So I FINALLY have a spare moment or two to catch up on everything. There's a lot I want to talk about, but I'm gonna focus on the concert.
Hehehehehe
I was literally on Cloud 9 after the concert Monday. It kicked ass. I was hoping it was going to be a great great concert, but I didn't think it really would be. I'm so happy that I was wrong. Counting Crows kick ass. I can see why my friends like them so much. I'm now a really big fan. They played for nearly two hours like they promised us they would. And they're verson of "Long December" was just so good. I almost cried. A lot of their songs almost made me cry--dorky as that sounds. The same thing happened when I went and saw Tori in concert. Some musicians just have this amazing ability to draw emotions out of you through their songs, their words, their music. It's incredible. The concert was absolutely amazing, one of the best that I've seen yet. It's up there with the Tori concert (which is by far, the best show I've seen).
Too bad the whole before-show process was so damn drama-filled. Heh.
I was hospitality chair for this whole thang, which kind of freaked me out, because the whole day we knew we'd have to deal with caterers and pompous production people and any other problems that may come up.
Problem #1: the caterers were ASSHOLES. I specifically told the woman that the production people wanted breakfast READY TO GO at 8:30. She even talked to the manager--Allan. So the catering company knew what was expected of them. They didn't show up until 8:25 to start setting up. And then one of the catering managers ends up having to go back to the restaurant because we didn't have linens--after I had told them that we didn't have linens and they'd have to provide them. They knew this, they've worked with us before, they should've known to provide them. Idiots. So we had Allan totally pissed at US for not having breakfast ready on time and the production people had to eat and run as they frantically set up the stage. My poor co-chair actually got reemed out by him for us not having breakfast ready. It was her fault, it wasn't really our fault, it was the catering people's fault. If anyone should have gotten hollered at it should have been catering, but nooo.
Then later on, we were afraid that they wouldn't show up for lunch because Bob had called and talked to the manager at the restaurant. And I discovered that we were paying for two waiters but only had one. So I had to get on the phone and holler at them. Which was kind of empowering and invigorating because I was SO pissed at them and stressed out because of them, but at the same time, I'm NOT good at confronting people I don't know. Brett had to be there with me and cheer me on to keep me going. I reemed them out for 5 minutes. The manager guy actually hung up on me. That pleased me cuz I knew I had gotten the message across that we're not people to fuck with. Hehe.
They actually had the audacity to try to pin the blame on us for the breakfast fiasco. Gaah. It was totally their fault and I almost began arguing with the head person about it on the phone, but then I remembered that I should be poised and calm and focus on the situation at hand--we must feed the hungry pissed off people and deal with the problems later. So I managed to not kill the catering people.
I'm really pissed at them though--all of NAE is. They treated us like shit when we spent over two grand on them. And not everybody even ate. The rider ordered enough food for 50-something people for dinner and only half that amount actually ate. Yet we still had to pay. Gaaah.
The one good thing about the catering was that the waiters were really nice. Even the one that showed up late after I hollered at him. He was cute. Hell yeah he was cute. And nice. And sweet. I managed to finangle backstage passes for the waiter guys and cutie waiter actually came back to see the show. So I got to hang out with him for a bit after the concert. He was sooo happy and psyched. It was really cute. Hurray for cute waiter guys. Hehe. I keep hoping that I'll run into him somewhere or something. I can dream right? *grin*
Problem #2: Good GOD production was a mess. I don't even know everything that happened with it, but I know that Allan was NOT happy with us. He thought we were unprofessional and kept saying what a bad school we were to work with. Grr.
They complained about our riggers. They said that they were going to kill their reputation because NMU riggers aren't union. Gaah.
I guess I really shouldn't say too much about it because I don't know everything that was going on behind the scenes. I was trying to better the whole hospitality fiasco. Gaah. But the production people weren't impressed until the whole stage was set up. Then they morphed into nice people. Yeah.
Problem #3: Some people in NAE have BIG ego problems. These are the people who shouldn't have ego problems because they're young and stupid and green and know NOTHING, yet think they're the shit. We had a couple of inflated egos on our hands from early on in the day. Younger members should not be bossing others around--especially people who know exactly what they're doing. I really only have one person in mind as I'm talking, but none of the NAE members, let alone the CC production people. Some people just don't know how to relax and behave. I hate people with big egos. Gaah.
