We have Indian food. It took me five months from the time of my first inquiries to get Indian food, but as of yesterday an Indian vendor has signed the contract and will be preparing samosas, raita, chole (rice and chickpeas from North India), carrot halawa (a pudding), and mattar paneer. The food court now has four confirmed (and three pending) vendors. I keep getting asked how many people I expect to attend this event. "I don't know" is the most honest answer. It's the answer that plagued... Read Full Story
Last week, the festival director made a chilling pronouncement. We were winding down after a 14-hour day, enjoying mojitos after wrestling with the potential issues inherent with the food vendor that wanted to use our event as a platform to spread the word."I don't think we've heard the last of Wacky," he said.Don't say that! I said. After all, we'd cut out that part of the program in which Wacky was going to appear. Wacky seemed to take this news without upset; I considered the situation ... Read Full Story
Sometimes, I feel as if I am an overly ambitious eight-year-old who has decided to put on a show in the back yard. This show, part carnival and part celebration, is easily visualized. There's a carousel and a roller coaster and hundreds of colored pennants and a Tunnel of Love for the grown-ups. The midway is stocked with games of skill and chance and you can buy all the cotton candy you've ever wanted to eat. All your friends will be amazed at what you've put together and they will stand... Read Full Story
Losing the Mongolian dancer was the best thing that has happened in the past week. It was a lesson in turning a negative into a positive, and when we were done turning it around we realized it was liberating. Freed from worrying about the second dance program, we cut it, and in doing so we cut loose another dancer who had been nothing but problematic. Meantime, the new empty slot allowed us to consider other options.There are some unavoidable problems, however. Budget money must be spent b... Read Full Story
After sailing along for three weeks, the close of (everybody else's) work week brought us to the realization that the hard work was just beginning.There's a line from Satre, from Huis Clos (No Exit) that sums it up nicely: Hell is other people. Hell isn't an eternal damnation with singed skin. The Existentialists knew all about this. Dealing with other people--any other people--can be a chore. Remember this, though, when dealing with the difficult: It is up to you to make it work.I saw a ... Read Full Story
RULE #1: Festival Coordinators Get Swine Flu (But They Still Work 12-Hour Days)Swine flu. That sounds pretty ugly and probably is a good reason to spend the day reading Plato's Republic. Instead, the to-do list for the day resembles nothing so much as a line of airplanes at rush hour, waiting to take off. Some of these planes have mechanical problems and must return to the gate, and one has an unruly passenger. The rest are going to fly, baby, fly.RULE: #2: Mind Over SwineI said that t... Read Full Story
Sometime over the past year, I went from being an unemployed new resident of Florida to a coordinator on a major regional festival. I was also a freelance writer with a growing pile of rejections and a wealth of anonymous writing credits shilling product on style Web sites. For the next 46 days, this blog will be a journey through the challenging world of festival coordination, right through to showtime on October 25, 2009. A festival is a show. It's theatre. It has a cast and a crew and... Read Full Story
This Friday, the body of Michael Jackson will be on public display at Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, California. Gary, Indiana, would like the body, or would like to be next in line to receive the body. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay thinks the corpse would be a great addition to a mass public memorial to be held on July 10th at the U. S. Steel Yard that is home to the Gary Southshore Railcats.Gary, one of the most tragically blighted urban areas in the U. S., is Jackson's hometown. Mayor Cla... Read Full Story
This Friday, the body of Michael Jackson will be on public display at Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, California. Gary, Indiana, would like the body, or would like to be next in line to receive the body. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay thinks the corpse would be a great addition to a mass public memorial to be held on July 10th at the U. S. Steel Yard that is home to the Gary Southshore Railcats.Gary, one of the most tragically blighted urban areas in the U. S., is Jackson's hometown. Mayor Cla... Read Full Story
Yesterday's most popular (that is, most e-mailed) article in The New York Times travel section was one entitled "Frugal Paris." The City of Light and all things chicer than thou beat out articles about Puerto Rico and gangster hideouts in Wisconsin, as well it should. The "Frugal Paris" article, by Matt Gross, is lyrical in tone, speaking of a "ruffled, fractal edge of the trees in full green bloom" and "low pale buildings with their amber lights just turned on."And this is just in the first ... Read Full Story
