I was approached recently with a fund rasing offer, which I then 
brought up before the Board at the regular Board Meeting.  The Board 
found no objection to the plan, but we agreed that aside from legal 
questions, which we agreed seemed unlikely to be a problem, this was 
an issue to be decided by the usership.

The text of the original offer follows:

 The band 'Poignant Plecostomus' (PP) is interested in performing a 
 benifit to support GREX because they think it's a valuable and 
 meaningful resource to the community of Ann Arbor.   They have many 
 friends who are on GREX and think the concept of a virtual community
 where people can meet and share ideas and many other things is 
 something that needs to be preserved and promoted to a more common
 awareness.

 The idea that has come from this is to arrange and schedule a benifit
 performance with some additional special guests to also perform.  This
 would require a few things in order to do this.

        1. Approval from the GREX Board and Staff

        2. A Venue

        3. A Date and Time

        4. A prepared plan and active participants

 Here's how I propose we address these areas.

 1. Approval from the GREX Board and Staff

 This is the area that I know you can address by presenting the idea at the
 Board Meeting next Wednesday so I'll move on.

 2. A Venue

 I've contacted a friend who has scheduled and booked several shows with
 both PP and several others that we're in regular contact with.  The idea
 here is to make arrangements to have their support by allowing us to use
 their space to hold the Benifit.  Of course scheduling issues are a factor
 here.  I'll keep you posted.  The idea presently held here is that this
 space would be donated to the cause.  The only condition being "leave it
 as you found it", in other words, orderly and undamaged.  Since I know
 this will not be a problem I'll move on.

 3. A Date and Time

 As mentioned above, the avaiablity of the space is a factor, as well 
 as the participant's schedules... I've learned that sometimes it's 
 best to be a bit flexable in the early planning of this kind of thing
 (yeah, I'm a seasoned pro with event planning and production, that's
 the hat I'll offer to wear! ;-).  Currently, with two PPlecostomus 
 members on holiday in Europe until early March it's not possible to
 secure their entire schedule.  I do know as of today that they are
 booked to perform on the 21st and 22nd of March, and I will be in
 Portland, Oregon from the 21st through the 30th of March.  With this
 in mind the conversation we shared moved into April and that's where
 my attention is directed at this time.

 4. A prepared plan and active participants

 The first three items are important, but to ensure success we'll have
 to keep the channels of communication active in developing the plan
 and coordinating the participants.  I know this will not be a problem
 and I think some of the early interest that this idea has gained is 
 an indicator of that.

 Feel free to contact me when you have time and we'll work through 
 more details and brainstorming.  I can be reached via email at 
 either this address or kharder@cyberspace.org (but you know this :-). 
 I can also be reached during the week in the evenings, usually after
 6pm at my home number: 327.9641 or by using my voicemail at 
 800.853.9918.   As I mentioned earlier, it's best to use the voicemail
 number if you don't reach me at home.  I don't check for messages 
 there and encourage folks to not leave messages for me there, the 
 voicemail works much better for this. 

 I look forward to hearing from you.  Take care and talk to you soon!

 Regards,

 Keith Harder             
 EMAIL: keith@msage.com
 VOICE: (313) 663-0444
 

 I've had very positive interest from individuals, some of whom
 represent local organizations, in supporting the proposed benifit.  Many
 of these individuals are "movers and shakers" in their own areas of
 interests.  As the plans develop I look forward to introducing some
 very interesting people to you and others who would like to see this event
 go over smoothly from the planning stages to the performance stages and
 on to the cleanup stages.

 Please let me know what you think and feel free to add any comments,
 issues, ideas, etc. as we move forward in the early planning.

 I know we talked about a few other areas, such as printing limited edition
 GREX
 shirts for the event, and I'm doing some leg work in that direction to see
 what materializes.  I think we're all going to be surprize at what can be
 accomplished when creative people put their heads together and get active
 behind a great idea for a good cause.

 Feel free to contact me when you have time and we'll work through more
 details and brainstorming.

40 responses total.

For anyone interested in learning more about the band, the Poignant
Plecostomus, they've just released their first recording which is
reviewed (very favourably) on page 21 of the March 1997 Current
Entertainment Monthly.

I love the group's name.

What are the security issues?  If someone gets injured at this
concert, or so enthusiastic that police join in,  or some such
thing, is Grex in any way liable?

We need to remember we have *no* insurance.  Zippo.

