OMG - where do I begin?
Yeah... Drama on the staff head list.
This whole sordid affair started with this email:
I felt highly disrespected at con from Emma Mae's folks.
Cosplay is a high profiled event... and even though spectators weren't allowed to line up outside, we still filled the room.
However, nobody could see anything at the half time show because we were required to put them on the floor, as well as the awards ceremony... which I was okay with the awards ceremony, because they could be displayed on the screen by A-kon TV/Art Institute. Halftime show, however, had video to accompany them... therefore, nobody saw anything. Which will really help when I try to recruit half time entertainment next year. (Which I would like to just take that over, lighten up Jason's load, and I think I can find free talent who are impressive, think mini-variety show).
Of course, since Emma Mae's people paid us, they felt they owned the show... as I predicted they would.
As soon as the awards were given, the room was cleared out by 2/3rds. I know, I was there. Even with the people sitting up at the front of the stage. Niki and I danced to the one danceable song (others did dance along with us), but once Vic did his duet, the room cleared out even more. And then, one of the back up singers tried pumping up the crowd too... basically begging the crowd to cheer her on for an encore. She did perform the "encore." I suppose others may view it differently, but nobody can reasonably argue that the room was "full" by any means.
The only justification I received was that the band was required to stand their with their instruments while the half time show ran. It was amusing when the drummer and guitarist started playing along with the Para Para music. Those guys were cool... the rest had an obvious look of disdain.
I don't care about band facial expressions. I did find it odd that they were all going for the "gothic" look. (country goth??) Anyway, fashion sense is not something I care too much about either... more or less gossip fodder...
And where were the camera crews?? I didn't see anything of the like. All these lovely promises that apparently went out the window with cosplayer spectators after the awards ceremony...
At any rate, I felt that this disrespected the cosplayers, the stage crew, main programming staff, cosplay staff, and me.
If there is to be a band that plays after cosplay (because there can not be one before or during) they need to know that halftime show MUST be on stage along with the awards ceremony.
I do apologize for the cosplay running 15 minutes late. I will review tapes and see what needs to be adjusted. However, the judges did judge in record time, even with a Japanese judge (Yuki kicked ASS!! That woman is fast!)
Please consider my complaint if something like this is brought up in the future. Also, it would soften the blow if the band or whatever, would sponsor cosplay in some way or fashion. I'm thinking at least t-shirts for all cosplayers that walk across the stage.
Thank you very much for listening to my complaint and please consider me in the future if something like this were to be planned for next year.
--
Amy Fraga
PS - my job hasn't ended - fighting the battle on outside boards from people who think they can push us around cause we are girls. They do not realize our wrath!!!! MUWAHHAAHAHAH. Meri you have the ASS KICKINGEST TEAM EVAR running cosplay.
PSS - Big thanks to Main Programming - Matt Limpdick - who kept me focused and made my life a million times easier.
MASSIVE Thanks to Chris/ Preach - who also kept me focused and encouraged me not to give up. I love working with you guys, I think we make up the best team when it comes to running cosplay.
Then there was an email following me up with this:
I have to agree with Amy here. Normally, I don't listen to country in any form. I was one of the folks here that had bad feelings about Emma Mae (not the girl, but the country performer).
I dragged Erin into the performance, basically, to see what was going to happen when our gothic, rock and roll kids saw EM. I was very concerned that there would be a lot of boo-ing and cat calls, but there weren't any. I was so impressed with our kids at that point.
Then came the hard part. With each song I listened to, more and more attendees left, shaking/scratching theirs heads. Erin left after the second song. I, honestly, stayed until the drawing and then I left. That was WAY more country than I wanted to be exposed to, but that is not my music preference these days.
I did notice these few things that I wanted to share. Whenever EM looked into the crowd, she looked at "her people" - probably the group of folks that came with her to kon. Whenever she verbalized her anime interaction, it was with "her people". Not once while I was there did she try to interact with anyone outside that group of people to the left side of the stage and down front. It was almost like they tried to insulate themselves from the rest of us kongoers. I was disgusted. She didn't win any points there.
