Cheers and Jeers IX

[Kaosaur]

(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)

Huge Jeers all around here. I feel like I have to make a statement on this because it's not just limited to this gross misinterpretation.

Everyone needs to keep in mind that they don't know everyone at ProgPower. Just because you see something and your imagination jumps to conclusions doesn't mean that your perceptions are fact. This is the reason why stupid rumors start and several people who frequent this fest develop reputations that they don't deserve (though sometimes they do. ). This kind of thing has broken up friendships and has kept attendees of the fest home because they can't bear to deal with the rumors and drama. Their behavior is harmless fun and doesn't hurt anyone. In fact, the only reason why it impacts your "fun factor" at this fest is because of reasons that are entirely in YOUR head. ...and then you turn around and post shit like this for everyone to see and end up ruining that person's fun at the fest by making them deal with bullshit. Just because you don't say exactly who they are (perhaps because you do not know...funny that. Making claims about someone when you know so little as who they even are) doesn't mean that the rest of us don't know. We do.

The people in question happen to be friends with several people at the fest and on this board and anyone who knows them knows that your statement is inaccurate. The thing with the sword happens to be sort of a ProgPower tradition, and while it's sort of dorky, it's no different than say...Glenn wearing Hawaiian shirts. (Imagine if you came on here saying how some drunk redneck in a Jimmy Buffet/Hawaiian shirt ruined your party and how this is supposed to be a metal festival and jimmy buffet is lame...(not slamming Glenn, just making an extreme and in my opinion similar example to the quoted statement)). As far as the asian groupie chick, well...she happens to be an extremely nice and friendly person and thought that Elvenking were nice, fun guys. They obviously thought the same of her. I assure you, she's probably the LAST "groupie girl" you'd see at ProgPower blowing anyone, let alone in full view of Center Stage. Not like that even matters because it's none of your god damned business what other people do at this fest if they're behaving reasonably to everyone.

This is a social gathering. If somebody else having more fun than you is a problem, it's entirely your own.
Kaosaur out.

Edit/P.S.: Given the closeness of this community, you also have the potential to impact peoples' professional and family life with comments like this. It just doesn't belong on and open forum that everybody reads.

 

[dcowboys311]

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)

 

[Yippee38]

The problem was that it wasn't his rig as he thought. ... Turns out the problem was that his guitar fried. My crew guys can explain just how rare that is in detail.

I saw him outside after the show. Somebody mentioned it and he said something like, "We thought it was the rig, but it was my guitar. That's really rare for a guitar to go like that."

Cheers-
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

I looked over at one point and say you. I thought, "WTF? How is she so tall?" It was weird. Now I understand.

I'm glad you checked Amorphis out and liked them.

 

[pancakesandsex]

Cheers:
-Andromeda - awesome performance, my favorite of the weekend
-Riverside - way heavier than I thought they would be, sounded great
-Spheric Universe Experience - Final Fantasy 8 intro was lulz, totally nerded it out when that played, very much enjoyed how they extended almost every song
-Iron Savior - really kick ass performance
-Iced Earth - blew me away, wasn't very familiar with them before the show, will be remedying this asap.
-Johnathan for being incredibly awesome and picking up the tab for the entire vortex group. You are a man among men.
-Manticora - "buttercock"
-Lasers edge - for taking returns when I changed my mind

Jeers:
-Liquid smoke - waaaaaaay too much of it
-Kaosaurs shadow - wtf guy
-Midnight - there are no words
-No dvd :-(

 

[Curufin]

Cheers:

- Glenn, of course.
- Piet, his parents, Yenz, Thomas, and Piesel for letting me hang out with them and share their beer.
- My ProgPower family who I look forward to seeing every year. I didn't want the weekend to end!
- Everyone at our unintended party in the Residence. For how many people were at that party, the cleanup was really not bad. Nobody broke anything!
- No smoking in the lobby. I was guilty of it last year, but it was definitely a good idea to ban it this year (and in the future, I hope).
- The awesome VIP Bartender.

Jeers:

- Getting (non-hangover) sick at ProgPower for the first time. Whiskey's a good cure-all, though!
- Glenn for making another awesome ProgPower which more or less forces my poor ass to put in a sponsorship bid again for next year.
- The Madison for taking way too long to get us our lunch. I guess they were understaffed, but they were given advance warning that there would be a lot of people there.
- Goodstone Cafe! WHERE ARE YOU MY LOVE?
- Iced Earth being way, way too loud.

