Craig and Laura Reiser Interview
Interview with Craig and Laura Reiser
April 1, 2023
Memorial Stadium
Champaign, IL
Interviewers: Annabella Nelson, Jose Arellano, James Perkovich
AN= Annabella Nelson
JA= Jose Arellano
JP= James Perkovich
LR= Laura Reiser
CR= Craig Reiser
AN: Okay cool. I'm Anabella.
JA: I'm Jose.
JP: I'm James.
AN: And we’re recording on April 1st at the Farm Aid History Harvest.
AN: Can you please state and spell your names for the recording?
LR: Laura Reiser, L-a-u-r-a R-e-i-s-e-r.
CR: And I'm Craig Reiser. C-r-a-i-g and then R-e-i-s-e-r.
AN: Thank you so much. So just like to start out, how did you guys hear about Farm Aid?
CR: So I transferred in to U of I starting in the fall of 1985. And so right before I came to school, we heard about this Farm Aid thing and it was exciting that it was going to be, you know, at the University of Illinois. It seemed like a big deal because Live Aid had just occurred. I don't recall the exact timing, but that had occurred years or months earlier than that and it was just really exciting that it was going to be in Champaign.
LR: So I just, yeah, just started my junior year and I just heard it through campus, on campus somehow through friends. I called all my friends at neighboring universities and just made a plan for us to all go together, and get tickets.
CR: Times were quite different then we didn't have social media. We didn't have that type of thing. I remember, you know, who was really going to come was going to be country, country musicians and the like? And then when I got to school and they, you know, you're only Information regarding it was from the Daily Illini, which was the the student newspaper and then WPGU, which was the radio station that most, a lot of students listened to, and then they started talking about oh, wow, all these other, you know, rock bands and performers and not just country and that was really exciting.
AN: Did you guys have, like any personal history with the farm crisis before going or did you not?
CR: I didn’t.
LR: No, I feel like as a college student, we were just excited that it was taking place in Central Illinois. But in the weeks following it definitely brought attention to the crisis, you know, and made it evident and people our age, you know, at the time 19-20 you know, researched it more and became more involved and more aware. So it really brought awareness. But I feel like that awareness went way past the Midwest though, because it was sort of a global thing, you know, within months. You, you kept hearing that they were planning another one and things like that and the crisis that the farmers were going through.
CR: I remember thinking or hearing that it was a real coup that Illinois got it because, and it was because Governor Thompson had a great relationship with Willie Nelson. And that's how it occurred. Willie would come to the State Fair for many, many years, and Governor Thompson and he had a very close relationship. One of them would make chili for the other I think when they were at the State Fair and that kind of thing. So it was really exciting that it, that it came, you know, to the University of Illinois. It was just exciting.
AN: Could you describe like the day of, like when you got in line and how it was being there, if the weather affected anything?
LR: So my friends and I got in line early and I remember coming into the stadium on the east side and like the field wasn't packed yet, which surprised me. People were scattered all over, you know, somewhere a lot of people were sitting and we just sort of walked around kind of landed close to the stage. And it was kind of neat to watch people come in and out. Things were just getting amped up and they, I remember when it rained, I don't remember it raining for that long. We went and sat underneath the, on the bleachers underneath the cover there for a while. But it didn't feel like you know, it rained that long and then eventually made our way back to the field.
CR: Yeah, I don't remember coming into the stadium, I just remember when I got there. And I think the music had started and I remember it raining, of course a little bit, but not for a long time. The difficulty with after it rained was you couldn't sit on the, or you would get wet if you sat on the field because it had that plastic that also resulted, you know that the water had nowhere to go. So that kind of made you stand for that entire time you were there because I never went up into the stands to sit or anything like that.
LR: I do recall too, prior to the day of being really excited about all the groups who were coming, and as time went on, more and more people joined the venue. So that was really neat to think, oh, there, you know, these people, different groups would add themselves to it. And it was just shocking how many very well known groups were attending, so that was fun.
CR: Of course, there were lots of rumors who might be coming and who else might be coming, and I remember, distinctly remember my group of friends hoping that Bruce Springsteen was going to come. And the way, there were lots of helicopters that day and it was my understanding that they were bringing them in from the airport. They were bringing the performers in from the airport, and so, and they were landing like right up it, used to be called MP I don't know what it's called now for sure, but it used to be called the MP. And they would land in that area. And when the helicopters would come and people would say oh there’s Bruce or I wonder who that is and and it was just that added to the excitement because you didn't know who was coming up next and then you didn't know if you know who they might perform with because you heard that you know, some people were just coming by themselves. So who was going to be their band and who they were going to work with? So that was exciting.
AN: Yeah there was sort of an official lineup that went out, but it wasn't entirely accurate. Were you guys excited to see anyone there specifically or more just in general?
CR: You know, I was excited to see John Cougar and we were, we were just talking if he was John Cougar Mellencamp at that time or not, I don't. We seem to remember he was John Cougar. I was excited to see him. I was excited to see Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Billy Joel. I was excited to see them. I was hoping that Bruce Springsteen was coming. Those are the ones that I remember and then I actually found interest in some new people too that I wasn't that familiar with when they were there. I was kind of anti-country to be candid with you. And then I heard some country stuff and thought it was kind of, kind of cool, I don't think, I don't think I went and bought any, was it Record Service? Was that the name of that record place on Green Street.
LR: No, uh swap, Record Swap. I can't remember.
CR: Anyway, there was where people would go buy records because. But I was interested in some of the country songs or country musicians then.
