Here are some photos from Saturday & Sunday at Comfest.  I took a lot more but these are the ones I grabbed quickly and I didn't want this thread to be too long. 

 

Anyway this festival is one of the most intense people-watching events I've been to, if you just stood there on a cell phone telling your friend what you're looking at right now, you'd have them laughing all day long.  Sure, these kinds of scenes exist out at rural festivals like Bonaroo but this was made all the more funny because it was in a city park.  A pregnant woman with giant stretched butterfly tattoo on her belly, fully-outfitted drag queen in motorized wheel chair with scowl on face, well-groomed 50 year-old in vintage Marilyn Manson 1997 Antichrist Superstar tee are just some of the thousands of totally surreal people patroling the park this weekend that I didn't take photos of. 

 

The crowd was beyond huge Saturday and merely huge Sunday.  I'd like to see the break-down of this festival's finances, say what you want, I'd bet beer sales (like so much of the world) are what keep this thing going. 

 

 

 

 

 

"CASEY J-O-O-O-O-NES!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spikedrivers on Sunday night:

 

 

 

 

 

Gaye & Roddy, a fantastic blues duo:

 

 

I was there. The place REEKED of weed, and I think I saw atleast 4 girls shirtless. I wasn't complaining.

The crowd was beyond huge Saturday and merely huge Sunday.  I'd like to see the break-down of this festival's finances, say what you want, I'd bet beer sales (like so much of the world) are what keep this thing going. 

 

They'll cop to the beer sales as what keeps it going.  They've mentioned that in their programs in the past.  Apparently they sell enough  they are running a surplus and, and are using the proceeds to make grants to various nonprofit projects in the Columbus area, sort of like that Cleveland Collectivo that has been mentioned elsewhere here at UO.

 

I've been going to this on and off since 1988 or 89 or so. It seems that its become really huge the last few years.  This year is the first year I've noticed someone bringing their own six pack (though Im sure this happens all the time), probably as a way to beat those beerlines.  One of the "rules" is not to bring bottles... "Don't be a Glasshole"....probably partly to ensure beer sales, partly to prevent broken bottles and people getting hurt. 

 

Excellent photos. 

^

yeah, they are, aren't they?  Great people shots!!!

 

:clap:

I miss Comfest :(

The bearded guy in the gray t-shirt in the second photo was about 10 feet away from me during the Spikedrivers' set. The spirit of Comfest is evident in the number of people there to catch him each time he stumbled in his stupor.

 

Comfest has been around 35 years (I started going in 1975, but missed most of the 80s), and is probably the largest such festival in the country with NO corporate sponsorship. It is run entirely by volunteers (my 16-year-old son stayed late Sunday night to volunteer on the cleanup crew). The take-in beer bottles are frowned upon not so much because they threaten the beer money that pays for the fest, but because they are illegal -- a violation of the fest's beer/wine permit.

^

ah, thanks for the intel on that permit issue! 

Comfest is wonderful. Wonderfully positive vibe. I took the kids down early Saturday morning before things really got roaring. The only fly in the ointment was the asshole driving the pro-life panel van plastered with 10-feet high photographs of mutilated fetuses. I caught him at the stop light at High and Buttles, and, well, let's just say that the kids saw daddy yell at a man. And yell. And yell until the light turned green and the man nearly clipped the kids' wagon trying to escape. Grr. 

You can take Kingfish out of Hamtramck but you can't take the Hamtramck out of Kingfish!

Damn straight.

fantastic pics thx for showing us this -- i was wondering what it was like these days.

 

i went from the early 80's to 90's. geez louise has it grown. wow. that's prob a good thing. a not so good thing is that it correspondingly looks a lot more conservative too.

 

ps -- could you or chris or somebody do red, white and boom this year? i'd really like to see whats thats like anymore too. thx.

I definately can't do Red, White, and Boom this year as I'll be, well, out of this country.

Damn hippies.  :-)

Comfest is wonderful. Wonderfully positive vibe. I took the kids down early Saturday morning before things really got roaring. The only fly in the ointment was the asshole driving the pro-life panel van plastered with 10-feet high photographs of mutilated fetuses. I caught him at the stop light at High and Buttles, and, well, let's just say that the kids saw daddy yell at a man. And yell. And yell until the light turned green and the man nearly clipped the kids' wagon trying to escape. Grr.

