PPUSA XVI - Cheers and Jeers

[Diamond45]

Starting the annual Cheers and Jeers thread...mostly cheers and a few jeers.

CHEERS

* Glenn and Jen (miel) for all the hard work they do on this festival ALL YEAR LONG. This is indeed a labor of love and it shows. I am proud to be a sponsor and working with you for the last several years and for many years to come. Looking forward to next year's lineup already!

* Nathan and Milton for their shows as well. You two have learned well from the master and are taking it to the next level! Looking forward to your shows next year as well.

* The rest of the PP USA crew - To people who are not exposed to the behind the scenes work, what seems effortless to you is a lot of prep and hard work from this dedicated work of volunteers. I am proud to know most of them personally. And hats off to the new VIP manager Ralf. He is a really cool guy!

* Marc the Visa guy. I don't know how the hell you deal with all the bullshit from the USCIS. I really need to "buy you a beer" and donate to your organization as soon as I get home!

* The bands - Awesome performances by all the bands this year, and hats off to all of the non US bands having to deal with the dreaded USCIS (see jeer below). BIG BIG props to Jeff Scott Soto for stepping up to the plate with the 90 minute extended set!

* My friends. I have WAY too many friends I have met through his wonderful festival, and the list grows each and every year. I call ProgPower a "family reunion with a great musical soundtrack."

* A big thank you for those those who attended the Hotlanta ProgPower Forum Luncheon at Front Page News. A special cheer to my great friend LunaTEKKE for all the hard work she did with the reservations and the nametags. It was highly successful and hope to have it again next year.

* Truly Great Cupcakes. If you didn't buy any cupcakes, you missed out!

* Center Stage security for being nice this year! It was also great they had the big containers of water at the bar so we didn't have to shell out $$$ on bottled water all night!

* Sausalito West Coast Grill and Vespucci's Pizza and Pasta for going out of their way each year to accommodate us "black shirts!"

* The Artmore for not screwing up with my reservation! Glad they went back to the Saturday morning deal for making reservations for next year.

JEERS

* A really big F U to the USCIS. I feel so bad for Glenn, Nathan, Milton, Marc and of course all the bands affected for all the effing bullshit that they had to go through this year. Hopefully you can all get a jump on things for next year.

* Attendees that insist on talking while bands are playing. This is REALLY annoying and is probably the biggest pet peeve of mine. This was most prevalent in the Loft shows where you all stand around. If you want to talk, take it to the back of the room or go outside. I'm there to see a show.

* Not enough vendors in Vinyl. I know a number of vendors backed out for a number of reasons, but this year the merch haul was a heck of a lot lower because of it. More vendors need to step up to the plate to replace the ones that no longer come to the fest.

* Waiting another year for an awesome lineup for next year and seeing all of my friends!

 

[The_Q]

How was Impulse Musics vendor table. I know they were new this year.

 

[templeofmax]

My cheers: FIRST ROW FOR SAXON!!!!! Thank you Nathan for having VIP...... Everything else worked perfectly and thanks for the hard work. Amazing 4 days.

Jeers: Non-GB or VIP having to enter the venue saturday and finding regular ticketed people was let in inside before us. I know the Anathema show run a bit later, but it was not even 1:30 (supposed doors for non-GB), and the center seats were taken for the most part. I saw security scanning regular tickets and most of GBs were at the show. Last year I remember they did not open regular doors until GBs got in a bit later because of the show. I understand this probably had to be like that because of the show starting time, but still, I was surprised to see that part of the room filled when I got in not even at 1:30.

 

[zimbee]

Cheers: finally made it back after a 10 year absence. Yay! Promoters, crew, bands, friends - good times!

Jeers: my friend lost her license. On the upside she found someone else's, so hopefully she made his day. And the cell phone overuse during sets. Why are you even there if you're going to text incessantly and share said texts with your neighbors during sets?

 

[nailz]

Cheers: finally made it back after a 10 year absence. Yay! Promoters, crew, bands, friends - good times!

Jeers: my friend lost her license. On the upside she found someone else's, so hopefully she made his day. And the cell phone overuse during sets. Why are you even there if you're going to text incessantly and share said texts with your neighbors during sets?

Don't talk don't text what do you people want LOL

 

[Jibrille]

Turn the cell phone brightness all the way down and you get rid of the annoyingness of them.

 

[TwizstedJesus]

How was Impulse Musics vendor table. I know they were new this year.

