How did you get started with working with the Lotus?

I grew up with a lot of world music. My dad played a lot of world music; he didn’t think of it as world music, he was from a different country. He was born in Germany, grew up in Switzerland and England and I was born in South America. So I had lots of different exposures. I started working for Lotus in the second year; a friend got me in to do artist hospitality. That was in 1995.

How would you explain the festival to someone new to Lotus this year?

It’s about world music but really diverse kinds of music. Mellow stuff and really strong dance beats, too. So it’s all kinds of music and it’s in a very small, concentrated location. It’s a smorgasbord.

A smorgasbord?  What keeps you coming back for more?

Loyalty? No… hmmm.  It’s like once you get into Lotus, it’s a really hard thing not be involved with.  I think I would have some kind of… What do you call it, like with drugs, when you get off drugs? Withdrawal.  I think I would have withdrawal if I stopped. And I’ve heard that from other people so I think that’s an element of it.

How do you get volunteers for Lotus?

Tamara: Well we get them many different ways. . .

Lee: We grow them!

Tamara: We have a table at the market every Saturday. We put some announcements on a couple of radio stations. We try to collaborate with some student groups.  The festival has grown so large we will probably have 470 volunteers this year; it’s enormous.  It’s not a small deal.

Why should people come to Lotus?

Best time in Bloomington all year. What happens on the streets, the physical environment of people, music blaring and folks swarming; really swarming up and down. It’s unlike any event, not just in Bloomington but in most towns you’ve been in because the whole downtown has its streets closed and covered with  banners and lots of visual splendor. It’s just like nothing else.

How did the name “Lotus” come about?

Well, we had the temporary name Bloomington World Music Festival.  One of the tasks was to think of the name. We had a meeting and were throwing out names, all the names you would think of for southern Indiana, but they were all bland and terrible.

For example…?

I’m not telling. I’m not embarrassing myself or any other committee member.

Ok,  ok…

But there was a man we all knew named Lotus Dickey. We all liked him as a person, not just as a musician. It just felt good to be around him. We started thinking about the Lotus flower which is a flower that grows all over the world including Indiana; a flower that has a different meaning for different cultures. So the name could represent the global perspective, with the flower and the Bloomington Southern Indiana perspective, with Dickey. Some people think that we named it after Lotus Dickey and some people think we named it after the flower. No, it’s both. That’s why it’s Lotus.

Where was the first festival?

The Waldron upstairs and the Waldron downstairs and that was it.

And surely since then it has grown.

It’s mostly the same as it was the first year. It’s still the same concept: you buy a ticket, get a wristband, you have access to all the music in a small confined area. The area is larger, there are more venues. But still it’s the same concept. Lotus is an indoor event primarily because I was the one who shaped that format. I worked as a volunteer at  rock festival called Hoosier Fest for five years; it doesn’t exist anymore, but all five years it rained and washed one of the days out. So that was damn frustrating. So when I started with Lotus I said “We are not doing that. Whatever we do with this festival, it’s not going to be susceptible to that.”

Has it ever rained during the festival?

Maybe only three or four times in all the years. We’ve had really good luck. Knock knock. There was almost a tornado one year. But for us, rain only means that people will get wet when they move from venue to venue. So they might stick around inside the venue.

Do employees ever create their own drinks?
Yeah, the manager’s always open to suggestions.  It happens a lot with smoothies, and a couple of the other drinks are employee created as well.

What’s it like working here?
Let’s see, I’ve been working here…goin’ on four years.  I was a student here and I needed a job. I got really lucky, because the boss thought my application was really funny. I had actually never been in here before I applied, and it just seemed like a really fun place after being in here for just 20 seconds.

And you’ve been here ever since?
Yeah, I’d say it’s one of the better-paying jobs on Kirkwood.  It’s a good job.

What’s hard about your job?
It gets pretty stressful sometimes, especially mornings, those are busy, and happy hour, which is from 3-4pm and we serve $2 lattes and $1 double shot espressos. Since working here, I’ve gotten to know some regulars, and even became friends with them.  For the most part, we’re really good at remembering regulars’ drinks.

Do you have a favorite memory?
Hmm, that’s tough.  Well, (indicates someone in front of him) Chase here and I messed around with water guns and that was pretty fun, I don’t know.  (Chase:  do you still mess around with the potato gun) Not really. Also, the Christmas parties are a lot of fun.  I guess I have a lot of memories working here; it’s hard to pick one.  It’s always pretty good.

