Subject: Sheryl's C4 review - Friday Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 23:50:42 -0400 From: Sheryl Kirby Organization: Stained Productions Newsgroups: alt.gothic G and I are up relatively early and stop by the hotel room for a bit. Tiny and chaotic is an understatement. We share a cab to the hotel with a wonderful gentleman whose name has now escaped me. But I do know he is from Atlanta. Panurge, was that you?? (I did say my brain was fried.) We arrive at the tearoom to see everyone sitting politely and patiently in the hotel lobby. Very odd indeed, and probably the quietest moment of the weekend. A bit of confusion (which we expected) as folks show up for the wrong time spots or come with other non-registered friends in tow, but we manage to sort it all out. Some complaints about the waiters, I'm told, but all in all, it was a nice low-key way to start the festivities. Some gorgeous outfits as well, and a darling little parasol with tassels that I coveted simply for the opportunity to spin it around and whack people with them. Got to sit with Boo and Thess and had a really wonderful time. Greg played big executive guy, yelling into the cellphone when we got the phone call that the Changelings had arrived safely. We head out in the middle of the 4PM tea so we can change and get to the venue in time. Once there, Masochistic Religion is soundchecking, the vendors and setting up and all is cool. There were so many people that looked so incredible, it was hard to keep track. At about 10:45 I head up on stage to make announcements. Funny how you can sit in front of your computer and write something that tens of thousands of people will read, yet it's incredibly nerve-wracking to make simple announcements in front of a few hundred. It might have been the lack of food… all I had eaten all day was a little bit of stuff at the tea. Once Masochistic Religion took to the stage, we headed down the street for pizza. I needed cheese that I could actually eat. It's too bad that more people took them seriously and didn't "get the joke" so to speak. We took Edvamp for pizza and confused him with Bocci balls (garlic bread balls), square slices and the fact that there is no such thing as "plain" pizza in Canada. Apparently all that "stuff" confused him. Walked back to the club and was told that MSL had just shown up. Woo Hoo!!! I'd been getting progressively more worried as the night progressed. Pitched what was left of my pizza and went inside to find Preston from MSL. I approached him and introduced myself and gave him a big hug. He looked taken aback and startled, then looked at my nametag, realized who I was and hugged me again. MR finished up and my sweet babboo took to the turntables. He played Tom Jones, ABBA, and a variety of other stuff that left everyone either smiling or completely confused. I wandered around the club a lot with my bottle of nipple juice (water with a nozzle on the top) making sure everyone was having a good time. So many people stopped me to tell me what a great time they were having. That felt so great. Greg and Siobhan and I stopped a number of times over the course of the evening and just looked out over the crowd with big shit-eating grins on our faces. "Look! We DID this! Holy shit!!!" We arrived home to find F&tM and Damon and Paul from the Changelings hanging out in our kitchen. Apparently we had just missed a serenade by Paul, the violinist that had moved everyone to near tears by its beauty. I would get to hear a similar solo performance the next morning however, as Paul sat on the back deck for over an hour, just playing whatever came into his head. It was incredible… just eerie and haunting and moving… and something that will always stay with me. And then William Faith made me cry. Not a bad cry by any means, a wonderful, incredibly good cry, the type that only happens when someone that you have loved and admired for many years reveals that they hold you in as high as regard as you do them. He said some of the most wonderful heartfelt things that anyone has ever said to me, and made me feel so incredibly appreciated and proud. And guaranteed that they would give their all at the performance the next night in thanks to Greg and I for our continued support of them. I wouldn't even mention it here at all, since it now looks like I'm bragging, and it's a terribly personal conversation that I will always hold in my heart, except that it has a lot to do with the chaos and trauma that is… Saturday. Sheryl -- Above all else, think ice. You want to be able to walk around in your dinner jacket and smoking robe with an ice bucket and tongs, distributing ice to all you deem worthy. You want to be a monarch of cold drinks. -Chris Prince Subject: Sheryl's C4 review - Thursday Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 23:49:29 -0400 From: Sheryl Kirby Organization: Stained Productions Newsgroups: alt.gothic I'm woken up by Greg at 1AM with the announcement that Faith and the Muse has arrived. I toddle downstairs to be tacklehugged by Monica and William and introduced to Stevyn, JT and Jeremy, who ends up providing most of the comic relief for the weekend. We sit around for two hours chatting about Convergence, local goth politics and general stuff. It has begun! I wake up for real at around 9:30AM and start to work on the BBQ preparations. People make it downstairs bit by bit and eventually all get showered and ready to face the day. This is the beginning of my lesson in group orchestration. The time it takes to get anywhere is multiplied by the number of people you are actually trying to get moving. You get half the group to the door and go to look for the stragglers, and when you finally get them back, the few that were there before and ready to go have wandered off. As other C4 attendees realized, this is not a phenomenon specific to rock groups, but to large groups in general, but there were many, many times when I felt like a grade 2 teacher trying to organize a class trip. So finally we go for lunch. And then the beer store, where we overwhelm our American guests with an astounding selection of beer that doesn't suck. I come home with a six pack of maple beer, one of which I actually get to drink before the remainder get sucked back by BBQ attendees. Upon arrival back home at 3:30PM, Grimm pops out of a van waiting parked in front of my house. Well, he did say he was going to be there early. Introductions all around, but it isn't until about an hour later, sitting around my kitchen table that he realizes that the William he has just been introduced to is none other than William Faith. He turns about 50 shades of red and looks sheepishly down at his F&tM shirt. By this time, I'm frantically trying to get all of these folk out of my kitchen. I'm not a team player, especially in the one room that is MY domain. So everyone gets booted out to enable me to finish my cooking without going crazy. BBQ time! Melusine and her sweetie Al are of the first to arrive. I walk out with the blueberry cheesecake to find Pan standing in my backyard. "Here, " I say, "This is for you." since I had been promising him this particular treat for a good six months. Hordes of people start arriving and I can't keep track of them all. Lady B and Cusraque, Ron Cecchini (who told me his name was Tim), Jealousy, Nate, Leo, Edvamp, Xthlc, Etienne, Dr. Pain and his sister Karmen, Elly, Darren and James, and prolly many more peeps that I can't remember at the moment (sorry, my brain is kinda fried). I yell at everyone to eat lots, and a fun time seems to be had by all. I notice Cusraque sitting with a large uncooked steak balanced on his knee. I politely ask if I can put it on the table for him. "Honey! Sheryl's touching my meat!!!" "That's okay, I got to watch." is Lady B's quick reply. This becomes an ongoing joke as later innuendoes are made when I catch Cusraque eating my (water) melons. Much fun ensues as Lady B and I dance to "Barbie Girl" as Pan stands nearby making silly faces and gagging noises. A commotion in the alleyway tears me away and I am greeted by Thess and Boo, who have just arrived. After many hugs, Boo falls to his knees and licks my boots. Part of the deal we struck when I promised to make him a laminate even though his registration was one of the last to arrive. A few hours into the rowdy partying I notice a fairly normal looking girl with a short black bob sitting on the deck talking to Darren. It turns out to be my normally blonde downstairs neighbor in a wig! She later leads the mass exodus to Savage Garden and is reputed to have been the life of the party. And she's not even a Goth!! Everybody heads out around 11PM or so, and I run around cleaning up. I have a splitting headache and am sooo thirsty. "I don't understand how I could be so thirsty today when I drank so much last night." If there was a theme to the C4 weekend, that would be it. I end up out in the deserted backyard with only William and drummer Stevyn Grey of Faith and the Muse. I sit transfixed for two hours as they relate stories of their escapades together in Mephisto Walz and Shadow Project. Greg, Monica and Jeremy arrive home from the club with many stories of the folks they met. Especially funny are the ones from Greg where he relates getting Goth Attitude from people for wearing a red T-shirt and blue jeans until they get a look at his laminate and realize that he's their host. "Oh you're THAT Greg!! So GREAT to meet you!" Sheryl -- Above all else, think ice. You want to be able to walk around in your dinner jacket and smoking robe with an ice bucket and tongs, distributing ice to all you deem worthy. You want to be a monarch of cold drinks. -Chris Prince Subject: Sheryl's C4 review - Saturday Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 23:56:09 -0400 From: Sheryl Kirby Organization: Stained Productions Newsgroups: alt.gothic As much as yesterday was a "Good Day" today would be a BAD day. It started when I did my laundry. Everything came out with little white bits all over it. I realized as I was hanging up my C4 shirts on the clothesline that the ink was flaking off. I immediately called Siobhan and Lee, our T-shirt guy, then called Charlotte at the hotel to tell her to stop giving out the shirts. Fortunately Lee was on top of it right away, but it meant there would be no shirts to sell that night. On top of that, Faith & the Muse hadn't received the booklets for their CDs. Many frantic phone calls to Iowa, Florida and the Toronto office of the shipping company concluded that the booklets were sitting in the airport in Atlanta waiting for a connecting flight. They may or may not show up in time for the show. This really sucked, since most bands rely on merchandise sales to make or break