Seattle Stranger writer kicked out of Hempfest backstage

(The Stranger’s SLOG) I got kicked out of Hempfest’s backstage yesterday, apparently for suggesting in The Stranger that the event should lose the tie-dyes on the stages and go for a broader appeal. …After listening to a few speakers and consuming one gigantic veggie burrito with pickled jalapeños, I went behind the main stage. I was talking to a friend when a member of the Hempfest board, John Davis, whom I’ve known for about 15 years, approached me and said, “You can’t be back here. You have to go.” …Davis snatched the pass out of my hand, and as the security guy escorted me out, he said that it’s because I’m a “member of the media.”

Uh, I’ve been a member of the media in past years, and I’ve always been allowed backstage. And before I was a reporter—back when I was the spokesman for Hempfest—several times we’d have reporters walk freely backstage. So what gives? Hempfest director Vivian McPeak reportedly told a staffer, who went to ask what the fuck was going on, that I had “proverbially stabbed [him] in the back.” But, Vivian, I thought you were omnipotent. About 10 minutes earlier, he was on the main stage mic referring to himself as “the great Vivian McPeak.”

The issue, clearly, is that Hempfest organizers are outraged that anyone would dare critique their event. They cannot separate themselves from their culture from their politics. So any commentary of their political strategy (simply saying they should take down the cheesy tie-dyes) is apparently a personal backstabbing. That’s a tragically self-centered perspective for any organization, political cause, or leader—especially one that is “great.”

Dominic, you must have been ousted shortly after I had a chance to say hi to you and your brother backstage. I had my media people nearly kicked out of backstage at Main Stage as well, as Hempfest had a “backstage escort” requirement this year. Any folks with media passes without an accompanying speaker or musical performer were kicked out, I was told. Too many people trying to relax backstage didn’t want any photos or stories about what they were doing, I guess.

I appreciated the back-and-forth we had on this topic over at the Stash. I’m still of the opinion that 200,000 people gathered peacefully in a park for a weekend openly smoking marijuana while an all-volunteer crew wrangles hundreds of vendors and six stages is enough of a political statement as it is.

I also understand the “that ain’t me” reaction from many pot smokers. It’s the same reaction my wife gives when she sees bud-covered naked women in High Times Magazine. To that I say, great, please, form a new magazine or present a new Hempfest for all the cannabis-closeted squares to come enjoy. If there are so many who are so uncomfortable with hippie tie-dye patchouli-stained ghettoes, there surely should be a huge audience for the new Short-Haired Respectable Polos & Dockers Hempfest with special guest Kenny G, and there must be plenty of ad revenue available for the new Cannabis Connoisseur Magazine.
Many have brought up the Hempfest “Objective and Purpose”. 200,000 people openly smoking pot equaling no disaster is a huge example of “educat[ing] the public” “through example”. Panels on hemp, media, medicine, politics, and law at Hemposium are nothing but educating the public. NORML, Oregon NORML, SAFER, and other non-profits are educating the public. Vendors selling everything you can make from hemp are educating the public.

Personally, my walking an estimated seven miles through wall-to-wall people to speak on four stages was educating the public. I guarantee you hundreds of people now have the Congressional Switchboard (202-224-3121) and the White House Comment Line (202-456-1111) programmed in their cell phones now from speeches by me and Madeline Martinez. Hundreds of people now know the prohibition stories of GA Rep. Tommy “Caning for Potheads” Benton, Michigan student Derek Copp, and Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo. I spent 25 minutes at Laughs Comedy Stage educating a growing crowd about police tactics in drug busts, marijuana health statistics, marijuana usage statistics, Constitutional rights, and state and federal legislation.

Hempfest is what it is and is the most successful one of its kind. The criticisms you leveled at Hempfest were taken culturally by people who consider themselves hippies and represent themselves with tie-dye and other counter-cultural attire. Don’t be surprised they took it like organizers of a pro-Israel rally might take it if you suggested more mainstream people would be attracted to their cause if they got rid of all the Hebrew writing, offered some pork dishes, and kept those guys dressed in all black with the funny hats and curly-q sideburns off the stage.

I know that’s not how you intended it; you intended constructive criticism for a huge public event to be more effective. I also know you didn’t mean it personally; I’ve hung out with you at Hempfest and other events before and I know you to not be abrasive or insulting. But in this case, Dom, you may have just been a bit culturally insensitive. The people pouring their heart into Hempfest are hippies, so “lose the hippie vibe” sounds like “you people bring us all down” to them, and that’s a helluva thing to read when you’re dedicating a large part of your life to something.

And, in fact, the hippies go out of their way to make Hempfest as diverse as possible. I heard a 1930′s style old timey band, hardcore gangsta rap, a bitchin’ jazz acoustic guitar player, and an Ozzy Osbourne cover all on the same Main Stage (not all at once, of course). I saw Boca, Veggie, and Beef burgers served for the backstage VIPs. There was a Dancesafe stage playing the most unhippie electronica possible. I saw more guylinered multi-chained-droopy-drawers Goth kids than I did hippies.

Finally, as one commenter above made the point of “white folks don’t need a month”, Hempfest is for the freaky, the counter-cultural, the hippie to celebrate marijuana. The conservative-looking minivan-driving couple with the house in the hills who smoke pot in the garage when the kids are away don’t need a Hempfest; they’re not the ones getting harassed by police and busted for marijuana. (It’s a bit of a chicken and egg, isn’t it? The squares don’t want to be busted like hippies, so only the hippies are left to agitate for marijuana legalization, which the squares would support if only if weren’t so hippified. I say the hippies have done their share. I am ready and willing to give speeches at Squarefest whenever it comes to fruition.)