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Flyermonkey
12-Feb-08, 23:02
I recently heard that the Northern Lights Festival that was held in Durness last year was going to be moving to Wick in 2008, but with bigger headline bands, DJs, artists and performers.

Unfortunately, I have just read this on their myspace blog at http://www.myspace.com/durnessnorthernlights

"Hi all,

I have some very sad news.

Due to funding difficulties I will not be staging a Northern Lights Festival in Wick this year. The main problem has been the timescale to raise the money to stage this year's event, which would guarantee the deposits for the headline acts. Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise had pledged half the money - but only as match funding. It has not been possible to find other sources of funding within the timescale to secure the headliners. Without the headliners it would be only half the festival.

I have worked since the end of the last festival - unpaid and at my own expense - and put together a superb line-up with many top acts who were desperate to play because of the succeess and reputation of Durness. Unfortunately that has all now been lost. I am afraid I have exhausted all avenues. I sincerely hope we can put a festival on in Durness again in 2010 - the 7Oth anniversary of John's birth.

I wish you all the very best and hope that one day we can all work together again.


Kind Regards

Mike Merritt"


I am really saddened to hear this after the huge success of last years one, as well as the award they won for Best New Festival at the UK Festival Awards. I am sure it would have been a very special event once again and brought some much appreciated publicity and tourism for Wick as well as something exciting and different for those us living up here in Caithness.

What are everyone else's views?

The Pepsi Challenge
13-Feb-08, 03:32
What made the John Lennon Festival such a hit was down to two things: (a) the setting - great scenery (Smoo Cave for example), great location and great weather; (b) Its links with the Beatle - the fact he spent a lot of his childhood summers there, and that he came back in later life and wrote about it (by way of song), captured peoples' imagination. To move the festival elsewhere would dilute its popularity and appeal. So, host it in Wick? Now that is a laugh. With all due respect, the town is a cultural Chernobyl.

WeeRob
13-Feb-08, 10:31
What made the John Lennon Festival such a hit was down to two things: (a) the setting - great scenery (Smoo Cave for example), great location and great weather; (b) Its links with the Beatle - the fact he spent a lot of his childhood summers there, and that he came back in later life and wrote about it (by way of song), captured peoples' imagination. To move the festival elsewhere would dilute its popularity and appeal. So, host it in Wick? Now that is a laugh. With all due respect, the town is a cultural Chernobyl.

Compared to DURNESS?? Blah blah blah mate.....

Nothing you haven't said before! Would putting a festival to the town not help this cultural vacuum??

Apparently Yoko Ono doesn't want it to be named the "John Lennon" festival anymore due to its tenuous links with the bespectacled beatle. So that factor's out anyway. And "great weather" is always a variable no matter where the festival is set!

So in my humble opinion what you've just said is offensive tripe.

rob murray
13-Feb-08, 11:01
What made the John Lennon Festival such a hit was down to two things: (a) the setting - great scenery (Smoo Cave for example), great location and great weather; (b) Its links with the Beatle - the fact he spent a lot of his childhood summers there, and that he came back in later life and wrote about it (by way of song), captured peoples' imagination. To move the festival elsewhere would dilute its popularity and appeal. So, host it in Wick? Now that is a laugh. With all due respect, the town is a cultural Chernobyl.

I would agree that it would be nonsense to move this away from Durness, presumably Wick has been pulled in as an alternative venue by potential funders but there is not enough information on the thread to know this for sure. This would be like asking the mighty Wick Academy to play home games in Thurso. With all due respect, you can lump in all of Scotland ( outside a few luvvie hang outs in Edinburgh ) as a cultural chernobyl, Wick is not alone here my friend !!

katarina
13-Feb-08, 13:06
I was at the John Lennon Festival last year and it was great. However there were problems getting accommodation with one hotel full and the other closed down. We stayed in the hostel which was adequate, but also very busy, we were lucky to get in. the camp site was also busy and a good distance from the venues, a long walk if you wanted a drink. I don't see any thing wrong with having alternative venues every year - these events lift the spirits, and that's what we need, don't we?

rob murray
13-Feb-08, 13:13
I was at the John Lennon Festival last year and it was great. However there were problems getting accommodation with one hotel full and the other closed down. We stayed in the hostel which was adequate, but also very busy, we were lucky to get in. the camp site was also busy and a good distance from the venues, a long walk if you wanted a drink. I don't see any thing wrong with having alternative venues every year - these events lift the spirits, and that's what we need, don't we?

