Bonnaroo (mereged)

I haven't heard any of Maynards rants, but in their latest CD it sounds like he found some faith himself. Some say sarcastic but it doesn't seem that way to me...

 

Tool's memeber just tore a bicep, they are rescheduling their US tour, I hope it doesn't effect roo. http://www.toolband.com/index_frames.html

Also another artist has been added The Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indians, which are amazing!

 

In regards to whether or not TOOL will be playing, I found this:

"02\22\07 Tool Still on for 'Roo

According to billboard.com and pollstar.com, Tool is still expected to be a co-headliner for this year's Bonnaroo Festival, despite Danny's recent injury. § "

This still gives me hope for TOOL at Bonnaroo, now as for the show next month that they were supposed to play that I have tics to, I have pretty much given up hope on. But oh hells yes.... Two out of three of my favorite bands will be at Roo so far: Tool & Ween. Les Claypool(in one band or another) is my third and as far as I know, he's played Bonnaroo every year since it began, so it's highly likely that these three music superpowers will all be in one place(whether or not the scheduling will overlap their performances will be another question).

 

i'm excited about
string cheese incident
widepsread panic
ben harper & the innocent criminals
regina spektor
gov't mule

and my, do i have a short attention span
i don't even remember the other artists, lol.

 

FUCK BONNAROO!!!!!!!!!

its a fed fest now a days,.. besides that,, 200 bucks a ticket?? WTF???

you wannabees have fun duckin an dodgin the dreadie feddies..

 

what do cops have to do with the music? nothing! cops arent alowed off the main road!

 

fuck $200. i forgot how expensive this event is.

 

$200 WTF ?? thats pretty cheap if you ask me, the fests over here in the UK are $300

I've only been to Bonnaroo the once & it's miles better than the festivals over here, I've been going festivals for 10 years now & have to say Bonnaroo has to be up there with one of the best festival experiences I've had !!!!!

All the people who bitch about Bonnaroo, probbably havn't been to another Festival before, try another Fest then comeback to Bonnaroo if you still think it's crap fair enough !!!!

 

emember that old adage about "shooting ducks in a barrel"? what that means is you group your victims together and they are a lot easier to take down. well, for some reason (and i could go off about that but i'm on a mission here so bear with me a minute) it has been declared open season on hippies. and festivals are getting really, really nasty. i just got this sent to me about wakarusa.

so be really, really careful and know your rights. there is no such thing as a safe festival anymore, especially the venues like smilefest and wakarusa that are known to be "shooting ducks in a barrel".

to all you leo's out there reading these posts, fuck you. i love you, you have a belly button, but look in a mirror and rethink your life.





Hidden cameras helped in drug busts

By Eric Weslander (Contact)

Friday, September 15, 2006

Hidden, high-dollar equipment helped police crack down on drug dealing at this year’s Wakarusa Festival.

A new article in a trade journal, Government Security News, describes the roughly $250,000 worth of hidden-camera, night-vision and thermal-imaging equipment used by police throughout the festival grounds. The equipment was courtesy of a California company that agreed to give a free demonstration of its wares for marketing purposes.

The company estimated that they were able to cover 85 percent of the festival grounds with about a half dozen hidden cameras. One camera, for example, was mounted atop a light tower and used on “Shakedown Street,” a bustling area viewed as a problem spot for drug dealing.

“It’s hopefully a win-win for everybody except the crooks,” said Mike McRory, vice president of business development for NS Microwave Inc., of Spring Valley, Calif., which markets security and surveillance equipment and is owned by the defense contractor Allied Defense Group.

The company builds “covert” cameras disguised as everything from electrical boxes to birdhouses. They’re capable of seeing at night as long as there’s some ambient light nearby such as a lantern or fire.

‘Nobody knew’

Four of its cameras were “consistently deployed” throughout the festival, and at least two others were there to be used as needed, according to the company. The cameras were controlled by a computerized command center in a 21-foot trailer that was parked atop a hill in the middle of a Frisbee golf course inside the park.

“Nobody knew,” said Kevin Danciak, the company’s Midwestern sales representative. “It just looked like parabolic dishes on top of a trailer.”

The plan to use the cameras came about when Danciak ran into Clinton State Park manager Jerry Schecher at a Kansas narcotics officers’ meeting early this year or late last year. Danciak was there to promote his equipment. Schecher was looking for answers to growing concerns about drug dealing at the festival, which was heading into its third year and was growing in popularity.

Had there not been a strong move this year by law enforcement to control the situation, Schecher said, the state would not have allowed the festival to continue.

“This is a crowd that has a high expectation of privacy and freedom, and I respect that, within limits,” Schecher said. “I struggled with this a little bit, but I felt like we were doing it for the right reasons. If it was meant to be Big Brother and spying on people, I wouldn’t have done it.”

One festivalgoer said the hidden cameras were “a shame and kind of embarrassing.

“I feel like it was really a big mistake because people at a festival are trying to have a good time and let loose. I would be willing to bet that most people wouldn’t be OK with that had they known,” Ali Mangan said.

