More on Ranchita Rocks fiasco…
I wrote a Locals Only piece this last week reporting that many of the bands that were scheduled to perform at the second annual Ranchita Rocks Festival, including headliners Yonder Mountain String Band, did not perform due to the promoters not being able to pay the bands. This is what I originally wrote:
The thousand or so fans that made the trek to the second annual Ranchita Rocks festival may have found that some of their favorite bands weren’t playing the three-day fest. Bands like Alfred Howard and the K23 Orchestra, Particle and Sunday’s main headliner, Yonder Mountain String Band all cancelled because the festival’s promoter, Stephen Roher, had told the bands that they would not be paid, says Jamie Minotti, who manages K23. Minotti says problems started on Saturday, when he got calls from the group’s booking manager and bassist asking what they should do. “Right before they were about to play, they were told by Roher that they couldn’t pay,” Minotti says. “It’s unfortunate because it’s a benefit”—proceeds went to the Protect Our Communities Fund—“but the fans took the brunt of a new promoter that couldn’t pay just off ticket sales.” There was nothing posted on the Ranchita Rocks and Yonder Mountain websites about the cancellations, and e-mails and phone calls to Roher and Ranchita spokesperson Carolyn Morrow were not returned by press time.
A letter to CityBeat Editor, Dave Rolland, from concertgoer Atossa Jackson, further added to the vitriol:
The promoters of this festival royally screwed up. We were holding our tongue until we saw the outrageous post on their website, basically defaming the bands they refused to pay. Here is what happened.
At the “show” none of the headliners played, no explanation was given, and finally, and there was no one to talk to about it. The organziers have posted on their website, ranchitarocks.org, an explanation, which blames the bands for their failures, and tries to ruin their reputations by saying they “refused to play” after being “begged” to, for the “cause.” Are we supposed to feel sorry for them? Or upset with bands who were bumped from their slots after driving to this godforsaken land with all their equipment only to find out they were not going to be paid? Who are these people kidding?
We are just a couple of attendees, who were excited to get away for the weekend for the first time in a long time, being new parents. This was one of the worst experiences we’ve ever had. It cost us the price of the festival, and hundreds more, (rental car, supplies, care for our child for the weekend, gas, among others) to go to this horrendoulsy organzied event. Upon arrival, we were told that since one of the organizers (the owner’s son) had overdosed on drugs and died, things were “running behind schedule.” Oh my God, how devastating- what a way to start celebrating your weekend, on the land of a recently deceased man. Why didn’t they just cancel the darn festival and grieve in private? Why did they do this to everyone?
Next, we were left to find our own way – literally, with no direction on where to camp. There were NO porta potties anywhere near anyone’s campsites: people were just using the bathroom out in the open desert, in nearly 100 degree weather, for several days. Disgusting. The alternative option was to hike through the desert for a mile or more every time you had to go.
Then began the real fun: trying to hear the bands we’d come to see. First, no one knew who was playing when. The organizers made up a pamphlet showing which band was playing, on which stage, at what time. Not only was the whole schedule wrong, only one of the stages was labeled with a name, and only three of the promised six stages were operating.
The organizers forgot to mention on their websites that there would be no cell phone access – people were standing on top of a hill (which was rather steep, especially in that blistering heat) trying hopelessly to get through to home. Being new parents, we were more than a little shocked by this information. We hiked up to the owner’s house, waited for him to emerge, and asked if we could use a phone anywhere to contact our childcare person. He pointed to the hill and wished us luck. He also said we could try climbing even higher, but it was rattlesnake infested, so its at our own risk. Great. He then drove away. We did eventually get a connection at the top of the hill, after spending so much time trying.
There was ONE shaded area, (under one stage, not even the main stage) and a “beer garden” and “wine garden” with no tables or chairs out in the hot sun. Obviously, they didn’t make any money from this endeavor.
The main stage was literally miles from camp. We found out after a day and a half there was another stage even further down that may go into operation.