Problem #4: Yeah, this is so just a personal problem, but whatever. I wanted to be the chair of the committee so I could be a gopher-bitch--as retarded as that sounds. But thanks to the antics of former chairs form *ahem* other concerts, the new EBoard made a new rule that the chair of hospitality couldn't be a runner, the chair has to stay at the venue ALL FUCKING DAY. I wasn't impressed with that rule. I went outside 3 times on Monday: before I enterred the Berry at 8 am, when I went to pick up cofee before 8:30, and when I went outside an hour before the concert to find the TV6 lady. That was IT. I was just frustrated because I thought maybe I'd get to run around and do errands for the band and the managers. Instead I was stuck inside stressin' about how many cases of water we still needed to get while Christy romped around Marquette mailin' taxes and buying Easter cards (no, I'm not joking, that's just the tip of the iceberg of what they had her doing).
On that subject: I felt like I did NOTHING on the day of the show. I ordered people around and that made me feel like a bitch. Then I had to have my runners go out a gabillion times to get more water and stuff because I totally underestimated how much we needed. Which made me feel like shit. At one point before the concert Erin made a totally joking comment about how I was doing and I totally lost it. I felt my face scrunch up and then the tears just started free-falling. Then Erin felt really bad. Luckily I only had my breakdown in front of like 4 people. Thank God. I'm such a drama queen sometimes. I mean, I know I was doing stuff, but it all seemed so trivial and small that I felt like it didn't really matter. Then I was pissed about how much I underestimated about the water.
You seriously have NO idea how much water we went through. TONS. I think people had to run out like 3 times to get at least 3 or 4 cases of water each time. Damn demanding people! THEN the rider ordered stuff to be at stage right half an hour before the Crows took the stage. Which was fine, I was totally on it. Then I get a page from one of the stagehands. I go backstage and a crew member gets up in my face saying that we got the wrong type of water--it was sparkling now mineral like they wanted. A--I have no idea we had even bought sparkling water or where that stuff actually came from. B--I really thought that's what was on the rider.
I felt so bad. Partly because I screwed up, but mostly cuz a mean crew guy was screaming in my face. So I try to remain calm and say we'll get on it and have it in a bit, we're doing the best we can. Then he screams we have 5 minutes to get it for them. Umm...they weren't going on for half an hour--WHY did they need it in 5 minutes exactly?!? Then ego-stagehand gets on my case as well and starts hollering at me. Ummm....I'm not about to deal with prima donna NAE members when I have something like this to deal with, thankyouverymuch. It pissed me off sooo bad.
Luckily, my co-chair and Aaron the treasurer were thinking clearly. We ended up just buying water from the concession stands for them. Crisis averted. Gaah.
So, yeah, there was drama throughout the day. But it was seriously all forgotten as soon as the band started playing. They were truly great. The best part was that I got to watch the entire concert with all my NAE friends. We just rocked out and chilled out. It was so great. It was a truly happy, zen moment for me. It'll be permanently engraved in my memory.
I got to meet the band afterwards too. Well I got to meet a couple of them before when I brought them silverware and stuff. They were really cool, down-to-earth guys. After the show they all stuck around outside and signed autographs for anybody who wanted them. It was so great. I got a poster signed. And Adam Duritz signed my boob! Well...not really, but my backstage pass was kind of on my boob on my shirt and he signed it for me. Yay for scrapbook material. I also got a pic with him...but it didn't turn out so stellar. (Ummm...Colin is a HORRID photographer--it was off-center and my eyes were closed. Gaah. Not cool. It's still goin' in the scrapbook though. Heh heh.) The group pic turned out pretty good though. I was happy with that. It's actually cute and framable. Sweeet.
Aight aight, I need to go to bed. This is kind of funny. I started writing this at 8:30ish, but stuff kept coming up and I'm not actually finishing it until 2 am. My bad. I got lots to talk about later: leadership banquet, people auction, baad Gonzo movies, being sick and more.
But that'll alllll be later.
Ciao dahling!
~*Krissy*~
Livin' Out My RockStar Fantasy To: Winter by Tori Amos (favorite Tori song! Yay!)
Crush du Jour: intellectual guys
Happy Thought of the Moment: hugs, Taco Bell runs, being worth money (!!!), Rainy Day mix, Target runs, autographed poster, Alkaline Trio tomorrow, bakery, Spencer's my slave (hehehe), fun pix, photo opps, nose ring, chewy chips ahoy, seeing Lizzies I've never seen, Lizzie tape, denim blazer, dressing up, lookin' HOTTT, seeing all my friends in one place, cute orange daisies, union jack, yummy smelling guys