She said law enforcement should have at leased publicized the hidden cameras. The surveillance was conducted at the expense of the privacy of people not selling drugs, Mangan said.

The main things the cameras captured, Danciak said, were hand-to-hand drug transactions and drug use. After zooming into an area where drug sales were happening, police could then send an officer in to make an undercover buy that was caught on camera.

“We could see if there was a problem and then address it rather than just having to focus all of our foot patrols or enforcement in that area all of the time,” Schecher said.

Danciak said the result was a safer way of busting drug deals.

“No fighting, no running, no guns drawn, nothing,” he said. “It was just, ‘You pop around the corner, you’re there, you identify yourself and you see people just deflate.’”

He declined comment on whether the cameras covered the festival stage areas or campground areas outside the festival.

At least a month before the festival began, Schecher said, promoter Brett Mosiman was notified of the plan for security cameras. Mosiman did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment.

The cameras’ presence was not publicized in the Lawrence area before or after the festival.

The article in Government Security News said the images produced were so good that some alleged dealers entered pleas based on the strength of that evidence. But Dist. Atty. Charles Branson, whose office is charged with prosecuting the cases, said he did not know of any cases in which that happened.

Many of those arrested at the festival were allowed to plead to lower charges in a massive docket call a few days after the hearing.

Police seized more than $11,000 in suspected drug money, but some of that came outside the festival grounds in a Kansas Highway Patrol checkpoint.

Lt. Kari Wempe, of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the lead agency at the festival, said the camera system worked well.

“It gave a good overall aerial view of the grounds, which we would not have had otherwise,” she said.

But so far, she said, the sheriff has no plans to buy any of the company’s equipment. Schecher said he would like to use a similar system at the park in the future, perhaps for catching people who try to break into pay stations, but not necessarily for next year’s festival.

“Kevin has nice toys, but they’re expensive,” he said.

— Staff writer George Diepenbrock contributed to this story.

SHAKEDOWN STREET HAS A WHOLE NE MEANIN NOWADAYS....

 

Unfortunately, Wakarusa is not on private property (unlike Bonnaroo which IS private). Private property allows the festival promoters to hire their own security. Whereas state property hires state police and troopers and such. Wakarusa was an unfortunate one time thing where this company was flexing their muscles all over the festival goers WITHOUT the festival promoters consent. They were doing this as the article said to "try and sell their fancy equipment".

Id also like to point out that a short while (few months) after Wakarusa ended, another article came out that stated the facts. There were under 100 total arrests and prosecutions made, half of which were for under age drinking. Everything was clearly blown way out of proportion. But clearly, the age of freedom is OVER. And will be over because people like George Bush are at the helm of our country.

Anyways as long as your not a complete moron and keep the drug usage out of plain sight (atleast if your going to a fest on state land, if you are going to a big time fest they usually are on private property which means securty could care less if you had needles coming out of your arms.) you WILL be fine. I know im going to Wakarusa, and if theres a shitload of cops there i really could care less because im gonna be at the stage all fucking day long. Things just arent what they used to be man....every year shit gets tighter and tighter, and dont be suprised if at some other fest a similar experience to that of Wakarusa goes down, because these fests are attracting a LOT of law enforcement attention. And please, quit talkin smack on Wakarusa this is such a great fest every year thanks

 

yeah, HHB, what did you do, edit out all the parts of that article that said "wakarusa" so you could pass it off as a common happening? why would you want to scare people away from roo? there is enough tickets for everyone... you don't need to falsely scare people away to get a ticket for yourself!

at bonnaroo, the cops are primarily harmless, the mounted security is a joke and their horses are fun to stare at while tripping... the staff is the only bring down, cuz most are know-it-all teens and 20-somethings, and some can be jerks.

 

lewis black on bonnaroo:
"its literally a giant village of some of the most wonderful and psychotic people you will ever meet in one place"

 

I go to A LOT of festies. The most expensive one was $80 and that was a 4 day long one. The cheaper festies tend to be better imo. I can't aford spending $200+ on a festival when I have to pay for school, rent, utilities, car upkeep, ... These promotors are raping fans for their money. end of story.

 

Fair enough, the smaller festivals are better in a way but the all have the pro's & con's I'm just saying that $200 isn't a lot for a fesival compared to what we have to pay over here

The only downside is, we have to pay $600/$700 for the flight over there

 

true dat.

 

i got my roo tickets for 150!

 

You've got to factor in the fact that at the smaller festivals, the bands aren't as well known. I can guarentee that a lot of those bands aren't cheap on that list.

If I can pay 200 bux for an ounce of grass, I sure as hell can shed out the cash for an experience such as Roo....

 

You make a good point there as usual. And that's why I mentioned it. Seeing that many very good bands in one weekend is really cool!

But if you want to start talking about whats worth it I could take my $200 and go to 4 different festi's and see far more good bands.

My suggestion:

Do both! Go to the Roo and go to 4 other small festi's.

 

Puts the $200 in perspective. Your memories from Roo might last longer too!