Aye but the Durness festival exists only through the John Lennon connection, shifting it around would kill the connection as its a personal connection not a branmd like T in the Park whihc can be moved anywhere. Throughout the 70's and 80's David Morrison used to put on a 3 day event, The Wick Poetry, Jazz and Folk festival, showcasing local poets / musicians it died off around 1981. No reason why a new festival ( suitably branded, content judged suitable for an event ) cannot be established in Wick or anywhere else in the north, it just takes some people pulling together and community support.

The Pepsi Challenge
13-Feb-08, 16:56
I was at the John Lennon Festival last year and it was great. However there were problems getting accommodation with one hotel full and the other closed down. We stayed in the hostel which was adequate, but also very busy, we were lucky to get in. the camp site was also busy and a good distance from the venues, a long walk if you wanted a drink. I don't see any thing wrong with having alternative venues every year - these events lift the spirits, and that's what we need, don't we?

You never had it so good.

The Pepsi Challenge
13-Feb-08, 17:00
Compared to DURNESS?? Blah blah blah mate.....

Nothing you haven't said before! Would putting a festival to the town not help this cultural vacuum??

Apparently Yoko Ono doesn't want it to be named the "John Lennon" festival anymore due to its tenuous links with the bespectacled beatle. So that factor's out anyway. And "great weather" is always a variable no matter where the festival is set!

So in my humble opinion what you've just said is offensive tripe.

Help this cultural vacuum? No, it'll take a lot, lot more than a two/three-day festival to solve that problem am afraid. Can you provide quotes to prove Yoko doesn't want the festival to be named after her late husband? Far as am aware, she only wanted his name removed from a possible film about his time in Durness. Offensive tripe? What's offensive about it? Is Wick not a cultural Chernobyl? Would love to believe otherwise.

Flyermonkey
13-Feb-08, 17:50
" The festival was given approval, for the first year only, to use John's name from Yoko Ono Lennon (for which we are very grateful) and John's sister Julia Baird as well as cousin Stan Parkes attended and gave talks about John and his love of Durness."

From the Northern Lights Myspace page. The idea always was, as far as I am aware, to make use of the John Lennon connection in the first year as a launch pad for a longer running festival. Permission was only ever granted by Yoko Ono for 1 year. There is a full story on the front page of today's Caithness Courier, but the festival was going to move about the coast, including Thurso, Helmsdale and Durness, again, in later years.



So, host it in Wick? Now that is a laugh. With all due respect, the town is a cultural Chernobyl.I have to say I, too, find that really quite offensive! For starters, it depends on what your meaning of 'culture' actually is - culture can be found anywhere you want to look for it.

However, I am assuming your implication is that us poor ignorant tcheucters aren't good enough to appreciate music, art, poetry etc? Hmm, I think you should maybe keep your 'Embra' city attitude to your 'luvvie' lowland bars and remember who does the farming, fishing and energy production that provides the sustinance for your body and light for your art gallerys and opera houses!

katarina
13-Feb-08, 18:29
Help this cultural vacuum? No, it'll take a lot, lot more than a two/three-day festival to solve that problem am afraid. Can you provide quotes to prove Yoko doesn't want the festival to be named after her late husband? Far as am aware, she only wanted his name removed from a possible film about his time in Durness. Offensive tripe? What's offensive about it? Is Wick not a cultural Chernobyl? Would love to believe otherwise.

It is indeed offensive to call Wick a 'cultural vacuum' You haven't been looking very far, I'm afraid.

rob murray
13-Feb-08, 19:35
Help this cultural vacuum? No, it'll take a lot, lot more than a two/three-day festival to solve that problem am afraid. Can you provide quotes to prove Yoko doesn't want the festival to be named after her late husband? Far as am aware, she only wanted his name removed from a possible film about his time in Durness. Offensive tripe? What's offensive about it? Is Wick not a cultural Chernobyl? Would love to believe otherwise.

