- Aug 11, 2007
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Hi everyone.
Today, October 15th, is OSA's 5th anniversary and we have come a long way from the little group of American fans on Nightwish forum who wanted to form an online community for North American Nightwish fans.
For your enjoyment, and to look back on the last 5 years, I've compiled this timeline of OSA milestones and memories. Many of you have been here since the beginning, so if you have any memories of your own to share, by all means, please post them here and let's look back on how OSA has grown, and how we have all aged, over the last half-decade.
"Gone back in time..."
2003: In late September/early October, an American Nightwish fan by the name of Snowy Owl made a post on Nightwish forum asking if there was a fan club for American Nightwish fans, and if not, that he wanted to start forming one. The response was instant, and enthusiastic. Several fans at Nightwish forum (including myself) were more than happy to help, and on October 15th, our friends Ann-Marie and Dave at Beyond Ear Candy hosted our very first online forum, and OSA was born.
2004: This was definitely the year when OSA blossomed from a small online community to a serious meeting place among the North American fans. The release of the Once album, and the North American tour that followed, brought in many fans to OSA, and it was at this time that BEC was able to host a small home page for OSA. Promotion for Nightwish from OSAers spread from coast to coast, as Snowy Owl and Troggy used their radio skills to create OSA promos, and C. would expose Nightwish to the rock radio audience of Central California when several Nightwish classics hit the early-morning airwaves of Real Rock 93.1 as part of the J.D. & Rocky Morning Show. Zelda would almost singlehandedly publish the first and only OSA newsletter, with help of articles written by several other OSAers. Ann-Marie printed the first of the OSA t-shirts, to be worn proudly during the tour that brought Nightwish to the American fans for their first real U.S. tour that summer. By fall, OSA would experience its first "presidential election", with founding member Snowy Owl becoming OSA's first president.
2005: Nightwish-OSA.com was born, and OSA would leave the protection of BEC and strike out on their own for the first time. The website received many visits and was considered a frame of reference for many Nightwish fans and "insiders" alike, including Zac Hietala of Tarot (linking our site in several of his posts on his forum). We would also gain a strong ally in our new affiliate, Sonic Cathedral. As the band toured all over the world for the Once album, OSA grew stronger, despite the setbacks of having not one, but two American tours cancelled. Nothing could seem to stop the machine that was OSA...until October, when the open letter to Tarja was printed and the Nightwish community was forever split into two camps.
2006: It is at this time that Snowy Owl steps down as OSA president to commit fully to his new website and fellow OSA affiliate, Rising Forces USA. The only two members of the council, C. and Autarkis, form a brand-new council and bring in longtime OSAer Tramz, and a newer OSAer, yet a clearly dedicated one, Ray. The new OSA council is formed and ready to take on the difficult task of maintaining a relatively sane Nightwish community during a time of chaos. At this time OSA experiences a "Caribbean invasion", when fans from the islands find OSA and become a part of our community through most of this year. While the world mused who the new Nightwish singer would be, and the band swam through piles of audition tapes from people all over the world wanting to fill the shoes of Tarja, OSA would go through their own inner turmoils, with two hackings to the .com site and forum, leaving us at the end of the year with quite a bleak outlook on what OSA's future, if any, would be.
2007: Walking hand in hand into the new era with Nightwish, the year '07 seems to be promising for both the band and the fans. After a third hacking to the site and forum shortly after the band's announcement of Anette Olzon as new singer, the OSAers choose to decide their own fate and pull up stakes from the .com site altogether, making our new home at Ultimate Metal, and going back to basics. No more stressing over a fancy website or trying to keep up with the Joneses, we decided our strength was in our online community and until the time came until we could find a new webmaster, focus solely on making our little Nightwish community strong again. The seeds that were planted would find fruit during the fall tour, when the band would see the new crop of OSA shirts (printed up by Ray) popping up on their tour stops, from the impressive skyline of New York City to the bright lights of Sunset Strip, and many places in-between.
2008: A busy year for Nightwish and OSAers alike, the dream that had seemed crushed in '05 would be made reality in '08 when Nightwish would return twice more to the U.S. in the spring and fall. Shows were cancelled along the way, and the final week of what was to have been the "final chapter" of the U.S. tour ended on a somewhat low note, but OSAers on the East Coast were loyal and went to the cancelled shows anyway. In spite of the way the tour ended, OSA would not end the tour on such a negative note...as final vindication of the hard work that everyone here has done over the last 5 years, the band would recognize this and dedicate the song "Dead to the World" to the entire Oceansouls of America at their Los Angeles show on September 13th, showing that the Nightwish community that was so often deemed "dead to the world" was anything but..."dead to the world".
And along the way, OSA couldn't have done it without the countless people who have helped along the way...Snowy Owl, Tramz, Ray, the "faithfuls" of OSA (of whom there are many!), past members of OSA who contributed greatly even if they are no longer in our community...BEC, Empty Spiral, Sonic Cathedral, Rising Forces USA, Heather at Century Media, the Brueland family, Nightwish forum, the Nightwish fan clubs around the world (France, UK, Dutch)...all of whom were a friendly face and a helping hand to OSA during good times and bad.
As someone who has been with the OSA since day one, I can honestly say it's the fans here that make this place survive and exist. We in the council could not have done it alone. There were many times that all of us, at one time or another, wanted to throw in the towel, but didn't, because you guys would not let OSA die. Give yourselves a hand...this day belongs to you...to all of us!
HAPPY 5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, OSA!
Today, October 15th, is OSA's 5th anniversary and we have come a long way from the little group of American fans on Nightwish forum who wanted to form an online community for North American Nightwish fans.
