Cheers and Jeers IX

[zekeyou]

Cheers to seeing "somebody" besides the Euro bands at breakfast-- sure it's fun to watch Edguy try and figure out what grits and bicuits and gravy are, but this was a nice addtion-- got to meet Chad Coleman who plays Dennis "Cutty" Wise on seasons 3-5 of The Wire...

 

[Diabolik]

Cheers to seeing "somebody" besides the Euro bands at breakfast-- sure it's fun to watch Edguy try and figure out what grits and bicuits and gravy are, but this was a nice addtion-- got to meet Chad Coleman who plays Dennis "Cutty" Wise on seasons 3-5 of The Wire...

holy cow.....that is cool as hell. What was he doing in town? He was my favorite character on The Wire.

 

[Harley D]

The asshole who broke the arm off of the Law School parking gate, while trying to follow someone else out without paying.

I saw this happen and it definitely was not a progpower fan. It was broken off intentionally by hand so that a bunch of people could leave the garage without paying. I hope they got it on camera.

 

[ratanda]

I saw this happen and it definitely was not a progpower fan. It was broken off intentionally by hand so that a bunch of people could leave the garage without paying. I hope they got it on camera.

Wow! When I left I didn't see the arm, so assumed the garage was just closed and we didn't have to pay. Oops!

 

[zekeyou]

holy cow.....that is cool as hell. What was he doing in town? He was my favorite character on The Wire.

I didn't ask him-- but he was extremely nice and talkative-- it was funny, after we took the pic, someone who I took to be a family member came in and jokingly said, "You're supposed to be eating breakfast, not having a photo op...".

 

[7thSaviour]

Cheers:

Rob Rock. Just....wow.
Blanche for being my friend, and for taping our ad to her boobs.
Big Mike and Tracie for letting us squat in their room.
Queso, for adding latin spice to our evenings.
Brent, for wearing shoes to this festival. His precious.
Deron, for allowing degenerate & indiscriminate spamming. From us that is.

Jeers: None really. It was a really good year!

Right on, man! It was also great to talk to you HW guys in the Vendor's Room! See ya soon!

 

[eppst1]

Cheers:
The entire weekend! Huge kudos to Glenn and the crew again - they are the best.
All the performances! Every band I watched was awesome and maybe the besting sounding ProgPower.
The bands for PPX!! I'm not a huge fan of the headliners, but all the other bands more than make up for it!
Hanging out with everyone.

Jeers:
The dude crapping his pants during the entire Elvenking set.
The weekend had to end.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

The problem was that it wasn't his rig as he thought. They replaced everything (cables, amps, etc) and nothing worked. It happened during the last song (there was nothing scheduled after that tune). Obviously, Jon was upset about it as he didn't understand why his crew couldn't get it working (their crew, their equipment) and called it a night. We only lost one song.

Turns out the problem was that his guitar fried. My crew guys can explain just how rare that is in detail.

As Glenn mentioned, IE & Amorphis had their own crews, (and I'm not just trying to deflect any "blame" ). They were in charge of their performances. I have NEVER seen a guitar's wiring "fry" like that. I only caught a quick glance at it when IE's tech showed it to us briefly. I can honestly say THAT would have been the last thing that I would have expected. Lesson learned!

The bands that were making debuts here in the US seemed to be genuinely happy to be here playing for us. I know for a fact that Pathosray, Saint Deamon, & Mustasch were REALLY happy!

Cheers:
1) Getting a shot to be on the crew, work my ass off, and see the festival from a completely different perspective. ALL the crew guys & gals kick ass

2) Glenn - For giving me the opportunity for #1 - THANK YOU Bro!

3) The bands - It was an awesome experience to meet & work with all of you!

4) My most sober PP ever (if you don't count Wednesday night! hehehe). And for a GOOD reason!

5) Seeing all my pals, it's what really makes this fest along with the music.

6) Being invited back to to work next year, and hopefully every year after...If I'm breathing, and physically capable, I'm there!

7) Being able to meet CJ Grimmark from Rob Rock's band. I know him from the official Caparison Forum.

Jeers:

1) Missing Midnight's set, just to see what all the ruckus is about

2) Opening my laundry bag inside the house when I got home.....Blech!