As we ran out of ice, we started looking around for guidance. The website stated beer and ice would be for sale at the event. We relied on this information only to lose our cold drinks and food. We saw a man walking with a twenty pound bag in the far distance, up the hill, near the owner’s house, and in the All Access area. So, we set off for what could rightly be called a “journey” to the ice truck. We arrived, dripping with perspiration, and the man standing there said, “you need a ticket to buy ice.” What? Where is this ticket? Where is this information posted? “You have to buy it at the Roadhouse stage.” “You mean the stage off in the opposite direaction about a mile away or more?” “Yep.” “Can’t we just pay you?” “No, they don’t trust me with the money.” The price of ice: $20. “Are you kidding me?” “No, and don’t try to go to nearby Ranchita for ice, they are all out.” Ahhh, thanks for, literally, NOTHING.
When I approached a promoter who I overheard talking with a lady later that day, and discussed the porta potties and ice situation, he shrugged me off. He said, “there are seven porta potties over there no one is using. ” Umm, you mean over there by the stage no one knew existed, that is not visible, and no one has played on yet?
As for the ice, he said, “its a fair price, plus, its the one thing we can be sure people will be willing to pay for.” Wrong, sir – not if I have to walk another several miles roundtrip through wild desert to get ice for $20. And especially not since I only need about two pounds. So I responded, “don’t you think in this heat and desert atmosphere it would be prudent to make water and ice more readily accessible?” He said, “it’s not like I’m making a profit.” And that was that.
We hiked back to camp and forgoed ice, it simply wasn’t feasible to go back, get ticket, buy 20 pound bag of ice and carry it back to camp and watch most of it melt away. We decided, to heck with it, we will just enjoy Particle and BassNectar tonight and leave tomorrow, forgoing Yonder Mountain String Band just to get the heck out of there.
Well, it was en route to see Particle that I overheard a group talking behind us, “Man, that blows that Particle and BassNectar aren’t playing.” “WHAT?” “yeah, they weren’t going to get paid so they bailed out.” NICE. Pissed off, we hiked BACK to camp and sat around wishing we hadn’t had any drinks so we could drive out of that nightmare “festival” immediately.
We woke up the next morning to a bunch of people packing up their things. One man wandered over and expressed his opinion to us: he asked if we had seen the police yesterday? We had, we just assumed they were going to talk with the owner about the festival. The (unsubstantiated) information this man gave us was that the owner was snorting cocaine in his house, instead of seeing to the events, and this had led to domestic violence, which had brought the cops. We don’t know or really care if this is true, but it didn’t make us feel any better about all the money we had spent – hoping it wasn’t going up someone’s nose.
As we packed up, some sweet soul, a young man who for some reason seemed visibly shaken and had a slight stutter, came up to our camp. He was looking for “good communicators to go up on stage and bring healing and empathy to the community.” Oh man. I assured him what I wanted to communicate was not the sort of healing he was looking for. We heard Yonder Mountain had cancelled as we were on our way out.
I hope those bands they are lashing out at sue them for defamation, and I hope someone has actually verified that our money has gone to the cause. Incidentally, what are they growing at “Go Lightly Farms.” We sure didn’t see anything but wilderness.
We would like a refund and an apology, but I’m sure we won’t get either. I don’t mind paying for a cause, but not when its forced out of you for things promised but never received. They are lucky they have peaceful people attending this event for the cause – otherwise, I’m almost 100% sure that a swift and simple lawsuit would have them paying everyone back. I think I speak on behalf of at least some of the people when I say they should be ashamed of themselves for screwing over the bands, and the attendees, and then trying to make it seem like it was the bands’ fault. Good luck with your cause now!
Now, while I’m inclined to say that the Ranchita Rocks promoters were very lucky that this was a mellow crowd who weren’t inclined to burn the place down (remember the last Woodstock?), it seems altogether unfortunate that the festival didn’t work out for anybody involved. The posts on the Ranchita website blaming the bands has since been removed along with any info at all about the festival. The Ranchita Rocks MySpace page has also been deleted. Moreover, the link to the charity, protectourcommunities.org, is mistakenly listed as protectourcommunities.com. Are the promoters simply trying to sweep this all under the rug? Did the charity receive any funds from the festival? I personally would love to here from the promoters about the matter. A source close to spokesperson Carolyn Morrow says that two days before the show she had a family emergency that prevented her from either being at the show. And while I don’t believe anyone was in their house snorting up the profits, I’d like someone to come forward and give an explanation as to what exactly happened over this weekend and why so many concertgoers and bands left with a dirty taste in their mouth.