 

That's just funny. It reminds me of the day when those loons came down here to Lexington, and the van was mobbed by a bunch of punk kids. I could not shake off the fear that I saw from the old adults driving the pro-life van!  :lol:

^Worse yet, the driver of this van was a young guy. When I asked him if he himself had kids he said "no," and went on to clarify that he wasn't married, making him even more of an expert on the issue at hand, I suppose.

 

Enough of this noise here: back to the glorious, hippie-scented Comfest!

Anyway, this Comfest looks a little trashy...

 

And you've got a high bar for trashy.

>a not so good thing is that it correspondingly looks a lot more conservative too.

 

I don't know how it used to be but this definitely was a counter-cultural event at its core and hippies and gays made up at least a third if not more than half of the crowd.  However I didn't take too many photos of those groups because I was there basically to take photos of college-aged people and anything else pretty much wouldn't get published.  There weren't many so-called normal college students down there but from my perspective I was wasting my time taking photos that had no chance of being published by the place that was paying me big money ($15!) to be down there.   

 

C-Dawg as I hinted at in my original post I'm well aware that pound-for-pound there are rowdier and more lawless events happening out in the country but this was in a city park with no surrounding fence.  There weren't many police around but if there had been they could have caused a real scene cracking down on drug use and public nudity.  I saw upwards of a dozen women walking around topless, none of them in good shape.  Really it's pretty rare that something like this happens in a city, most of the more outrageous parties and events happen out in the country.  I know a lot of people on these boards like to look down on the country, but I'll never be convinced otherwise, at least in this country where you can't make much noise or do much of anything in cities without a permit.         

 

that's prob a good thing. a not so good thing is that it correspondingly looks a lot more conservative too.

 

There still is some political content, but I am wondering if that is just nostalgia by now.

 

Come to Four Fest (well, Five Fest next year). You'll not only see plenty of tits, but also plenty of vagina, public sex, public drug deals, public urination/defecation, vomiting, and thousands of insanely drunk rich kids blacked out on the lawn.

 

I think I'll pass.

 

 

 

 

I definately can't do Red, White, and Boom this year as I'll be, well, out of this country.

 

oh thats right -- yr going to europe. have a safe trip -- yeah we are gonna get us some pics.

I don't know how it used to be but this definitely was a counter-cultural event at its core and hippies and gays made up at least a third if not more than half of the crowd.  However I didn't take too many photos of those groups because I was there basically to take photos of college-aged people and anything else pretty much wouldn't get published.  There weren't many so-called normal college students down there but from my perspective I was wasting my time taking photos that had no chance of being published by the place that was paying me big money ($15!) to be down there.

 

I was just about to ask where the gays were. Comfest has a reputation for being fairly gay. I guess that explains it. A lot of publications in America are terrified to publish photos of gays, and I think that would go double in a state like Ohio.

Wow man your gaydar is so good you can spot who's gay at an event by looking at photographs?! Impressive.

 

 

 

 

There was a Pride parade on Saturday.

Wow man your gaydar is so good you can spot who's gay at an event by looking at photographs?! Impressive.

 

C-Dawg is the Bill Frist of gaydar.

I was there. The place REEKED of weed, and I think I saw atleast 4 girls shirtless. I wasn't complaining.

You'll not only see plenty of tits, but also plenty of vagina, public sex, public drug deals, public urination/defecation, vomiting, and thousands of insanely drunk rich kids blacked out on the lawn. Best of all there's no cops or security, so you can blow coke, have sex in front of everyone, or do whatever the hell you want that's illegal.

 

I'm going to a party at OU tonite. Hopefully a situation very similar to this breaks out.

I was just about to ask where the gays were. Comfest has a reputation for being fairly gay. I guess that explains it. A lot of publications in America are terrified to publish photos of gays, and I think that would go double in a state like Ohio.

 

What the heck has happened to you Cdawg...your posts have turned completely stupid lately, and this is one of the dumbest things I've heard out of the bunch.  That is aside from your story about you punching some guy in the face for no apparent reason. :wtf:

Too many keg stands...killing his brain cells.

fun peeps!

>a not so good thing is that it correspondingly looks a lot more conservative too.

 

I don't know how it used to be but this definitely was a counter-cultural event at its core and hippies and gays made up at least a third if not more than half of the crowd.  However I didn't take too many photos of those groups because I was there basically to take photos of college-aged people and anything else pretty much wouldn't get published.  There weren't many so-called normal college students down there but from my perspective I was wasting my time taking photos that had no chance of being published by the place that was paying me big money ($15!) to be down there.            