For your enjoyment, and to look back on the last 5 years, I've compiled this timeline of OSA milestones and memories. Many of you have been here since the beginning, so if you have any memories of your own to share, by all means, please post them here and let's look back on how OSA has grown, and how we have all aged, over the last half-decade.
"Gone back in time..."
2003: In late September/early October, an American Nightwish fan by the name of Snowy Owl made a post on Nightwish forum asking if there was a fan club for American Nightwish fans, and if not, that he wanted to start forming one. The response was instant, and enthusiastic. Several fans at Nightwish forum (including myself) were more than happy to help, and on October 15th, our friends Ann-Marie and Dave at Beyond Ear Candy hosted our very first online forum, and OSA was born.
2004: This was definitely the year when OSA blossomed from a small online community to a serious meeting place among the North American fans. The release of the Once album, and the North American tour that followed, brought in many fans to OSA, and it was at this time that BEC was able to host a small home page for OSA. Promotion for Nightwish from OSAers spread from coast to coast, as Snowy Owl and Troggy used their radio skills to create OSA promos, and C. would expose Nightwish to the rock radio audience of Central California when several Nightwish classics hit the early-morning airwaves of Real Rock 93.1 as part of the J.D. & Rocky Morning Show. Zelda would almost singlehandedly publish the first and only OSA newsletter, with help of articles written by several other OSAers. Ann-Marie printed the first of the OSA t-shirts, to be worn proudly during the tour that brought Nightwish to the American fans for their first real U.S. tour that summer. By fall, OSA would experience its first "presidential election", with founding member Snowy Owl becoming OSA's first president.
2005: Nightwish-OSA.com was born, and OSA would leave the protection of BEC and strike out on their own for the first time. The website received many visits and was considered a frame of reference for many Nightwish fans and "insiders" alike, including Zac Hietala of Tarot (linking our site in several of his posts on his forum). We would also gain a strong ally in our new affiliate, Sonic Cathedral. As the band toured all over the world for the Once album, OSA grew stronger, despite the setbacks of having not one, but two American tours cancelled. Nothing could seem to stop the machine that was OSA...until October, when the open letter to Tarja was printed and the Nightwish community was forever split into two camps.
2006: It is at this time that Snowy Owl steps down as OSA president to commit fully to his new website and fellow OSA affiliate, Rising Forces USA. The only two members of the council, C. and Autarkis, form a brand-new council and bring in longtime OSAer Tramz, and a newer OSAer, yet a clearly dedicated one, Ray. The new OSA council is formed and ready to take on the difficult task of maintaining a relatively sane Nightwish community during a time of chaos. At this time OSA experiences a "Caribbean invasion", when fans from the islands find OSA and become a part of our community through most of this year. While the world mused who the new Nightwish singer would be, and the band swam through piles of audition tapes from people all over the world wanting to fill the shoes of Tarja, OSA would go through their own inner turmoils, with two hackings to the .com site and forum, leaving us at the end of the year with quite a bleak outlook on what OSA's future, if any, would be.
2007: Walking hand in hand into the new era with Nightwish, the year '07 seems to be promising for both the band and the fans. After a third hacking to the site and forum shortly after the band's announcement of Anette Olzon as new singer, the OSAers choose to decide their own fate and pull up stakes from the .com site altogether, making our new home at Ultimate Metal, and going back to basics. No more stressing over a fancy website or trying to keep up with the Joneses, we decided our strength was in our online community and until the time came until we could find a new webmaster, focus solely on making our little Nightwish community strong again. The seeds that were planted would find fruit during the fall tour, when the band would see the new crop of OSA shirts (printed up by Ray) popping up on their tour stops, from the impressive skyline of New York City to the bright lights of Sunset Strip, and many places in-between.
2008: A busy year for Nightwish and OSAers alike, the dream that had seemed crushed in '05 would be made reality in '08 when Nightwish would return twice more to the U.S. in the spring and fall. Shows were cancelled along the way, and the final week of what was to have been the "final chapter" of the U.S. tour ended on a somewhat low note, but OSAers on the East Coast were loyal and went to the cancelled shows anyway. In spite of the way the tour ended, OSA would not end the tour on such a negative note...as final vindication of the hard work that everyone here has done over the last 5 years, the band would recognize this and dedicate the song "Dead to the World" to the entire Oceansouls of America at their Los Angeles show on September 13th, showing that the Nightwish community that was so often deemed "dead to the world" was anything but..."dead to the world".
And along the way, OSA couldn't have done it without the countless people who have helped along the way...Snowy Owl, Tramz, Ray, the "faithfuls" of OSA (of whom there are many!), past members of OSA who contributed greatly even if they are no longer in our community...BEC, Empty Spiral, Sonic Cathedral, Rising Forces USA, Heather at Century Media, the Brueland family, Nightwish forum, the Nightwish fan clubs around the world (France, UK, Dutch)...all of whom were a friendly face and a helping hand to OSA during good times and bad.
As someone who has been with the OSA since day one, I can honestly say it's the fans here that make this place survive and exist. We in the council could not have done it alone. There were many times that all of us, at one time or another, wanted to throw in the towel, but didn't, because you guys would not let OSA die. Give yourselves a hand...this day belongs to you...to all of us!
HAPPY 5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, OSA!
). It promised the latest news, the upcoming OSA elections, merchandise, wallpapers and "LOVE!" heh. To this day, i am not entirely sure what made me give the OSA forums a try. I've never been much of a public forum kind of guy. Zellie and i hadn't really said more than 10 words to each other on the line either. Perhaps it was my overall experience at the concert and having taken notice of the kinds of people there.
