Anime Matsuri Report -Day 2-
Saturday, Day 2
Concert day. AKA run-like-mad-and-get-yelled-at-for-not-having-anything-done-day.
Anything that COULD go wrong with the band and vocalist DID go wrong. It was like that all weekend. The sheer number of obstacles we had to get over was uncanny. Uncanny, i tell you. The fans were complaining about not being fed or hydrated while waiting a line that THEY formed? i didn't understand that.
ok, things that didn't get done that was on the list of items requested:
-The equipment; guitars weren't the right ones, missing head and foot speakers, missing body packs, incorrect pedals, etc.
-The barricade; not enough quantity, wrong kind (they were, like, skinny rail frames)
-The LED screen...was more like ONE row of LED lights.
-Dressing rooms not prepared
-Waters and towels not prepared
-Backline staff was supposed to be at venue at 9AM...but was late
-We had made arrangements with the vocalist's previous manager and getting the OK to film for AM purposes only, but the overseer started to claim that he didn't hear anything about it (thus freaking out at the sight of cameras)
Before setup even started, the overseer needed a voltmeter to make sure the voltage was transformed correctly from 120V to 100V. i thought "electrical tool = Best Buy", so the overseer's assistant and i went to Best Buy at 9AM to look for a voltmeter. Of course, we couldn't find it. We were directed to go to Radio Shack in the mall...which didn't open until 10 AM. (T-T While we were at the mall, a representative of J-Rock Revolution calls me (dunno how they got my number) and asks if we could prepare a couple of press passes for his people. i called Deneice (the convention chairwoman), who tells me "NO" before i could finish my sentence. i relay the information back to J-Rock Revolution, who, of course don't like getting NO for an answer. i tell him i'd ask again, but that i don't have the final say. And decide not to contact either parties and let it sit for a while. We were instructed to return to the convention center, so we went back, empty-handed. (Later i find out that the overseer had brought a voltmeter with him after all.)
John was there with the overseer and backline staff to make things work (better than its original sad state). He had to get (read: purchase) the 3 guitars that were wrong, and so he took off at around 12 PM in search for the right guitars. There was nothing we could do until all the equipment was there, so i stayed with the band so they could have lunch. A random girl went up to the guitarist and asked for his autograph. It really made me angry because the girl and her friend was like, "is he famous?" If you don't know who they are, DON'T ASK FOR AN AUTOGRAPH OR PHOTO!! If you're really a fan, you would know who the person you're asking an autograph from is. It's stupid to get an autograph or photo just to brag to your friends later saying that you came in contact with a "famous person." Stupid people. Stupid, ignorant people. >.<
While John was out taking care of equipment/instrument issues i, was left to set up the dressing rooms. Now, there were no small rooms near the exhibit hall where the concert was going to be held.
i panicked.
i knew nothing about entertainers and dressing rooms! i mean, i sing in a choir and am on the drama team at church, but we were never provided with such luxuries. You wanna change, you do it in the bathroom. You wanna eat? Go walk across the street to the starbucks and get it yourself. That's what i'm used to working with. Anyway, i started to go down the list of items; the first readily available item was water. So i went to the Green Room to pick up some bottled water and saw Stephanie Young there. i ran up to her and asked "have you worked with dressing rooms and whatnot?!" Oh, she must've thought i was crazy or something. lol Well, my thought process was "voice actress=acting experience=stage acting experience". Anyway, thank goodness she was so helpful! She gave me some pointers on setting up a makeshift dressing room.
With that new-found information, i got to work on setting up the space in the employee hallway behind the stage space. Hotel staff was very helpful (maybe because they saw Bryan (read: confident male figure) was working on it at the same time) in helping me get the area cleaned and prepared. i talked with hotel staff about getting the towels, water, snacks and coffee/hot water. He asked for a method of payment so he can get that started. That's when i realized, my purse is gone. Halfway in tears, i retrace my steps and ask other AM staff to keep an eye out for my purse. i go back to the exhibit hall and, well whaddaya know, my purse is there! So i pay the hotel staff, then get the area prepped.
