[JYJ NYC Showcase] Fanaccount
For those who don’t know, I’m the admin for IntlCassieProj and we did a few projects in hopes of supporting JYJ for their show - some were successes and others failed. Still, I’m rather happy with the ones we were able to successfully complete. I’ll try to explain the projects for those who don’t know about them throughout the fanaccount :)
Soooo moving onto my account haha…
Mm, before the showcase, I barely had gotten any sleep (lol, I’m sure most of us were actually all running on an hour or two of sleep), having stayed up until 4AM trying to finish the Gifts for JYJ. This project was done with the help of fans who donated (thank you to the donators btw!). We got them a bunch of gifts (7 big bags in total) and I had to put them together so they would look at least presentable for JYJ. After that was all done, I grabbed a nap until 6AM and forced myself to wake up since I knew there was going to be huuuuge line already.
After getting ready and packing everything, I drove to Manhattan and around 7AM I already had people texting me that there was already quite a number of people on line. Apparently when JYJ comes into town, no one sleeps LOL (not that I blame anyone..I would have been there earlier too if I was more of a morning person haha). When I got there, the line was already split into two segments - the first one was mostly people who came around 6AM and the second one was mostly people who came around 8AM.
After dropping things off with my friends in the second segment, I was able to hang around a bit and check out things. It’s always fun meeting new Cassies ;) I hung around the line for an hour or so before we decided that it was seriously way too cold, thus, off to Starbucks we went! Lattes (Green tea <3) are always good for warming up hands in the cold~ Walking down the block, we noticed a black limo. Lol, we didn’t peek into it though - thought the boys would like some privacy if they were really in the car. Not to mention, we would just look weird...
Our little Starbucks trip took around 10 minutes and by the time we came back the line had grown again - it was like every time I looked back, there was another segment lol. After a little more hanging around, we saw a few people walking by passing out some tags and some of us thought it was official people so we were all like *___* omg, I want one too….So we did what fangirls did XD we stalked them down the block. But by the time we reached there, the lady had disappeared. After looking a bit, we saw people with huge equipment boxes so we decided to stalk them instead. Unfortunately, they crossed the street instead of turning into what we thought might be a second entrance to the Hammerstein. So we gave up the plan of stalking them anymore haha.
I think it was around 11 AM or noon after we finished with all of our min-adventures. Having waited for so long, we (as in admins/mods from IntlCassieProj, OneTVXQ, and Wish4Chance) decided to push up our hand-out time for the JYJ The Beginning T-shirts. We were doing things rather orderly with the glowsticks going down the line, passing out the White Ocean fliers, and the shirts before everything went down the hill with management D:
We had someone come up to us (I won’t disclose her name) and basically told us that we could get JYJ in trouble for passing things out and that it would stop the show if they got into trouble. Obviously, we did not want to do that -.- So we had to stop a bit and figure things out - Sorry to those who got really confused! We eventually argued enough for her to go check things out for us with the promoters and whatnot. They got back to us and told us we had to pass things out, off the venue, where no one would see us doing so. As long as it didn’t seem like JYJ was selling merchandises then it would be all good.
Of course that gave OneTVXQ, IntlCassieProj, and Wish4Chance a whole new headache - how the heck were we supposed to hand things out without announcing it to the people on line? Eventually we decided to become ninjas and walk down the line, telling fans to pick their shirts up at Wendy’s. Yes, lol, we used Wendys as our headquarters for a little while X’D. We had a few people waiting at the store while other staffs walked down the line, asking fans to spread the news in whatever section they were in. Thankfully, that worked somewhat and some people were able to pick up their shirts before the concert. (Note: for those who haven’t received their t-shirts yet, please contact OneTVXQ. I think they should have sent you guys PMs about them).
