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As many as 275,000 stoners attended last weekend's two-day Seattle Hempfest. Despite good weather, plenty of great speakers and bands, and no arrests, event organizers had one particular problem: former Hempfest director and now Stranger blogger Dominic Holden, who criticized the event as "regressive and archaic." This and other disparaging comments led Hempfest V.P./Board Chairman John B. Davis to boot Holden from the backstage area on Aug. 16. Davis explains why in this exclusive CelebStoner interview.
Holden has been attacking Hempfest (and its hippie constituency) for the last few years. Are you just fed up with him?
 The whole story is not him attacking Hempfest. It is many things. Five years ago, Dominic (left) just stopped responding to everyone. He did not issue a letter of resignation. He did not leave a message. He just dropped off of the face of the earth it seemed. It was very awkward for us. What was really irksome and has lasted for five years is that he will make a statement or do an interview and be identified as “Hempfest director.” We have actually had people mad at us because of Dominic’s statements. [Cannabis Culture's] Mark Emery was furious with us for years because of statements made by Dom that appeared to be Hempfest-sanctioned.
He was a friend, so we have bent over backwards to show him every courtesy possible. He has spoken at our event and has been welcome in our restricted areas every year.
He turned up later as a writer for a local weekly [The Stranger]. He's always had a snarky edge to any mention of Hempfest in his rag. When he finally called Hempfest a “patchouli-stained ghetto” and suggested that Hempfest is dragging down marijuana-policy reform, we could no longer stay silent. Then, in a piece called “Why Hippies Hate Me," he stated, “I left because it was a constant fight with hippies who wanted the event to be as much about celebrating hippie culture as reforming policy.” This is an outlandishly inaccurate statement. I was on the steering committee for several years with Dom. I attended every meeting. Never were there the rifts he claims. I never heard him argue for a less hippie event. It's just false in every way. Plus, under Dom’s direction, Hempfest was waaaaaaaaay more hippie.
He writes, “Hempfest organizers practically instruct folks to perpetuate that hippie stereotype.” All of Dom’s “gotchas” come from one stage, the Seeley Memorial Stage. This is our jam-band stage. Dom suggests that all of our stages target this demographic. We have six stages. One is more metal, one is techno, one is the main stage that features a hip-hop review, one focuses on panel discussions and one is a comedy stage. The statement that we're a hippie event is just not true. Dom says “hippies run Hempfest." Our nine-person board of directors mostly consists of middle-class business professionals. We have a Microsoft team member, a purchaser, a paramedic and two project managers. We have two self-identifying hippies and I love them. This is diversity. Once again, Dom is painting a picture that does not approximate reality.
What exactly happened backstage when Dom says you kicked him out?
After all of this, at the next board of directors meeting, we discussed the situation. We had let him slide on a rule for years regarding media. We only allow media backstage that we have vetted. You don’t allow media in secure areas when they are there looking for a negative story, because 99.99% of the time, they find it. They also irritate our guests. Therefore, you need to be vetted media to access our secure areas, which consists of security compounds, operations areas and backstage areas. After our discussion, we came to a consensus that Dom and his weekly were not vetted media. This invoked the rule. I had talked to Dom on the phone at the end of March. I told him what the rules were for media and that the rules apply to him.
When I arrived at main stage and saw Dom backstage I was surprised to say the least. I alerted the stage security and approached him. I told him that he could not be in the backstage area. He reached into his pocket and took out a VIP laminate and held it out. I took it. I didn't “snatch” it, like Dom says. He did nothing to resist. He asked me if he could tell his brother where he was going (his brother was also backstage). I told him that that was no problem. I asked the stage security to make sure that he left the backstage area. He was not escorted out. He was not asked to leave the park. As far as I know, he left without incident.
Have there been any efforts to patch this up with Dom or is he now officially persona non grata at Hempfest?
Sometimes in life, relationships end. I think it's best that we go our separate ways. Will this change in the future? Possibly. We're not likely to ask Bill O’Reilly to speak anytime soon, but time brings with it surprising changes. We once thought we would never in a million years ask Bob Barr to speak.
Are we likely to give a microphone to anyone who hates hippies, hipsters, yuppies, burners, hip-hoppers, ravers, blacks or gays? Not very likely.
Also see:
Seattle Hempfest Website
Cusick Calls for Holden's Head
Holden: They Kicked Me Out
Holden: A Few Words About Hempfest
Holden: Shit or Get Off the Pot
More CelebStoner News
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Can Dom get 200,000 to meet him in the park every year? Forget recruiting volunteers,sponsors..will anybody actually go?
The numbers speak for themselves, and Hempfest is getting BIGGER every year, not smaller.
When Dom was director, it seemed to me that the message of hemp was getting lost in gay rights.
I support equal rights for all people, but Hempfest was never a platform for people to politicize thier sexuality, and Dominic seldom gave a speech in which his GAYNESS wasn't brought up. How was his being gay part of the Hemp message?
Many other speakers-luminaries are gay , but didn't use Hempfest as the place to proclaim it..they stay on messageIE HEMP.
There is nothing wrong with being gay, and ones sexual preference should have nothing to do with the discussion on HEMP.
In my humble opinion Dom was using the power of Hempfest's bully pulpit for another agenda, and He was holden Hempfest back. Since then Hempfest has only grown and has become more reknown with his departure.
The Hip Hop culture has embraced the "Hippy" culture of Hempfest, and Hempfest will have been at the center of the new movement in music and culture..using ALL Music to Unify people and change unjust laws. Hempfest started it 18 years ago without Dom, and will easily continue without him.
Someday there will be a giant statue of Vivian McPeak in Myrtle Edwards Park
How can you argue against those results?
MA now has decrim, where the Boston Freedom Rally started that.
Seattle they changed their law in that city? Yes, they did.
Russ, there are a whole hell of a lot more people in the world than hippies and squares. You are kind of douchebag and the fact that you are a spokesperson for anything makes me facepalm.
I promise, the original was amazing.
You want to add me to your exclude list, along with Bill O'Reilly and Dom? Name above. On what basis do you assemble your exclusion list anyhow? Your explanation above reeks of self importance. Really lame.
And I had always assumed that this was an open event, being on public land and all.
This idea that the old guard in cannabis reform needs to "step down" is ridiculous. The new guard needs to step up. There is plenty of room for the hippies and for the squares, but it's the hippies openly supporting marijuana while the squares hide in their closets or garages.
The problem I see is that the mainstreamers who are against certain elements of the counter-culture from a PR perspective are quick to critique what's wrong and how these people need to modify their magazine or their event, but they never seem to be putting out any magazines or hosting any festivals that appeal to the mainstream.