Impulse was awesome! He didn't bring enough merch, but he had some cool stuff if you got there early enough. Everybody was pretty much picked clean by Saturday

 

[jem777az]

Cheers

*The entire PPUSA family, all the promoters, crew, etc.
*All the great and friendly bands who played this year.
*My beautiful wife for putting up with my shit.
*The Anathema and Evergrey acoustic shows. Both were beyond words.
*All my friends and other cool people I hung out with and talked to this week.


Jeers

*All the people who need a lesson in hygiene, take a fucking shower for christsakes!
*People having full on coversations during band performances, especially during the acoustic sets or quieter parts of a song. Not only is it rude to those sitting around you, but it's highly disrespectful to the artists you supposedly came all this way to see. Leave and go outside or to the lobby and let those who want to actually enjoy the show do so.
*The humidity in the ATL. Coming from AZ, it's a complete 180 and it sucks lol.
*Feeling under the weather for the Wednesday and Thursday shows. Finally started to feel a little better by Friday.

 

[templeofmax]

Cheers

*The entire PPUSA family, all the promoters, crew, etc.
*All the great and friendly bands who played this year.
*My beautiful wife for putting up with my shit.
*The Anathema and Evergrey acoustic shows. Both were beyond words.
*All my friends and other cool people I hung out with and talked to this week.


Jeers

*All the people who need a lesson in hygiene, take a fucking shower for christsakes!
*People having full on coversations during band performances, especially during the acoustic sets or quieter parts of a song. Not only is it rude to those sitting around you, but it's highly disrespectful to the artists you supposedly came all this way to see. Leave and go outside or to the lobby and let those who want to actually enjoy the show do so.
*The humidity in the ATL. Coming from AZ, it's a complete 180 and it sucks lol.
*Feeling under the weather for the Wednesday and Thursday shows. Finally started to feel a little better by Friday.

Man, do not come to Florida then. You've been at the fest before, right? In 7 years I have been coming, humidity this year was a non-issue, even coming from Florida. Weather was great this time.

 

[Finn Mac Cuhal]

Cheers: Every band put on great shows. I never once thought about stepping out from a performance because it did not appeal to me. This was my fourth festival and probably had the least big name draws for me but every band turned out to be a winner.

Jeers: I could name some, but this year I give jeers a pass. Five freaking bands dropped out and yet Glenn, Jen, Nathan, Milton and the crew put on one helluva show that was in no way diminished by the turnover. Jeers feel a bit like quibbling this year and I am far too buzzed by this year's festival to dwell on minor irritants when so many major obstacles were overcome!

Thank you for Glenn's efforts, the mighty labors of his subordinate leaders and crews, the band sponsors, the bands that performed, their families and the host of incredible people from around the world. It was a magical year and I feel blessed just by getting to be there!

 

[nomisofsiman]

Turn the cell phone brightness all the way down and you get rid of the annoyingness of them.

I always do this for shows nowadays. Granted, I don't text during shows but I will occasionally turn it on for time or to use the camera app.

 

[nomisofsiman]

Impulse was awesome! He didn't bring enough merch, but he had some cool stuff if you got there early enough. Everybody was pretty much picked clean by Saturday

I was excited as shit he came. Impulse used to be 10 minutes away from my work years ago when he was in Illinois. I can't blame him for not having enough merch though. I'd imagine the first year it's probably hard to gauge how much you need/know what the demand will be. I'm sure if he comes back, he'll have more.

 

[nomisofsiman]

Cheers:
For the most part everything ran smoothly and it was good to see everyone.

Jeers:
Cancellations but I know this is no one's fault in the festival, nor most of the bands for that matter.
Vendor room. I was going to cut down anyways this year, so it was probably a good thing for me; however, I do think there needs to be more vendors stepping up with the cancellations. Usually it's packed in there and it never really seemed that way. I'm positive this will improve next year though.

 

[Reverend Su]

my jeers are only for the jerks who left such a mess in the courtyard on saturday/into sunday. and a jeer to myself for the mild anxiety attack that happened on friday night...but i extricated myself from the crush of humanity that triggered it, and managed to find a quiet area in which to recover myself.

my cheers...

Glenn and Jen - my bosses, my friends. grace under pressure like you wouldn't believe. thank you for allowing me to be part of all of this.

The Crew - you NEVER cease to amaze me. you men and women are beyond amazing. thank you for being my family.

The bands - wow. just....wow. so much jaw-droppingness...words still fail me (and yous know i can talk! ). but the straight-up fact is that i am in awe. utter fangirl awe <3

The Roommates of Awesome - next year, more peanut butter! yes, i'm already editing the shopping list thank you all for making life awesome, all year, and more so for the 4 days we're together <3
extra-special thanks to "Marty Wallet, the Heiney-Badger" for standing on line to get our room for next year.

