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Second Rothbury Festival Set to Take Off • An Interview with Chief Festival Organizer Jeremy Stein

By Scott Baker

Jeremy Stein is gratefully inviting you to party with The Dead on the Forth of July this year.  

The Michigan based Rothbury Festival stands alone with an astounding blend of three different music stages, Think Tank sessions, midnight mêlée in the Sherwood Forest and a sustainable program turning everything ‘green’ over the course of four days. And that’s just what happened last year.

Held July 2-5, in Rothbury, MI, there is no better place to be for musical fireworks and tie-dye extravaganza. A mere sample of this year’s musical highlights include Keller Williams, Toubab Krew, and The Disco Biscuits on Thursday, King Sunny Ade, Brett Dennen, Martin Sexton, Soulive, Femi Kuti, and a reunited String Cheese Incident on Friday, Son Volt, Zappa Plays Zappa, The Black Crowes, Les Claypool, and The Dead (only summer show) on Saturday, and Toots and the Maytals, Grace Potter, Ani DiFranco, Gov’t Mule, Willie Nelson, and Bob Dylan on Sunday. Many, many other artists surround the schedule.

Not fearing the sophomore slump, festival organizer Stein, who serves as Event Producer for the biggest multi-day extravaganza north of Bonnaroo (Manchester, TN), has made only slight tweaks to the extended weekend for 2009. The mightiest of which includes a two-day Saturday and Sunday ticket available for purchase allowing weekday workers and travelers to make Rothbury in style and catch a healthy glimpse of the attractions.

“We had a huge response to our two-day tickets from people in Michigan,” said Stein, during a phone interview last week. “We got tons of emails saying, ‘I’ve got to work on Thursday and Friday and I really want to get out there for the weekend,’ because we only had four-day tickets last year. People have loved it and there’s been a huge response to it. Given that July 4th is Saturday, for $150 it’s two days of camping, and July 4th, The Dead, fireworks and everything. So it’s a great ticket.”

 With little to fix and more to expand upon, Stein said it was mostly cosmetic updates to accommodate festivalgoers. The Producer’s excitement was evident through his occasional laughter and verbal flow throughout the entire interview.

“There are so many little things. I don’t know if there’s any major, but if anything we’re always trying to raise the bar in every corner of what we do. We’re kind of obsessive about it, but you can’t be perfect, right?  Some of the non-glory side of it, the operative side (like) getting really strong efficiency with everything from artist relations, to how concessions is working. It’s kind of a self-conscious thing but it really affects everyone who is at the show, because things just operate smoothly. Not that they didn’t last year, but we’re always trying to make things even better.

“We’ve moved around a few of the stages here and there and point them in different directions and upgraded every venue in different ways. (We)  Kind of went with what worked out best last year.”

Between stages, located in an actual forest is a pathway deemed Sherwood Forest that makes for a siesta hangout by day and an incredible dance floor by dark.

“Sherwood Forest was incredibly popular last year,” said Stein. “Everyone spent a lot of time in there and we just wanted to make sure that there were more lounging areas available. During the day it’s kind of lounging in the shade/summer time, having a good time with friends in the forest and at night it becomes really electric and lit up and a big party atmosphere. I think everyone will notice lots of things that are expanding on what worked last year.”

While Stein figures they reached their goals during the first Fest, he suggested that organizers would never rest on their laurels but seek to exceed them and push further with each event. Rothbury was in the media rumor mill soon after last years inaugural fest, with talks of moving the event or not even producing one this year at all.

“A lot of people were really confused in the beginning,” stated Stein. “They thought somehow that the Double JJ (Ranch) bankruptcy was associated in many ways with the festival and it wasn’t. We’re completely different groups and if anything, we’re kind of four-day tenants on site, rather than Double JJ obviously having its own business issues going on completely separate.

“Then rumors abounded and there was no point in us really speaking on it at the time because we were in the same position as everyone else—wait and see what happens. In the meantime we had to make sure we could do the festival, because bankruptcy courts—nothing happens too fast. It looked like we weren’t completely sure if there would be an honor or that the site would be open come festival time.  So we had to go through the Trustee and they were all great to work with just to make sure that we could lease the land through the estate. And if anything, the support from the Governor’s office, the State Police, and all the health and safety organizations, Grant Township, Oceana County, everyone involved was completely supportive of the festival. We’re excited that it all worked out.”