 

 

so are you telling me you mis-represented the comfest? heh -- you did a good job!!

 

my guess is the difference from how it used to be is that it was much smaller and the third to half or so of the crowd you photographed weren't there.

Since Jeffery mentioned the demise of the Columbus Blues Alliance "Blues Garage" @ comfest in his photo thread, and theres always the questions as to the how & why about comfest, I'll see what I can fill in.

 

Concerning the Blues Garage.  From what I was told (when I talked to my "former" cohorts in the CBA back on Sunday) was that the relationship between "comfest" and the CBA had deteriated since '04 to the point the CBA was not asked to be part of comfest this year.  One of the guys who helps to book musicians for comfest is Jeff Rosenbloom (Jeff used to book acts for Blues Station, and I think still books for Oldfields on High [if that still exists]).  Jeff was brought "into the fold (CBA)" back in 2004 and then promply proceeded to piss off all the officers except for Sean Carney (then president) and myself [then membership Coord/office manager] (Jeff's personality rubbed everyone the wrong way).  Also, supposedly, there has been complaints over the years from neighbors of the "Blues Garage" that the music was too loud, and we ran shows too late.

But supposedly stupid little things like musicians (and/or CBA staff) illegally parking next to the garage, the bands being electric instead of acoustic, and using a drumset (of all things) is what led to "comfest" shuting down the Blues Garage.

From listening to the CBA's side of the story, I'd say "comfest" has been so used to getting their way and the CBA sort of running the Blues Garage unchecked (the Blues Garage wasn't even mentioned in the Comfest programs till 2004) led to this conflict of which "comfest" decided not to allow the Blues Garage this year.

As to whether the Blues Garage will happen next year, right now I'd say it's 67% not going to happen.

 

"comfest" - Candi Watkins and the Mendelson Brothers (theres others but those are the only names I can think of right now).  How long those 3 have been part of Comfest I don't know.  Somehow I doubt they were there when it started in 1970 (not 1975, not the 80s, nor the 90s).  And they've been running a profit for quite awhile now.  When I last talked to Candi Watkins (this was back in 2004) she mentioned the charities Comfest was funding for several years prior to then.  Alot of their money does come from beer sales.  I've never been privy to how their aquire and disperse their capital.

 

As for cops showing up during Comfest, unless there are assults, murders, rapes, or robberies, you will see a minimal police force at Comfest.  If the worse thing anyone sees there are topless grandmoms, weed, and overzelous usage of the 1st amendment, then good luck in finding a cop. 

Comfest is no more conservative than your favorite rock band "selling out."  The folks that put together Comfest are still old-school (which might be part of the problem) leftist at heart, but after insultating themselves from opposing viewpoints they don't work well with others now.  You know what they say about absolute power causing absolute coruption.  That may well be the case with Comfest now.

 

 

 

>so are you telling me you mis-represented the comfest? heh -- you did a good job!!

 

Yeah, absolutely, although there are a lot of arguments out there that it's impossible to take objective photos and I tend to agree with it, although I think the main problem for yearly events is that people have some idea of how it "looks" and so if you come back with a photo that's way off from their expectations then they're going to get upset.  So to a large extent if you're taking event photos for a traditional publication like the Dispatch you're more or less stuck searching for an acceptable person or people and context so that it lives up to that expectation.  The big advantage of the web as a form of presentation is that a photo gallery of 10 or however many photos gives a photographer and readers a lot more room to breathe.  That said it's fun to have one photo that really nails a situation and have it run on the hard copy to represent a story.  A few times I've come up with stuff that's funny enough you see people have cut out a photo and put it on bulletin boards and so on.  One time in school I was in the post office behind someone mailing a photo I had taken back to their parents and didn't say anything to them but things like that are a lot better validation for what you're doing than stuffy awards chosen by a mysterious committee. 

 

Also for events, especially multi-day events, journalists get lazy and just come down for 2 or 3 hours and then write a story on the whole event when they were barely there.  I've definitely gone to events for over 12 hours straight in order to make sure I got a lot of usable photos and then you end up being more or less the foremost expert on the event.  Unfortunately traditional journalism has deadlines that force you to head out before you can say things for sure about an event and a lot of things simply don't get out there because of it.  Also from a photographer's perspective since you're looking for a "centerpiece" photo you tend to avoid certain things until you are sure you've got a "good enough" feature photo at which point you can start being a bit more creative.  Also if you have the luxury of time you can take photos with a lot of different types of compositions because you don't know if the photo is going to run small or big, on the left or right side of the page, or what.  If you give the designers more to choose from it makes their job easier although what photo runs ends up being up to a designer which is a symptom of the caprices of the ad layout.  So people can sit out there thinking a paper has an agenda when in fact the circumstances leading to one picture being picked over another is often a purely practical decision.   