Barry, see postings above from Mike re your request for quotes / clarification of above issue..now issue apology number 1. Is Wick a cultural Chernobyl ? Go and ask Gleber 2 who is always very warmly welcomed when playing in "chernobyl". On what basis do you base this opinion check ? Seems to me that you are either on the wind up or yer serious. My opinion is that your serious..so put yer facts up check, ( if you have the bottle ) and justify your viewpoint....Im sure plenty oh Weekers will have a good laugh at yah ( we mean it maaaaann !!! )

scotsboy
13-Feb-08, 19:43
I'm sure I am telling you all something you know already but:


Ten years after the Chernobyl disaster, journalist Mary Mycio made her first trip to the Chernobyl region. Equipped with dosimeter [describe what this is used for] and protective gear, Mycio set out to explore the world's only radioactive wilderness environment and the defiant local residents who remained behind to survive and make their lives in the Zone."

She discovered a wilderness teeming with large animals, more than before the nuclear disaster and many of them members of rare and endangered species. Like the forests, fields, and swamps of this unexpectedly inviting habitat, both the people and animals are radioactive. Cesium-137 is packed in their muscles and strontium-90 in their bones. But, quite astonishingly, they are also thriving.

Chernobyl's flourishing new ecosystem is "one of the first examples of how, in the absence of human intervention, nature in the zone could recover its balance," writes Mycio—even in the face of radioactive "ghost towns and villages [that] stand in tragic testimony to the devastating effects of technology gone awry. Taken from:
http://www.physorg.com/news6858.html

So maybe being a cultural Chernobyl is a bit of a back-handed comment:)

thebigman
13-Feb-08, 20:00
I think that 2010 is a far more realistic timescale for fund raising, any event of the size of last year's one would struggle to be properly organised in 12 months.

The organisers might get a response if they ask for help on here.

cuddlepop
13-Feb-08, 20:03
It looks like there is not going to be an Isle of Skye music festival either.:(
Something to do with their funding being cut...

smj
14-Feb-08, 00:45
Reading all the above and taking into account the insults & petty squabbling, (even though I am devastated that the funding could not be raised for this years Northern Lights Festival), perhaps, it would not be possible to recreate the friendly and welcoming atmosphere that was abundant in Durness. The place, the people and the warmth made it the best festival I have been too ……. I’ll wait until 2010 to return to Durness, I didn’t hear anyone bickering there. ‘Peace & Love’ ?????????? I will forward this link to Mike Merritt and perhaps he will add a comment!

smj
14-Feb-08, 02:46
I was at the John Lennon Festival last year and it was great. However there were problems getting accommodation with one hotel full and the other closed down. We stayed in the hostel which was adequate, but also very busy, we were lucky to get in. the camp site was also busy and a good distance from the venues, a long walk if you wanted a drink. I don't see any thing wrong with having alternative venues every year - these events lift the spirits, and that's what we need, don't we?

Ps. I stayed on the campsite & there were lots of pitches available, there was also FREE transport provided by the festival to take you to & from the the venues, this was great, you could have a few dram's & get home safely, a brill time was had by all .....

rob murray
14-Feb-08, 09:18
Reading all the above and taking into account the insults & petty squabbling, (even though I am devastated that the funding could not be raised for this years Northern Lights Festival), perhaps, it would not be possible to recreate the friendly and welcoming atmosphere that was abundant in Durness. The place, the people and the warmth made it the best festival I have been too ……. I’ll wait until 2010 to return to Durness, I didn’t hear anyone bickering there. ‘Peace & Love’ ?????????? I will forward this link to Mike Merritt and perhaps he will add a comment!

Re read the thread, not much bickering on display here, just a gutless luvvie mouthing off about Week. I wis at Durness masel and dealt with Mike prior to the festival, he's a top bloke !

The Pepsi Challenge
14-Feb-08, 10:27
" The festival was given approval, for the first year only, to use John's name from Yoko Ono Lennon (for which we are very grateful) and John's sister Julia Baird as well as cousin Stan Parkes attended and gave talks about John and his love of Durness."

From the Northern Lights Myspace page. The idea always was, as far as I am aware, to make use of the John Lennon connection in the first year as a launch pad for a longer running festival. Permission was only ever granted by Yoko Ono for 1 year. There is a full story on the front page of today's Caithness Courier, but the festival was going to move about the coast, including Thurso, Helmsdale and Durness, again, in later years.


