4Peaks 2021 Festival Report

In my last post, I described the adventure of getting to and from 4Peaks 2021. Today's post is about the festival itself. I had intended to also include my thoughts on the bands, but this got super-long, so I will post on that later on.

CoViD Fears

My first reaction to learning that 4Peaks Music Festival was going to happen was probably very similar to your reaction when you read that. I went: "WHAAATT?!?!" or "that sounds like a super-spreader event to me". In the days leading up to the opening day, I hit the CDC website multiple times a day to see what the delta-variant growth curves looked like, and then the Oregon Health Authority to see if there were any new county or state level mandates. As the country slowly turned red on the CDC map indicating community transmission was very high, no new state nor county mandates came out after the indoor mask requirement released on 13-August. We were prepared to abort our trip as we were leaving town, considering places we could camp instead if the festival was cancelled upon our arrival. Boo and I expected to spend most of our 4Peaks time at the bus, avoiding sharing any close space with others.

Pandemic Influenced 4Peaks

rare pic of me

We were very curious about how 4Peaks would change their set up to keep things safe. I should probably start with how they referred to the festival as "Mini Peaks", and the steps they took reflect that different thinking. First, they radically reduced the number of tickets made available. Most years, there are a few thousand people. This year, they sold 500 tickets and not all of the tickets were presented at the gate. As of Friday morning, you could get a ticket for free through FB. In prior years, there was a "Kidlandia" space for the kids to have a 4Peaks day-camp kind of thing with art, activities and performance artists. This year, there was no kid-specific program; in fact, there were very few kids at all. They omitted the "silent disco" at night, the tent for the smaller stage, all indoor vendor space and even the overhead sails. As a result, there were no public shaded spaces. They also shortened the festival by a day, removing all programs from Sunday. Last, there was no grand entrance for the concert bowl, making the entire ranch "the venue". While this could have lead to rowdy behavior throughout, I found the opposite to be true: the camping area was more mellow than prior years. Boo and I did not really experience the food and drink vendors, but I understand that they would not refill cups out of CoViD safety.

For our part, Boo and I approached even the more-safe festival in a reserved way. I previewed all of the bands, and selected 4 that we would try to see in person and another 4 on a slighlty lower tier that would be on an alternate / depends-on-safety list. Then, when the schedule was released, we adjusted plans to avoid opportunities to be in a large crowd. For example, we caught the early bands of the day on Friday and Saturday when no one else was in the concert bowl: super safe, and included one band from each of the 2 lists: Stephanie Anne Johnson/HiDogs and the Fair Trade Boogie Band, respectively. Two of the bands on the first list played opening (Thursday) night. Opening night is always light at the stage, so we could see Maxwell Friedman Group and Elektrapod within the bowl without being within 2 meters of others. In contrast, the biggest names closed the large stage on Friday and Saturday: Hot Buttered Rum and New Monsoon respectively. For those acts, we did not go near the concert bowl: way too crowded, too intoxicated and too unmasked.

Yoga

Boo and Hapy

In more contrast to prior years, this year Boo and I did the 1-hour under-the-open-sky yoga on Friday and Saturday morning. It was really good, helping to work out the kinks from sleeping in the bus in 7*C (mid-40*F) overnight temps. There were probably about 50 fellow yogi's both days (some different, some of the same faces). I was one of probably 5 men, which was totally fine, but does make me think that for a single person seeking a female companion, s/he could probably not find a better place than a yoga class to find a centered female who is taking their emotional, spiritual and physical health seriously. Boo and I both found the overall festival very therapeutic and I believe that started with the yoga. In an aside, I started doing yoga for exercise when CoViD19 closed my gym, and even now, after my gym is open and charging me every month, I would rather do yoga at home (GymRa.com) than push weights in a public, enclosed gym. I am in the best shape, my most limber, of my life and that is from almost-daily yoga. Could not recommend adopting this practice more.

Camping

Regardless of which bands we went to go see, our camping spot was 50 feet from the main entrance to the concert bowl / vendor area, and almost straight-from-stage. As a result of our location, we could clearly hear the low end, and most of the high end coming from the stage. We could understand the announcements from the stage, and even make out the vocals from bands who had a clean sound. Some of the mid-range was lost, but that was a small price to pay for being safer.