I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard about this.
-Seth Combs
Sounds like a scam to me. The owners of go lightly farms just did not want power lines running through their property, decreasing their property values. They don’t care about the environment. Those power lines are actually bringing in power from a solar power plant. Also, how was the festival green?
Being part of one of the smaller acts who came from northern california we knew before hand we would probably make just enough to pay for the gas and food. This cluster &^$@ of a festival it hurt us little guys in a big way. Our check bounced, wow, so surprised we are. We got to drive over 600 miles play 2 sets barely got fed once and we did it for free. Makes me feel bad for the bigger acts that only got half of their 15 to 30 thousand. At least their gas was covered.
I had professional contact with the festival operators, including Carolyn and Steve, on a limited basis for several months leading up to the festival. Steve is Carolyn’s son. Carolyn helped Steve to sell many of the sponsorships that allowed last years festival, which according to published press went pretty well, to go on. Not huge, but fun and enjoyable, seemed to be the verdict on Ranchita Rocks 07. At least from what I had read. The 07 festival also seemed to raise some money for the charity is what I had read.
I’d like to tell what I know about the two main characters in this horrific mess of a festival: Carolyn Morrow and Steve Rohrer. Carolyn had the “cause” (Protect Our Communities) and Steve came up with the “benefit” (Ranchita Rocks Festival) to support the cause. That is my somewhat educated guess.
From the few times I’ve met her, Carolyn is a sweet woman, a smart woman, and who–like my mother–would probably never do an illegal thing even if her life depended on it. Well, maybe if her life depended on it, but she’d feel guilty all the way.
Refined and classy in her demeanor and displaying impressive acumen in her communication, her job was to sell sponsorships. This task, which from what I heard was easy last year, was much harder this year. If anyone could convey a message to a potential paying sponsor (Powerlines in the desert? What?), it would be her.
Sweet yet to the point, this is someone you’d expect to be working for KPBS or the Women’s History Museum, collecting money for high profile non-profits. She was to raise the money to allow Steve his dream, and although I’m sure she worked her ass off, the money wasn’t flowing the way he or she expected. Perhaps the cause just wasn’t important enough for companies to get behind, especially in these tough economic times. All of her contacts from last year were saying “no” and any of those who did join on again, were doing so for a lesser amount.
I believe that lack of funding, and having a hard time selling sponsorships is what lead to this events downfall; they lacked the funding to pull it off and they bet too much on being able to create a larger, more successful version of the first event.
In addition to having the responsibility of raising all the sponsor money, Carolyn owns the property, and from what I know she is against the lines coming through. I don’t know fully the reason, I’m sure it’s not ALL to do with property values, but some of it probably is, but regardless, the charity set up was (and probably still is) real and apparently there is a real issue of allowing the precedence (of running lines through this protected area) to be set. Like any cause, they were using a benefit concert to drum up money to further their cause. It’s been done before, people will do it again.
If this was a first year event that failed this miserably and left so many people in bad places, perhaps I would think differently, but I believe that cause, idea and the motivation to do this festival are all true. Their intentions were true, and the first year was a mild success and helped the cause.
As for Steve, I can’t say whether or not he was “snorting up the profits.” What I can say is that he very likely made NO PROFIT and lost a substantial amount of money, prior to the hypothetical “ranchita snow blow” in his mom’s living room. If he was snorting coke, it was not likely paid for from any profits.
I feel sorry for any potential partners he may have had, because Steve was not the best to work with. I can’t hate people, I still feel sorry for the guy as–like I said before–his intentions were true, but he just got in over his head and apparently decided that blaming everyone but himself, and disappearing when he should be communicating, was the way to go.
Often lofty in his expectations of help from others, and nervous , angry and accusatory when asked about help in return (or payment of services), Steve should NOT have been the public face on this event. He should have booked the bands (that was his specialty right? His connections through LA and SoCal?). I thought this several weeks prior to the event, and now reading this horrible story, I feel it even stronger. Steve Rohrer is not a people person when it comes to conflict or problems.