I have to say I, too, find that really quite offensive! For starters, it depends on what your meaning of 'culture' actually is - culture can be found anywhere you want to look for it.

However, I am assuming your implication is that us poor ignorant tcheucters aren't good enough to appreciate music, art, poetry etc? Hmm, I think you should maybe keep your 'Embra' city attitude to your 'luvvie' lowland bars and remember who does the farming, fishing and energy production that provides the sustinance for your body and light for your art gallerys and opera houses!

I take it back, Wick is in fact a melting pot. When you base artistic culture on subjects manifested in music, art, theater and literature, you have to say Wick is teeming with the stuff. Shame Gordon Gunn - one of the town and Caithness' best musicians - can barely pull a crowd there.

For the record, I rarely drink let alone hang around upmarket bars; I come from a family of crofters and former nuclear power workers, and only go to art galleries and opera houses when on commissioned exercises.

So relax, and enjoy your hair.

WeeRob
14-Feb-08, 12:08
Help this cultural vacuum? No, it'll take a lot, lot more than a two/three-day festival to solve that problem am afraid. Can you provide quotes to prove Yoko doesn't want the festival to be named after her late husband? Far as am aware, she only wanted his name removed from a possible film about his time in Durness. Offensive tripe? What's offensive about it? Is Wick not a cultural Chernobyl? Would love to believe otherwise.

No I can't provide quotes - hence the use of "apparently". If it helps I'll retract that statement until we find out for certain.

Its offensive on two fronts: firstly, Wick is in same the position as a lot of small towns. I can't think of any town - of a similar size - in the North who has a firmly developed arts / culture scene. These tend to cluster around city areas, and even then purely the affluent ones (compare Dundee to Edinburgh).

Secondly, there are SOME arts / cultural events in the town, and the people who run / attend them show great levels of dedication. Its offensive to them to sum up their work as producing a "cultural Chernobyl".

And why is it always Wick that takes the brunt of your journalistic tongue on these forums????

The Pepsi Challenge
14-Feb-08, 14:18
No I can't provide quotes - hence the use of "apparently". If it helps I'll retract that statement until we find out for certain.

Its offensive on two fronts: firstly, Wick is in same the position as a lot of small towns. I can't think of any town - of a similar size - in the North who has a firmly developed arts / culture scene. These tend to cluster around city areas, and even then purely the affluent ones (compare Dundee to Edinburgh).

Secondly, there are SOME arts / cultural events in the town, and the people who run / attend them show great levels of dedication. Its offensive to them to sum up their work as producing a "cultural Chernobyl".

And why is it always Wick that takes the brunt of your journalistic tongue on these forums????

OK, then. To use your method, Wick, in my opinion, apparently has little in the way of culture. Durness, Ullapool, Portree, Plockton, Kirkwall even Glenurquhart - all smaller than Wick - encompass more of a cultural scene than Wick does. But am more than willing to be proved otherwise. Can you list what cultural activities draws so many people out to events there? And just because you put a lot of effort into anything doesn't mean it's any good, or worthwhile. I'll also share criticism where it's warranted, whether that's in Wick or anywhere else in Caithness. Caithness deserves, and has, the potential to be a major player in terms of cultural vibrancy and attractiveness. Sadly, it doesn't, and mores the pity. I think we all would love to see Wick prosper, an all fronts.

WeeRob
14-Feb-08, 16:20
OK, then. To use your method, Wick, in my opinion, apparently has little in the way of culture. Durness, Ullapool, Portree, Plockton, Kirkwall even Glenurquhart - all smaller than Wick - encompass more of a cultural scene than Wick does.

To put it simply I don't agree with that statement. Those places all hold festivals, but thats not a sign of an artistic community at all. For goodness sake though - Durness??? Plockton?? Portree?

These are hardly vibrant places! Wick does host artistic / cultural events on a regular basis, I suppose if they're not your cup of tea I can't argue with that.

One final point: the events in Wick / Caithness as a whole take place on a fraction of the budget the public sector shells out on other places in the North. There are various factors in that, but ultimately its true. Which makes the achievements of the few who do try to liven up this "cultural Chernobyl" all the more remarkable.