Now she may be a nice, 16-year-old girl, but she certainly didn't dress like one. She looked more like a Brittney Spears wannabe. She wasn't cute, she was too young for that type of dress. Or maybe the wrong location for that type of dress. No points for that one either.
And lastly, the anime. All I can really say is that it was targeted for a much younger audience than me or my daughter. Much, much younger. And I really didn't see that targeted age group in the ballroom with me, unless they were in with "her people".
I gave her a fair shot. To me, she was disappointing on numerous levels. I hope we got a bunch of money from her and "her people". I also hope we don't see her again at kon in the near future.
Thanks for letting me rant. I'll be quiet again now.
I felt she was kind of harsh... but meh, she has a right to her opinion...
AND THEN this gets posted...
I am not certain why we are arguing this point again.
I am the person who brought Emma Mae to Meri and I am the person to whom you can rant.
But I am also the person who will not apologize for what I did. I brought much needed income into the Kon as well as a new anime series and an unknown-to-anime-fans act.
Now if this hurts your feelings, I say that it is high time you grew up.
Debbie Young
Pablo responds with:
So were not allowed to express our feelings on the matter? Were all just supposed to smile and take it?
My friend did not go to Iraq and die so we can be told what were allowed to and what were not allowed to say.
I'm not saying this didn't help a-kon in the fix it was in, What I am saying is I don't have to like it.
Not all that glitters is gold.
of course, I can't keep my trap shut... so... this led into...
I was making points for future A-kons... and what to do if the insanity hits again to have a concert around cosplay. Which, unlike your food kiosk, doesn't make me a red cent at the show... in fact I usually spend money to run cosplay.
How much money did you invest into this girl? Because I cannot understand your reactions to our reactions unless you had a personal vested interest.
I will not apologize for stating the facts about the situations surrounding the musical act.
If Meri where to try to eat a crab cake with green pepper in it, I would do all I can to prevent her from eating it.
(Meri's allergic to green pepper)
SO!
Aaaarrrrggggggghhhhh....Meri, stick a fork in me, 'cause I am DONE!
Deb
some wank posts about "deb does a good job" blah blah blah fuckers... and then I respond with:
I'm going to quote your original response:
"Now if this hurts your feelings, I say that it is high time you grew up."
Chris davis then responds:
*hands Deb a Fork* there you go ;)
I think the real issue here is not Emma Mae per sae but the fact that Cosplay felt like they were not respected by putting on a Saturday post cosplay concert of ANY kind be it country, rap, metal, jaz, Jpop,Jrock , Jmisac. Let's get off the Emma Mae thing and quit kicking an artist that is trying to break boundries and sterotypes and look at the real isuue please, Saturday concerts.
Debb you did a good thing by bringing in the paying gig. If no one else wants to say it I will ...Thank You.
Now, Meri gets into it... now meri's posts are interesting because she breaks up teh posts:
Of course someone can state what they think and how they think a
particular event went. Anyone can. But there are nice ways to state
things, and not-so-nice ways to state things, and sometimes some stuff
said here was just downright unnecessary and hurtful.
Amy Fraga wrote:
> I was making points for future A-kons... and what to do if the
> insanity hits again to have a concert around cosplay. Which, unlike
> your food kiosk, doesn't make me a red cent at the show... in fact I
> usually spend money to run cosplay.
Okay, now realize that it's entirely likely that in the future some
'other kind of performance' be it a dance, a musical act, or something
may follow the cosplay. Something always does. The con always has things
after cosplay. I don't know what's bringing this comment forward. Did
someone complain because things ran 15 minutes late? ( I'm out of the
loop here, I think that's not a bad time, in the overall scheme of
things really, I think that's pretty darn good) . The 'food kiosk' and
the "Emma Mae" concert have nothing in common whatsoever, other than the
person who owns it also does marketing for us and tries to bring
sponsorships and new things to the show. She has NOTHING to gain in the
Emma Mae thing at all, and I'm rather insulted personally at the
negative nature of that assumption.
>
> How much money did you invest into this girl? Because I cannot
> understand your reactions to our reactions unless you had a personal
> vested interest.
I can say with factual knowledge that she had NOTHING whatsoever to gain
in Emma Mae's appearance, and in fact it was quite a pain in her butt
with some of the back and forth of trying to deal with a group that had
never worked with an anime con and had no knowledge of what we needed,
etc. She did a DAMN good job of it, and brought something new and
different to the show. I worked with them myself on some things as they
didn't know about ad resolutions, banners, art styles, etc. Whether we
liked it or hated it, musically, that's a personal decision each of us
had to make at the time, but the overall effect was that we offered
something that No Other Con Was Offering, which we try to do as much as
possible to set us apart from every other show out there. And it brought
a New Sponsor to the show. That's not an easy thing to do in the
current marketplace and I think Deb is owed an apology for the comment
that she personally had anything to gain in the effort or that the food
thing was in some way tied to the Emma Mae thing.
Now, given what you've said here, if you were in her position, would YOU
still be willing to try to work on getting sponsors for us again if you
were going to be accused of stuff by the very staff you were trying to
support because a member of that staff didn't care for the item
sponsored? What if she'd brought in Dell computers? Would you be
berating her because it wasn't Compaq or accuse her of some kind of
shady business because she HAPPENED to use a Dell computer at her kiosk
but also got Dell as a sponsor (without knowing that she'd owned her
Dell computer for 2 years previously? Now how does this all sound?
>
> I will not apologize for stating the facts about the situations
> surrounding the musical act.
The facts were some people did not like the music. That is their right.
It is also OUR right to bring them something new that they MIGHT like.
That's our JOB, in fact. We have often brought things to the kon that
'didn't seem to fit' for somebody's reason, that ended up being quite
well received - cases in point - Pixar animators, Ren & Stimpy
animators, Babylon-5 actors who did stage fighting workshops that were
standing room only because they were just that much fun, Bruce Campbell,
Tim Thomerson, Game guests, etc. etc. If something was of interest, and
of potential benefit, it's in everybodys best interest to TRY it. If
some people didn't like it, that's their right, and that's just fine.
That's why there's both chocolate AND vanilla in the world. And the
girl herself was quite lovely and having a good time and the fans I saw
reacted to HER quite pleasantly (I did not personally see her
performance, unfortunately, as I had other obligations).
I am quite GRATEFUL to Deb for bringing this opportunity to my attention
and having a WORLD PREMIER ANIME SERIES as well as the living star of it
(whether you liked her music or not) was a darn cool thing. At LEAST it
was as relevant to us as having a Guinness World Record Attempt, which
is another COOL DARN THING that was done, but I'm sure not everybody in
the show liked it. There is no pleasing EVERYBODY, it just isn't
possible, for any event, and no way to 'not offend' somebody by
'something' at some time or another.
>
> If Meri where to try to eat a crab cake with green pepper in it, I
> would do all I can to prevent her from eating it.
And I would THANK you for it, not wonder what your ulterior motive was
in warning me (because that's what your comments are coming across as,
(as far as your comments toward Deb) and I'm not sure that's really what
you're trying to do here).
so then I respond with:
Did you even read my original email??
Then Deb comes back with, "Now if this hurts your feelings, I say that it is high time you grew up."
How would you feel if everything you said was responded to with highly emotional wangst?
Meri responds with
how would you respond if someone accused you of something after you
worked hard on it, just because someone didn't happen to care for it?
And her comment was to Judy in the first place, not you.
I tried calling meri several times... didn't go through... SO I reply with
I tried calling you, but it went straight to voice mail.
People are allowed to share opinions, especially if it comes to facts about upcoming sponsored events.
If George Bush paid to have the Japanese bands fly over, would you give him a 30 minute concert after the cosplay??
I accused her of something because of her highly irrational emotional response. IF this was truly a business deal, then why the hell is she getting so worked up because we didn't like it?
Then Meri actually reads the emails and responds with:
Okay, in going back and re-reading some things, I realized what I missed.
-The feeling that the cosplay people were being disrespected by the
band. Not much we could do about that at the time, none of us had worked
with any of them before, we didn't know how they'd take to us, or vice
versa. Emma Mae, her mom and her manager seemed quite pleasant and
pleased. Can't say about the rest of them, I had little to no
interaction with them.
-The band requiring that halftime be on the floor (which NONE of us knew
about ahead of time, that was totally out of the blue on ALL our parts,
we'd not heard this previously). I guess that is something we have to
just be aware of for the future, HOWEVER also realize that it may not
always be possible, if we want to bring some special event that requires
something more flexible.
-Amy had agreed that awards part of the cosplay (i.e. the giving of the
awards themselves) could be on the floor so that the band could set up,
didn't seem to be a problem at the time, that was clearly discussed
ahead of time and agreed to. Could be filmed by AKTV or AID and put to
the big screen. Okay there. She did NOT agree that halftime would be on
the floor, and that is where a rub came in. I don't blame her for being
miffed at that. None of us knew about that, and we all had to be
flexible and deal at the time.
-Not sure what the comment is about 'where were the camera crews' - for
what? the cosplay halftime, the awards part, the concert? who was
missing from where?
-I DO take issue with Deb being personally blamed in some way for the
actions of the band, or accused of profiting in some way from them being
here. That's a personal attack that I feel is unwarranted. You say you
spend your own money on Cosplay. Well, she's also spends her own money,
her own time, her own gas, to promote the kon at various events and
helped bring in a record number of pre-registrations and sponsorships.
She and Her Work Is Valuable and So Is Yours and You. We're all on the
same team here (or we're supposed to be)
-And yes I do think freedom of speech is a right that people are
fighting and dying for, but there is also common courtesy and 'freedom
of speech' doesn't give anybody the right to be mean.
This whole sordid affair started with this email:
I felt highly disrespected at con from Emma Mae's folks.
Cosplay is a high profiled event... and even though spectators weren't allowed to line up outside, we still filled the room.
However, nobody could see anything at the half time show because we were required to put them on the floor, as well as the awards ceremony... which I was okay with the awards ceremony, because they could be displayed on the screen by A-kon TV/Art Institute. Halftime show, however, had video to accompany them... therefore, nobody saw anything. Which will really help when I try to recruit half time entertainment next year. (Which I would like to just take that over, lighten up Jason's load, and I think I can find free talent who are impressive, think mini-variety show).
Of course, since Emma Mae's people paid us, they felt they owned the show... as I predicted they would.
As soon as the awards were given, the room was cleared out by 2/3rds. I know, I was there. Even with the people sitting up at the front of the stage. Niki and I danced to the one danceable song (others did dance along with us), but once Vic did his duet, the room cleared out even more. And then, one of the back up singers tried pumping up the crowd too... basically begging the crowd to cheer her on for an encore. She did perform the "encore." I suppose others may view it differently, but nobody can reasonably argue that the room was "full" by any means.
The only justification I received was that the band was required to stand their with their instruments while the half time show ran. It was amusing when the drummer and guitarist started playing along with the Para Para music. Those guys were cool... the rest had an obvious look of disdain.
I don't care about band facial expressions. I did find it odd that they were all going for the "gothic" look. (country goth??) Anyway, fashion sense is not something I care too much about either... more or less gossip fodder...
And where were the camera crews?? I didn't see anything of the like. All these lovely promises that apparently went out the window with cosplayer spectators after the awards ceremony...
At any rate, I felt that this disrespected the cosplayers, the stage crew, main programming staff, cosplay staff, and me.
If there is to be a band that plays after cosplay (because there can not be one before or during) they need to know that halftime show MUST be on stage along with the awards ceremony.