I could go on and on about every other thing wrong with this festival (lack of focus on the demographic expected to attend, bad marketing art, lack of advertising, lack of bands from surrounding areas. And these are some just the PRE-production blunders. I wasn’t there so I can’t get into all the problems at the actual event (lack of ice, lack of services, lack of etc) but the fact is that the promoters got over their heads financially and effed it up for themselves in the process.
I know many people have strong opinions of this event and this is why I am responding. I’d just like to clear up some of the more fring/conspiracy-type conflicts.
This is a festival run by promoters that got in over their heads. Rather than take a loss and cancel the event, they decided to try to make it happen and when the shit hit the fan, the disappeared or got nervous, angry and accusatory. I feel bad for all those who lost money, who lost potential gigs by signing up for this festival, and who were hurt by the promoter’s (sic) actions.
By the looks of the line up and the feel of people involved, the intention was to recreate Woodstock 69, instead they are lucky they didn’t get something like the aftermath of Woodstock 99!
I was at this festival, and Carolyn was there on Friday night during check-in. I am friends with the members of Delta Nove and they were only paid half of their performance fee up front and still decided to play Friday night for the fans. God Bless those guys because that was the musical highlight of the festival for me.
I also heard that ON THE ONE and Al Howard were going to play for free, however they couldn’t find any stage managers or organizers to tell them where to setup and when to play.
The entire festival was a clusterf^ck and I feel really bad for the people that went there without a lot of friends and therefore probably had a horrible time. Luckily a lot of AZ Tribe traveled for this festival and we made the best of it.
It’s pretty safe to say that we’re never heading back to Ranchita though, the author of this article hit the head right on the nail – small time promoters in over their head, if they did try to pull this off again they could learn a lot from the Joshua Tree organizers….they know how to put on a good festival!!!!
I worked the festival (no, I didn’t get paid) and witnessed much of the behind the scenes drama. I can confirm from what I saw that the promoters intentions were good, but they appeared to be ill prepared for what unfolded. My understanding is that the festival lost more than $20,000 and at least one of the people involved is forced to file bankruptcy as a result of the festival’s failure. Despite the many fiascos, I, and many other people I met, still managed to have a lot of fun (consuming many beers helped). We made the best of the situation we we’re given. It had the potential to be an incredible festival. It just needed much better planning and promotion.
The sad part of all this is that the “organizers” knew WELL AHEAD OF TIME that it was not panning out. It all didn’t just come down on the day of!!
I agree with “Anonymous”! The “organizers” had PLENTY OF TIME to call off the whole ordeal and refund the ticket buyers!! WHERE DID OUR MONEY GO??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Protect Our Communities Fund received exactly $0 from this event, confirmed by one of their key contacts. The Ranchita Rocks festival actually HURT this cause by turning off many potential supporters. If Carolyn and Steve truly support this cause and truly care about their land, they need to make up for the damage they’ve done in a big way. Good luck!
All of us who attended the event made the most of a bad situation, and did manage to have some fun despite it all. It was great meeting nice people and some new bands, like Melvin Seals/JGB and Still Time (WOW!! You guys are amazing!), and enjoying the proven greats like Cubensis, Vegitation and Delta Nove (all absolutely incredible!!) THANK YOU for playing anyway, your fans appreciated it more than you know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was the food vendor who was hired by Steve to cook food for the bands and stage crew, I just wanted to ask anyone out there who knows about the lawsuit being filed against the promoters to please email me at wildwesfoods@yahoo.com. I spoke with Carolyn the last day of the Festival, because Steve was nowhere to be found, and was told I couldn’t be paid for the for the food I gave to the bands and crews because they didn’t sell enough tickets. I got the vibe that Steve and Carolyn blew off everyone as if the didn’t care one bit, blaming everyone but themselves. They kept the cash from the tickets they sold and filed bankruptcy so they could cut there losses. They didn’t even thank me for feeding the bands and crew for all three days. I took a $3,500 dollar loss from this and the people, Kate, Tana, and Todd, who helped me got screwed because I couldn’t pay them. For all the people who thanked me for the food, Thank You..
Despite what people have heard, the same thing happened with the first year of Ranchita Rocks – not enough money was made so many people were screwed out of their pay, and not a single dollar was given to any charity of any kind. The only reason they broke even the first year was by renegging on contracts and keeping money that should have been paid to those who put their hearts and souls into helping the festival.