Next, came our problem with the glowsticks. We realllllly had no idea what to do with them. We weren’t allowed to pass them out as we were originally doing so all of us were just standing there with bags of glowsticks, trying to figure out a way to pass them to the fans. I’m pretty sure we stood there for at least an hour or two trying to work a solution out. Eventually, I got so fed up with doing nothing so I told everyone to just take a few and pass them around if they could. There was NO way we could have done things orderly if we had told people to go off the venue to grab their glowsticks. That would have caused even more chaos and the line up was already quite a mess with people slipping in and out of the line.
It was kind of amusing to watch some of our volunteers stuff lightsticks into their bags and smuggle it down the line for those who didn’t have one. Thank you to those who helped by the way! We wouldn’t have had the Red Ocean without your help.
At around that time, I got called away to help with the show and this is probably when this fanaccount would get interesting for you guys :) I was lucky enough to be called in as one of the volunteers to help out with the show.
They gave us Staff badges and everything (lol, srsly, I love the badge, it’s so awesome - makes a great souvenir for a fantastic night). A few of the staff members walked us up to the conference room to talk about our duties for the night. The really awesome part was the fact that we were able to use the room that JYJ had been sitting in a few moments before. Lol, their food was still strewn across the table. I was really amused when the staff were jokingly telling us, “Don’t steal anything, eat anything, or drink anything!”
I know fans on the line might not have been able to interact with the staffs much, but guys, these people are so nice. They’re fun to talk to and people just generally joked around with each other. By the end of the night, I met some really nice people.
After the whole meeting thing, they walked us around for a tour of the Hammerstein - showing us the balcony, the floor, and the coat check area. Unfortunately, JYJ weren’t there so we didn’t catch a glimpse of them while walking around the inside. I believe they were at the Billboard shoot, finishing up another part of their hectic schedule.
When the tour was over, they told us we were allowed to go out to grab some dinner since they weren’t too sure if there was going be dinner after the show. So I went out to join the line again, talked to a few people and tried to coordinate the line a bit. As I was walking around, just talking to people, one of the volunteers ran up to me and whispered, “THEY’RE REHEARSING.”
Lol. Okay, you guys, I freaked out. X’D If any of you saw a tiny Asian girl in a leather jacket zip by to the front door, that was the moment hahaha. I ran up there and went through the door as fast as I could.
Getting into the room, I was literally speechless when I saw them. Eventually I calmed down and went up to the other volunteers to watch with them. Lol, I thiiiiink everyone there knew who my bias was. So yeah, I stared at Yoochun for quite a while. It was sooooo surreal. I mean, they were just standing there, in their regular clothes, singing. There were a few of the other staffs just milling around, but generally everyone was really quiet. I didn’t want to scare them or anyone else by freaking out, so I just stood there watching them.
Everyone, JYJ are gorgeous. I know some of us might have seen them in person already, but I just felt like reiterating x’D and God, their live singing always blow me away. These guys seriously know how to sing.
Hm, from what I can pull from my memory, Yoochun was wearing the yellow-ish jacket with the fur (the one he wore in one of the pics Junsu posted on Twitter). Jaejoong was mostly in black - I can’t remember if he had black jeans, but he had a black tanktop and a black shirt over the tanktop. I’m really sorry to Junsu, but I can’t, for the life of me, remember what he was wearing LOL. I tried really hard to remember, but I think it’s cuz all I remember was his red head. His hair is really red…but not in the bad way. Seeing it in person, I have to say I like the hair a lot more than I originally had.
They sang a few songs, but weren’t really dancing. Junsu randomly broke out into dance when he felt like it lol (bb, you so cute). And the other two just stood around singing and moving around the stage into their cued spots.
I think they were wondering why there was a group of girls just staring at them though LOL since we obviously weren’t their normal staffs or anyone they had seen before the start of the show. I was trying to see if any of them were looking at us, but I couldn’t tell. I do remember Yoochun shielding his eyes from the light so he might have been trying to figure out why there was a group of girls standing by the DJ stand then. But as professionals, they just carried on with the rehearsal and sang wonderfully.
Eventually, we were called out again so they could go over what we were supposed to do when the show started. After they finished that up, one of the staffs told us we could go back in to hear them, but only for the next few minutes. I think they knew we really wanted to watch haha. It’s pretty obvious we were excited to hear them sing without a huge crowd of people screaming.
So we rushed back in to stand by the DJ stand again. But then one or two of the volunteers decided to walk towards the front and the rest of us were like “oh, we could do that?” and we decided to walk to there too. So we ended up pretty close to the stage - not exactly in front of it since we didn’t want to distract JYJ from their rehearsal, but close enough that I got to see their faces and everything.
I think Jaejoong saw us then and I don’t know if he was nervous or whatever, but, lol, he dropped his mic on one of the songs. It was pretty cute but then he picked it up rather quickly and went along with the song again. There were a few times when one of them got too close to the speakers and it made that horrible screeching sound. Other than those two mishaps, their rehearsal went pretty flawlessly. I would have to say that they sounded amazing - I always love their lives more than their CD versions. I seriously think DBSK/JYJ are the only people I would say that for - since most people are worse when they’re singing live.
Throughout the rehearsal, there were times when Jaejoong got too hot so he would slip his outer shirt down a little bit for it to rest on his elboqa. Seriously, this man, does he not know how gorgeous he is? X’D Even if Yoochun is my bias, I found myself just staring at Jaejoong for a good while throughout the songs. Junsu caught my eyes a few times when he broke into dance - he really is charismatic when he dances and sings <3 I’m absolutely in love with his voice and energy (so yeah, if you haven’t noticed, I love them all very much ;D )
After standing close to the stage for some parts of the rehearsal, the Korean manager saw us and asked us to move back so we ended up near the DJ stand in the back again. They sang a song or two more and then rehearsal was wrapped up. I would have loved to record the rehearsal but we weren’t allowed to so I just settled for committing everything to memory lol.
When rehearsal was done, we were called out again to get ready for the crowd. The ushers were allowed back into the floor room again to go through things. Since I was part of the Gift Table crew, I was told to stay out in the lobby. While sitting at the table, I was able to catch a few glimpses of the second rehearsal when people opened the door. They had two rehearsals - one in which they just sang while the second one had all the technical parts, such as lights, out.
While they were finishing up their second rehearsal, we had media come in and people were escorting them to their seats. People were just rushing in and out, trying to organize everything. Seeing as how this is my first time helping out with a show, I didn’t realize how hectic things could get.
After volunteering, I think I’m more willing to say that Entitled isn’t as bad as some of us make it out to be. I know Cassies were frustrated with the tour and everything, but some of the comments on Facebook were just downright rude. People worked for this tour to go well - it’s not as if the staff wanted the show to go badly or anything. I’m not reprimanding anyone because I was rather frustrated with everything too, but perhaps some of us should rethink what we say sometimes. Seeing comments like, “their managers should be fired” just makes JYJ’s fans seem disrespectful when we aren’t. Since I ended up knowing some of these people during the volunteer session, I would have to say they’re nice people. They wanted the show to go well, but sometimes things just go badly. I’m just asking for us to be a bit more understanding.
I’m not going to go into the show itself since I’m going to be including my fancams in this post and lol, you guys would know what I’m doing through them anyway. Yes, I was sitting there and screaming my little head off for JYJ (especially Yoochun). I’m going to apologize in advance if you watch the vids and see seizure-shakes X’D or hear my comments/cracked voice (around then I was losing my voice from yelling so much throughout the day).
I’m gonna come out and say that, yes, I was disappointed that we weren’t able to create the White Ocean for the boys during Chajatta. I thought it would haven been a great project for the guys to see, but I guess things were just too hectic to do anything in unity. I was anticipating it anyway lol people tend to forget what to do when JYJ walks out. People were just too busy trying to take fancams (which I don’t blame them, I did the same) so the Red Ocean eventually just disintegrated into a sea of cameras. I am happy that we were able to show them a Red Ocean when they first stepped out though - so the red glowsticks we passed (smuggled) out were a success <3 For that, I’m happy. And after watching their rehearsal, nothing was going to pull me down XD I was flying on Cloud 9 after it.
