I am not wanted at the Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival.
For better or worse, I’ve grown accustomed to getting into shows and music festivals for free. Along with the hate mail, it’s the main perk of being a music writer. Event organizers can be almost slavishly accommodating; after all, they’re vying for positive PR.
But the Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival—or BMWCMF as it will be henceforth referred to—clearly does not care about positive PR. In that way, the BMWCMF is unlike any music festival I’ve ever been to. It also perfectly embodies Oregon as it exists outside of Portland: rural, rugged, and rude. Attempting to acquire a media pass feels more like haggling with a stranger on Craigslist.
More than two months in advance, I speak with someone at Country Music Concerts, the promotions company that organizes BMWCMF. Her name is Lori, and while she won’t definitively respond to my request, she makes me feel optimistic.
Exactly two weeks later, I follow up, and this time the person on the other end is singing a different tune (namely, the tune of Clint Black’s “A Good Run of Bad Luck.”) “We’ve already sent out our press passes, so if you haven’t received one, then it’s probably too late,” she tells me. I explain I already spoke with someone named Lori who made me think I was good to go. “My name is Lori,” she says. “You must have been talking to the other Lori.”