May 2007 Posts

You have no choice. Unless your Grandma is on her death bed and can't wait another 90 minutes, you are going to see Heronymus. If you don't think you want to go, I'll buy you the damn tickets.

HeronymusReturns.com
RickshawBoy.com
Buy Tickets

This post originally appeared on Blogging Fringe and is in relation to that community site in particular, but I think it also applies to any community-driven site I will ever try to build.

OK, so I realised some time today that I alone cannot make all the videos, take all the pictures, do all the blog posts I want to do AND update the MySpace AND write reviews - I think I have 4 or more reviews I want to do, and they might never get the level of attention I think they deserve.

It's official - if I ask people to write reviews in comments, so should I. If I ask people to leave reviews on the voicemail (321-441-3964), so should I. If I want people to leave reviews on video, so should I and so should all the bloggers. Then we can just blog and be a patron, because we are patrons first - those are the rules. I'll never sit at my tent instead of go to shows. I'll never make buttons instead of talk to other patrons. I'll never make a video instead of just have a conversation with someone. Being a geek comes second. I'm here because I love this, please remember that.

I want people to feel like my opinion is no more important than that of someone in line. That's why we have the voicemail and the Twitter account. To level the playing field. You get exactly 140 characters to say what you think - if it doesn't fit, tought luck, baby! The problem with Twitter is, you need to make an account. Who wants to do that? The phone thing is much easier. So call.

Now I admit that because I know how to make videos and I have the equipment and the ambition, this qualifies me for things like that, and sure I know about podcasting and getting my stuff on iTunes as well, so I'll do that too. Still, this site will never be all it can be until we have a flood of your thoughts and posts. Please help everyone who comes to the site by commenting, calling, sharing and reading.

So this year for Blogging Fringe, in addition to providing day-by-day accounts of what's going on, reviews of the shows we see (we being me and 3+ other people, come help out if you like), making the occasional video and taking some photos, I am doing something else. I have a vendor space in the "Beer Tent" area (beer is NOT Orlando Brewing). So far, I didn't have anything there Thursday on account of the rain and all the stuff to do, and I didn't have it Friday because I was seeing shows, but I actually set up today and had a decent experience.

I only made $10 at the tent today, but I think the real goal is to make sure it's serious, to set ourselves apart, and to give the team a home base to work from. I've also encouraged artists to come by the tent and hang out, particularly those from out of town. One such maiden is Amy Salloway, who is a lovely Minnesota girl with a one-woman show about Jewish summer camp. She came by to chat with Emily, Jamie and I tonight over some delicious corn Arepas from the booth next door. I hope she comes back and is the first of many.

Also, I finally met John V. of Radio Rickshaw tonight - apparently, they sponsored the poetry smackdown at the outdoor stage... S.K.I.P. of Nonsense won the prize tonight, and rightly so - he's fantastic. Mark Baratelli said many times that the spoken word community needs to put together a Fringe show next year: he's right. Amy Steinberg's been doing it for years, even Unicornicopia had a show - why hasn't Nonsense Records done something?

After that there was a very small excursion to the Peacock Room where we ran into the Senorita from Matador. Now that I think of it, I could be dropping names all night in this post, but I don't have all night... I have to get up and go fly a kite.

Reposted from an email I just recieved:

Hand-Crafted, Organic Ales now in Bottles For the first time ever, Orlando Brewing Red Ale is available in bottles! Now you can take our beer home with you. Six-packs and cases of Red Ale are for sale at the Orlando Brewing Taproom, the only place to buy them. Supplies are limited... so get yours soon! This week is American Craft Beer Week and we're celebrating at Orlando Brewing. Check out our May newsletter to read more about it. Come visit the Taproom. Take a free tour of the brewery and drink the beer made right here on the premises. And even take some home. Orlando Brewing is located at 1301 Atlanta Avenue, near Downtown Orlando. For more information and directions, check out www.orlandobrewing.com. (407) 872-1117.