Another awesome ProgPower! I can't wait to see you all next year. Now it's time to sleep for a week!

 

[skeptik]

Not that I was at the festival, but I just thought I'd point out that I know the "horrible asian looking groupie girl" in question, and she called me earlier telling me about the show and told me that Elvenking took a liking to her for the fact that she WASN'T just some groupie, that she was a real fan and somebody that they could be friends with. They exchanged (real) names, phone numbers, etc. No "groupie" bullshit. Amazing how quick people are to judge sometimes on mere perception...or jealousy.

Edit: Now I see that that was already heavily addressed. Still, total bullshit thing to say out of complete ignorance.

 

[booB]

.....that's life, shorty! Just get on Lek's shoulders next year, duh

Plus, if she starts to fall, she can always grab a hold of his arm hair.

As always -- too much good music leaves not enough time for socializing!

Agreed. I know this is going to sound silly, considering that this is a music festival... but I sort of wish that we could drop the performances on Wednesday, and turn it back into meet-and-greet/karaoke night. As the current trend is going, I'm getting less and less time between performances to hang out with friends, and therefore spending less and less quality time with the people I only get to see once or twice a year.

Or maybe we should all just start coming in on Tuesday.

- Iced Earth being way, way too loud.

If it's too loud, you're too old.

My cheers:

EVERYTHING! I don't have a single complaint about the fest or the festivities this year. I enjoyed some bands that I didn't think I would enjoy... I missed a couple bands that I didn't plan on seeing anyway... I met a lot of cool new people and had fun with my good friends (I wish there could have been more time for this!!!!!)... and I escaped a dull, boring everyday reality for a few days. These are the reasons I go to ProgPower, and this year did not disappoint.

Jeers:

My biggest bummer was that there were a number of people in attendance, who I wanted to meet up with this year, but didn't. Several were people I've known from the internet for years but STILL have never met in person (Prog Muse, Dave Thomas and BlackRoseMetalHeart immediately come to mind)... others were people I've met in past years who I simply didn't seem to run into this year. Next year, I'm getting cellphone numbers, and we'll make concrete plans! I can lure you in with booze and/or sexual favors, if necessary.

The declining restaurant scene near the venue bothers me. The awesome Goodstone Cafe is closed... service at the Madison Grille has not gotten any better over the past three years... the Chinese Buddha is no longer an option for most of us... and no new places are opening up. Everyplace else is too far away to go to, without missing much of the fest. Thank goodness for friends with cars, and the existence of the City Cafe on 10th. It might be worthwhile to rent a car next year, especially if we start lodging farther away from the venue. Otherwise... maybe we should all chip in, buy the Goodstone Cafe, and reopen it as the ProgPower Cafe!

That's all. I refuse to "jeer" the Midnight performance, due to the simple fact that it allowed me some extra time to chat with friends (mostly about Midnight, but, regardless, friend-time is quality time!).

 

[thedelicateflower]

forgot another cheers-

bear made it!

 

[King Lek]

The 6 1/2 hour drive home that felt like 21 hours.

Errrrrrr......next time apply a wee bit more pressure to the right pedal.....

 

[Claus / Intromental]

After a loooong drive home (ok, it was only 6 1/2 hour, but it sure felt longer due to being so tired), a good nights sleep and answering a billion emails, I finally found some time to post my cheers & jeers....

First up - a HUGE thank you to the PPUSA team (Glenn and his crew) for giving us all a wonderful experience!!!!