Flyermonkey
14-Feb-08, 16:27
Caithness deserves, and has, the potential to be a major player in terms of cultural vibrancy and attractiveness...... I think we all would love to see Wick prosper, an all fronts.Excellent! Now that we have got the squabbling out the way, can we bring some peace and love to the proceedings (thank you, SMJ) and maybe get back to the subject on hand.... hopefully with some positivity? ;)

Do we think that there is anything we can do to try and bring the Northern Lights Festival back on track?

We could do something else, as has already been suggested, but the Northern Lights Festival already has some 'branding' (admittedly diminished without John Lennon's name in front of it), has 50% funding in place from HIE (according the the Caithness Courier), has a reputation (thanks to all the people who enjoyed it last year and it winning the Best New Festival Award) and has named artists wanting to be involved.

I realise that having it anywhere other than Durness means that it won't be the same as last years, although I am of the opinion that, for so many reasons (all good, and many already mentioned), the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival could never be repeated, even in Durness. It was a very magical weekend, in main due to a truly unique set of circumstances.

However, that doesn't mean that we can't pick up the gauntlet and try and run with it, does it? There is, or was, a huge opportunity to do something good, positive and equally unique in Wick. And with thought, passion, creativity and a bit of luck it could turn out to be as good as the one in Durness but for its own set of reasons.

Maybe I am just an optimist....?

The Pepsi Challenge
14-Feb-08, 16:28
To put it simply I don't agree with that statement. Those places all hold festivals, but thats not a sign of an artistic community at all. For goodness sake though - Durness??? Plockton?? Portree?

These are hardly vibrant places! Wick does host artistic / cultural events on a regular basis, I suppose if they're not your cup of tea I can't argue with that.

One final point: the events in Wick / Caithness as a whole take place on a fraction of the budget the public sector shells out on other places in the North. There are various factors in that, but ultimately its true. Which makes the achievements of the few who do try to liven up this "cultural Chernobyl" all the more remarkable.

Fight the power, WeeRob.

The Pepsi Challenge
14-Feb-08, 16:32
Excellent! Now that we have got the squabbling out the way, can we bring some peace and love to the proceedings (thank you, SMJ) and maybe get back to the subject on hand.... hopefully with some positivity? ;)

Do we think that there is anything we can do to try and bring the Northern Lights Festival back on track?

We could do something else, as has already been suggested, but the Northern Lights Festival already has some 'branding' (admittedly diminished without John Lennon's name in front of it), has 50% funding in place from HIE (according the the Caithness Courier), has a reputation (thanks to all the people who enjoyed it last year and it winning the Best New Festival Award) and has named artists wanting to be involved.

I realise that having it anywhere other than Durness means that it won't be the same as last years, although I am of the opinion that, for so many reasons (all good, and many already mentioned), the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival could never be repeated, even in Durness. It was a very magical weekend, in main due to a truly unique set of circumstances.

However, that doesn't mean that we can't pick up the gauntlet and try and run with it, does it? There is, or was, a huge opportunity to do something good, positive and equally unique in Wick. And with thought, passion, creativity and a bit of luck it could turn out to be as good as the one in Durness but for its own set of reasons.

Maybe I am just an optimist....?

I share your enthusiasm (in spirit, anyway). So what's the bottom line at the minute? Will there be another Northern Lights Festival? And if so, who decides where it is to be staged? Once we've established that - and, if it's located in Caithness - I'd be prepared to elaborate on it some further.

Flyermonkey
14-Feb-08, 16:54
I share your enthusiasm (in spirit, anyway). So what's the bottom line at the minute? Will there be another Northern Lights Festival? And if so, who decides where it is to be staged? Once we've established that - and, if it's located in Caithness - I'd be prepared to elaborate on it some further.

The main problems are outlined in yesterdays Caithness Courier

http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4019/Festival_plans_scrapped_after_administrative_wrang le.html (http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4019/Festival_plans_scrapped_after_administrative_wrang le.html)

The bottom line is, as is usually the case, cold hard cash! Mike Merritt needs an organisation (or indeed individual or company) to take on the 'promotion' of the event ie take the financial risk, as North Highland Tourism did last year.

I am assuming, though I don't know, that where it is staged is decided by the funders with practical recommendations by Mike. I do, however, know, that the problem with a repeat performance in Durness was that there would be absolutely no room for the expansion (not least because of accommodation issues brought up earlier in the thread) which given the success of last time one would expect and hope for.