Brooke Gentile, Executive Director, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard
Do you start your day with a typical breakfast?

Haha. I actually don’t love breakfast. Lunch and dinner are my favorite meals and I snack a lot. But about 4 months ago I gave up coffee, and coffee was my breakfast. So for the past 4 months I’ve brought in small pieces of breakfast. I have green tea now and I occasionally eat some of my husband’s breakfast; he’ll mix granola with blueberries, so I’ll have a spoonful or two but I don’t really love it enough to have my own bowl. Maybe half a bagel now and then.

What’s your typical morning routine?

I usually get up around 7, have a cup of tea, play with my dogs, and I try not to get on my computer too early but I pretty much always check my e-mail by 8 o’clock, my work e-mail…three days a week I’ll go to the food bank and pick up food delivery. Yeah, that’s pretty much my morning, some meetings every now and again.

Have you always been interested in food, since you work in a food pantry?

I got interested in food when I was 5 years old. My grandmother had me dig up potatoes with her in harvest and fix duck eggs with her. She had this huge raspberry patch and I loved picking my own raspberries and I wouldn’t eat them from the store because they weren’t the same. So it started pretty young, but sort of went away and came back after college. Maybe just since I was an adult have I really been focused on food and food access issues and sustainable agriculture.

When would you say that you’re done for the day?

Done with work or done, done and in bed?

Done and in bed.

Somewhere in between ten and eleven. Unless it’s a Friday night, I really love staying up late on Friday nights. I don’t know why but I’ve been on this kick lately where I’ll stay up to like 3 in the morning on Friday nights, at home just like, hanging out. Doing I don’t know, doing an art project, or reading, or hanging out with my dogs or talking with friends.

Sarah Fargo gets together with Craig Shank, Station Manager of WIUX 99.1 FM, to talk radio, music and everything in between.

Music must mean a lot to you.
I’ve always, in a way, favored radio over TV. Even in middle school after I would get done with my homework I would sit down in my room and listen to the Indianapolis radio stations. There’s just something about the medium that I was really drawn to, there’s just something about someone on the air getting their message out or connecting with people in that way.

I’m not just a DJ at [WIUX] but I DJ at house parties and venues around town… I’m really into electronic music right now.

As station manager at WIUX, you’re the one who spares folks from listening to pop and country radio all the time.
I do the boring stuff that no one ever cares about but is essential to the survival of the station, but every time I’m here, something different happens.

It’s just kind of the unpredictable nature of this station; it’s college radio, and we’re just college kids. The final decision on everything comes down to me. Most of my memories here involve sitting and joking around, or someone calling me up at 2 a.m. needing help with equipment at the station.
I do remember Chabad House, the Jewish Student Center at I, getting vandalized. I was asked if WIUX could loan out our PA system for the night of the community gathering afterwards. I was there the whole time, around the corner turning knobs, making sure people could hear the message that was being made.

Sounds like a hard job…
I used to work for Duke Energy, which was the absolute worst job I could have ever imagined. We’d have to trudge through people’s backyards in the heat, and I got bit by a dog, poison oak and shocked by an electric fence.  Jobs like that make me appreciate working in the station, in air conditioning.

“The models have worked very hard and I am so happy I was able to put this show together with the help of my incredible committee,” said IU student Tyla Eddie, the BSU Social Programming Chair. “We hope to have a packed house!”

Models in the show will be showcasing fashion created out of clothes from local Bloomington boutiques such as Pitaya and Cactus Flower “We will be displaying fashion trends from other countries, not just from the United States,” explained Eddie. “This is what sets this year’s fashion show apart from ones in the past.”

The BSU Fashion show has had a theme each year (last year’s theme was “Lights, camera, Action!), but there are other aspects of this year’s show that make it more than just models on a runway. Live music and a DJ will provide the sound for the event, and audience members will have a chance to practice their catwalk-not to mention models won’t be the only ones that are dressed up. “Hosts of the show will be dressed as flight attendants that will guide the audience through the show,” explained Adriane Jefferson, NAACP Vice President. The NAACP will have a special intermission show, featuring scenes inspired by 20th century civil rights efforts.

Tickets for the BSU fashion show are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Raffles with prizes will take place during the show, and all proceeds for the night go to the BSU Alvin Henry Memorial Scholarship Fund. For more information, contact blbsu(at)exchange.indiana(.)edu.