Once that was arranged and people were working on it, i went outside to get away from everything. i sat down on the concrete, and tears started to flow out. i was praying to God. Praying that everything would get better, that John will find the guitars, and the concert will be ok. Then out of nowhere, Bryan appears. God has an uncanny sense of timing...i had almost forgotten about that. Bryan hugged and comforted me, and told me i was "too cute to cry". Corney? Yes. cheezy? Yes. But goshdarnit, it made me feel much better. It was definitely something i needed to hear. i also realized i have a thing for guys with a British accent. lol i love a guy who works harder than me, but still has the maturity to comfort me when i break down. i'm glad that Bryan was married, though. The last time God sent me someone to comfort me, i ended up making an emotional attachment to the person, not turn to God to thank Him. But i digress.
After the "dressing rooms" were set up, and the equipment list was completed, i thought "all is well." No, all wasn't well yet. We still had the issues with cameras. The overseer was screaming "i didn't hear anything about cameras! Where's the contract?! i want to see the contract!" and so i went to Deneice's hotel room to retrieve a printout of the agreement made with the vocalist's previous management company. John said the overseer had ok-ed everything on the agreement, which turned out to be correct.
The vocalist and band rehearsed for a couple of hours. Then the vocalist asked if i had some time afterward. i actually got to translate for him! lol He wanted to make sure his lines sounded good in English for when he MCed during his performance.
Even after getting all the sound equipment together, setting up took time...oh, and the "barricades". Words cannot express the flimsyness of those "barricades" that the staging company provided us. On top of that, there weren't enough of those "barricades" to go around the stage. So John got some tables, and assigned a group of security volunteers to push back on the barricades/tables during the show.
Once everything was set up for the concert, John still had to help with setting up the game machines for the Showdown finals. The overseer was getting impatient. He kept nagging me, saying "Are you sure this show is going to start at 9PM?" It's pretty obvious that it WASN'T, but dang these guys were working as fast as they could. i've been to cons where events started at least 1 to 2 HOURS late. This show was 30 minutes late. (ok, ok, it's still wrong of us to start late. i do admit that.) We actually had to cut the opening act so that we can save some time. (More on that later.)
While all this was going on, Strong Machine's family was left without a translator. Again. Strong Machine 1 and 2 performed at the Import Reactor car show that afternoon, but no one was available to take care of them after that. And so Ginny (US guest relations) helped me out by having one of her assistants stay with the Strong Machine family. He took them to dinner while John and i were frantically getting things ready and Hajime-san was staying with the overseer and the band, keeping them from yelling at us. Strong Machine's family came back just in time to watch the Main Events start. They had made friends with the gamers, Pachi-san, Legend-san and Ken-san, and so they wanted to see them in action. i had to miss it, unfortunately, since i needed to pick up a birthday cake for one of the band members. (The vocalist was going to surprise him during the encore.) i came back in the nick of time to pick up the vocalist and escort him to the backstage dressing room area.
Once everyone was situated, i took a seat in the staff/vip seating. i handed off the cake & candles to the merchandise lady and after listening to the first song, and took Strong Machine's family back to their room so they could prepare for their upcoming performance at Club AM. i promised to come pick them up after the concert, then head back to my room.
...i didn't even watch the concert.
Fans are going to kill me if they find out. But i was exhausted and so i wanted to sit and chill in my hotel room. Elaine was there, and so i sat and talked with her 'till about 12:00 AM. By the time i went downstairs, the concert was over. We arranged for everyone to meet in Mike's room for dinner at about 1:00 AM, after everyone freshened up.
i got to watch Strong Machine 2 perform "I My Me Mine" (She was in the music video of that Polysics' song). i think that made my night. Besides Bryan cheering me up. =P
Day 0 report: http://azu79.livejournal.com/49866.html
Day 1 report: http://azu79.livejournal.com/49928.html
Concert day. AKA run-like-mad-and-get-yelled-at-for-not-having-anything-done-day.