The extended family of attendees - thank you all for taking the time to chat with me when you're buying your shirts. i do love to reconnect with you

The Artmore - thank you for being our home.

MetalHeads4Life - you know i'm here for you. and you know i'm a social media marketing bad-ass. you let me know what you need, and i'm there.

thank you again, HoS Productions

--The Su.

 

[jem777az]

Man, do not come to Florida then. You've been at the fest before, right? In 7 years I have been coming, humidity this year was a non-issue, even coming from Florida. Weather was great this time.

Oh yeah, been coming since 2007 and it sucks every year. Even if it's not hot it still sucks. I've been living in AZ since 1998 and you get used to the dry heat. Even though I grew up on the east coast I'll never get used to the humidity.

 

[TwizstedJesus]

Cheers:
Glenn & Jen. Always. What you do every year, the shit you put up with. You are the King & Queen of the US Prog world. Thank You from the bottom of my heart.
ProgPower crew. You guys are amazing!
Impulse for picking up some of the slack in the vendor room. I think I bought about 25 from you guys and I'll buy 25 more next year!
Lance & Nightmare, Tribunal...keep this thing going! Coming to the vendor room is my #1 vice! If the vendor room ever went away I'd eventually quit coming.
Voyager. Not a fan of the cd's, but both shows were awesome! I'll spin the cd's again if only to relive it all!
Security...thanks for not being ball busters. Last year really sucked. This year was much better.
All of you fans...thanks for being so friendly! In the 10+ years I've been coming I think I've made 5 friends, but each and every one of you treat me like friends when we're there. AWESOME!

JEERS:
VISA...USCIS...FUCK YOU!
The asshat smoking weed on Friday. Really? Right in Center Stage? Fucking ignorant to disrespect Glenn. Smoke up on your own time, I have no problems with that
Security letting people in with food. Not a problem with me except the Subway, the Jimmy Johns...kind of disrespectful of the clearly stated rules.
Anathema gold badgers complaining about the doors opening before they got there. I'm a Gold Badge guy too, I didn't go to the Anathema show. Should I have to wait outside for you? Nope. I understand the issue with regular ticket holders, but they shouldn't have to wait past door opening time because you are using your Gold Badgina perks.
Bathroom conditions. Always an issue with festivals, but running out of toilet paper? Wiping your ass with bar napkins is kind of nasty lol

Every year there are some difficulties. Every year we overcome them. You are all family. Maybe some of you are the retarded brother, the crazy aunt, etc...I still look forward to seeing all of you. We as a family get the biggest cheer of all, because we keep this thing going. Some drop off from year to year, others take their place, but we are ALL family. I love you guys. Let's keep filling Center Stage. I don't ever want this to end!

 

[Diamond45]

*The humidity in the ATL. Coming from AZ, it's a complete 180 and it sucks lol.

It was bad on Thursday, even for someone who has lived most of his life on the east coast. It rained that afternoon and raised the humidity so high that it was unbearable for a few hours. When the front finally came through, it really cooled things down. I walked around Midtown on Sunday morning and it was in the mid 50s.

 

[Yippee38]

I guess this is sort of a cheer, but did anybody notice how incredibly happy the housecleaning staff of the Artmore was all weekend? I want to know what they do to make their employees so happy. It was weird, but cool.

 

[Diamond45]

I guess this is sort of a cheer, but did anybody notice how incredibly happy the housecleaning staff of the Artmore was all weekend? I want to know what they do to make their employees so happy. It was weird, but cool.

I noticed that too. I wonder if they give them "happy pills'!

Seriously, I am NOT complaining! They were more than happy to clean our room. I even gave them a tip!

 

[TribunalRecords]

CHEERS
* first "solo" year vending was a big success
* talking to so many cool people and hearing great stories about their enjoyment of our reissues
* the great ideas people gave us for the future
* HELKER, ANATHEMA and all the other bands I was able to make it inside to watch this year
* FATES WARNING 2016!!!
* the gravy at The Flying Biscuit
* Dreamland BBQ
* Nerd Alert beer

JEERS
* the biggest A**HOLE of the festival who stole my signed Anathema "Weather Systems" LP from behind the Divebomb Records table when I had closed down to go watch Soto.
* the cleaning crew for throwing away all my empty cardboard boxes, despite my still needing them the next day. Lance was apparently brave enough to go dumpster diving!!