HoFest! With a Side of Rabble-Rousers

Lauren Ritter
Phi Sigma Sigma

Now before you get your mind caught in the gutter, let me clarify a few things. A few months ago I had this idea — a vision, if you will — of having a huge outdoor concert on Ho Plaza. I'm the Programming Director for the Student Union Board, so I'm always trying to come up with new event ideas for my group. Therefore, hosting a music festival seemed like it would be a fun endeavor. Boy, was I in for a real treat.

Anyone who has ever tried to organize a philanthropy concert knows what I mean. Getting all of the bands together involved a huge amount of work — more than I expected, actually. I emailed so many people trying to see who was interested, and after some dead ends, I found five bands who were interested in taking a chance on me. I gave them a scratched out idea of what I wanted HoFest to be and after a few cracks about the title (I realize it sounds comically misleading), I had a line-up! I was happy to see everything starting to come together.

Getting the bands lined up was only half the battle. I thought that once I figured out who was performing and in what order, everything else would fall into place (ha!). The day of HoFest was one comical disaster after another. I was standing on Ho Plaza without a stage or speakers, just a somewhat confused-looking band ready to play and a random group of students carrying a poster that said, “Stop the Cornell-Wall Street pipeline. Choose the right occupation.” The only thing that seemed to be working out was the weather – it was beautiful, sunny and in the mid-50s. Some other members in my group were able to locate our M.I.A. speakers and we were ready to go set up outside the Cornell Store. While the original plan was to have a stage, having the bands perform on the ground wasn’t so terrible. After another moment of spazzing out when we realized that the power outlets were padlocked and we didn’t know who had the keys to open it, the day was ready to kick off.

All in all, the minor setbacks we encountered didn’t ruin the day as much as I thought they would. We started about 30 minutes late, but hey, who’s ever heard of a rock star that starts on time? “A Little Loaded,” the Rockledge house-band, started the day off with covers like “Under the Bridge” and “Say It Ain’t So.” The lead singer, Albert Monina, even cracked jokes and serenaded passersby, as students and tour groups filtered through the Plaza. The day was off to a strong start! The next group to go on was “Dubstep Threesome.” The trio brought sexy back to the day with songs like "Yeah" and a mashup of "Gimme More/Sexy Back/Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." The crowd was even in for a real treat as guitarist, Darrick Antell, stripped down to biker shorts and Underarmour.

At this point, I was pretty excited about the turnout of the day. I didn’t need to beg my friends to come and make it look like a crowd was forming. I was pleasantly surprised as tons of people walking by actually stopped and listened to a few songs. The day became especially interesting when the third band took to the Ho. Contradictator started off playing a cover of one of my old-time classics and then moved to more upbeat songs like "I Don't Know Why." This is when the crowd got on their feet and started dancing. Trust me, nothing is funnier than seeing a bunch of Occupiers (who decided to rejoin the party after making an appearance at the Work on Wall Street Conference) dancing with their signs, students coming from the library dancing with their bookbags still on and some fraternity brothers (who shall remain unnamed) doing the "White Boy Shuffle." This is when I had my first revelation of the day.

Earlier in the morning when the protestors first showed up, I was slightly concerned. I wanted HoFest to be a success, but it wasn’t supposed to be a political rally. Call me a hippie, but I just wanted everyone to come together because they all share a love for music. I talked to one of the protestors, Tom, and told him that they were all welcome to stay as long as the protestors didn't create too huge of a scene. Seeing all of the people from different backgrounds coming together and actually enjoying themselves, I realized that that is one of the beautiful things that Cornell has to offer. People can have different opinions and ideas, but at the end of the day we can still find things in common to come together over. All of the annoyances earlier in the day and stressing out over everything melted away at this point.

The day finished on a strong note, with the final two bands, The Dukes of Hazardous Working Conditions and Do It for Gladys, performing through sundown. The last groups had people singing along and dancing until spot lights needed to be brought out. Enter second revelation of the day: you don’t need to spend lots of money or have the fanciest equipment to have a good time. The entire day was a success due in part to the hard work of the people who volunteered and the bands that performed, but also to the enthusiasm of the people who came to support and experience HoFest.

I know it is cliché, but one of my favorite quotes came to mind as we were cleaning up after the final encore. You all probably know the saying about a group of determined individuals having the power to create something great. That is something that always impresses me about Cornell students. Everyone is passionate about something; be it politics, athletics or music, and when students set their minds to demonstarting how passionate they are, it is always a true sight to behold. Now, while I know that we didn’t throw a fall version of Slope Day (oh, I wish!), we were able to show ourselves and everyone else that when you set your mind to something and work hard, you can really accomplish something incredible – like a music festival that morphs with a political march to form an epic dance party. Only at Cornell.

Lauren is a junior studying human development. You may contact her at lar244@cornell.edu.