Anything that COULD go wrong with the band and vocalist DID go wrong. It was like that all weekend. The sheer number of obstacles we had to get over was uncanny. Uncanny, i tell you. The fans were complaining about not being fed or hydrated while waiting a line that THEY formed? i didn't understand that.
ok, things that didn't get done that was on the list of items requested:
-The equipment; guitars weren't the right ones, missing head and foot speakers, missing body packs, incorrect pedals, etc.
-The barricade; not enough quantity, wrong kind (they were, like, skinny rail frames)
-The LED screen...was more like ONE row of LED lights.
-Dressing rooms not prepared
-Waters and towels not prepared
-Backline staff was supposed to be at venue at 9AM...but was late
-We had made arrangements with the vocalist's previous manager and getting the OK to film for AM purposes only, but the overseer started to claim that he didn't hear anything about it (thus freaking out at the sight of cameras)
Before setup even started, the overseer needed a voltmeter to make sure the voltage was transformed correctly from 120V to 100V. i thought "electrical tool = Best Buy", so the overseer's assistant and i went to Best Buy at 9AM to look for a voltmeter. Of course, we couldn't find it. We were directed to go to Radio Shack in the mall...which didn't open until 10 AM. (T-T While we were at the mall, a representative of J-Rock Revolution calls me (dunno how they got my number) and asks if we could prepare a couple of press passes for his people. i called Deneice (the convention chairwoman), who tells me "NO" before i could finish my sentence. i relay the information back to J-Rock Revolution, who, of course don't like getting NO for an answer. i tell him i'd ask again, but that i don't have the final say. And decide not to contact either parties and let it sit for a while. We were instructed to return to the convention center, so we went back, empty-handed. (Later i find out that the overseer had brought a voltmeter with him after all.)
John was there with the overseer and backline staff to make things work (better than its original sad state). He had to get (read: purchase) the 3 guitars that were wrong, and so he took off at around 12 PM in search for the right guitars. There was nothing we could do until all the equipment was there, so i stayed with the band so they could have lunch. A random girl went up to the guitarist and asked for his autograph. It really made me angry because the girl and her friend was like, "is he famous?" If you don't know who they are, DON'T ASK FOR AN AUTOGRAPH OR PHOTO!! If you're really a fan, you would know who the person you're asking an autograph from is. It's stupid to get an autograph or photo just to brag to your friends later saying that you came in contact with a "famous person." Stupid people. Stupid, ignorant people. >.<
While John was out taking care of equipment/instrument issues i, was left to set up the dressing rooms. Now, there were no small rooms near the exhibit hall where the concert was going to be held.
i panicked.
i knew nothing about entertainers and dressing rooms! i mean, i sing in a choir and am on the drama team at church, but we were never provided with such luxuries. You wanna change, you do it in the bathroom. You wanna eat? Go walk across the street to the starbucks and get it yourself. That's what i'm used to working with. Anyway, i started to go down the list of items; the first readily available item was water. So i went to the Green Room to pick up some bottled water and saw Stephanie Young there. i ran up to her and asked "have you worked with dressing rooms and whatnot?!" Oh, she must've thought i was crazy or something. lol Well, my thought process was "voice actress=acting experience=stage acting experience". Anyway, thank goodness she was so helpful! She gave me some pointers on setting up a makeshift dressing room.
With that new-found information, i got to work on setting up the space in the employee hallway behind the stage space. Hotel staff was very helpful (maybe because they saw Bryan (read: confident male figure) was working on it at the same time) in helping me get the area cleaned and prepared. i talked with hotel staff about getting the towels, water, snacks and coffee/hot water. He asked for a method of payment so he can get that started. That's when i realized, my purse is gone. Halfway in tears, i retrace my steps and ask other AM staff to keep an eye out for my purse. i go back to the exhibit hall and, well whaddaya know, my purse is there! So i pay the hotel staff, then get the area prepped.