Hey folks… this is literally NOTHING compared to the losses we would ALL shoulder for the Powerlink… we’re talking in the neighborhood of OVER A BILLION DOLLARS for a destructive powerline that is ADMITTEDLY NOT NEEDED to bring solar power from the desert to the city! Check your energy bill… you probably pay about HALF for transmission alone… not energy… and this will go UP when the unnecessary transmission needs to be paid for, by RATEPAYERS… while the company (executives moreso than stockholders, even) get the profits while the RATEPAYERS inherit the risk… hmmm… it feels bad, huh? Consider this your small-potatoes education and do something about it so that our whole state doesn’t end up in the same way- SNAFU. The cause is OURS… California doesn’t need this powerline to bring renewables to market!! San Diego doesn’t need this powerline to bring renewables to market. It’s been admitted in the fine print!
ummm Longview, you’re completely missing the point here. A lot of music lovers spent their hard earned money to not only see some of their favorite bands, but to also help the cause of the festival. Regardless of what happened, not only were the fans screwed but the community and charity expecting this money were screwed to.
So in the end, no one wins.
Here’s some info:
Don’t know if this will help the people that got robbed by promoters, but here’s what I found. Address is accurate, phones are probably changed for their safety.
Registrant:
Protect Our Communities Fund
36255 Grapevine Canyon Rd.
Ranchita, California 92066
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: RANCHITAROCKS.ORG
Created on: 30-May-07
Expires on: 30-May-10
Last Updated on: 26-May-08
Administrative Contact:
Morrow, Carolyn Csmmarket@aol.com
Protect Our Communities Fund
36255 Grapevine Canyon Rd.
Ranchita, California 92066
United States
(619) 977-9961
Technical Contact:
Morrow, Carolyn Csmmarket@aol.com
Protect Our Communities Fund
36255 Grapevine Canyon Rd.
Ranchita, California 92066
United States
(619) 977-9961
Domain servers in listed order:
NS5.HOSTEK.COM
NS6.HOSTEK.COM
Registry Status: CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Registry Status: CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Registry Status: CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registry Status: CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Each band only had to have 10 fans come to pay for the event! If you can not get 10 people to come see your band play music at a three day festival it is time to find a new job. The event promoters put on a free party for everyone and the bands dropped the ball big time!!! This was a FUND RAISER wake up people! Put the blame where it belongs, lazy musicians who thought it was everyone else’s job to sell tickets.
Yonder Mountain String Band was paid $17,000.00
Did not show up or give the money back to the non-profit
Way to go Yonder Mountain Fag Band
Mountain was Paid $ 7,000.00
Arrived took and other $ 1,700 and then left with out playing a note, police were contacted about theft
Just plain scum
Bassnectar was paid $5,500
Arrived and demanded $6,000.00 then left with his fans waiting a performance and the guy can not even play an instrument
Thanks shitnectar
Just these three bands racked up $23,000.00 in admin, backline, and hotel and food charges and did nothing for the event or cause
How is that for lame!
LAME BANDS…
Maybe if they would have got paid right they would have paid, and the deserve money, because the could have sold out red rocks that night! Yonder can Bring 10 fans. Trust me.
how is for lame when a promoter rips everyone off.
YonderPhan
Then where were the fans
No one came for fonder and they cost the event over 25K
and for your info they were in LA Recording that Weekend
so red rocks was not open for them
17,000.oo is not enough to play some simple little songs for a cause?
they took the money and ran
real musicians would never do that!
Fuck those little fags
Hey Seth Combs
Do some research before you write a story
Never heard soo much BULL SHIT
What did I report that was bullshit?
Here is the truth in regards to some of the Bull Shit you reported
1 If a thousand paid fans were at the event we would not be having this conversation. Fan attendance was a joke!
2 Al Howard begged to play the event and never showed up.
3 Particle showed up with only 2 members and wanted to be paid.
4 Yonder Mountain never showed up and was paid a 17,500.00 deposit along with thousands of dollars in backline and transportation and lodging expenses. This money has never been returned to the non-profit or any apology delivered. This is where your research for your next article should begin. Next you should contact the Belly Up and see how much they paid Yonder last week; I am sure it was no where near 17,500.00 much less the 35,000 they wanted with zero fan response. So if Belly Up paid any thing under 17,500.00 a major investigation should be implemented to find out why Yonder would want to screw over a benefit event????