 

As for who chooses who plays at Comfest I'm aware that there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes but that's just how it goes with anything.  When an event is really great you just can't expect it to be as good next year, a lot of chance comes into play. 

^ well put -- as always.

 

all this is inevitable with the growth of the festival...and changing times as well -- it's been years since i was there. in the eighties-very early nineties comfest was much smaller and mostly only the actual hippys were there. i went, but frankly i'm not a big blues fan so it wasnt ever all that fun for me (actually it looks more fun now w/the crowds). aw i'm just getting personal w/ this festival -- no question it's a nice one.

>so are you telling me you mis-represented the comfest? heh -- you did a good job!!

 

Yeah, absolutely, although there are a lot of arguments out there that it's impossible to take objective photos and I tend to agree with it, although I think the main problem for yearly events is that people have some idea of how it "looks" and so if you come back with a photo that's way off from their expectations then they're going to get upset.  So to a large extent if you're taking event photos for a traditional publication like the Dispatch you're more or less stuck searching for an acceptable person or people and context so that it lives up to that expectation.  The big advantage of the web as a form of presentation is that a photo gallery of 10 or however many photos gives a photographer and readers a lot more room to breathe.  That said it's fun to have one photo that really nails a situation and have it run on the hard copy to represent a story.  A few times I've come up with stuff that's funny enough you see people have cut out a photo and put it on bulletin boards and so on.  One time in school I was in the post office behind someone mailing a photo I had taken back to their parents and didn't say anything to them but things like that are a lot better validation for what you're doing than stuffy awards chosen by a mysterious committee. 

 

Also for events, especially multi-day events, journalists get lazy and just come down for 2 or 3 hours and then write a story on the whole event when they were barely there.  I've definitely gone to events for over 12 hours straight in order to make sure I got a lot of usable photos and then you end up being more or less the foremost expert on the event.  Unfortunately traditional journalism has deadlines that force you to head out before you can say things for sure about an event and a lot of things simply don't get out there because of it.  Also from a photographer's perspective since you're looking for a "centerpiece" photo you tend to avoid certain things until you are sure you've got a "good enough" feature photo at which point you can start being a bit more creative.  Also if you have the luxury of time you can take photos with a lot of different types of compositions because you don't know if the photo is going to run small or big, on the left or right side of the page, or what.  If you give the designers more to choose from it makes their job easier although what photo runs ends up being up to a designer which is a symptom of the caprices of the ad layout.  So people can sit out there thinking a paper has an agenda when in fact the circumstances leading to one picture being picked over another is often a purely practical decision.    

 

As for who chooses who plays at Comfest I'm aware that there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes but that's just how it goes with anything.  When an event is really great you just can't expect it to be as good next year, a lot of chance comes into play. 

 

Id also like to point out journalists dont get paid enough to hang out at events for 13 hours lol.

>d also like to point out journalists dont get paid enough to hang out at events for 13 hours lol.

 

I think the who pay thing is a source of a lot of acrimony in the journalism world but I'm not convinced people would work a lot harder if they were getting paid two or three times as much.  You're either intense or you aren't.  It's funny running across threads where people lament being paid "only" $35K for whatever job starting out...try $12,000 or $16,000 for beginning journalists, something that averages out to about $6 or $8/hr.  A lot of people I think have to be partially supported by their parents when they are young adults and it causes tension in the family if some super-sibling is out there making tons of money in sales or something respectable.  If you aren't on staff you make somewhere between $15 and $50 per story or photo, I *might* hit $200 for this week (if they call me for what I'm supposed to be doing today) and that's for (let me count it up) about 30 hours worth of time at things and at the computer editing so far.  The other thing is if you have other jobs to support yourself you have less time to write or take photos so that cuts into your potential for stories and really all that matters in moving up in journalism is what you produce and how you work with people, not your grades or what school you went to.  A lot of people who got good grades and this and that award are lousy writers with no ideas.  Almost to a person people who got A's in photo classes weren't really challenging themselves, the faculty, or how photographs function.