LR: Yeah, I was excited to see B.B. King and Paul Simon and then at the end, Neil Young was really neat. And I just, I, my, our kids were asking how long it went on. And I remember I wanted to say it was like one in the morning when it got over. I can't remember exactly, but practice field wasn't there at the time, so it was just an open field and everyone just started pouring out and then they started all the fireworks. It was really neat. So it was fun.
CR: People, I remember people laying on the ground watching the fireworks. I don't remember if it was, if it was wet, then or not, but they were all, people were laying and watching them.
JA: So what was your favorite memory of the concert?
CR: You know, looking back now, it was just being there and it was such a huge thing and it was, you just felt like you were at something really neat. I remember the next day, because we didn't have cell phones, but the next day when I called my parents to tell them about it and they had watched it all. And you know, they thought it was an unbelievable thing. I remember this, too, I remember my parents saying that they had never seen the wave like it was. And I do remember it was going around the stadium the wave was going around the stadium and it was, it was really something. And then I went to all the football games at that time and then they started doing the way that the football games after that. I don't remember ever doing the wave before that, and it was packed. I remember my parents saying that, I think it was on Country Music Channel was where, who was showing it and that the folks there had never seen the wave either. And they were really like, they called it the Illinois wave or something like that. So that was, that was, so looking back it was just being in this historic, first, one-of-a-kind venue and event.
LR: Yeah, I would echo that. I feel like going with my friends and just being part of history at the time, we didn't realize the magnitude of it though. To be honest.
AN: So you were both students. Did you notice any involvement from the University besides the venue?
CR: I wouldn't know specifically from the University. The professors were talking about it in class beforehand, and I remember some assignments getting rearranged so that we could, we could go. But I don't, I don't. I mean, I remember wondering how they were going to do it on the football field and then they put all that plastic on there. But I don't, I don't know if the university actually played any real part other than allowing it to be here.
LR: I mean, I just remembered the professor speaking about it and that's it.
CR: And then they were, I think I had, I know I had a sociology class at that time. And as you can imagine, a sociology class, we talked about it before and then after also.
JP: One thing I wanted to pick up on was you guys, you said that, you know, like seeing Live Aid before Farm Aid kind of, maybe made a difference in that like how you thought about this concert and maybe like the excitement levels. I guess I just want to ask like how did, like yeah, how did Live Aid play a part in your thinking?
CR: Well it gave me an example of what it might be, I mean you know no one had ever heard of anything like that. Of course you know, kids and the students and my friends and we, you know, this is our Woodstock or, you know, stuff like that. I don't think it was anything close to that situation, but I mean it was, you know, this huge festival of music. One day unlike Woodstock, which was multiple days. So that's you know, the Live Aid was just an example of what we thought it was going to be, which was, which was exciting. And then you would go through, I remember discussing it, you know that person was at Live Aid I wonder if they'll come to this. And and, you know, United States acts or American acts. If they'll come to it and you know, they supported Live Aid I wonder if they'll support Farm Aid too.
LR: Yeah, I feel like. You know, knowing Live Aid brought such an awareness to the situation, global awareness. So like I said before though, I don't, I didn't realize the impact at the time, but it is so fitting that you know the Midwest, you grow up here, you see but then you think of the university's impact on farming. Test field. The genetic engineering that they get with the seeds and all that, and it's really exciting. Had we had all that back then, it may not have been such a crisis. But it was, It's just really, it's neat. It's neat that the, and fitting that the university and just, I felt like so lucky to be a student here at the time.
CR: Very appropriate that it was here at the University of Illinois. And I thought that at the time too, like this, you know, we have a lot of farming in this area and the like. So that was exciting.
AN: Do you remember what their reaction from the community was after the concert?
CR: You know, back then, for the most part they had the student community and there was an outside community. Most people didn't have cars like they do, my understanding they do now. So, you know, we didn't really have a, I didn't have a lot of reaction or a lot of discussions with anybody in in the Community, I mean, I I didn't have a car. We just walked, so I wasn't really, other than the professors I didn't really have any real connection or interaction with the community. I mean it was on the news of course, and that type of stuff. But I didn't really anything more than that.
LR: Yeah, I just remember reading the newspapers and on the news. But yeah, I mean, I feel ike the local community on campus, obviously was very supportive and the merchants and people like that. But same thing I don't, other than, there wasn't a lot, we, I didn't have a car at the time so.
JA: What about within campus? Within the student body?
CR: Well, I remember it just being exciting. My recollection is I know I bought my ticket at the ticket office, the Assembly Hall, and I went late night, like after I had been out with some friends. I think we went there at midnight to buy our ticket because that's when they opened, is my recollection, and we thought it might sell out. We didn't know how, you know, I didn't at first realize that they were going to let people on the field. I thought it was just going to be seating in the stands. I also wondered how the whole setup was going to be and then, so we were concerned that, you know, there wouldn't be enough seats or wouldn't be enough tickets and we'd have to, so we went right away to get them is what I'm getting at. It was pretty exciting. I mean, if there were 80,000 people here, I bet half the students were there because that probably would have been about 20,000 then.
LR: Yeah I feel like the students were very supportive. I would love to know now like what, if there were any student organizations that grew or evolved as a result of it. That would be interesting to know.
AN: I mean, I think we're good. I'm so sorry we've had to shorten everything today, so yeah.
LR: No, it's okay.
CR: No, no, we're fine. I don't have anything else really to say so.
AN: Thank you so much. This was very helpful.
CR: No problem, no problem.
AN: If you ever think of anything else to say I think the Champaign County History Museum is setting up follow up interviews.
CR: OK, well, I'm glad you guys are doing this, it's it's fun.
LR: Fun. Thank you.
CR: So thanks.