I do apologize for the cosplay running 15 minutes late. I will review tapes and see what needs to be adjusted. However, the judges did judge in record time, even with a Japanese judge (Yuki kicked ASS!! That woman is fast!)
Please consider my complaint if something like this is brought up in the future. Also, it would soften the blow if the band or whatever, would sponsor cosplay in some way or fashion. I'm thinking at least t-shirts for all cosplayers that walk across the stage.
Thank you very much for listening to my complaint and please consider me in the future if something like this were to be planned for next year.
--
Amy Fraga
PS - my job hasn't ended - fighting the battle on outside boards from people who think they can push us around cause we are girls. They do not realize our wrath!!!! MUWAHHAAHAHAH. Meri you have the ASS KICKINGEST TEAM EVAR running cosplay.
PSS - Big thanks to Main Programming - Matt Limpdick - who kept me focused and made my life a million times easier.
MASSIVE Thanks to Chris/ Preach - who also kept me focused and encouraged me not to give up. I love working with you guys, I think we make up the best team when it comes to running cosplay.
Then there was an email following me up with this:
I have to agree with Amy here. Normally, I don't listen to country in any form. I was one of the folks here that had bad feelings about Emma Mae (not the girl, but the country performer).
I dragged Erin into the performance, basically, to see what was going to happen when our gothic, rock and roll kids saw EM. I was very concerned that there would be a lot of boo-ing and cat calls, but there weren't any. I was so impressed with our kids at that point.
Then came the hard part. With each song I listened to, more and more attendees left, shaking/scratching theirs heads. Erin left after the second song. I, honestly, stayed until the drawing and then I left. That was WAY more country than I wanted to be exposed to, but that is not my music preference these days.
I did notice these few things that I wanted to share. Whenever EM looked into the crowd, she looked at "her people" - probably the group of folks that came with her to kon. Whenever she verbalized her anime interaction, it was with "her people". Not once while I was there did she try to interact with anyone outside that group of people to the left side of the stage and down front. It was almost like they tried to insulate themselves from the rest of us kongoers. I was disgusted. She didn't win any points there.
Now she may be a nice, 16-year-old girl, but she certainly didn't dress like one. She looked more like a Brittney Spears wannabe. She wasn't cute, she was too young for that type of dress. Or maybe the wrong location for that type of dress. No points for that one either.
And lastly, the anime. All I can really say is that it was targeted for a much younger audience than me or my daughter. Much, much younger. And I really didn't see that targeted age group in the ballroom with me, unless they were in with "her people".
I gave her a fair shot. To me, she was disappointing on numerous levels. I hope we got a bunch of money from her and "her people". I also hope we don't see her again at kon in the near future.
Thanks for letting me rant. I'll be quiet again now.
I felt she was kind of harsh... but meh, she has a right to her opinion...
AND THEN this gets posted...
I am not certain why we are arguing this point again.
I am the person who brought Emma Mae to Meri and I am the person to whom you can rant.
But I am also the person who will not apologize for what I did. I brought much needed income into the Kon as well as a new anime series and an unknown-to-anime-fans act.
Now if this hurts your feelings, I say that it is high time you grew up.
Debbie Young
Pablo responds with:
So were not allowed to express our feelings on the matter? Were all just supposed to smile and take it?
My friend did not go to Iraq and die so we can be told what were allowed to and what were not allowed to say.
I'm not saying this didn't help a-kon in the fix it was in, What I am saying is I don't have to like it.
Not all that glitters is gold.
of course, I can't keep my trap shut... so... this led into...
I was making points for future A-kons... and what to do if the insanity hits again to have a concert around cosplay. Which, unlike your food kiosk, doesn't make me a red cent at the show... in fact I usually spend money to run cosplay.
How much money did you invest into this girl? Because I cannot understand your reactions to our reactions unless you had a personal vested interest.
I will not apologize for stating the facts about the situations surrounding the musical act.
If Meri where to try to eat a crab cake with green pepper in it, I would do all I can to prevent her from eating it.