The location for 4Peaks was the same as the last few years, but the venue was oriented very differently. The stages were in an area which was usually blocked off, and the usual camping area was blocked off this time. Instead of camping on angled desert scrub, many of us were on mostly flat, soft green grass. Hapy was set up near the RV's (where we were directed), on a corner next to one of the water stations so there were many passersby.

We laid out the large carpet, set up the lot couch, the kitchen, the canopy, the solar collector and Boo's shower (See Camp Shower). Of all the things that drew attention, it was the shower that drew folks over to learn the what's and how's: from the dollar store, get one kiddie pool, one hula-hoop, 2 shower curtains and 2 sets of curtain rings: $6US and you have a shower stall. Add a solar water heater (a black bag with a shower hose and nozzle attached to it) and you have a shower.

The Zamp solar collector connection to the luxury battery worked flawlessly, keeping our cabin and under-canopy lights running at night and all of our devices charged all weekend. We were able to offer charging service to folks, and play our stereo before the stages got going in the morning.. and by late morning the battery was fully charged again. Love that desert sun. I was unable to get the furnace to fire up, however. The initial draw for the glow-plug is just too high for a deep-cycle battery to support. I will have to integrate a typical car battery and figure out a switchable in-series path so I can add that battery just for the initial startup of the furnace. Something to let the back of my mind work on.

Meeting People

We have always made new friends at 4Peaks, and this year was no different. As I indicated above, our designated camping spot was right next to the area water supply. So, anytime someone in the general area needed water, there was an opportunity for a "hey neighbor" connection. Since we spent so much time away from the crowd in the bowl, we met and got to know a lot of our neighbors, like "the Brothers" (Glenn and Jimmy L-to-R) pictured here who had the camping spot behind us.

"the brothers"

We met many people who had also been going to 4Peaks for years, meeting only one person for whom this 4Peaks experience was their first. I imagine those who made it were the folks who were paying attention (since tickets sold out so fast) and who made 4Peaks a priority over the years. As a result, the folks we connected with were pretty special. Often, our connections started the same way: with how we are all trying to avoid crowd contact, followed by a CoVax information exchange and then talking about whatever... the bands, camping, vendors, outfits, etc. After the first few statements, it was like any other festival exchange, except for the 2 meters of grass between us.

Unlike prior years, we were not doing shots, swigging wine with folks, or hanging out in each other's camping spaces. I imagine some attendees did that, but neither Boo and I nor any of our immediate neighbors were hosting folks within their canopies. 

Thanks Stacy

Hapy in lower left

Ultimately, Stacy and her staff did an amazing job of holding a (Mini) 4Peaks that resonated like the early years. It was stripped down. No Kidlandia, no silent disco, no national touring acts. It was a regional reflection of a festival while not feeling like it was in the middle of a pandemic.

Boo and I love 4Peaks, but there's no way to truly express it. Driving in through the gates, I felt tears of joy welling up. I watched someone fall into tears, and then into another's arms at the end of the second yoga session, moved by the words of gratitude expressed by the instructor: thanks simply for us all to have a forum, a place, for a few days to re-center, and remember how we choose to be. I will be watching for the pre-sale notice for 2022, ready to go again already. Hope to see you there with us.

That's it for now. Next weekend is Hapy's 50th Birthday; I'll post on that later on. Thanks, as always, for following along-

Cafe Yumm'd

Quick, off cycle post today, prompted by the passage of the $1.9T economic assistance law the other day.

Lay-off or Furlough

Last Spring, as CoViD-19 was really picking up steam, my son T's former employer, like so many, shut down operations as directed by the state to help contain the spread. Since there was considerable focus by the news media on what was happening, many employers did not just flat-out lay off folks. Laying people off during a rapidly spreading pandemic would not look good. So, for public-relations reasons, a furlough (not fired, but eligible for unemployment) saved many companies from closing their doors forever. But a furlough is not free for the employer. A portion of the unemployment benefit received by the employee is underwritten by the employer, just as if the employee had been laid off. The big difference is that once the employer lays you off, they no longer have any control over your unemployment status. With a furlough, they do: you still technically work for them. This may be what makes a furlough less of a political black-eye for employers than lay-offs, but, for many employees, it doesn't seem any different.

