Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jun 2003 Source: Manchester Times (TN) Copyright: Manchester Times 2003 Contact: http://www.manchestertimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1863 A LONG, STRANGE WEEKEND Throughout the whole weekend, there were 93 citations written by local and state officers outside the sprawling venue. A little more than 80 were drug related. But it's common knowledge that more came into the festival than didn't. There has been the usual swing of local opinion that pings between pro and con (again, depending on who you talk to) about the existence of such an event. Yes, there was some of the best rock and groove in the world going on down on Old Bushy Branch Road. Neil Young, The Dead, James Brown, Lucinda Williams. Yes, many of the folks attending Bonnaroo were kind, friendly and courteous. And yes, most were, as they say, "partaking." Critics who went to festival have an intelligent point from which they can speak. Those who didn't go have simply don't have that particular experience to contribute to any debate about the future of Bonnaroo in little, old Manchester. Opinions are another story. Most agree that the estimated $7 million injection into the local economy (according to a study conducted through MTSU) is a really good thing. But there are those who would argue that the money isn't worth the big hassle of the event or the element that it brings to a fairly quiet county of 46,000 in the aorta of the Bible Belt. The phenomenon of bringing two wildly different cultures together is an experiment in social diversity that neither the promoters nor local backers could have imagined. Certainly a few of the artists performing at Bonnaroo had no real idea of the magnitude - if only symbolically - of last weekend's convergence of truly counter cultures. Sure, they said, it's a unique thing when a large musical event comes to a small town in the heartland. But this was a huge Bonnaroo, not Littlepalooza, or even Woodstock's summer of love. It was a corporate event organized down to the last hackey sack and water bottle. It was planned to make money - hopefully for all involved. The psychadelic circus has gone, and the shock and awe of it all left Coffee County around midnight Sunday. It'll be interesting to see where this relationship goes now that the honeymoon is over. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens