Dan Dickinson: The Primary Vivid Weblog

its not going to stop. wise up.

Ironically, that particular Amy Mann song just came on. With that being said, here’s my concert thoughts:

On a whole, things went well. The stage crew was great, with few exceptions – no one seemed to understand the concept of “volunteering” at times. But load in and load out both went quick, and we were out of there by 12:40.

The bands – well, I’m still not quite sure who Common is, but Jurassic 5 was a pleasure to work with. Not only are they incredible on the stage, but they’re funny and actively chatted with our crews. And after their set, they hung out in the dress circle and talked to fans. Incidently, I have massive respect for their DJ, who I can safely say is the best DJ I’ve ever seen live.

As those of you who knew me last year at this time may have guessed, the problem this show was, in my own humble opinion, ALANA. A list of what I saw, in order from minor to major:

• The only members of my crew who didn’t show up were ALANA members – 3 of them.
• ALANA Exec Board members were dancing in the audience during the J5 sound check.
• ALANA members were unaware of when or where they had to be, for the most part – even though Jess and I explained it pretty damn well.
• ALANA Exec Board members mutilated their shirts – ripping off sleeves, creating neck lines, etc. – for reasons that escape me.
• ALANA Exec Board members took extra shirts, which shorted other people later.
• An ALANA Exec Board member was off the side of the stage (in the entryway to the stage) dancing during Common’s set. We asked her to stop.
• Roughly 20 minutes later, an ALANA Exec Board member – possibly the same one, I’m not sure – was pulled onstage by someone on Common’s crew, where she began “freaking the DJ”, in the words of another crew member who saw it.

Now I’m sure someone is going “That’s the worst thing? She was pulled by the crew!” – yes, that’s true. But one of the things that’s always been driven home is that big P word, Professionalism. If you’re in charge of a show, you don’t use your position to somehow get closer to the band – and it was
quite obvious from the conversations I heard that that is what was planned. It keeps turning into Same Shit, Different Year. Maybe something will happen this time – we shall see. To put some humor back into this, a life lesson for you all:

No matter what, never freak the DJ.

Hmm, maybe I’ll start a whole “life lesson” page with all sorts of wacky crap I’ve learned in my Cornell experience. If only I had time to do this.

Thanks for the show go to: Ryan “Lower Than Whale Shit” Short, Jess “Where’s My Brother?” Smith, Tom “Two Leg Gashes And A Smile” Heidt, Joe “BIRD!” Lisi, Marcy “Backbone Of This Organization” Patrick, John “Birthday Boy’ Wiseman, Christina “Heartattack” Falck, Henry “O.” Bloom, Joe “You Should Change That” Scaffido, the entire Stage Crew, Northeastern, J5, and anyone else I’m forgetting who needs some love.

This week: The last 418 programming assignment! A paper for music! Game theory like always! And the aftermath in the wake of J5!

Finally (longest post EVER), huge congrats to Dave Cross and the Cornell Kendo Club, who won their tourney at Harvard this weekend.