Forest BB

due to no-one knowing about the scheduled meeting for tonight we have discussed postponing the meeting to next week.
how does Monday night at 7pm look??

I've got Agenda points.

* Live Music vs DJ. - I feel strongly that we should encourage live music as much as possible. On Saturday night there was an opportunity for the Cafe to host a spontaneous gig by touring artists that where reported to be 'fucking excellent' but the guys organising the event felt it was more important to DJ than give an hour up to host a gig. I and the sound man where ready and willing to put on the gig. Of course people who book an event have the right to do what they like with the time, but I feel strong strong that we should put things in place to encourage as much live music and as little DJ'ing of copyright music as possible. thanks!

* Menus and Tea menu - I know this is an ongoing thing.. but where is it? and did Tove not start a new tea menu that could be laminated and added to the tables as a wee A5 thing?
Proposal: we get more fine teas, and design a special tea menu with brewing instructions and everything. I can make this menu if C & E want me to.

* cups and T-pots - A couple of monthe ago? Scoutt got a bunch of nice t.pots, we need more and more cups and mugs.

thanks.

Hmnn, I love live music but jiggery fuckery is an institution and booked months in advance. There is always a group of people who come down specifically for that because they have planned their night around having a dance party to Dai and Jonathan. I am one of those people. They advertise, they get people in, and they are something I and other people look forward to and dress up for and adore. You can't just ask them at the last minute to cancel because you think DJing is invalid art form. Dancing is important. I ran halfway across town to hear them play music and I would have been pissed off if it had been cancelled for some random band (who maybe didn't get in touch with us with time beforehand?). Would you cancel a film screening someone had organised because they are just showing something someone else had made?

Also, even if we did decide to put things in place to encourage live music, how would you see that working? Would you tell anyone who booked a dance party that they could have it cancelled at any point if some live music showed up that someone (you? the soundguy? a spontaneous bb consensus?) deemed worthwhile?

I'm sorry if this sounds kind of harsh, but I think you're being dismissive, and should understand that this is something they put time and effort and care into, and practice for, and do an awesome job of, and it's fun. You shouldn't be able to decide at a late minute to cancel them because you think something else is better. DJing and VJing are more than just pressing play on a tape.

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"We all tend to idealise kindness and tolerance, then wonder why we find ourselves infested with losers and nutcases." Sebastian Horsley

Jane, I agree that
and I understand that t
I enjoyed the night and it was good. I feel that there could have been compromise and the band (who for sure would have encouraged dancing) could have played for 1 hour.

in this case I don't think that it was ,many of 'us' had seen the band the night before and said that they where great.

and you are super right that people who book events have the last say in what happens on their night. I accept what transpired, but feel strongly so I must mention it.

I think that promoting live music should be encouraged, and maybe there could be a line in the events book about copyright music not being cool and the fact that forest prefers live music. just a thought.

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more agenda points:

Events and Equipment. - please can we make sure that all events put back all equipment where they got it from. (this morning I found the cafe jukebox rewired and the drumkit missing)

FoH - find a team for "project Beno" , and other projects, speak to Kata.

Sound Team Action Day - on Sat March 20th there will be an actionday, we hope to re-wire the jukebox so all speakers work and the front room ones are on a separate volume control. and see to the broken DJ mixer that caused problems on sat.

in terms of live music v. djs.

I like both and lean towards the live stuff. However, this strikes me as less a policy issue (Jane's points make sense) but more a negotion issue.

These things happen all the time. Two cool things wanting the space at the same time or One cool thing wants space when something shit has already been booked.

Options 1: cancel the previous booking. If TerraFolk wants to play and we only have a local singer songwriter who is always around -- have the SS open or change the date. If the pre-booked band is from glasgow or something, explain the situation and have them open / play less. Play hardball if the surprise band is worth it. We are allowed to cancel events.

Option 2: Share. In this case, it was appropriate not to cancel the event and we were right in defering to Jiggery's opinion. it sounds like Dai and Jon needed convincing. Obviously, when it is people we like hosting the event or people who have done tons of promo it is important to really sell the extra guest. For this event, maybe it would mean the band played at an early hour or played shorter. Or maybe Dai and Jon just needed a better pitch. Either way, this does happen sometimes and is usually resolved via a lot of talking.

Option 3: The hall. The hall. The hall.

R

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