Rocking the Desert
Rock the Desert is taking place this weekend, and I'll have a bird's eye view of the action this year.
I've agreed to operate a video camera through the weekend and will thus be stationed on scaffolding directly in front of the stage. This will be quite a change from my usual experience of filming relatively staid and quiet worship services in church on Sunday mornings. Earplugs are mandatory.
The camera operators are teamed in pairs, and I and my teammate (another volunteer from my church) will film alternating acts with the other team. Since we're the new kids on the block, so to speak, we didn't draw any of the headline acts (Chris Tomlin, Jars of Clay, POD and Rebecca St. James), but we still have some interesting performers and speakers to work with, including Building 429, David Nasser, Nate Sallie, Pax 217, Plumb, Stephen Baldwin, Logos and Luis Palau.
Stephen Baldwin is the guy I'm most interested in hearing from. Baldwin is the youngest of those Baldwin actor guys, the most (in)famous of which is big brother Alex. Stephen became a Christian just two years ago, and is now using his influence and media savvy to create new evangelism tools targeting the X-Games Generation. I ran across this fascinating interview with Baldwin, and you can literally feel his passion for this work.
I'll also be interested to see the progress on the Rock the Desert Ministries Encampment. And, of course, it will be an opportunity to see if the crowd turnout seems to approach the scores of thousands that has been claimed in the past. The official headcount numbers should be more accurate this year since admission is no longer free (except for Sunday evening), but that aspect will also put a bit of a damper on attendance.
Stay tuned for reports...when and if I recover!
George, there seems to be some sort of hierarchy of volunteers. The cover charge is waived for all the tech crew, as far as I can tell. I suspect that's because the work is more demanding than some of the other positions, and in fact, I won't be surprised if the festival starts hiring professionals for some or all of the positions at some point in the future.
But, it is true that the volunteer agreement form stipulates that the entrance fee must be paid. I don't have even a theory as to why the organizers felt the need to do this. I don't believe they're after the additional revenue, as it's just a tiny fraction of the expected gate. I'll try to remember to ask someone about it this weekend.
Posted by: Eric at August 18, 2004 04:48 PMAbout the publisher
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I heard that they were going to try to collect the $10 cover charge from the volunteers. So, I'll be anxious to read your report about it.
Posted by: George at August 18, 2004 04:35 PM