5 Why was there no comments made about the professional musicians who did perform for free and gave to the benefit while picking up the slack the money stealing bands who never played. Bands like Interstate Blues, Grahm Rabbit, Shark Attack, and Mojow and the Vibration Army along with about 40 plus others should be praised.
6 Jamie Minotti is a punk and should never be taken seriously, he talked shit because the production company didn’t use his solar stage at the event.
7 Carolyn Morrow was not a Ranchita Rocks spokes person and all the attacks on her just show the stupidty of certain people. She was someone who belived in a cause and allowed the production company to use her land for the event FOR FREE.
8 No one ever tried to contact anyone from the production company who developed the event which has now gone bankrupt with 10 employees now unemployed no thanks to lack of help from people who know who they are!
9 The post on the website was made inorder to try and inform the public how some bands used the event to make free money and screwed over a benefit to help a cause. Remember everyone who helped with the event including the production company did so with out any pay. These people are true heros who gave to a cause with nothing inreturn but some people still talk shit, unbeleivable.
10 The event had orginizational problems because some bands that were also event volunteeres never even showed up to help; they were more worried about their performance slot than the event as a whole. Most dissapeared for the weekend in a drug haze never to be heard from again. Thanks guys and you know who you are.
11 This statement about the event orginaizers son dying of a drug over dose before the show; what the fuck is this, who do you get your information from Bozo the Clown; and who is being refered to as the “owner”, owner of what, the event location. Mr. Morrow does have a son and he is quite alive. There was a volunteer whos brother died some weeks before the show but how that was manipulated into the trash that was reported is hard to understand.
12 There was over 60 porta poties all over the evet, anyone there that could not walk to one in under 2 minutes either has mental problems or had injested to many mind bending sunstances.
13 The hottest the event ever got was 85 degrees one day with an average day temperature of 79, who is the idiot who says is was 100. This information is free to the public.
14 Every stage was labled with huge banners that spanned the entire length of the stage; again guys if you can not handel your drugs don’t take um
15 Two of the stages for the event never went operational because the subcontractors who were contracted and payed deposits never ever showed up. More assholes whole stole money from a benefit event. You can bet no one will ever give San Diego a camping music festival again.
16 There is phone signal at the event just no land lines. Camping usually means camping, if you need you a cell phone, lap top or big screen it is a good choice not to engage in such activity.
17 There was shade tents EVERYWHERE and the beer and wine garden not only had chairs but tables and shade umbrellas. Who are theses people who just plain lie!
18 The event location is 1.5 miles from the main road and the entire area is only half a mile long. The walk from the camp site to the main stage was about 100 Yards. I do not think any of these people ever walked a mile in there life much less miles. You could walk to every stage in under 4 minutes from anywhere in the event.
19 There was no tickets for ice bags and the price was $5.00; again if you can’t handle them don’t take um. Water was $1.00.
20 Bassnectar showed up and acted like a pompous ass and refused to play because of a backline issue; he was paid 5,500.00 and just left. The money has never been returned.
21 Again Particle was paid a deposit and the whole band never even showed up; they were running around the event looking for a guitar player to sit in for them; and they wanted more money, wow.
22 The snorting cocaine and domestic violence statement is so retarded it is hard to even comment on. The police are a friend to the event and were called only once on Friday night when mountain stole there performance money and fled the event; Again facts are an important aspect for a story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
23 The event location is a horse farm not a plant growing farm. The brain is a wonderful thing to use guys.
24 The cause was a success; again research, research
25 Even with all the mishaps people had a good time and some great music was performed
I hope this list helps you to understand the complete bull shit that has been smeared around. The truth is always more difficult to uncover but that is what a reporters job is!
Next time research a subject before you spread lies about it.
Frank Sturgis
About item #16 you are TOTALLY wrong, there is & never has been cell phone signal on the property. I see Glenn almost every day 2.5 miles east at the mailboxes near the fire station using his cell phone. He would not be there if he had signal down in his canyon….
I one local that got ripped off by them on the’07 event for services they purchased.
