Interview: Curtis Manley's The Big One Festival
By Matthew Toledo - 9/8/2005
The Big One Festival is coming to Athens on September 17th. It will be the largest outdoor music festival in Athens history complete with vendors, art, live music on eight stages, lights, lasers, comedians, and beer gardens. This ambitious project, called The Big One, is the dream of one person, Curtis Manley. However, many people don't know that much about Curtis, his history, and his goals for the festival. I took some time to record and interview with Curtis and ask him about himself and his ambitious project.
The History of Curtis Manley
Curtis Manley is originally from a suburb located on the Southeast corner of Columbus called Groveport. He started visiting Athens to see live local music at now defunct venues like the Swindlefish and Mama Einstein's when he was a senior in high school many years ago. After spending a few years studying at Wright State, Curtis, like so many folks I know, realized he had no idea what he wanted to do after college. He decided to drop out of school instead of wasting time and money and moved to the New River Valley Gorge in West Virginia, to find himself and pay the bills by becoming a whitewater guide.
His entire life, Curtis knew he wanted to be involved in music. Unfortunately, he discovered early in life that he didn't have what it took to play a musical instrument. Instead, he focused his energy on booking and promotion. He started by organizing several large-scale festivals in Fayette, County West Virginia that were more like parties for his fellow guides and river workers, who numbered in the thousands. His first festival, named "Rafting the Musical New," involved bands like Ekoostik Hookah and The Recipie among others. It was a musical two-day camp out with an optional whitewater rafting trip where folks could raft down the river with members of their favorite jam bands. His first two fests were successes, with crowds in the thousands. On his third attempt, he booked larger acts like Leftover Salmon and was rewarded with an attendance numbering over four thousand.
Unfortunately, during the four-thousand person event, a handful of audience members took it upon themselves to overdose on heroin (link to story). The Fayette County Commission Office responded by restructuring the permitting process in such a way to essentially make it impossible for promoters like Curtis to jump through all the necessary hoops. Armed with a six page rebuttal, Curtis walked into the commission office to try and get his permits passed. Without so much as a cursory glance at the document, the board rushed to a vote and effectively destroyed Curtis' fourth attempt at a festival. At that point, several thousand in the hole, Curtis decided to move back to Columbus to recuperate.
At home in Columbus, Curtis organized the 2002 Spring Fling festival on Frontier Ranch Music Center, which was since purchased by the members of Ekoostik Hookah and is now the home to their "Hookahville" festival. Ever since then, Curtis has worked on over 60 musical events with a music festival campground out of Terra Alta, West Virginia called Sunshine Daydream, which is also the primary sponsor for "The Big One" festival.
About two years ago, Curtis became the entertainment director for the Blue Gator and Court Street Management. Joel Scheterman hired Curtis after Sunshine Daydream booked Derek Trucks at the Gator the first time. They met before the show, where Joel asked if Curtis was interested in helping with promotion. After the show, Joel offered Curtis a permanent job where he has worked ever since. Due to the demands of organizing "The Big One"--Curtis is working 100 hour weeks right now--the folks at the Gator agreed to move Curtis to a less demanding position as the booking manager of the Gator instead of the Entertainment Director of Court Street Management. On October 1st, Curtis plans to return as strictly the booking agent.
The Big One
It's not too hard to see why someone like Curtis would be inspired to put together a large festival in Athens. His prior experience putting together events have all led up to this moment. Curtis first got the idea to put together a multi-stage event at the Athens County Fair Grounds when he drove by the venue as a high school senior. The possibility of such a fest has been mulling around in his brain ever since that day.
A 360 degree view of the fairgrounds.
"It's a prime venue," said Curtis, "It's in town, you've got walking, you've got all these permanent structures, you've got electricity, all these prime things." In the past, Curtis would approach a farmer and ask them if he could hold a show on their land. All the farmer would have to do is harvest the hay before the show. Curtis, on the other hand, would have to transform the virgin site into a venue complete with stages, electricity, bathrooms, and fences. When it comes to the fairgrounds, "there is very little that we are going to be brining in," stated Curtis.