Boozeburglar
19-Feb-08, 04:23
With all due respect, the town is a cultural Chernobyl.

What exactly do you mean? Was Wick once culturally rich, but then suffered some disaster?

Boozeburglar
19-Feb-08, 04:50
Durness, Ullapool, Portree, Plockton, Kirkwall even Glenurquhart - all smaller than Wick - encompass more of a cultural scene than Wick does.

Durness, a place I have spent a deal of time, has little other than Balnakiel. What 'cultural scene' are you talking about?

Ullapool has a mediocre rock and drugs festival, nothing Wick could not do, don't know if it should want to really.

Kirkwall has a quaint tradition involving a lot of heaving and pushing, and a nice cathedral.

Plockton? Jesus, I spend a fair bit of time there and it is just a quiet wee town full of incomers and some good players.

Glenurquhart... well there is a good New Year party at Drum, and a lot of Nessie related tripe. Some good bands playing, but Wick has too.

Wick has some of Britain's architectural treasure and a great deal of historical importance in terms of the North, that is as good a basis as any for future development.

It is sad to hear a crofter and Dounreay worker descendant do down one of his home county's towns in this way.

Perhaps one who visits art galleries or opera houses only on commission is not best placed to judge the cultural merits of our wee northern towns?

Arrogance, ignorance and effeteness seem available in all gene pools.

The Pepsi Challenge
19-Feb-08, 06:16
How many days did it take you to come up with that? Though am sure you didn't spend the last few days typing your message with one hand, wiping away angry tears with the other.

Until Wick can prove itself as an attractive destination that regularly supports culturally-significant events - Gordon Gunn, a Wicker, and one of the top fiddle players in Scottish trad music can't even draw a crowd there for heaven's sake - and can justify hosting a major festival coming to town, then there's not much point debating it further.

As I said before, we all want a healthy, culturally prosperous Wick.

The Pepsi Challenge
19-Feb-08, 06:20
What exactly do you mean? Was Wick once culturally rich, but then suffered some disaster?

Well, touche!

Flyermonkey
19-Feb-08, 13:18
I am really disappointed that this thread has degenerated into pointless squabbling again.

I guess no one has anything positive to contribute, so a fantastic opportunity must slip quietly away.

Boozeburglar
19-Feb-08, 14:41
How many days did it take you to come up with that? Though am sure you didn't spend the last few days typing your message with one hand, wiping away angry tears with the other.

Until Wick can prove itself as an attractive destination that regularly supports culturally-significant events - Gordon Gunn, a Wicker, and one of the top fiddle players in Scottish trad music can't even draw a crowd there for heaven's sake - and can justify hosting a major festival coming to town, then there's not much point debating it further.

As I said before, we all want a healthy, culturally prosperous Wick.

How many days? Took me about five minutes. I am no hack. I don't read every thread on this site as they appear, reserving the right of reply in random chronology.

Tears of anger? Nothing you posted raises my blood pressure a notch; though it made me laugh to read such feeble justification as you provided for your original ill conceived post.

Objective as I am, I have to consider what possible motivation you have to write about Wick in such a way, except the desire to coin an expression you felt you could make fit. I have heard the expression 'Cultural Chernobyl' aimed at several different places previously. Do you think Wick deserves no more than the regurgitation of tabloid cliches?

God knows how you deride your home county when in Edinburgh company.

Your opinion of Wick is yours to hold, but you talk a lot of nonsense about these other wee places. Plenty of people on this site know them well and see through it.

Debating the issue with you certainly is pointless. You have nothing to do with setting anything up, and your claim to support Wick in any way seems disingenuous.

Boozeburglar
19-Feb-08, 14:49
I am really disappointed that this thread has degenerated into pointless squabbling again.

I guess no one has anything positive to contribute, so a fantastic opportunity must slip quietly away.

Is this thread not after the fact anyway? I thought the decision had already been made to pull the plug?

No reason why Wick should not hold a wee music festival. Dores and Belladrum are tiny places and have large ones.

I would suggest starting with something small like the Thurso Big Gig thing would be a good start. More traditional music and perhaps two or three known bands would do the trick, and a day or two of events in the town would surely draw a decent crowd. If you are aiming for two or three thousand, you would not go far wrong.