Once that was arranged and people were working on it, i went outside to get away from everything. i sat down on the concrete, and tears started to flow out. i was praying to God. Praying that everything would get better, that John will find the guitars, and the concert will be ok. Then out of nowhere, Bryan appears. God has an uncanny sense of timing...i had almost forgotten about that. Bryan hugged and comforted me, and told me i was "too cute to cry". Corney? Yes. cheezy? Yes. But goshdarnit, it made me feel much better. It was definitely something i needed to hear. i also realized i have a thing for guys with a British accent. lol i love a guy who works harder than me, but still has the maturity to comfort me when i break down. i'm glad that Bryan was married, though. The last time God sent me someone to comfort me, i ended up making an emotional attachment to the person, not turn to God to thank Him. But i digress.
After the "dressing rooms" were set up, and the equipment list was completed, i thought "all is well." No, all wasn't well yet. We still had the issues with cameras. The overseer was screaming "i didn't hear anything about cameras! Where's the contract?! i want to see the contract!" and so i went to Deneice's hotel room to retrieve a printout of the agreement made with the vocalist's previous management company. John said the overseer had ok-ed everything on the agreement, which turned out to be correct.
The vocalist and band rehearsed for a couple of hours. Then the vocalist asked if i had some time afterward. i actually got to translate for him! lol He wanted to make sure his lines sounded good in English for when he MCed during his performance.
Even after getting all the sound equipment together, setting up took time...oh, and the "barricades". Words cannot express the flimsyness of those "barricades" that the staging company provided us. On top of that, there weren't enough of those "barricades" to go around the stage. So John got some tables, and assigned a group of security volunteers to push back on the barricades/tables during the show.
Once everything was set up for the concert, John still had to help with setting up the game machines for the Showdown finals. The overseer was getting impatient. He kept nagging me, saying "Are you sure this show is going to start at 9PM?" It's pretty obvious that it WASN'T, but dang these guys were working as fast as they could. i've been to cons where events started at least 1 to 2 HOURS late. This show was 30 minutes late. (ok, ok, it's still wrong of us to start late. i do admit that.) We actually had to cut the opening act so that we can save some time. (More on that later.)
While all this was going on, Strong Machine's family was left without a translator. Again. Strong Machine 1 and 2 performed at the Import Reactor car show that afternoon, but no one was available to take care of them after that. And so Ginny (US guest relations) helped me out by having one of her assistants stay with the Strong Machine family. He took them to dinner while John and i were frantically getting things ready and Hajime-san was staying with the overseer and the band, keeping them from yelling at us. Strong Machine's family came back just in time to watch the Main Events start. They had made friends with the gamers, Pachi-san, Legend-san and Ken-san, and so they wanted to see them in action. i had to miss it, unfortunately, since i needed to pick up a birthday cake for one of the band members. (The vocalist was going to surprise him during the encore.) i came back in the nick of time to pick up the vocalist and escort him to the backstage dressing room area.
Once everyone was situated, i took a seat in the staff/vip seating. i handed off the cake & candles to the merchandise lady and after listening to the first song, and took Strong Machine's family back to their room so they could prepare for their upcoming performance at Club AM. i promised to come pick them up after the concert, then head back to my room.
...i didn't even watch the concert.
Fans are going to kill me if they find out. But i was exhausted and so i wanted to sit and chill in my hotel room. Elaine was there, and so i sat and talked with her 'till about 12:00 AM. By the time i went downstairs, the concert was over. We arranged for everyone to meet in Mike's room for dinner at about 1:00 AM, after everyone freshened up.
i got to watch Strong Machine 2 perform "I My Me Mine" (She was in the music video of that Polysics' song). i think that made my night. Besides Bryan cheering me up. =P
Day 0 report: http://azu79.livejournal.com/49866.html
Day 1 report: http://azu79.livejournal.com/49928.html