When the show was over, the volunteers were asked to gather in the lobby for a brief meeting to see what we were doing. This is when I say I’m reallllly happy to have been allowed to hang out at the lobby after the crowd disappeared haha because we were able to catch a glimpse of Junsu walking towards the elevator ;) And this is also where I would say I looooove his red hair again LOL because without it, I wouldn’t have known that was Junsu haha. There were SO many people surrounding him and the security guards were just swarming the door he was coming out of, so without his hair, I wouldn’t have known that was our Junsu-sama x’D.
After having a minor freak-out episode with a few of the other volunteers (in which we were just standing on the side quietly going, “omgggg I hope the other two come out”), we were gathered to bring the gifts to the hotel. I’m really happy to say that there were quite a number of gifts for them :) We bought everything to the hotel and the hotel staff pushed it up to what I assume is the boys’ rooms. So yes, Cassies from IntlCassieProj, we successfully delivered our presents to the boys :) Now it’s up to if they can keep or use them. (LOL I left a message in one of the bags telling them to tweet “I received” if they ever got our gifts but I don’t know if they would ever do it).
When the gifts went up, all the volunteers just sat inside the lobby, hanging out with each other while we waited on any news. We ended up taking a bunch of pics with the two of the volunteer coordinators (I don’t want to disclose any names without permission). We got a pic with one of the MCs too. It was fun to unwind a bit with everyone. Eventually they told us that there was a dinner, but JYJ was probably not going to go since they had a photoshoot to go to (god, they need to sleep, that’s what they need to do lol) and that the dinner was 21+ (because the staff wanted to unwind too). Sadly, I’m around 7 months shy of 21, so yeah, I ended up not going.
Mm, that should be the end of my fanaccount :) I ended up going home and passing out haha I was so exhausted after everything. Even if things were ridiculously hectic, I would do everything over again in a heartbeat. I love how dedicated Cassies are to TVXQ/JYJ and how dedicated they are to us - it’s a lovely cycle of loyalty/dedication/love. I think I’m absolutely in love with this whole fandom.
Btw, lol, did anyone catch me running up and down the line? ;D You guys should say hi next time! I don’t mind meeting new Cassies <3
P.S. I’m amused that by the time I finished this fanaccount, Be the One ended up playing on my Itunes.
P.S.S. Don’t mind my comments in my fancams (if any of you are sensitive, I’ll warn you that I cursed a few times from the epic hotness known as JYJ 8D), or the seizure-shakes, or the fact that I’m losing my voice LOL
Found this pic at MTVK - haha this is what I saw at the rehearsal ;D
Our bags of gifts for JYJ from IntlCassieProj -
I'll post up more pics when I can get my DSLR to plug into my comp
Closer pic of our bag ;) looks good, neh? hehe
Thanks to sesshy18 for designing the logo
I'm pimping out my staff tag, yes. lol.
The Red Ocean :D
I'm glad O + IntlCassieProj were able to hand out our glowsticks successfully
Click to viewOpening + Empty - Julie Chang and Shane Yoon were great MCs :)
Be the One - God, the dance is srsly HOT.
To You Vid + Be My Girl
Chajatta + Ayy Girl - LOL don't mind my singing..it's horrid.
Empty REMIX - This song totally pumped up the crowd..if only the show was longer :(
Alrighty everyone, that should be it haha I would love to post up my Intermission vid but splitting it has been a pain in the ass :/ Since I filmed the whole thing, it was around 27 mins and YT wouldn't let me upload it *sighs*
But anyway, the showcase was amazing! I absolutely loved it..I'm already having JYJ withdrawal symptoms x'D I need to see them again~ Hopefully some time next year haha
Love you guys!
-- Jackie