Now is "Then"

I never quite got the hand of LinkedIn or perhaps don't have the discipline to properly leverage it but every now and then I manage a post...so here it goes.

I've been sitting on this for a while…this post...about work.

I’m not talking inner work here. I’m talking about the skills that pay the bills and the hours associated with such pursuits.

I suppose I’ve been sitting on it for a while because the inner work...the life work...has been my focus. I’ve been recalibrating and rewriting the story that I tell myself about the world around me, my past, and my future. I’ve been doing the ‘ol cerebral defrag that is very likely customary for people of my age, generation, and life stage (see my last post on marriage and children).

I’ve not been asking for work as I haven’t really felt available to the world to take on anything new. I wasn’t interested in sharing the story that I was carrying around with me, professionally or socially, but now, in the Autumn of 2019 I find myself feeling ready...ready to rejoin the portion of the capitalistic slog that is the opportunity dream machine.

It’s not that I haven’t been working. I’ve happily held onto my role as Site Manager for the Lagunitas Beer Circus, a multi-city tour produced by the Petaluma based craft brew that benefits local non-profits at each stop. I held on to this because, well, I had too. That, and I liked it. It was easier on the mind, body, and wallet than the world of festivals that had been my professional mainstay since 2009. It also busted many of my preconceptions about working for a corporate entity. Anyway, following the 2017 Oregon Eclipse Festival, which served as the nail in my festival coffin, I fulfilled my last obligation at the 2018 Okeechobee Music Festival, and then put it all to bed...and it was not just a disco nap.

So, quite officially, “Hey Dream Machine, I’m ready to Work Again!”

A bit about myself:

My practical background is in Site Management which flows out of the site mapping process to account for needs in fencing, sanitation, event flow, heavy equipment orders, power distribution, logistics, and content placement.

I’m largely self-taught, which has it’s benefits and detractors...I’m happy to discuss both

I’ve worked in environments both urban and remote (Antarctica, Black Rock City, Chicago Public Parks, Fairgrounds, and Parking Lots)

I’ve made stinging professional mistakes out in the field that have imparted lessons with profiles so sharp as to have imbued serious wisdom

I’m accustomed to managing a project from home, with occasional site visits, for anywhere between 2-6 months before heading to site for build, show, and strike that could be a week or a month.

My life partner, who I’ve been festivalizing the world with since 2009 has a practical background in Event Safety and Production Management, and when we work together sparks fly...cool, controlled, safe, and reliable sparks.

I’ve been an Art Curator (JTMF), rogue agent with two radios, kubota, and leatherman for the late night shift (LIB), Food Vendor Coordinator (LIB/Symbiosis Events), and Site Manager (BRC, OMF, Lagunitas Beer Circus)

I’m at comfort in the midst of crisis

After many years of being a one person show that had to try, fail, try, win, and self teach I have accumulated the requisite experience to plan, arrive, see the picture, delagate, and manage a team...it wasn’t all fun in arriving at this point but I am glad to say that I have, in fact, arrived.

I am not an expert builder, equipment operator, stagehand, or sound tech but I know how to cultivate communications between experts so the visionary gets what they want. I do this through a combination of directness, transparency, and consciously applied language. This is one of my greatest gifts.

I'm a family main now....so all business is a

family business.

These are my past experiences and my future...well, let’s just say it’s much less fest and more local and diverse

Local...

It’s been nearly a decade since I seriously worked in my chosen community of 19 years. In that time much has changed around here, this edge of the middle of nowhere that is the Morongo Basin. Visitation has exploded, AirBnb and Instagram have done what AirBnB and Instagram do, and the days of saying you live in Joshua Tree even if you live in Yucca Valley are over because people in NYC know where Landers is now.

While the High Desert was changing, so was I. I’ve accrued a set of skills that at the time couldn’t be found here. I’m more inclined to utilize my skills on my home turf than any time since 2009. So, what would I be interested in applying myself too here in the Mojave?

Event Production/Site Management/Consultant for outside shows wanting to produce events in or near the Morongo Basin. These are the events the locals love to hate, because the producer’s don’t understand the context of the region well enough to execute with mutual benefit in mind

Drawings for Home Remodels...utilizing my background Sketchup to work with RESIDENTS of the High Desert to tackle their home remodel process (≤3000 ft2) in order to make the best decisions and test concepts before the contractor shows up

New Project Endeavors...whether you’ve managed to carve out local status or are new to town I’d be happy to explore new ideas you’d like to see born in the high desert. I’m a project manager at heart and the skills of producing can be quite universal, whether you’re producing and event or a permaculture destination resort. If conditions are favorable, I can help you contextualize, research, message, and administer your concept.

Hiking Guiding Service...I’m eager to combine my passion for Mojave terrain and flora/fauna with my innate teaching qualities and sense of regional context. Want to discuss further? Hit me up.

Diverse…

Am I done with festivals and shows? I wouldn’t say that. I could happily pick up an additional multi-city tour or two that is of similar scale as the Beer Circus (≤10,000 attendants / 4 cities). When it comes to multi-day camp out events, well, that’s trickier. It’s a different market than it used to be (mostly because it feels like a market and not a movement) and I’m 38 now...not 28. My ability to feel like a true steward over the celebratory revelings of youngsters on drugs and electronic music feels atrophied and perhaps beyond repair. I’ve found my Peace with this not so recent development.

So, if not events, then what?

Disaster/Humanitarian Response...I’ve seen others with a background in producing events in geographically remote and resource light environments successfully navigate the rising waters of climate change and its impact on human communities. While I struggle to steward the festival consumer the climate impacted family requires no sales pitch. My ability to adapt into this field would be natural and based on practical experience

Consulting...so, you want to start a festival. Well, you are either very ambitious to tackle such a thing in this new market of music and art events, OR you’re working in an emergent field such as cannabis oriented happenings. Regardless, my background in working both boutique and corporate angles, and especially product specific events by way of my time with the Lagunitas Brewing Company’s annual Beer Circus Tour, leaves me well positioned to impart relevant information on infrastructure, vendor relations, logistics, operations, and safety

Site Plans...look, I don’t need to be at your festival to create a map for your festival. In fact, it’s definitely better if your Cartographer and Site Manager are not the same person and I know this because I’ve been occupying both positions, simultaneously, for years. I can map your linear feet, square feet, and scale it out for you so that that portable restroom on the map and the tree next to it are to scale and really there, so that your event goers can know that they are there too now

The Experience Sector...I see all you Meow Wolfers, One Domer’s, and Poetic Kineticer’s out there...I see what you’re doing. I also see how what you are doing grew out of the festival culture that was a heavy hand on the west coast for so long but is now reaching outward. I also see how many of you, like me, began to look around the party and say, “This is not my beautiful festival. How did I get here?” I’d be happy to speak with you all and talk about a few small scale test runs that I might be suitable for.

So there it is. I mean most of it. I haven’t mentioned the book of essays I’d like to write, but it’d be hard for me to file that under professional right now. This is ultimately a conversational piece that I'm hope some of you will engage with. “Going it Alone” isn’t something I’m as inclined to leverage like I used to and crafting a next level career narrative that I can feel grateful for and honored to perform really is a communal effort.

Any feedback is welcome. Thanks Everyone.