(Meri's allergic to green pepper)
SO!
Aaaarrrrggggggghhhhh....Meri, stick a fork in me, 'cause I am DONE!
Deb
some wank posts about "deb does a good job" blah blah blah fuckers... and then I respond with:
I'm going to quote your original response:
"Now if this hurts your feelings, I say that it is high time you grew up."
Chris davis then responds:
*hands Deb a Fork* there you go ;)
I think the real issue here is not Emma Mae per sae but the fact that Cosplay felt like they were not respected by putting on a Saturday post cosplay concert of ANY kind be it country, rap, metal, jaz, Jpop,Jrock , Jmisac. Let's get off the Emma Mae thing and quit kicking an artist that is trying to break boundries and sterotypes and look at the real isuue please, Saturday concerts.
Debb you did a good thing by bringing in the paying gig. If no one else wants to say it I will ...Thank You.
Now, Meri gets into it... now meri's posts are interesting because she breaks up teh posts:
Of course someone can state what they think and how they think a
particular event went. Anyone can. But there are nice ways to state
things, and not-so-nice ways to state things, and sometimes some stuff
said here was just downright unnecessary and hurtful.
Amy Fraga wrote:
> I was making points for future A-kons... and what to do if the
> insanity hits again to have a concert around cosplay. Which, unlike
> your food kiosk, doesn't make me a red cent at the show... in fact I
> usually spend money to run cosplay.
Okay, now realize that it's entirely likely that in the future some
'other kind of performance' be it a dance, a musical act, or something
may follow the cosplay. Something always does. The con always has things
after cosplay. I don't know what's bringing this comment forward. Did
someone complain because things ran 15 minutes late? ( I'm out of the
loop here, I think that's not a bad time, in the overall scheme of
things really, I think that's pretty darn good) . The 'food kiosk' and
the "Emma Mae" concert have nothing in common whatsoever, other than the
person who owns it also does marketing for us and tries to bring
sponsorships and new things to the show. She has NOTHING to gain in the
Emma Mae thing at all, and I'm rather insulted personally at the
negative nature of that assumption.
>
> How much money did you invest into this girl? Because I cannot
> understand your reactions to our reactions unless you had a personal
> vested interest.
I can say with factual knowledge that she had NOTHING whatsoever to gain
in Emma Mae's appearance, and in fact it was quite a pain in her butt
with some of the back and forth of trying to deal with a group that had
never worked with an anime con and had no knowledge of what we needed,
etc. She did a DAMN good job of it, and brought something new and
different to the show. I worked with them myself on some things as they
didn't know about ad resolutions, banners, art styles, etc. Whether we
liked it or hated it, musically, that's a personal decision each of us
had to make at the time, but the overall effect was that we offered
something that No Other Con Was Offering, which we try to do as much as
possible to set us apart from every other show out there. And it brought
a New Sponsor to the show. That's not an easy thing to do in the
current marketplace and I think Deb is owed an apology for the comment
that she personally had anything to gain in the effort or that the food
thing was in some way tied to the Emma Mae thing.
Now, given what you've said here, if you were in her position, would YOU
still be willing to try to work on getting sponsors for us again if you
were going to be accused of stuff by the very staff you were trying to
support because a member of that staff didn't care for the item
sponsored? What if she'd brought in Dell computers? Would you be
berating her because it wasn't Compaq or accuse her of some kind of
shady business because she HAPPENED to use a Dell computer at her kiosk
but also got Dell as a sponsor (without knowing that she'd owned her
Dell computer for 2 years previously? Now how does this all sound?
>
> I will not apologize for stating the facts about the situations
> surrounding the musical act.
The facts were some people did not like the music. That is their right.
It is also OUR right to bring them something new that they MIGHT like.