2 of my favorite quotes from Glenn over the weekend:

a) Let the hazing begin!
b) Stay out of the way, Jon's PISSED!

 

[thedelicateflower]

Cheers-
glenn, you are amazing, thank you and the crew for all their hard work
dawn and doug you both are the bestest friends ever (i'm just sayin')
kate and mike, it was great to see you both again this year, but I didn’t get your email addy, please pm me
emily, great seeing you and I hope you come to more progpowers
cindy also always great seeing you and please give helena a big kramar for me
my new favorite band elvenking
thank you to a certain sweetie who gave me a private meetngreet with the band (big hug) and all the hugs during the weekend
for elevenking throwing their picks and drumsticks far into the crowd so I was able to grab that guitar pick
mare and dave for letting me sit with them during iced earth
JOP and Zak were AWESOME!
the nicest/warmest feeling during gutter ballet & edge of thorns…. and for the filming guys for leaving that wooden pedestal there for me to stand on so that i can see the band..
my new favorite band, amorphis
ambr for the poster
gammaray is my new favorite band
the stair tapers
me for bringing a teeny tiny flashlight for walking up and down the stairs (not that I didn’t trust the stair tapers, it just made it a little easier to walk the stairs)
mustasch is another new favorite and quite a nice surprise
loved riverside also
iron saviour-
great timing with iron saviour singing ‘breaking the law’ and glenn and tommy busting a guy videotaping…
the security guys were just as awesome as always…
being able to have nice hair days due to no humidity
being able to touch booB


Jeers-
how difficult is it to buy a few locks for the bathroom stalls?
that sleepy feeling ya get when sitting….
grrrrrr to goodstones being closed…grrr to madison grille to being ick…gotta find new restaurants now………
grrrrrrr to 7thsaviour for not introducing himself AGAIN and me still not knowing what he looks like AGAIN…
grrr for not being able to find ANYTHING on elvenking after their set…and when I did, i already owned it……..and exploding neds who sponsored them and didn’t have any shirts (I am looking for a long sleeved one)
tall people for standing in front of me THEN talking to their friends so it totally blocks my view
little bummed not realizing cindy was chatting with the guitarist of gammaray when I saw her (grrrr)
not being able to say bye to peeps after iced earth
being sad cuz gotta go back to the real world

 

[Jibrille]

Oh yeah.
Cheers:
Venue having its shit together with food this year. Went to the Riverside signing, stopped at the vendor area to order pizza, had my food less than 10 minutes later (as opposed to the standard 30+ min wait in past years during nonpeak hours) and missed no more than 15 minutes of JOP after a drink at the bar.

 

[eppst1]

Oh, forgot one:

Cheers for being on the forum poster twice!

 

[Kaosaur]

Cheers to everyone who nice and friendly this year. Cheers to Spheric Universe Experience for their awesome set...I was totally blown away. Cheers to Manticora for the same and also managing to keep the party going pretty much all the time.

Jeers to myself for failing to properly introduce myself to people or be able to carry a conversation due to extreme drunkenness (sorry, Claus, Angela and everyone else who had to suffer my failing during those moments this weekend).

 

[Mosquito]

Cheers:
Elvenkings set was awesome. (Except for the gay dude with the swords and the horrible asian looking groupie girl who was blowing their dicks at the signing table and ruined the experience for me, at least)

How did either of these two instances distract from your experience of the music? I'm interested in your reasoning behind this. Everyone has fun in their own way, and I don't understand how this would hurt the experience of the music for you.

Glenns issue with the camera. Glenn you need to relax a little, bro!!

How many PP's have you been to? Are you aware of all of the problems that digital cameras have caused in the past? I don't usually chime in on certain issues, but from a business standpoint, Glenn has every reason to not 'relax' about the situation. Bootlegging can be a serious problem and many bands and labels frown upon this. Glenn wants to keep good rapport with both bands and labels, so promising to uphold vigilance against bootleggers (and then following through) earns trust with both the labels and artists.