Funny Furlough

So, how can a company with questionable ethics effectively reduce their unemployment costs while also avoiding a public relations issue? Well, they can't lay you off: like we just established, the company will definitely have to pay a portion of those benefits. Back in Spring 2020, most of us did not necessarily know the economic impact would last this long, but many experts were saying it would be 2022 before things were normal, and they were saying that in June 2020. So, paying unemployment benefits on your employees for 2 years, especially for an employer, say.. like Cafe Yumm... who has an employee retention in the less-than-6-months range, is highly unattractive.

So, how do you get people off your unemployment bill? The ethical thing would be to help your employees find other work. Were there many same-role jobs for Cafe Yumm workers at that time? Maybe not, but as fast food was closing down, grocery stores were grossly under-staffed for the surge in shoppers; shoppers who usually dined-out most meals. Grocery stores were so desperate for workers there were ads on the radio and my neighbor (who works at Safeway) stopped me on my driveway to ask if any of our kids wanted to work at Safeway. The Cafe Yumm's of the world could have easily coordinated with the local Safeway, Ralph's, etc. to help their furloughed employees find employment. Delivery business was also booming, so some kind of partnership with UPS or FedEx could have been figured out.

Cafe Yumm'd

Cafe Yumm, however, did not do any of that. Cafe Yumm did not try to help their employees find work at all. Instead, they looked for ways to trick their employees into accidentally quitting. How do you accidentally quit? Well, Cafe Yumm management required all employees to have a region-wide chat-stream active on their phones. These chats had 50 or more people on them, and an individual employee's phone would blow up with hundreds of text messages a day. Buried within this company-mandated spam would be a single notification about a mandatory meeting where attendance would be taken. If you chose not to attend, the company would accept that as your resignation.

That's right. First, they require you to accept hundreds of texts, rendering your phone into a useless noise-maker. Then, they bury an employment ultimatum within the messages, which many employees missed within the sheer volume of messages. By missing that call, your unemployment status is changed: you lose your weekly payment. Your access to the expanded dollars due to CoViD are jeopardized; in T's case they were lost. Suddenly, you, and many like you are without the unemployment safety net during a period when millions, literally 10's of millions, of people are out of work. Heartless doesn't begin to describe this Ebenezer Scrooge action by Cafe Yumm. Other companies have probably pulled this maneuver; I only know of Cafe Yumm because my son got screwed this way. I imagine there are many similar accidental-quit stories out there.

Vote with Your Wallet, Vote with Your Feet

I absolutely bring all this up partly to bring attention to Cafe Yumm, but also to highlight the power we all have when we vote with our wallets and our feet. The pandemic has given us all an opportunity to see how our friends, neighbors and local businesses behave under considerable stress. Cafe Yumm failed miserably, and I will not patronize Cafe Yumm again. I encourage you to look elsewhere for your "healthy" (honestly, not-healthy) fast food as well. 

Some of my favorite local one-off restaurants managed to not only stay open, but find new streams for their order-out business (GrubHub, DoorDash, etc.) so they have about the same staffing levels they had pre-pandemic. The dishwasher may not work as much, and the wait staff are now just doing kitchen-to-driver expo, but with the increased volume of food moving through, they are making it. I have genuine conversations with my friends there, and to a person, they are all doing "okay". Not great, but surviving. I am sure they will appreciate the government check to help ease some of the stress from the smaller-than-preCoViD paycheck to smaller-than-preCoViD paycheck barely-makin-it living.

As for T, he got hired onto a fire crew a few months after he got Cafe Yumm'd. He had to couch-surf along the way to eliminate expenses he no longer could afford (like rent, power, and internet), but he came out on the other side. And, he helped contain one of the worst fire seasons Oregon has ever seen.

Back to the normal posts on Tuesday. Thanks for following along-