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Desert Daze’s 2019

Phil Pirrone SPECIAL
FESTIVAL

ood music is important. It’s surface, like a 7-year-old swimming in the
like water or sleep. It’s essen- ocean for the first time. And then you find the
tial. A music festival should be surface, and you have some of the most amaz-
Why Glast thing it should be, even much like a 7-year-old swimming in the ocean
ing and rewarding experiences of your life ...
a celebration of good music. A
business venture is the very
for the first time.
A music festival should be more than just
though it won’t survive unless it is one.
Do A it isn’t for everyone. Prerequisites for this a “music festival.” More than mobile stag-
Putting on a music festival isn’t easy and
es, port-o-johns, food trucks, sponsors and
Instagram photo-ops. It has the potential
sort of work, it seems, include an unhealthy
Festival? amount of workaholism and a healthy amount to be a life-altering moment in time and a
profound learning experience. We want you
of masochism. You really have to be a warrior
to extract something from the experience and
(and be OK with at least a little bit of pain). It’s
a never-ending list of to-dos. It’s the kind of
each year as if we’re on a mission, closer to
thing where nothing goes according to plan, inject it into your everyday life. We approach
By Phil Pirrone and sometimes, when you’re especially lucky, public servants than promoters. Desert Daze
a perfect storm of wrong can hit you like a has become a community. It has an identity
tidal wave, and leave you searching for the and a spirit all its own and we are here to
serve it. We put that community at the front of
every decision we make. It’s like our compass:
Kelsey Hart “What impact will this decision have on the
ecosystem of Desert Daze?” That ecosystem
includes our staff, our audience, the bands of
past, present and future. It’s all connected.
We bring reverence to the work and the work
gives us purpose. In many ways, it has become
more of a ritual than a music festival.
Another big part of what makes all this
DANIEL CAESAR performs at Arcosanti’s amphitheater at FORM’s 2018 installment. effort (and pain) worth it is the group of people
I get to do it with. I’ve never been a singular
organizer who then partnered up with a big
company. I’ve been in bands since I was 13,
so I approach Desert Daze like it’s a band or
an art project. Everyone’s input matters. Let’s
jam!
Much of the Desert Daze staff have been
around since day one and have taught them-
selves how to do this, as I have. We’ve been
through the shit together, man. That brings
you closer. We really care about each other
and put a lot of love into what we do, and that
resonates with our audience. We’re basically
the family restaurant of music festivals. That’s
really important to me, and I don’t know if I
would be up for this sort of thing if it was just
a business venture. As the festival grows and
evolves, it becomes more and more profes-
sional, more and more of a job. But as long
as I get to do it with people I care about, and
curate music I care about, then it’ll never feel
like work. So as hard as this work is, it’s for
me. I’m both wired for it and feel at home
within it. I feel lucky that I have that. I feel
lucky that I can be a warrior for good music. s

Phil Pirrone is the founder of JJUUJJUU,
WHEN MY BABY’S BESIDE ME: Phil Pirrone at Desert Daze festival, which is now in its eighth year and will return
for the second year to Moreno Beach at Lake Perris, Calif., from Oct. 10-13. Moon Block, Desert Daze and Space Agency
Booking.

APRIL 8, 2019 | 11