the financial success of a show. Since C4 was also supposed to be the CD release party of the Blackout compilation, with many giveaways planned, it put a damper on the whole day as we all waited with baited breathe to see if the stuff would arrive on time. Arrive at the venue and realize that Rhea's, who are providing the backline are nowhere to be found, which means that F&tM cannot soundcheck. An hour and a half later, Rhea's and their drummer show up (on time for their own soundcheck, but since their gear was needed at 4PM, we're by now waaaay behind schedule), and we head out to change, pick up some stuff and get the food. We arrive home to a frantic message that we need to pick up a cymbal stand, since Rhea's drummer doesn't have one. It is 5 past 6. Everything in Toronto closes at 6PM on Saturday. Even with begging, pleading and offers of free tix, no music rental store will wait for us. We rack our brains trying to figure out WHO would have a cymbal stand and since all of our friends happen to be at a wedding (that we couldn't attend) we call there. Nope, no drummers present. We call back our stage manager to see if he knows anyone who has an extra cymbal stand. "Oh yeah," we're told. "Jim from Rhea's has one." D'oh!! So we're off to get the food. We arrive back at the venue, pull up out front and unload. Siobhan gets back in to move her car and it won't start. Find big strong men to push it into the nearest parking spot. Soundcheck is waaay behind and the soundguy is being crabby. No one is happy with their soundcheck and everyone is really tense. I relay my stress to Thor, the stage manager, and he tries to calm me by telling me that it will all work out. But his manner is such that I feel like he's belittling my stress and authority and is blowing me off and I really snap. I sit upstairs in the balcony for a while and cry and end up feeling somewhat better. Finally we open the doors, and MSL gets onstage, only about a half hour behind schedule. The crowd loves them and I am so pleased. Likewise for the Changelings and Rhea's. Everyone is enjoying the show and no one realizes any of the details that this day entailed. Which is how it should be. Except that my head is pounding, and I feel like shit, and the tension that I'm carrying around with me is almost visible. I go to check on F&tM in their dressing room and all are quiet and introspective. Their booklets did not arrive, soundcheck was too short, and the humidity is making it hard for them to get ready properly. I feel like someone has hit me in the stomach… I have disappointed them, I have let them down. Of course, logic tells me that all of the extenuating circumstances are not my fault. But I still can't help feeling responsible. And I can't look any of them in the eye. I flee back to the safety of the guarded balcony, being stopped by people who tell me how wonderful it all is. Which only makes me feel worse as I try to hold back the tears. Faith & the Muse take the stage and are immediately fraught with problems. The humidity is causing the instruments and equipment to go out of tune. The sound on Monica's mike is… weird. A quick run downstairs by Boo reveals that it's mostly boominess from the empty balcony, and that the sound is fine on the main floor. I stand above the soundman and see that the setlist is being changed to make up some time lost. They keep "Romeo's Distress" however and the crowd goes wild. I am finally up and dancing, which is usually where I am from the beginning of a Faith & the Muse show, as opposed to sitting on the edge of my chair worrying about the darn thing. I go off to find Siobhan to ensure that there are beverages in the dressing room waiting for them, since they will miss last call. They finish up and make their way to the balcony. The person on security seems to have disappeared however, and they are suddenly swarmed by fans again. Neither William or Monica seems pleased with their set, and while I managed to allay my bad feeling for a little bit, it is now back full force. As usual, there are logical explanations for everything, but I feel again like I have let them down. We get closed up and loaded out and I ride back to the house with Todd, a harrowing experience in itself, as his car overheats and we need to pull over and sit for 15 minutes before we can make it back to the house. We load the stuff in and are just finishing as the band shows up. I cannot face them. I feel so horrible. I beat a hasty retreat to bed, as I cannot bear to face these people that I love so dearly yet have so clearly disappointed. Greg comes to bed and assures me that is not the case at all, they're just hot and exhausted, but my head just does not feel right. It's like something has snapped in there and reality is all twisted, and I feel like crawling under the covers and never coming out. The stress pimple that appeared on my left cheek at about 4 that afternoon is taunting me, and I just want everything to be over. That's it for tonight folks. Gotta get up and go to work in the AM. Watch for "Sunday" some time tomorrow. Sheryl (yeah, yeah, I KNOW it's sort of a cliff-hanger... that's the point) -- Above all else, think ice. You want to be able to walk around in your dinner jacket and smoking robe with an ice bucket and tongs, distributing ice to all you deem worthy. You want to be a monarch of cold drinks. -Chris Prince