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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thank you, Bruce, for the thorough response. I
do appreciate your comments, and understand that things happen. Rendezvous
is important to me, as you well know. And because I do care, this isn't an
issue I'm willing to drop. But then, you probably know that. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sue.</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jeanlivingston@turbonet.com
href="mailto:jeanlivingston@turbonet.com">Bruce and Jean Livingston</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=suehovey@moscow.com
href="mailto:suehovey@moscow.com">Sue Hovey</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 18, 2008 5:45
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Spam 6.09] [Vision2020]
Rendezvous survey</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hi Sue and Tom,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>We at Rendezvous always appreciate hearing from our
supporters and critics. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The main thrust of Sue's suggestion/criticism is
valid. She is communicating her feeling that gender diversity in
our Rendezvous performers is something that she and many others value.
She is right that two of the last three years, one might question that any
effort has been made by us, because the performing acts have been sadly
lacking in gender diversity (though the festival three years ago had two
headliners who were black and Hispanic males). She is also right in
thinking that we value such diversity, too. We are aware of the desire
for female performers, which we share. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The following explanation may mitigate some, but not
all, of Sue's criticism, and we simply will try to do better in the
future.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The Rendezvous Board's Programming Committee is
sensitive to and shares a desire to find a variety of musicians, and we do not
purposely end up with a bunch of white men, as happened this past year.
Last year, for example, we offered our most coveted spot, the Saturday
headliner, to Grace Potter. We thought we had her, but, she
ultimately declined after a long wait, because she was given an opportunity to
perform the same day at the much bigger Denver Mile High Festival.
We filled that Saturday spot by sheer luck with a highly talented guitarist,
Sonny Landreth, who was only available that late in the game at a price we
could afford because he didn't have a gig that weekend. Sometimes that
is just how it works in this business. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Sometimes, it's worse than that. Last year a
different band, some rhythm and blues musicians from New
Orleans, cancelled over the Fourth of July week, <EM><STRONG>two weeks
before showtime(!),</STRONG></EM> and I somehow managed to fill that spot from
San Francisco while on vacation. But at that late date, I took the
first act that accepted among the "bands of acceptable quality" to whom I had
sent desperate inquiries about their availability. A blues band from
Spokane with four white guys was the first to get back to me, and they got the
job. In my flurry of emails inquiring about availability,
several of the bands were led by females, but the guys were the first to
accept and got the job.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>We knew last May, when we lost Grace, but then had
a chance for Sonny, that Sue would probably complain about our lack of gender
diversity, and we knowingly went ahead with Sonny, anyway. Sue is a
squeaky wheel on the topic, and her relentlessness and love of music is why we
love her, and we appreciate the reminder when we haven't done as well as she
might like. After Grace declined last year and before we approached
Sonny, we checked out the availability of Marcia Ball, another acclaimed
performer, but she too was unavailable. Sonny is a highly acclaimed
guitarist, Grammy nominated, and at that late date, he was in our judgment,
the best available bang for the buck by a long shot. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Our absolute bottom line is price and quality, and not
diversity, though we do try to obtain a diverse line-up. In my
opinion, our high water mark in hiring quality performers since I have
been involved with programming is Mavis Staples, who happens to be black
and a woman, but also a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. I wish we
could meet that standard every year.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>We will do our best to make sure that we get multiple
commitments from female artists this year, Sue. We were already aware of
how last year came out in that regard and we discussed it at a programming
committee meeting over Thanksgiving and are addressing it. We already
have made a Thursday night headliner offer, pending for the last
several weeks to a woman from Brooklyn, New York who is trying to arrange
routing with other western venues. Obviously, there are plenty of
capable people, men and women of varying colors, who play great
music. We will keep trying to bring quality music by diverse performers
and hope you will continue to support us.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Tom's suggestions for a particular performer is
noted, though I must comment that we generally try not to repeat our acts,
even good ones like the Uppity Blues Women. Since Rendezvous is so
infrequent, it seems to us that bringing new acts is the best
option with only six choices per year (three nights x two performers that we
can choose [aside from classical night, which had many female participants and
clearly was not the subject of Sue's criticism]). We don't have a
"no repeat" rule, but it is our definite preference. I'll check out
Gaye's solo stuff.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>As always, we thank you and the community for your great
support. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bruce Livingston</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Rendezvous <FONT face=Arial>Vice-President
&</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Programming Chair</FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=suehovey@moscow.com href="mailto:suehovey@moscow.com">Sue Hovey</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, December 17, 2008
11:42 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Spam 6.09] [Vision2020]
Rendezvous survey</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I just completed the online survey from
the Board of Directors of Rendezvous and lodged a concern about their almost
total disregard of female artists. This isn't the first time I've
called it to their attention. I think I've lodged a complaint just
about every year for the past four or five years. Last year they
had only one female, a really fine young MHS performer, Shiloh. There
were no other females performing on that stage Thursday, Friday, or
Saturday. This is the norm, not the exception. If you share
this concern with me, would you please add a comment to the
survey. I think there will be no parity, or even consideration of
parity, until it becomes a significant issue. I'm not even
considering staying home; this is my celebration, too. I relish being
a member of a community that prides itself on equity and fairness--and I
believe the members of the Rendezvous board feel that way, as well.
Would though, they would practice that belief in a more substantial
way. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And, yes, I know in the past there have been
some remarkable women performing on the Rendezvous stage--Tish Hinojosa, the
Dixie Chicks, and Kate Campbell were all wonderful, as was Mavis Staples--I
was hoping Mavis' appearance was the beginning of a trend,
but it didn't happen. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sue Hovey</FONT></DIV>
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