That should be: I know one local…
How is this debate still going? Ranchita is done, over with – never again will any fan travel to this event after all of the bad press and word of mouth.
I was at the festival and your descriptions are totally off base – $20 for a 20-pound bag of ice and the stages were literally a mile apart. I didn’t even find the stage with the All-Star jam until they were done and I know I wasn’t the only one.
Worst event run by over-their-head small time promoters. Never again!!!!
Hey Vanny G go walk a mile if you can and see how far it is
The ENTIRE event location is only a half mile long
How stupid these people are!
These so called small time promoters are from LA and have been in the music industry since 85 and were trying to bring San Diego back into the festival scene
Scam Diego is Bull Shit word of mouth with no substance
No wonder why bands refer to it as the Bastard child
A bag of ice was 5 bucks
And by the way no fans bothered to get off there ass to come
That’s why all real bands come from LA and hate to come to SD
How the fuck could not find the Main Stage Vanny, put the bong down and open your eyes
Sturgis
I was a volunteer at the event for five days before and 2 days after and there seems to be something weird here. I was in charge of one group of volunteers who all showed up on Friday morning, picked up their free ticket, beer and food pass and some were never heard from again. It made the work load very difficult for us that remained. I am not sure who Seth Combs or Vanny G is but it sounds like from there interpretation of the show that they were not even there.
Some of the stages were so close together you could hear some sound bleed at times. One stage was right across the road from the camping area. I never met this frank Sturgis guy either but from someone who was there his statements match what I saw. I was at the Yonder show at the Belly up a couple of weeks ago when they dedicated it Ranchita Rocks and do not understand why they did not play the event. They should at least give the money back so the bands that did play can get paid; and I know someone who works at the belly up and Yonder was paid no where near 17,000 bucks for that show. Not sure what it going on here but Grahm Rabbit and Melvin Seals were great and even gave me some free stuff at the show; and thanks to the volunteer crew who did help.
We are all waiting for your response Seth??????
Sturgis
looks like this Seth guy is in hidding?
The bands who did not play should give the money back so that the bands that did play can get paid.
Sturgis-All the things that were “reported” that you have a problem with were said by other people. As in, NOT ME. My original post was simply reporting what was told to me by Jamie and the letter that was sent to David Rolland. There was no conjecture on my part and I even expressed disbelief at some of the accusations. Roher and Morrow were given the opportunity to comment on the accusations and chose not to. I would happily do a follow-up on the story if they were to contact me and give me there side of the story. Once my blog was posted, people were free to leave comments (including you) to express their disappointment with what seems to have been a bad experience for all. That being said, if you have a problem with some of the things being said, please direct your vitriol at those who are making the accusations and not me.
Also, your IM address shows up every time you leave a comment so it’s worth noting to anyone and everyone reading this that “wake up,” “Bull Shit,” “Yonderphan,” “Band Member,” and “Volunteer” are all the same person posting under different aliases. What a surprise!
Seth Dude,
In the middle of your “article” you “reported” the snow blow, then at the end you wrote that you doubted it was true. Now you mention that everything you “reported” was hearsay!
Dude – that’s rude (and pissy bitch)! Wahhhhh!
Note: Best way to run a benifit is with 100% volunteers.
Wow, call Dick Tracy
You found the computer in the lobby of the office
with the huge sign that says
“PLEASE BLOG ABOUT RANCHITA ROCKS”
What a surprise huh
Why do you think these guys work at city beat
and not a real publication
They are not the sharpest nails in the box
All I know is that Steve Rohrer is a piece of shit who I’m sorry to say would have left the world a better place had he o.d’d and died last summer..alas, we are not that lucky. Ask Fishbone and H.R. what they think of him.. he’s a first class dickhead. Karma’s a bitch, but not as much a bitch as that spoiled arrogant whiny piece of assturd who thinks the whole fucking world revolves around his pathetic little mind.
Stage manager Mike here, back in the office from the Midwest festival.
It is always sad to see such evil and hate in the soul of a person. One must feel sorry for such people. A good life lesson to remember is that when an individual acts like this it is related to their anger of failure in the world and that anger is projected on to others who have succeeded in life and contributed to society in a positive manner. Always stay clear of mean and nasty people and be happy and help and support others because life is short!
