Bad craziness at the Noisefest
So day 2 of the Noisefest has gone swimmingly. At the very, very end of the evening, just after XOME finishes off the last set of the night, this very irate guy comes over to the venue entrance and demands that we stop the show. Apparently he lives nearby and is kind of upset about us making noise until midnight. When I explain that we just stopped and we're shutting down for the night, he becomes even more irate--the concept that we have ended the show seems beyond his grasp. I'm sure this state was chemically induced, either drugs, alcohol or lack of meds/brain chemistry, but the guy simply would not back down--and he brought along a cheap samurai sword.
Fortunately, the Greens Hotel back room where we played had a big fence around it, with a lockable gate. I shoo everyone inside the gate and lock us in, the guy outside continue to be unreasonable especially after his wife comes out and starts yelling too. He waves around the sword for a while, pounds on the gate, and screams about getting his shotgun while we call the cops on ourselves.
Once they arrive the sword is long gone, and Mr. Irate suddenly becomes Mr. Victim. Even more fun is that the door was jammed shut by his pounding so we have to scout around for tools to allow us to leave the building. The cops of course want to see our permit, we don't have or need one (the capacity of the venue is under 50 and venues under 50 are exempt from needing a permit)but they demand it anyhow, so I point them toward the front desk of the hotel. We explain that we're done playing anyhow, and tomorrow we will be done by 9:00 PM (10 PM is noise complaint time for ersatz venues that don't have entertainment permits.)
And silly me, I thought the visit by the Red Bull car (they gave us a case or so of free Red Bull) would be the big excitement of the day.
Other than that it has been an excellent Noisefest, attendance is okay for a Fest (lots of performers, a handful of paid people attending) and everything has gone really well. Tomorrow should be...well, let's hope it is a lot more boring.
Fortunately, the Greens Hotel back room where we played had a big fence around it, with a lockable gate. I shoo everyone inside the gate and lock us in, the guy outside continue to be unreasonable especially after his wife comes out and starts yelling too. He waves around the sword for a while, pounds on the gate, and screams about getting his shotgun while we call the cops on ourselves.
Once they arrive the sword is long gone, and Mr. Irate suddenly becomes Mr. Victim. Even more fun is that the door was jammed shut by his pounding so we have to scout around for tools to allow us to leave the building. The cops of course want to see our permit, we don't have or need one (the capacity of the venue is under 50 and venues under 50 are exempt from needing a permit)but they demand it anyhow, so I point them toward the front desk of the hotel. We explain that we're done playing anyhow, and tomorrow we will be done by 9:00 PM (10 PM is noise complaint time for ersatz venues that don't have entertainment permits.)
And silly me, I thought the visit by the Red Bull car (they gave us a case or so of free Red Bull) would be the big excitement of the day.
Other than that it has been an excellent Noisefest, attendance is okay for a Fest (lots of performers, a handful of paid people attending) and everything has gone really well. Tomorrow should be...well, let's hope it is a lot more boring.