I am really interested to hear your responses to both of these (and I'm even more interested to see how many PP's you've been to)

 

[SkiBumMSP]

Cheers:

This first part of the "cheers" is about the actual festival itself:

• Finally getting rid of that damn smoking in the lobby! Cannot tell you just how much more pleasant that was!
• Every band putting on a truly kick-ass set, individual music tastes not withstanding. This also includes Thursday evening as well (I was not there Wed. night, so I cannot directly comment on that "set" that Midnight performed, but I heard that Eclipsed by Sanity and Circle II Circle did deliver some really nice performances, though). Riverside and JOP did put on a truly remarkable set!
• Very few technical glitches, especially compared to last year. The crew did phenomenal job this year. Not only that the overall sound was top notch!
• Having THREE ATMs in the venue (and as far as I could tell, none of them ran out of money)!
• More of the merchants taking plastic, thus alleviating the need to have to carry around a boat load of cash or needing to drain the ATMs (and having to take the associated "service fee" up the ass as well).
• Not dragging the thing out until 3:30+ in the morning.
• Revealing the new band line up Friday evening - giving me a chance to seek out some of the CDs from the couple of the bands that I did not know about, ie., Tomorrow's Eve).
• Everything pretty much running on time and on schedule (in fact, mostly ahead of schedule).
• The venue serving pizza, which was actually pretty darn good, plus it was much faster to get.

This part of the "cheers" is just about my own general experience and the "cool" things I got to see/do.

• Hanging out around the pool at the Merriot with the guitarist from both Overlorde (Mark), and Iron Savior (Piesel).
• Running into the Nobby (bassist), Ronny (drummer) and Toya (guitarist), if memory serves me, of Saint Deamon on the street while walking down to the Publix supermarket. On to of that, hanging with these guys for a fair bit of the show. Hell, they even gave me a couple of beers they grabbed from backstage! These guys were just awesome. I just wish they stayed in the same inn that I did. I also felt bad that I could not find them after Iced Earth was over, as I wanted to give them a proper "farewell". I definitely made some new friends with these guys. Also, if anybody was curious as to who Nobby was pointing and waving at in the audience, it was me. I am going to try to track down a way to get in contact with them to stay in touch.
• To the Silver Skillet itself. What a great little dinner with awesome service and awesome food.
• And while at the famed Silver Skillet, sitting down to breakfast Saturday morning, only to have Piet and Piesel, along with appears to be some family, sit down next to us (being me and "Diamon45").
• That same day, having lunch with Andromeda over at Front Page News, what an awesome bunch of guys as well.
• That whole get-together at Front Page News (the fish-n-chips there is awesome!).
• Running into Spheric while getting breakfast Friday morning, and chatting with them. They were so excited to finally get to play the States, let along, ProgPower! They told me they cannot wait till they get to play. Hell, I replied back saying I cannot friggan wait to see them play!
• Running into Mustache while checking out and before huffing it back to the subway to take to the airport. These guys were friggan stoked to have gotten to play this festival. I told them that I enjoyed seeing them as much as they enjoyed playing for us. Another really awesome bunch of guys to have gotten the pleasure and honor see and meet.
• Staying up till 5 this morning just shooting the shit with Rick Pierpont (one of the guitar techs, as well as a guitarist for Odin's Court, not to mention a very good friend of mine), Johan (guitarist) and David (vocals) of Andromeda. Also good friend Carlos, and unfortunately, cannot recall the fellow's name that came in with Rick. Still dragging my ass after that (at least I got Seventh Wonder's newest playing on the rig to accompany me while typing this up!)
• Getting to meet and chat with Elvinking as well. Another really great bunch of guys.
• Seeing, and getting to hang out with Manticora. Awesome that I'll get to see them, JOP and Circle II Circle on the 10th at Jaxx again.
• Checkers on the corner of 10th and Spring street for staying opened till 5 am during the week and 24 hours on Friday and Saturday.
• Finding damn near everything that I set out to look for in terms of CDs from the merchants.
• Lance King for just being his awesome self and getting to see him again!
• Getting to meet and run into several members of the forum, including Rider of Theli, to name one that sticks in my mind.
• The awesome weather. It was not ridiculously hot like it was last year, but at the same time, all the nasty weather stayed well to the north (it was complete shit here in Fredericksburg, what what I was told by my neighbors when I got back).

Now the Jeers..