The Pepsi Challenge
19-Feb-08, 16:38
How many days? Took me about five minutes. I am no hack. I don't read every thread on this site as they appear, reserving the right of reply in random chronology.

Tears of anger? Nothing you posted raises my blood pressure a notch; though it made me laugh to read such feeble justification as you provided for your original ill conceived post.

Objective as I am, I have to consider what possible motivation you have to write about Wick in such a way, except the desire to coin an expression you felt you could make fit. I have heard the expression 'Cultural Chernobyl' aimed at several different places previously. Do you think Wick deserves no more than the regurgitation of tabloid cliches?

God knows how you deride your home county when in Edinburgh company.

Your opinion of Wick is yours to hold, but you talk a lot of nonsense about these other wee places. Plenty of people on this site know them well and see through it.

Debating the issue with you certainly is pointless. You have nothing to do with setting anything up, and your claim to support Wick in any way seems disingenuous.

Blah, blah, blah, bling bling, blah...

The Pepsi Challenge
19-Feb-08, 16:42
I am really disappointed that this thread has degenerated into pointless squabbling again.

I guess no one has anything positive to contribute, so a fantastic opportunity must slip quietly away.

Melodrama. And vanity.

Flyermonkey
19-Feb-08, 16:44
Melodrama. And vanity.

I am sorry, but I don't understand?

The Pepsi Challenge
19-Feb-08, 16:51
Guys, can you honestly say that Wick is teeming with cultural diversity? That its groups - theatre, literature, music? - are propped up beyond Wick Players and gigs at the *Blackstairs? Give me some reasons why such a festival should be staged in Wick, and if so, how it would be supported? As I said, if Gordon Gunn cannae get a crowd, well...



*Kirsty Goodwill, who runs the Blackstairs, by the way, deserves praise for taking a chance on young, aspiring bands, and giving them a place to play and entertain. Much respect, Kirsty.

Flyermonkey
19-Feb-08, 17:27
I'm sorry, I still don't understand the relevance of your comments?

None of the following are areas of great cultural diversity;
(1) Kinross Airfield where T-In-The-Park is held (a disused airfield off the A9)
(2) Belladrum Estate where Belladrum Festival is held (a large farm 4 miles from Beauly)
(3) Dores Estate where Rockness is held (Another farm 11 miles from Inverness)
Yet they all seem to manage to hold large scale festivals?

I am also somewhat bemused about your obsession with Gordon Gunn and why your opinion appears to hinge on his ability to pull a crowd in Wick?

I will be honest and say I had never heard of him (until I googled him just now), or seen any advertising for any of his gigs in Wick. Now that I have heard of him I may well make the effort next time, but I really don't see the relevance. I have been to many many gigs in many many places and no matter how talented the band or performer or how 'cultured' the town or city they are playing in there is not always a good crowd. As an ex-music promoter I know from bitter experience that you can put on the best gig ever and have no one turn up, or you can put on an appalling gig and have it queued out the door.

The Pepsi Challenge
19-Feb-08, 18:00
I'm sorry, I still don't understand the relevance of your comments?

None of the following are areas of great cultural diversity;
(1) Kinross Airfield where T-In-The-Park is held (a disused airfield off the A9)
(2) Belladrum Estate where Belladrum Festival is held (a large farm 4 miles from Beauly)
(3) Dores Estate where Rockness is held (Another farm 11 miles from Inverness)
Yet they all seem to manage to hold large scale festivals?

I am also somewhat bemused about your obsession with Gordon Gunn and why your opinion appears to hinge on his ability to pull a crowd in Wick?

I will be honest and say I had never heard of him (until I googled him just now), or seen any advertising for any of his gigs in Wick. Now that I have heard of him I may well make the effort next time, but I really don't see the relevance. I have been to many many gigs in many many places and no matter how talented the band or performer or how 'cultured' the town or city they are playing in there is not always a good crowd. As an ex-music promoter I know from bitter experience that you can put on the best gig ever and have no one turn up, or you can put on an appalling gig and have it queued out the door.

