Roswell Festival Update

[Keith A Henderson]

Steve S. suggests total looniness with....
>
> I know this might sound bloody looney, but what getting in contact
> with the Horde tour?  Sharing the expenses with other (US-based) acts
> would sure make the financial burden lighter, and Hawkwind is actually
> a known entity among some of the alternative crowd.  When Mark Arm
> of Mudhoney was asked by Guitar Player magazine to pick his top 10
> albums, he picked Doremi as # 3 or 4.

I think that *certainly* would be totally impossible, at least on the main
stage.  (They *do* have a second stage thing, don't they?).  Here in Columbus,
the four 'headlining' artists were Natalie Merchant, Lenny Kravitz, Rusted
Root, and Blues Traveller.  All four of those artists are an order of magnitude
(or more) well-known here in the states.  And they sell discs in the millions
rather than thousands.  Hawkwind wouldn't stand a chance of even getting a
consideration.

But then, I wouldn't want them to either.  I hate those damn mega-corporate
outdoor theatres.  They're a ripoff, and they usually book the same old
re-tread crap every summer....like Jimmy Buffet and all.  I actually don't
mind any of the four artists from this year's event, in fact I've already seen
two of them elsewhere (well, Rusted Root opened for Page/Plant), but I never
even for a moment considered going all of five miles to see this show the other
day.  (Now, if Natalie Merchant's solo material didn't suck so bad, I may have
actually had a tough decision to make.)  But HW doesn't belong on this sort of
stage - it'd be entirely foreign to them, and I don't think they'd enjoy it,
esp. since they'd realize how few people in the audience even knew who they
were.  After playing 25 years, I think it'd be more enjoyable to play to fewer
fans who knew your music and history than to play to lots of people who
couldn't care less.  That's for bands who are young, and are trying to reach
new audiences.  Maybe *we* see the potential of young alternative and techno
fans crossing over to Hawkwind music, but I'm not so sure Dave and the boys are
going to cater to that at their age.  Maybe they'd like their marketing people
to do that for them to sell more albums in the stores, but on tour, I think
that's a different matter.

Keith H.