First, about the festival itself. This is thankfully, very short, and are more nitpicks than anything.

• Kinda pretty crappy way to end an otherwise awesome ProgPower with the final Iced Earth song coming to an abrupt end. All I could think is queuing up the "pac-man dying" sound effect for that. However, from reading above, that did indeed turned out to be a very rare occurrence. Wonder if Jon has a good warranty case with the guitar manufacturer for this one. Well, like they say, sometimes shit really does happen. At least it happened near the end of the very last song of the evening. Still would've been nice to finish a bit more gracefully to an otherwise nearly perfect edition of the ProgPower fest. Oh well! Some days your the dog and other days, it seems you are the hydrant.
• Iced Earth starting friggan late like that. However, from what I was told, they insisted on their own lighting (why you saw lights being tested), as well making the crew pretty much completely dismantle the entire stage and reset everything back up. In fact, it is because of Glenn's crew why they finally got started when they did! Thus, do not, and will repeat, DO NOT blame Glenn's crew for that. It seems it was entirely due to Iced Earth's own crew.
• And admittedly, this is really digging deep, but did want the chance to express my own opinion on this. I hope this does not turn into "to much of a good thing". Six bands for both nights, plus the Wednesday (for those that attended), and then Thursday as well. That is a lot of entertainment. I just hope this doesn't become "to much", thus by the time you get to the second half of Saturday evening, people will end up being to damn tired/drunk to even care about what is up there on stage and just wishing the whole damn thing would end so they can all just go home and get rested.

And some things of the overall experience that is really beyond control of the actual festival organizers/crew.

• Hotels still being stupidly expensive, although the Courtyard Merriot was pretty darn nice.
• No 14th street bridge! Not so bad getting to the venue itself, but sucks when trying to get over there to the section where the restaurants are.
• Some drunk dumbass climbing up on the stage Thursday night (but cheers to the bouncer that was quick to get him out of there)
• I'll also second that there is absolutely no friggan place to get something to eat after 8 in the immediate area of the venu. Also what the fuck was up with that Subway being closed? The sign said it was opened till 7, but me and Diamond45 was up there around 6 and it was closed. Ended up getting a couple slices of pizza from the place next door. At least there is a Checkers that is opened till 5 am during the week and 24 hours on Fri/Sat., but that is way the hell down on 10th and Spring Street.
• The MARTA not running after so late. If it was, at least that would make it more feasible to find hotels farther away from the venue.
• To myself for dropping some $700 on CDs (58 CDs and one DVD), but got a shitload of new material that I'll be going through and listening to damn near until the next one!
• To myself for staying up till 5am this morning. :zombie: But gotta admit, what a way to finished up just getting to hang out like that till the bitter end.
• To myself for forgetting to submit a picture for the poster (it not like I did not have enough advanced time [doh!!])

Overall, this was truly an awesome festival this year. I was seriously thinking if Glenn may have finally achieved perfection. I honestly cannot think of a single improvement to suggest here.

Technical glitches, i.e, popping strings on guitars, batteries dying in wireless mics, do happen, regardless of the best of attempts, but it often comes down to how quickly and efficiently they can be resolved when they do occur. Seems the crew has gotten this one nailed, as what few that did occur were straightened out pretty quickly with minimal disruption to the show (the final one not withstanding, but as was mentioned, that truly was very rare that I don't think anybody could've really anticipated happening).

All of the bands performed very good, solid sets, but that usually up to the band to deliver it. Glenn and crew could provide the best venue and equipment setup, but would be no good if the band itself cannot deliver. The infamous Midnight set not withstanding, all of the bands that I personally saw delivered in spades. I don't have a single complaint in that regard. Friggan awesome job done by all and they should all be very proud of what they accomplished these past three/four days.

Thank you Glenn and your awesome crew as well as the bands themselves for making this a truly remarkable event. Also much thanks to the fans themselves that attend and continue to support this. Afterall, what good would PP USA really be if there are no butts in there to fill those seats, no eyes to see the bands perform and no ears to listen to the awesome music.

Thanks to all for allowing to attend and experience this awesome thing!

