the difficulties

Thanks, Ekong and Monty, for your constructive comments. (Ang daming Monty sa mundong ito. May Monty sa Grasspipe tsaka may Monty sa Candy egroups... are you the latter or neither?)

Buzz Night is a really hard production to do. For one thing, the mastermind of the affair, Allan, is soooooooo busy that he only gets to take care of it a week before the actual date. Another contributing factor is that the few bands that fit the genre itself are either unpredictable or prone to having unpredictable things happen to them... I don't know why, but it's probably just the law of averages happening, since there are only a few of them nga. We've basically had to start from scratch, too, trying to look for new bands and doing a semi-screened trial and error... this produces duds from time to time, and we've had to accept that. But at least we're actively giving new bands a chance. Actually, we don't really have a choice. It's both a curse and a potentially rewarding experience. For instance, Tether was a great find.

Aside from my “one beer too many” (more like 5 beers, ekong, hehe) act, several things set the stage for last Buzz Night. We had actually lined up some pretty nifty indie numbers like Bagetsafonik, My Science Project and Popular Days lined up, except that they all had to back out at the last minute for various scary reasons (get well soon, guys!). Ideally, we would have wanted to space out the genres with a small consideration for first-come-first-served, but with these three bands out of the line up, the night sounded monochromatic. Also--- and this is the thing that really pissed me off that night--- everyone decided to come late that night. I was forced to sequence the night according to who arrived first just to be able to accommodate everyone and appease patrons and Oka (hehe). Now, if these bands had come earlier, maybe we could have saved the night.

But--- who was mistress of the night? I was. Which is precisely why I’m pissed at myself, as well. If I had taken my head out of my ass for a few minutes (I don’t even think it’s quite out yet, judging from my rant so far), I would have been able to at least calmly handle everything. What time these bands arrived and how scanty the indie-ness of the production was were conditions beyond my control. But I could have kept my cool… or something. Basically, it all was just some really undesirable circumstances placed in the hands of a clueless neurotic. End of story. I hope things will be better this month.

I told Allan I didn’t really want to man Buzz Night anymore, after this, but I know he doesn’t have anyone else to trust. Nobody wants to handle it haha. But maybe I can ask him to give me the numbers and I can contact people myself for him. He’s just too busy to do it himself and he needs help. So watch out for a better Buzz this February.

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By the way, about the Pillow set… Mayric’s really had sucky mics, especially if it’s for a band like Pillow where you have to whisper or croon into a mic. Allan usually tweaks the board for other bands, but nobody can do it for Pillow while we’re up there. It’s a dilemma. It’s funny, though, when Monty said our antics added to the angsty feel… haha! We’re not supposed to be angsty ;D But if you say it wasn’t that bad, then I feel better. Thanks and see you guys next Buzz night.