CHEERS:
- Tess, for being my wonderful wife, soulmate, friend-in-metal, mom to the greatest kid in the world (who I missed sooo much during this weekend) and generally just being YOU
- Annie, my sister in law and so much fun (especially during her drunken state wednesday)
- Fran & Gaylan - the most METAL parents-in-law
- Glenn, for the festival AND for that private session backstage touching my leg in a way no other dude has ever been allowed to!
- Manticora, duh! It was soooo good to see you guys again and to get to talk Danish.
- Pathosray & SUE, thanks guys for making me so freakin' proud the whole weekend!!!!
- the ton of friends that we unfortunately don't see often enough. You are 99% of what this is all about, and for those 4 days the music takes a backseat to you.
- the Georgia Aquarium, been going there 3 years in a row, and it is by far the coolest thing to do when in Atlanta

JEERS:
- to spiders or whatever kind of bug it is that f***ed up my leg!!!!
- to rum & jack & beer & all the other booze that creates hangovers uke:
- to myself for spending way too much time outside with a cigarette in hand, especially after having worked hard the last 8 months on cutting severely down on that addiction
- to girls who think it's "fun" grabbing my ass in public (yes, every year I see girls posting about men doing that to you, now it's MY turn to complain). No, it is not fun - I don't like it and my wife won't appreciate it either - it's sexual herassment!
- the guy who called my sis-in-law something she most definitely is not. Had my wife and sis-in-law not stopped me, you would have enjoyed your last PP.
- Riverside, for being a band I don't really like but being so great musicians that I actually ended up enjoying more of the show than I will ever admit
- Atlanta for being a crazy city traffic-wise and for having too many "weird" people (although I'm sure they think the same of us).
- having to get back to the reality of the world!

See you all next year for a line-up that in my honest opinion might actually be the strongest PPUSA ever!

c.

 

[_Wes]

Great fest! I enjoyed every single band in one way or another . . .

JEERS: 15 hour drive. Man - it felt like. . .. 15 hours!
- being at work at 6:30am Monday morning!

 

[am_ash2]

Cheers:
*To Glenn for making a dream of mine come true. Sorry about the waterworks during the IE set, but I really DO love you! HAHA
*Meeting Matt and Jon
*Taps- the new restaurant in town with REAL beer. Prices for a food are a bit high, but the beer is worth it. And taking Iron Savior and family was a real treat for us. Gryta rocks!!
*Fried pickles
*Watching my husband (and drunken Dru- you are funny dude!) have a private jam session with Piet in the dressing room
*Grenada porch party on Saturday. Thanks for dragging Jon out of his room Lea... Sorry about icing my feet down in the beer cooler- wearing heels all night sucks!
*All the porch attendees- hope you liked your picture Wayne because I won't be doing THAT again! HAHA
*Saint Deamon!! Can't say enough about these guys. They were cool on AND off the stage. And to my new hobbit friend- Dobby Dobbins- you are the best. Speaking of which, watching Jan's hobbit imitation- you really need to post that video Lea
*Hanging with Tess & Annie's mom and dad in the VIP lounge
*Beth, Matt, Matt, Nancy, Nancy's brother and girlfriend (sorry I forgot your names), Phyllis, Cristen, Ann Marie, Lea, BABS, Claus, Tess with the green shoes, Annie, Gryta, Eric, Piet and the rest of the "Saviors", Yardley & Yippee, all the Angelas, Shaye and Urban, the best security guy ever- theTerminator, Michelle & Dave, Norman, Henry & Shelly, Dustin and the rest of the Kat V crew, Greg (Metal Mental Meltdown!), Dru and everyone else I forgot.
*To my new career as front bathroom attendant
*2 new set lists and a drumstick for my collection
*Pacing myself for once- no hangovers
*Wayne you rock!
*To chairs!!!!
*Chinese mini market next to the Grenada for having beer, and Advil, and Aleve, and a comb, and everything else. And the Chinese doorbell...ding doooong...change the batteries already- it's been 3 years (oops, that should be a jeers).
*The picture of Greg passed out with his arm around the toilet. Classic dude!

Jeers:
*Boiled peanuts at Taps. Why the hell would you boil peanuts???
*Losing my husband for 2 hours Friday night.
*Open lipstick in Ann Marie's purse. Gives new meaning to the color of money! HAHA
*To the dude who kept saying he wanted to marry me. Got a little old after the 3rd or 4th time
*Not planning for unexpected visitors (thanks Cristen!)
*Bad knees and 3 days of standing on them
*Being too tired to stay and watch Kai play with Helloween (sorry Brian)
*My piece of crap digital camera that took shitty pictures
*Not being able to see what pics I took with the disposable. Can't wait to get them developed (gulp)
*The Mexicans (you know who you are!) talking to me and giggling and me not being able to understand them. Guess they must have wanted me!
*To getting old and being tired every night. What a wuss!
*Getting beer spilled on my feet. AGAIN
*To everyone that gave Iced Earth flak. Don't mess with my buds
*Rolling my luggage through a pile of puke at the airport. Double gross...
*No waffle machine at the Grenada
*Inn at the Peachtrees. Were those REAL eggs???

