Wendy's Perspective

Rollins Lake Renegade Festival 2001

By Wendy Russell

I
t’s fun to work for Renegade Productions promoters, Robbie Polomsky, Kaati and the crew. I first worked at their big festival in Tahoe several years ago, which became such a success the city kicked them out. In 2000 when the Renegade Festival moved to beautiful Quincy in northeastern California, myself, volunteers from Fresno and elsewhere joined up with the regular Renegade Productions crew, expanding that tight team to handle the larger festival crowd. As a volunteer at many Festivals, I end up seeing the same faces in the crews, people like myself, that enjoy helping a festival grow up to a functioning tiny city and then taking it all down after the music ends.

The 2000 Quincy Renegade Festival was like an intimate reggae family party, because although the vibes and the people attending were great, there was a fire raging nearby, so the crowd numbers were small. That was good for a private party atmosphere, but bad for the food and craft vendors, plus Renegade Productions’ bottom line. Renegade Festival had to move again in 2001. That might have discouraged other promoters, but instead, Renegade Productions’ founder, Robbie Polomsky of Tahoe City, organized TWO Renegade Festivals, one in August and another in September, both at new camping venues. The first year of any festival is tough enough and Renegade bit off two big bites! Instead of discouragement, Robbie told me he was facing the "largest challenge of his promoting career."

Renegade produces over 100 shows a year; the festivals are a mix of some of the best of the many bands that have played Renegade shows throughout the year. Renegade’s musical vision is an annual music concert bringing in international reggae favourites while mixing in some hip-hop and Deadhead music for variety. A nice vision made even better in real time.

The last weekend in September I went to the Rollins Lake Renegade Festival, about 45 minutes northeast of Sacramento near Grass Valley in California. Turning onto Greenhorn Access Road, I saw that this was a wild place, perfect for all of us! Folks camped everywhere, under the pines, oaks and willows, along the water’s edge and when I drove through the campgrounds later in the dark it looked like camping stretched on forever. This Greenhorn Campground (530/272-6100) is a year-round business so there were real bathrooms with hot showers and a General Store--which unfortunately, was robbed on Saturday night--thinking that through, those type of actions are what a few disgruntled locals might yell about in City Council meetings determining if the Festival can return next year! Anyway, people drove up to the ticket booth with their reggae ticket in hand and kayak on top of the car, or fishing poles and a bass boat towed behind, or with RV, camper, tent and canopy. People on bikes were everywhere. The stage was set between pines. The vendors on one side were next to a creek; the vendors on the other side were backed by trees and we were all hidden from the camping areas by even more trees. The weather was perfect in the day, colder at night.

It was all mystical, a gathering of family in the aftermath of 9/11, family intent on connecting, lots of hugs and kisses, lots of little gifts exchanged; "I was just thinking of you..." Love abounds...there were lots of volunteers so the workin’ was easy...all irie. Then the live music began on stage! On Friday it started in a time warp, with the Grateful Dead cover band, the Deadbeats, evolving into conscious sounds of Dub Revolution, then spiritual completion with headliner Apple Gabriel and the Revolutionary Dream Band, with two beautiful harmony singers that nearly stole the show from the amazing Apple!

Saturday morning a few local homeowners took around a Petition to shut down the Festival because of the late night drum circles. A 10 pm noise curfew had to be enforced Saturday night or there would be no Sunday show.

So warning signs went up around the Festival and the show went on, beginning with Om Trio, River Jordan, Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead and Mood Food, Souls Of Mischief, and bursting into glory when Prezident Brown took the stage. Something else that I love about this sweet reggae music is that we can dance to the groove, revel in the riddim, but--listen to the words of the songs--we are damn serious in our reasonings! These are lyrics that could change the world if schools taught such as this! Prezident Brown spoke of Jah everlasting message, of reckless fatherhood in "Sperm Donor," and how a righteous man loves a woman in "African Princess."

When Joseph Hill and Culture took the stage all was complete. Culture, a main cornerstone of our roots reggae foundation, is such a magnificent performer that I always feel he is singing directly to me, right to my heart, but then later friends tell me he sang right to them, so I know it’s his stage charisma that manifests that intimacy. Playfully, he danced the stage, praising and exalting Jah through wondrous music and song. Hill’s devotion to traditional Rastafarian values of purity, simplicity and justice are exemplified in his songs. The New York Times named Culture the "leading exponent of conscious reggae." When he sang "Two Sevens Clash" I cried, even knowing the song’s history, it still seemed prophetic of these very times.

Sunday morning brought more sun and more music, but I had to leave to make it home for my 7pm-midnight radio show on Satellite Radio Bilingue, reaching far and wide with six stations in California and more beyond–nothing is worth missing the chance to reach out to so many people through music–not even Sunday’s great lineup of Transzendance, Mystafya, Reggae Angels, Don Carlos and Spearhead!

Don Carlos never fails to move me. I last saw him perform at Monterey Bay Reggae Fest and his roots credentials always shine through! And I am sure the ever-popular Spearhead would also deliver quite a show at Rollins Lake Renegade Festival 2001. What a fine time it was! Until the next show...

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Wendy Russell, ex-promoter in Fresno, CA for 15 years is now Festival volunteer, organizer, writer and photographer, and also editor of Reggae Festival Guide. She is a radio DJ on Satellite Radio Bilingue nationwide, worldwide at www.radiobilingue.org.