Stein said moving wasn’t an option on the table at all. “We never had to go that far in our minds, but that never really looked like that was an issue.”

When it comes to scheduling, booking music for Rothbury happens at the very least a year in advance, which added to the pressure. Plugging them into each day between stages is yet another serious matter.

“That’s another huge project, no question about it,” said Stein. “(There’s) Definitely a team that pours over the concepts, the time, the days when a band can be there. They can’t just be there any day you want them to usually. Then you’re trying to make sure that the bands that are onstage aren’t really completely competitive musically, so that they don’t effectively hurt each other with various crowds. You want to have great variety going on at all times. That’s part of the whole architecture of the experience.

“That’s a big part of what we do. We’re helping create a lot of that experience based on the time of day, types of acts different times of day, who’s popular in the moment. Sometimes a band will grow tremendously from the time when you book them to the show. You may have booked them as a smaller band, but they could become incredibly popular four months later. You’ve got to kind of have a crystal ball as to what people want to see and when.”

Stein said some of his favorite moments happened during the over-night while bands like Sound Tribe Sector 9 would perform their fusion of electric playing with electronic, pulsating into the morning hours.

“No question Sherwood Forest was a huge success,” laughed Stein. “A lot of the late night shows were spectacular, people had a great time. It’s just a huge dance environment and people love blowin’ off that steam on July 4th.”

Now that Stein and his team had the ability to learn what large crowds weaned towards, they tweaked certain aspects of the grounds to help accommodate those shifts this year. The same is true for the ‘green’ team.

“The program for sustainability is two-fold,” he affirmed. “One is obviously what we do on site with energy, like bio-fuels going to our generators (and) compostable silverware used at all of our concessions. Everything from windmills to solar panels creating energy, everything out there, that list goes on and on.

“The second part is kind of a cross between leaving a footprint in community relations of sustainability and education. It’s one where the Think Tank onsite is great. A lot of people learn a lot from those folks and we’re going to have a few less symposiums, but more ability to one-on-one meet these folks, hang out with them and do small talks and ask questions more directly.

“I think that’ll be a great interactive side of things. The energy fair will have some great Michigan companies there that are also supported through the Governor’s renewable energy programs, so that’s a great little showcase for Michigan. It’s across-the-board, all the way down to our Farmer’s Market being expanded to support our organic farmers in the area too.”

School systems benefit from Rothbury as well.

“Our Sustainable Schools program is installing windmills and last year a local school program installed a solar array at Shelby High School,” Stein acknowledged. “It’s a $70,000 solar array—we were able to raise that money. It’s a great education source and saving of energy and some of that money gets to go back into education.”

With all of the special treatments discussed, it’s sometime easy to forget there is more active music going at all times than one can comprehend.

“I think everyone kind of took it in, in different ways,” Stein said regarding last years turnout. “One of the issues is that there’s so much going on, you can’t possibly expect to do it all. If anything what I found in a lot of feedback from people were sentiments like, ‘We made all these plans for what I was going to do each day, what music I was going to see or this or that and by the time you get on site you just throw it out the window.’ You just get out there and see what’s happening. The greatest part of this is exploring things that you just don’t know about. You’re not going to see everything.”

Stein doesn’t get to see everything as well, but his experience of it all is what keeps him moving ahead.

“I pull at least 18-20 hour days during the Festival, but it’s a cross between incredibly hard work and a ton of fun. It’s kind of game day out there, you know. Our team’s been working for a full year to get to that moment so I would be crazy not to enjoy it.

“If anything its how well the team came together with the community at the show to create a great vibe out there. It was obviously something special and everyone felt it and whenever you are in the first year of creating something that big, you have a lot of worries going into it, but the team was such a world class team, they got a lot of it right the first time around. That was exciting.”

For more information on the event and the complete musical and Think Tank speaker lineup, visit Rothbury on the web at www.rothburyfestival.com

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