 

[Diamond45]

This was my first Progpower,Glenn and if I'm alive it will not be my last!!! You are the man and I enjoyed getting to meet you and thank you in person on Thursday night.If there were more promoters like you,the music industry in this country wouldn't be so screwed up.

How about your drunk buddy? Is he coming back as well? He, SkiBumMSP and I had drinks at the bar with Lance King on Thursday night.

Nice to have met the both of you. Hope to see you back next year!

 

[MetalOperaChick]

Cheers:

Having a SUPER awesome time this year.

Meeting many new and exciting people as well as catching up with a few I hadn't seen in a long while Patrick, Lee, Urban and his wife, Lance, Claus, Tess, ProgMuse, Pellaz, booB, Rahul, Vadim...etc etc. So many kick ass people I can't wait for another year!

Front Page News Good food and good chatting

Glenn. (DSO, Orphaned Land and Pagan's Mind next year! Wooohooo!)

GAMMA RAYYYY!!

Riverside. I actually listened to a little bit of them before ProgPower and I didn't think they were that exciting. But then I saw them live and I thought, "Well shit..This is actually really amazing!"

No smoking!! YAAAAY!

JOP. WOW. Just...wow.

Iced Earth! Holy crap I was on the floor during most of this and I was having a blast! Yay for Barlow!

Being able to drink this year

Cheers for Malibu Pinapples and Long Island Iced Teas!

Jeers:

JEERS to whoever that rude guy was at the bar who apparently wanted to be friendly and say hi but instead just GRABBED me and started trying to kiss me when I was right in the middle of a conversation with someone and hadn't even looked or said anything to him much less know his name! He said he was harmless and just wanted to be friendly, to which I said, "You want to be friendly you can shake my hand and tell me your name." He got the picture it seemed until 30 minutes later when he came up to me and said, "Can I have a kiss NOW?!" ....NO! Asshole.


Jeers to the dudes moshing during iced earth. I like to be in pits and I would have started one myself but these guys were going a little over the top. They knocked over Michael onto the floor! Mosh is okay but no brawl pits plz.

Jeers to the dude who kept yelling "Ripper Owens" before the show started. It was only funny the first time..

Missing most of JOP but what I was there for was kick ass

No locks on the doors in the bathrooms

Jeers for being so tired every night that I missed all the after parties

 

[GoRillaBoy76]

Cheers to Glenn for getting Iced Earth and letting this long time fan see them.
Cheers to meeting Zak Stevens!

 

[Diamond45]

My friend Steve (SkiBumMSP) pretty much summed up what I was going to say (thanks for stealing my thunder... naw... it's all good dude!).

But here are the things I felt were the best and worst of the weekend.

Cheers:

* Glenn - without you we would have not had such a fucking WONDERFUL TIME!! You sir have almost reached perfection with this show. Simply amazing.... THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!

* Glenn's Crew - Without you folks the show would have NOT gone on. Greets to Rick and Lara I would also like to mention that ALL SHOWS (with the exception of IE, which I hear was NOT the fault of Glenn's crew) were ON TIME!!! This has to be a first! You guys (and gals) certainly ROCKED!!

* The sets - Each set was awesome. Not a bad apple at all Thursday through Saturday (I didn't see the Wednesday shows). Yes, there were musical styles that I'm not much a fan of - but there was NO show that left me cold. Each show was outstanding in the musicianship and technical ability. Yes, I'm not a huge fan of Elvenking, Savatage (JOP) or Iced Earth, but each band seemed like they were having as much fun performing as we were watching them. Riverside was the surprise act that blew my mind away.

* The bands - Meeting the bands in person was awesome. Both Steve and I stayed at the Courtyard Marriott on Techwood. Meeting SUE, Mustach, Iron Savior and Andromeda (some bands such as Iron Savior more than once!). And very BIG GREETS goes to Saint Deamon!! We met them on our way to Publix Supermarket. By far the greatest bunch of folks we met this show. Too bad they didn't stay at the Courtyard, otherwise we would have partied all night long!!!

* The community - Meeting a number of people on here in person makes it all worth the while. A number of people we know from past shows (LunaTEKKE, El Ace, Yippie38/YardleyBates, etc.) we met up with while we were there. Major thanks to Michael TEOF for arranging lunch at Front Page News. We also met up with a bunch of new guys as well. Very nice group of folks that I definately wish to keep in touch with.