1, 2 and 3: No, but they're a darn sight more culturally significant now. Said festivals encouraged people to visit areas they might normally never encounter, thus promoting tourism to the respective towns and areas, bringing money and attention and, where needed, some regeneration to the area. Forward-thinking local councils with a bit of vision saw the potential of such things and invested a wee bit of cash in them, and have thus reaped the benefits: keeping the money in the area and putting it back into the community. So how do you attract promoters to put on a big festival in Wick, then? You can't. Not at the present time. The big 4 (Regular, PCL, DF, CPL) aren't remotely interested, and as for smaller ones such as the Northern Lights, well, sadly, it's all about the cash. And the shortage of it available. If they did have it to hand, do you seriously think they would attract people to Wick? As you say, there's no guarantee of pulling a crowd, but when you put on a big festival, you have to anticipate a lot of people booking tickets well in advance. Wick's image is pretty dreary. A festival might change that view slightly, but is there enough forward-thinking people willing to put in the effort, make it happen, and not stand back waiting to take credit for it all?
Gordon Gunn? Just an example of how someone so well known elsewhere is such an unknown in his own town.

Incidentally, let's for argument's sake say there was to be a major music festival in Wick. What kind of festival would it be? Where would it be held? How would it be managed? How would you attribute the money to pay for it?

scotsboy
19-Feb-08, 18:21
I think in some respects I understand what Pepsi is saying. The original festival was a success and that success would be better served by its continued development at the original venue. The factors that made it a success were closely tied to the geographical location in terms of scenery and history. To move it loses all of that – nothing of the original successful event would exist. It would be like starting from scratch. I doubt many of those who attended and enjoyed the original event would consider going to Wick. That is not to say that Wick could not and should not stage events – simply that it makes no sense to move that event to Wick.
Now the phrase that seems to be causing all the stooshie is Cultural Chernobyl, and I think it is just a natural reaction to criticism – nobody likes it, and it is hard to take. I am not sure by using the term in this context it could be deemed “constructive”, but personally I can see where Pepsi is coming from. Wick and Wickers tend to be a bit more insular, that is not to say that you can’t have a good time there – it just takes a bit of time to break down barriers. And I would agree with Pepsi that trying to move the event to Wick would be a backward step for that particular event.
I think what Wick would need to do is create an event that is unique to it, and builds on its own traditions, history and culture.

katarina
19-Feb-08, 19:15
Ps. I stayed on the campsite & there were lots of pitches available, there was also FREE transport provided by the festival to take you to & from the the venues, this was great, you could have a few dram's & get home safely, a brill time was had by all .....

Didn't know about the transport! We thought it would be a bit cold in a tent, hence the hostel. Guess a bit of internal warmth would help that tho!

Boozeburglar
19-Feb-08, 19:57
1, 2 and 3: No, but they're a darn sight more culturally significant now. Said festivals encouraged people to visit areas they might normally never encounter, thus promoting tourism to the respective towns and areas, bringing money and attention and, where needed, some regeneration to the area. Forward-thinking local councils with a bit of vision saw the potential of such things and invested a wee bit of cash in them, and have thus reaped the benefits: keeping the money in the area and putting it back into the community.

In what way are they more culturally significant?

I have friends living on the Belladrum Estate and in Dores, I spend time at both and I have not heard a single tourist asking to see the hallowed site of the rock festivals.

There is no reason why Wick could not have a great one or two day festival in August on the airfield. Two or three name bands is all it would take to get two or three thousand punters. No one is suggesting that there is the potential for a festival of the scale of Belladrum or Rockness.

The expression 'Cultural Chernobyl' was originally used, as far as I recall, to describe a disaster visited upon an area. Such as the Disney theme parks.

I don't see how this fits with anything that has gone on in Wick.

You say Wick's image is pretty dreary. Relative to? Thurso? Inverness? Drumnadrochit?

smj
19-Feb-08, 20:21
Didn't know about the transport! We thought it would be a bit cold in a tent, hence the hostel. Guess a bit of internal warmth would help that tho!

Got to confess Katarina, I was in a campervan, my tenting days are over following a very cold Easter, under canvas, at Dunnet Bay.
I think the performers enjoyed Durness as much as the audience, many of them wanted to return this year. Ah well, maybe we will see them in 2010. I've gone off the idea of the festival being in Wick now, maybe it doesn't have the right atmosphere!

The Pepsi Challenge
25-Feb-08, 14:43
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rob murray
25-Feb-08, 14:52
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Aye : biff....bang .....pow laddie !!!