That's our JOB, in fact. We have often brought things to the kon that
'didn't seem to fit' for somebody's reason, that ended up being quite
well received - cases in point - Pixar animators, Ren & Stimpy
animators, Babylon-5 actors who did stage fighting workshops that were
standing room only because they were just that much fun, Bruce Campbell,
Tim Thomerson, Game guests, etc. etc. If something was of interest, and
of potential benefit, it's in everybodys best interest to TRY it. If
some people didn't like it, that's their right, and that's just fine.
That's why there's both chocolate AND vanilla in the world. And the
girl herself was quite lovely and having a good time and the fans I saw
reacted to HER quite pleasantly (I did not personally see her
performance, unfortunately, as I had other obligations).
I am quite GRATEFUL to Deb for bringing this opportunity to my attention
and having a WORLD PREMIER ANIME SERIES as well as the living star of it
(whether you liked her music or not) was a darn cool thing. At LEAST it
was as relevant to us as having a Guinness World Record Attempt, which
is another COOL DARN THING that was done, but I'm sure not everybody in
the show liked it. There is no pleasing EVERYBODY, it just isn't
possible, for any event, and no way to 'not offend' somebody by
'something' at some time or another.
>
> If Meri where to try to eat a crab cake with green pepper in it, I
> would do all I can to prevent her from eating it.
And I would THANK you for it, not wonder what your ulterior motive was
in warning me (because that's what your comments are coming across as,
(as far as your comments toward Deb) and I'm not sure that's really what
you're trying to do here).
so then I respond with:
Did you even read my original email??
Then Deb comes back with, "Now if this hurts your feelings, I say that it is high time you grew up."
How would you feel if everything you said was responded to with highly emotional wangst?
Meri responds with
how would you respond if someone accused you of something after you
worked hard on it, just because someone didn't happen to care for it?
And her comment was to Judy in the first place, not you.
I tried calling meri several times... didn't go through... SO I reply with
I tried calling you, but it went straight to voice mail.
People are allowed to share opinions, especially if it comes to facts about upcoming sponsored events.
If George Bush paid to have the Japanese bands fly over, would you give him a 30 minute concert after the cosplay??
I accused her of something because of her highly irrational emotional response. IF this was truly a business deal, then why the hell is she getting so worked up because we didn't like it?
Then Meri actually reads the emails and responds with:
Okay, in going back and re-reading some things, I realized what I missed.
-The feeling that the cosplay people were being disrespected by the
band. Not much we could do about that at the time, none of us had worked
with any of them before, we didn't know how they'd take to us, or vice
versa. Emma Mae, her mom and her manager seemed quite pleasant and
pleased. Can't say about the rest of them, I had little to no
interaction with them.
-The band requiring that halftime be on the floor (which NONE of us knew
about ahead of time, that was totally out of the blue on ALL our parts,
we'd not heard this previously). I guess that is something we have to
just be aware of for the future, HOWEVER also realize that it may not
always be possible, if we want to bring some special event that requires
something more flexible.
-Amy had agreed that awards part of the cosplay (i.e. the giving of the
awards themselves) could be on the floor so that the band could set up,
didn't seem to be a problem at the time, that was clearly discussed
ahead of time and agreed to. Could be filmed by AKTV or AID and put to
the big screen. Okay there. She did NOT agree that halftime would be on
the floor, and that is where a rub came in. I don't blame her for being
miffed at that. None of us knew about that, and we all had to be
flexible and deal at the time.
-Not sure what the comment is about 'where were the camera crews' - for
what? the cosplay halftime, the awards part, the concert? who was
missing from where?
-I DO take issue with Deb being personally blamed in some way for the
actions of the band, or accused of profiting in some way from them being
here. That's a personal attack that I feel is unwarranted. You say you
spend your own money on Cosplay. Well, she's also spends her own money,
her own time, her own gas, to promote the kon at various events and
helped bring in a record number of pre-registrations and sponsorships.
She and Her Work Is Valuable and So Is Yours and You. We're all on the
same team here (or we're supposed to be)
-And yes I do think freedom of speech is a right that people are
fighting and dying for, but there is also common courtesy and 'freedom
of speech' doesn't give anybody the right to be mean.