* Courtyard Marriott - This is a GREAT hotel. Yes, the absence of the infamous 14th street bridge did make things a bit difficult, but the hotel was nice. However, I wish that the breakfast was FREE (not $11 a person) :zombie:. But since that was expensive, we went to.....

* Silver Skillet - A dive diner next door to the hotel. Why am I mentioning this? Because they have great food at great prices. Oh, we did see Iron Savior there the gutarist and singer sat in the booth next to us on Saturday morning!

* Metalrose - She got the ProgPower group rate at the Courtyard Marriott on Techwood. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Can you do it again for next year, please??????

* Center Stage ATMs - This is the first year I did not hit the ATM. But there were at least two (maybe three?) ATMs at Center Stage. They looked to be brand new and I don't think any of them ran out of money.

* The Vendors - Again Steve and I plunked down SERIOUS cash for CDs. I bought 22 and have no idea how many Steve bought... needless to say we're great you guys came out. MAJOR GREETS to Lance King and Nightmare Records!And major thanks to the vendors who took plastic this time around.

* Lance King - See above. But I felt he still deserved special mention.

* NO SMOKING IN THE LOBBY - I don't know if was a new Atlanta or Georgia law, a Center Stage rule, or something just for ProgPower, but I'm so fucking glad that there was no smoking (well, a little bit) in the lobby. That was a much welcome surprise.

* Vinyl bar - I'm not a fan of any of the bars there at Center Stage, but this time the food was more organized. Instead of trying to serve burgers and chicken strips, they went all Italian with pizza, lasanga and the like. Much easier and quicker. The prices were insane (captive audience) but at least we had decent food on Saturday when the other pizza place (next to Subway) was closed.

* Next year's lineup announcement - The video was good and so was the band selection.

Jeers

VERY FEW jeers this year. Most of these were NOT the fault of Glenn or his exceptional crew, but just things in general.

* 14th Street Bridge construction - I mentioned it above. Made things a bit more difficult but not impossible.

* Subway - Why the hell was the Subway on Peachtree not open on Friday evening??!!??

* Jon's guitar crapping out - Shit happens and not his fault, but was an anti-climatic way to end an otherwise awesome weekend.

* The bathrooms at Center Stage - I know there's nothing that can be done about these things, but I still despise them nevertheless.

* My self-induced laryngitis - When I yell and scream too much, I can damage my vocal chords. This is probably the worst I have ever done to them and I hope they recover real soon... because I'm pissed off at myself for doing it.. but when you have such an awesome lineup (and next year's lineup announcement as well), I just got carried away.....

So overall this has to have been the BEST ProgPower out of the four that I have attended. I really REALLY hope to be at next year's show, and hopefully more than just as an attendee....

So to top this off...

THANK YOU ALL FOR SUCH A WONDEFUL WEEKEND!!

 

[Jibrille]

Jeers to the dudes moshing during iced earth. I like to be in pits and I would have started one myself but these guys were going a little over the top. They knocked over Michael onto the floor! Mosh is okay but no brawl pits plz.

The only moshpit was during Mustache and it lasted all of 5 seconds. Michael getting knocked over was because of a really drunk guy who was leaning all over people (as in fist pumping to the point that he was probably elbowing people in the face) and swaying back and forth finally pissing someone off enough to shove him all the way across the floor (probably when Michael was knocked over) and then he went back and shoved the guy back. He had been pushed around quite a bit before that to get him away from others but that time really sent him flying.

 

[Wayniac]

Cheers :
Obviously - Glenn
Most of the bands - they were all so easy to work with this year and played their asses off, and they made the long days a pleasure.
Kent for doing a kickass job with the sound, and Rich for the work on the monitors
All the attendees... it is a blast just being able to get a few minutes to hang with any of you when I'm not working, and when i do get a chance to hang, everyone is so cool
My crew family - you guys (and gal) rock
The new guys on the crew for stepping up
All the hugs
All the new people I met this year

Jeers:
Non working gear brought by bands
Non working crew members brought by bands
Me - for still forgetting peoples names after 8 years ! WTF!