Many of the bands playing the Big One Fest have played at the Blue Gator during Curtis's tour as the entertainment director at the Court Street Management. A complete list of bands can be found on this site, as well as on the festival's website, bigeventspresents.com. The decision to book so many out of town acts has caused some controversy especially among local groups that feel left out. However, Curtis points out that this is the first festival of what he hopes will be many more to come. He also stated on the AMN bulletin board during a rather heated thread that half of the individuals performing at The Big One have ties to Athens. "This is a starting point," stated Curtis, "I hope to build upon it next year."
Advance ticket prices are currently very low for such a grand event. However, the closer you get to the day of the event, the higher the ticket price becomes. It would be in your best interest to buy tickets now if you plan to attend. Proceeds from beer sales, a revenue stream that usually goes towards the festival, will instead be donated to the Athens Humane Society. It should be noted that the City of Athens is allowing beer on the Athens County Fairgrounds for the first time since prohibition. So drink up and save a kitten or puppy. The goal of this year's event is to break even. Curtis hopes that revenue from tickets combined with revenue from vendors and sponsors will cover the bills. I asked Curtis how many people need to attend in order for the show to meet his goal of zero debt. "If there was not a single sponsor dollar, if there was not a single vendor, and no form of income whatsoever we would need almost 10,000 people," stated Curtis, "But, with the different forms of income coming from different areas... the objective is around 5,000 people." Studies Curtis has commissioned show that due to interest from cities like Cincinnati and Columbus, it is very possible that eight to twelve thousand people could attend.
All of the stages will be sheltered from the elements to some degree, so the shows will go on rain or shine. Some of the stages are indoors/outdoors; others will be covered by large stadium tarps. Only thunder and lighting would be cause to shut down the event. A power outage at this year's smash-up derby delayed that event by several hours. Concerned about a similar event, Curtis will have power generators on hand to run the core sound services should that happen again. The fancy light shows won't work if another transformer blows, but the music and basic lights will still happen. Meanwhile, the house electrician has been contracted to attend the event to help set up and fix any problems should any arise.
The Help
An event as large at The Big One needs the effort of more than one person. Volunteers play a part in running the festival in areas like the kid's tent, the slip and slide area and kids twister tournament. However most of the people running this year's fest will be paid employees, some of them will be reliable people that Curtis has been working with for close to five years. "I know that they are quality people," said Curtis, "I know that the second they step on site until the second they leave, they are going to give 110 percent." Since this is a first for Athens and for Curtis, he has sought out some of the best problem solvers he knows to help staff the event.
Judy Palmer, a current OU student, Athens native, and bartender at the Cat's Den, is a managing partner. Curtis also pointed out that the City has been very helpful. In particular, Dan Gates, the Athens City Events Organizer, has helped to promote and organize the event. Dan's position is a new part-time position that was recently created by the City to help organize large events like The Big One. Athens, unlike Fayette County, West Virginia, realizes that events like this bring in tourist dollars. "People are coming in from Columbus spending their Columbus pay checks in Athens," said Curtis, "That's Athens sales tax, money for Athens businesses, so they see the benefit in that." Curtis went on to say that he hopes they make Dan Gates' position a permanent city post because it he been very helpful during the permitting, traffic, and other aspects of the organization process.
Another person, John Broz, is joining the team. He has been a long time Blue Gator street team member. His duties as part of the street team have been to hang flyers and help promote the show. His duties for this event will be similar. In addition to helping the Gator, John Broz started the local political group "Students for Ralph Nader" and is responsible for helping to bring Ralph Nader to Athens to speak. Last fall quarter, John dropped out of school to work for full time for Ralph Nader after Mr. Nader offered him a job. He only recently returned to Athens to live.
In addition to the local help, there will be three hired stage managers to organize and run the stages that feature mainly out-of-town acts. There is also a production crew. Curtis went on to point out his appreciation of the fact that the crews are working for less than standard pay due to the low ticket prices for the event. Similar jobs from union stage crews pay upwards of twenty bucks an hour, these people will be working for far less than that.
Becktech Audio will run sound and lighting for the entire event. "I'm not sure how much outsourcing Becktech will do, but essentially there is one company running sound." The main stage will contain eight intelligent lights, tie-dyed lights, lasers, fog, and enough racks of canned lights to make the event a sight to see.