 

[oldboy]

-Cheers: I was very critical last year of the sound (among other things). I thought that this year things were much improved. Shit is always going to happen but I saw people working hard to get things right. That is all you can ask for. I had a wonderful time this year, and next year's line up looks very good so I am planning to come back.
-Jeers: None. Like I said, shit happens.
Thanks to Glenn and crew for all the hard work

 

[kellsco]

I forgot a fest jeer:

To the stage right (sometimes he stood in the middle of the press pit) security guy that kept offering to allow me to stay up front for the entire set of each band if I would "put a little something in his pocket".

 

[sava_freak]

CHEERS:
-the people-When I stated I was there to see JOP people kindly let me up to the rail. So when Iced Earh came on I retuned the favor. This is what its all about...Everyone can talk about how cool the music was and stuff, and it was..but the kindness of others is what always sets this show off from the rest. People willing to do stuff like that for you or suggest new bands to ya, etc And just be nice.



Jeers:
-JOP Set being cut short...WTF


Alan

 

[J-Man]

Cheers

First off Cheers as always to Glenn for a fabulous show and experience, you are the best my friend.
The crew what else can be said.
Lance King, enough said, love ya Brother
Shane, okay again enough said
My roomies Todd, Rick and Allen for putting up with my snoring
Claus/Tess/Annie/ Galan/ Fran, you guys are the greatest.
Brent, we had so much fun
The Andromeda guys who keep me awake on a truely long and exhausting drive.
Fabio from Pathosray, great meeting you
SUE guys for a fabulous show and chatting with you on Saturday night
FIG!!!!!!!!!!! Your know what i mean Brent
Christian, you rule Brother
And of course Swordlord.
And Last but not least the Security Guys, man you guys are great and it's always fun to hang out with you and talk.

Jeers

Not getting enought time to spend with Hoyt and Patrick or J-Dubya
Colleen and Todd not being there.
Sore feet.
Missing Mustache because i had to run to the hotel for something.
The Mexican resturant next to subway being closed Sat afternoon what's up with that.
Bobby W having to leave suddenly.

 

[AMBR]

I forgot a fest jeer:

To the stage right (sometimes he stood in the middle of the press pit) security guy that kept offering to allow me to stay up front for the entire set of each band if I would "put a little something in his pocket".

I wonder if he was the same security guy selling "authentic autographed" drumsticks for each band out of his sock. Most of the security guys were excellent, especially the ones that have been their for years, but whoever this/these guy(s) were, I wish that sort of thing could be stopped.

 

[OrbWeaver]

cheers:
- AMBR's forum poster
- Pathosray
- meeting forum members I didn't meet last year
- Amorphis: I didn't expect to like them. But I did!

jeers:
- Iced Earth - I have a few reasons, but just putting IE in my jeers section is enough to get me flamed, so I'll leave it as is.
- getting sick with a nasty head cold. Groggy and disconnected = lose
- So many CDs, so little cash.

 

[RiffDaemon]

The Madison for taking way too long to get us our lunch. I guess they were understaffed, but they were given advance warning that there would be a lot of people there.

In their defense, I'll confirm that they were horribly understaffed. They had one bartender, one regular waitress, and a girl who was new to the place. My brother and I were sitting behind you guys - I was the bigger guy drinking beer - and we could tell y'all were kinda frustrated, haha.

However, I WILL jeer their Blue Moon tap!!! Foamy bastard

 

[kellsco]

I wonder if he was the same security guy selling "authentic autographed" drumsticks for each band out of his sock. Most of the security guys were excellent, especially the ones that have been their for years, but whoever this/these guy(s) were, I wish that sort of thing could be stopped.

Yep, that's the same guy. He tried to sell me several. Said he got them all at the sound checks. When I told him that I was in house for so and so's sound check and didn't see him there, he promptly found something important to do out in the lobby.