats and drinks for employees and guests.

But even more visible are various forms of anti-Shell, or at least anti-oil-industry, protests. (After all, the oil companies have done more to destroy South Louisiana wetlands than anyone else, and the loss of our wetlands "shield" is a major factor in our vulnerability to hurricane damage.) Many attendees buy and wear buttons and t-shirts with anti-Shell messages, which are sold just outside the festival gates as crowds arrive every morning, and there are even airborne banners towed by airplances circling the ground, some with commerical messages but many others with protest messages specifically directed against Shell Oil.

Everyone seems to accept this silent and generally civilized conflict, and to enjoy the proceedings without being too conscious of any controversy.

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: Santa
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 03:52 PM

I find it difficult to accept that the evil done by Hitler is somehow merged with the idea of the Volkswagen. It seems to me that the idea of the VW (which actually failed to meet the desired requirements at the time) was a perfectly good idea in itself. Hitler did not create everything done in Germany between 1933 and 1945: not everything done in Germany between 1933 and 1945 was necessarily evil. The very concept, of evil that did exist affecting everything done in the area at that time, and since, appears petty and narrow-minded to an extreme. What about Ford, who produced much of the Wehrmacht's lorries?

As was pointed out, the survival and continued 63 year existence of the Volkswagen car company owes nothing to the Nazi regime. The protester sounds like the true bigot here.

No, I don't and never have owned a VW.

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: In My Humble Opinion
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 03:50 PM

I'll still take Billy Bragg over this Geoff Berner, who it seems to me graduated from the "Open Mouth and then insert foot" school

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: Geordie-Peorgie
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 03:45 PM

Billie Bragg?political savvy?

Mebbe once upon a time!

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: Arkie
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 03:32 PM

Hitler may have started Volkswagen. He is not running it now, nor is he profiting from stock in the company. My experience with Volkswagens has been the cars were well made, required few trips to the garage for repairs, and were more economical to drive while American companies were cranking out gas guzzlers with failing parts. As for a sponsor, if one is necessary, I would prefer Volkswagen to General Motors, Chrysler, or Ford. But then I know nothing of the Volkswagen corporation. I do not have a problem with someone, socially conscious or otherwise, using the brand name to remind people of a terrible time in history. Hitler is best remembered as he was than forgotten.

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 03:11 PM

I have to say I don't like the idea of blaming anybody from the present time, for the misdeeds of the Nazis of my grandfather's generation. Even those of my father's generation were in their twenties at the time of the Third Reich, and I'm sure very few Germans in their twenties had much power at the time.
-Joe-

Since this is a music thread, copy-pasting is encouraged. For the record, here is the original article, since such things tend to get lost with time:

Singer skewers sponsor
By: Bartley Kives
Winnipeg Free Press

Updated: July 14, 2008 at 12:20 AM CDT

BIRDS HILL PARK -- Protest music and corporate advertising have always maintained an uneasy coexistence on the Winnipeg Folk Festival stage, but rarely have the two forms of expression clashed like they did on the weekend.

On the opening night of the Birds Hill Park event, a two-song mainstage performance by Vancouver musician Geoff Berner sent festival organizers scrambling to appease one of the evening's corporate sponsors, Volkswagen.

Berner, a singer and accordion player known for his acerbic politics, began his short set -- a "tweener" in Folk Fest parlance -- by performing his Official Theme Song For The 2010 Vancouver Whistler Olympic Games, a sarcastic ditty subtitled The Dead Children Were Worth It!

Berner's song, which skewers the $1.63-billion tab for the 2010 Olympics, claims the British Columbia government closed down a $4-million coroner's office that investigated the deaths of children, in order to help pay for the Winter Games.

After repeatedly singing "the dead, dead children were worth it," the musician turned to the Folk Fest mainstage audience of approximately 10,000 and reminded them Volkswagen was the evening's sponsor.

"And they agree with absolutely everything I say," Berner proclaimed.

Before the nervous laughter could subside, the musician then began performing Maginot Line, a song about the ill-fated French effort to stop the superior German army from invading during the Second World War.

Standing in front of a Volkswagen logo on the corner of the stage, Berner reminded the audience of the automaker's association with Adolf Hitler during the 1930s, when production of "the people's car" was promoted as a means of alleviating unemployment in Nazi Germany.

More nervous laughter emanated from the audience, but officials from Volkswagen -- who spent somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 to sponsor the 2008 Winnipeg Folk Festival -- were not smiling.

"We have apologized to Volkswagen," Folk Fest executive director Trudy Schroeder said on Saturday, noting Berner's performance highlighted the inherent risks involved in placing protest singers and corporate sponsors on the same stage.

"Those are both important aspects of this festival. We have community partners and we have freedom of expression.

"We can't control what artists say. But on the other hand, we can't have people taking potshots at organizations who are trying to help us."

Berner, for his part, said corporate sponsors know what they're getting into when they get involved with an event that has previously played host to protest singers and political musicians, including Billy Bragg, Bruce Cockburn, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Bob Geldof.