I think all this commentary leads to one place: RANCHITA ROCKS 2!
Who’s with me? I’ll buy a 3 day pass.
The “list” provided by the sock monkey is totally false. It is so full of lies it hurts to read it. I am not going to address it one by one, but ice was $20, only two stages were labeled, and the only shade provided was under one stage – the Grove sock monkey portrays exists only in the shadowy regions of his warbled mind. Oh, and this WAS Ranchita Rocks II – the first one sucked even more, bands were ripped off then too, just do a littel google search.
Here is some info from Yonder Mountain String Band’s forum – notice the accusations from a “Jimmy Rowe” who then apologizes after having “found out” the promoter was a pathological liar (his words).
Oops, here is the link:
http://forum.yondermountain.com/viewtopic.php?t=726&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ranchita+rocks&start=0
Here is some more information for you from the FIRST Ranchita Rocks event – this comes from the SDBurners.tribe.net
Re: Ranchita Rocks Roll Call?Mon, October 1, 2007 – 8:53 AM
WOW!!! That sucked beyond belief… Landowners screwed the 8:39 productions folks, threatened them with bodily injury.I saw some of the threats and belligerency from the promoters myself so this isn’t BS and sour grapes. As you can imagine, they packed up the dj stuff and left.
Unfortunately amateur promoters with a bad attitude ruined the whole event.
Here is another from the daughter of someone helping to organize the first event:
Re: Ranchita Rocks Roll Call?Mon, October 1, 2007 – 9:22 AM
It was truly a fiasco. My heart bleeds for my poor mom, who is very efficient and competent, having to sit there and watch months of good intentions and serious hard work turn into a suck-fest. The property owner’s husband is on steroids for a blood disease, and they amplify his naturally obnoxious personality. I feel compassion for everyone involved.
I can tell you this, that event made me LOVE DJ’s!!! At Tony and Lucy’s, even with a couple technical difficulties, I cheered for those maestros of the dance pulse. In all, I’m glad we quit ranchita, because it turns out that it was cosmic destiny to head over to Bonsall instead.
And more:
112 Re: Ranchita Rocks Roll Call?Mon, October 1, 2007 – 12:36 PM
Thanks, Bad Dawg. My mom looked like a squashed bug over this. She attempted to steer from the sidelines as she watched this titanic head for the iceberg. I think it’s wrong, tho, to think that it crashed in the interest of profit. The reason there were no petitions was because the lady who was supposed to bring them flaked. Bad organization made the owners flounder instead of finding a way to get them there, period. I feel certain that the son of the owner got star-struck and just focused on getting too many bands and stuff there. He didn’t know how to write contracts for such events properly, nor how to handle all the crazy stuff that happens when you organize one. He probably also needs some anger management classes. The owner’s husband is, regrettably, an ass. But he’s an ass to everyone and in fact to his own financial deficit. He is so recognized as an ass, that his wife tried to keep him out of it as much as humanly/wifely possible. I really think he needs help (from someone other than us, but help somehow.) It must be miserable to be such a person. The owner, Carolyn, I only knew as a horsewoman and friend to my mom, and I don’t think she’d ever go through such an ordeal out of avarice. We spoke of the project on a trail ride over her beautiful property and beyond, when it was still in its what-if stage. The intentions were good. The product was not. Let’s leave it behind us.
join to post
Okay, there is more, pointedly about a certain production company having to cancel their DJs as a result of not being paid. And hiring legal counsel to sue for breaking of their contract. And this was only the first event, remember. Anyway, it seems like there is a whole lot of excuses and lies emanating from everything related to that sad excuse for a festival. Good thing it will never happen again, if bands had heard about the first year they may not have been lured the second year.
From SD Tribune, July 6, 2008:
The festival will again be held near Ranchita, on the 160-acre Golightly Farms horse ranch of Carolyn Morrow. She solicited nearly $60,000 in donations of cash and services to stage last year’s fete, including $25,000 from the nearby Santa Ysabel Resort and Casino
well other than bands not playing that I wanted to see, I bought 3 bags of ice from the cooler up by the house for 5 bucks each. I enjoyed the fans there. I was bummed about the music and didn’t know any of the drama.
It didn’t seem to organized