"Obviously, a folk festival is a politically left-leaning event," said Berner, who led a Vancouver punk band and penned a single for B.C. folk trio The Be Good Tanyas before going solo. "But I was only trying to make a joke."

Berner said Folk Fest organizers did not try to censure him following his performance and he commended them for the support.

"That took some intestinal fortitude," he said.

Director Schroeder, who will leave the festival to take over the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra this fall, said there was no point in criticizing Berner after the fact.

"It's part of the risks of having people on stage who observe society. They are going to talk about what they observe," he said.

A spokesman for Volkswagen could not be reached for comment at the automaker's Canadian headquarters in Ajax, Ont.

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: glueman
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 02:58 PM

You could understand the complaint being anti-car, the damned things have killed more people since they were invented than world wars, but anti-VW? As I understand it British engineers got the plant running again post WW2 to stimulate an economy which would give people jobs and stop the fiasco of Versailles happening again.

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: In My Humble Opinion
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 02:32 PM

If the logo was large enough I would imagine Berner was aware of it. The reality is, like it or not, coporate sponsorship of such events is going to happen. It's done at other music festivals why not 'folk' festivals?

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: GUEST,Winnipeg
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 02:27 PM

"was the performer aware before he went on that the Logo would be there?"

I have no idea.

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: bankley
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 01:50 PM

I don't suppose there were any 'deadheads' in their VW buses around this event....   just another 'bug' in the ointment...

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: Peace
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 01:42 PM

was the performer aware before he went on that the Logo would be there?

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: GUEST,Winnipeg
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 01:30 PM

Well, for example, people watching Geoff Berner on the main stage, saw him performing in front of the Volkswagen logo.

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: Peace
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 01:20 PM

Would you explain instances or examples of the commercialism people saw, or is that a no-go area?

Bruce Murdoch

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: In My Humble Opinion
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 01:11 PM

As exectutive director Trudy Schroeder says, there's no point to criticising Berner now, though for Berner to class himself along side the likes of Billy Bragg...Bragg has politcal savvy. 'nuff said.

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: SINSULL
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 01:09 PM

Controversy? He said what he had to say. The audience was apparently uncomfortable but did not boo or applaud. The organizers shrugged that this is what happens when you bring protest singers and corporate sponsors together.They rightfully refused to reprimand him. Even VW has not had anything to say.

The real question is whether or not they will fork up $15000 next year for the evnt. My guess is YES. They got lots more publicity than expected.

Subject: RE: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: GUEST,Winnipeg
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 01:08 PM

Mitch Podolak, the founder of the Winnipeg Folk Festival (and father of Leonard Podolak of the Duhks), left little doubt where he stands on the issue when he responded to "Puzzled," who said that folkies shouldn't bite the hands that feed them.

Mitch's response:

Dear Puzzled, Hitler's car factory reminds us of his stinking memory, having Volkswagen even exist as a company is an affront to all decent thinking people. Hitler was not just a madman, he was a politician on the make and giving everybody an affordable car was good politics, which is why Volkswagen got going. Having Volkswagen on the grounds of a folk festival, especially a festival that historically was built by people who identified with anti-fascist thought (Seegerism), demonstrates clearly the lure of the almighty buck, especially among the unprincipled in our community and clearly shows a real disregard for all the people who were murdered.

I asked this question of Terry Sargent who is the current president of the Winnipeg Folk Festival and he justified it by saying that the same was true about all the car companies GM etc, which of course is a disingenuous load of crap. Hitler didn't start GM. Berners comments were exactly on the money and he needs to be cheered on. To be clear Berners comments were not anti-German, they were not racist, they were distinctly anti-Nazi and anti-racist and I'm proud to be in the same community as Berner. I think that the entire leadership of the festival needs an education in ethics and that includes my friends on the staff forever conceiving that Hitler’s political tool would be a fine addition to the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Biting the hand that feeds eh? Is that what you said? Don't be naive, Volkswagen goes to a folk festival for the same reason that they go to the CNE and that is to sell cars by inserting themselves on site, they like the festival demographics. It looked like the CNE rather than anything else. They don't give a flying shit about folk music.

The reaction among the festival volunteers was the most telling. The overt commercialism at this year’s festival was so noticeable that it was the main backstage complaint aired at this year’s festival including the Saturday rain. I kept hearing about it without raising it. It really offended a lot of the most experienced core people in the volunteer organization.

Because of my relationship to the festival, I tend to be a receptacle of all the complaints. People think that talking with me will change stuff. That is also naive.

Mitch Podolak
Founder
Winnipeg Folk Festival

Subject: rant against folk festival sponsor
From: GUEST,Winnipeg
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 01:02 PM

There's quite a controversy happening on Maplepost after Geoff Berner, a performer at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, ranted onstage about Volkswagen, a festival sponsor.

article from the Winnipeg Free Press