We discussed that briefly, but concluded that this was almost certainly
something that we would not be liable for since the band is well known and
popular (and not in the habit of needing police assistance) and since the
venue would be a licensed one already comfortable in working with the band,
and since, finally, GREX is neither organizing nor "sponsoring" the event but
rather helping out as individual volunteers and acting as grateful
beneficiaries.  Assuming we decide we're interested, as a group, in accepting
the offer.

   This sounds neat to me.  I'm all in favor of it.  My take on the
insurance is that it really does not matter.  Anything, anything at
all with Grex's name attached to it could result in Grex getting
sued if something "bad" happened, quite regardless if we're connected
with it in any way.

   The *real* risk we run, is in the running of Grex itself.  That
is far more risky, I think, than a concert held in our benefit.

   I'm very pleased to see that a group is willing to devote its
time and energy to help us out.  I certainly hope that this goes
ahead.

It is a generous offer.  

This item has been linked from Agora 93 to Intro 155.
Type "join intro" at the Ok: prompt for discussion of...
oh, forget it, I'm not going to rhyme "Poignant Plecostomus",
it's just topics of general interest.

Re: #4, getting sued should be the smallest GREX worry. Losing money should
be the biggest. I suggest that little, if any GREX funds be spent. The biggest
problems with benefits is breaking even. You need promotion, a PA, a venue,
and people who will pay to see the entertainment. As a veteran of the A2 music
community, I suggest trying to get as many donations as possible ahead of
time, but don't be surprised to find that venues and PAs may have a fee
attached. Also, plan a large lead time to allow for promotion and word of
mouth (and E-mail) to spread. The more time you give, the more likely it is
that people will plan to attend. Try to get coverage in the local papers and
on WCBN. Also, don't expect a large financial windfall. Even successful
benefits in A2 often net only a few hundred dollars. It may be better to view
such an event as a chance to publicize GREX (if that is what GREX wants)
        As far as venues go, the Blind Pig, the Heidleburg, the Performance
Network and Schwaben Hall would be good to look into. As far as PAs go, look
for quality and a good soundman. There are plenty of bot in this area, so that
shouldn't be a problem. For T-shirts, check X-Press printing in Ypsi. As for
supporing entertainment, I humbly offer the service of my band BLAMMO. Our
following is probably not as large as PP's, but its just as loyal and doesn't
create problems with bar owners).
        One more pitfall to avoid is the "disposable date." Bars in particular
will try and schedule benefits on "off" nights, either early on the week, or
at a time when the potential audience may be reduced (ie, one week after
summer break begins, oliday weekends, etc. Of course, the previously mentioned
long lead time helps overcome this somewhat, but keep a copy of the A2
Observer or the Current handy to spot glaring conflicts with other events.
If you want any more info, E-mail me at my EX address . . . Good Luck

No Grex funds will be spent on this.

<however, grex might invest some advance $$ in memorabilia?>

   That sounds reasonable to me--we need "memorabilia".

It makes se3nse to me that GREX buy the T shirts ... after all, if they don't
go at the concert, we can put them on the GREX store web as limited editions.
They'll sell.

(Which reminds me, I have a fragment of a demo "Grex Shop" page at
http://www.izzy.net/~janc/grexshop/grexshop.html.  I'll start some
discussion in coop.)

did cyklone reference   BLAMMO in #7?    /arghhhh, how could I have
missed that! /shameshameshame
  
BLAMMO will rock your socks off with grace and precision you never
thought available in electric music!
  
YO!   come on back here... !!   talk more!
  
i can personally adn professionally attest to BLAMMO - and hereby do so.

I have an update for you about the fundraiser:

There were so many artists interested in getting in on the act, that the
event has now expanded to two nights!

One night will be an all ages welcome, no smoking, no alcohol evening at the
Halfway Inn. The other will be an adults only, ID required event at the former
NAC, now known as the Java Hut.

Both events are backed up by another location whose name I can't remember.

Thanks to Keith Harder for all his work on this project!

more artists?  Im all for it.  as long as we can make money on it, I"m all
for it.  Do we really have enough popularity and circulation to make this
practical?

Apparently we do.

Really neat!!

Reality check folks. April is almost upon us, so an April date will not be
noted in the Ann Arbor Observer or the Current. The deadline for both is
around the 15th-20th of the month. So unless this gets moving in terms of
commitments from bands and venues, even May may not be realistic. Someone
needs to start finalizing those things before the PR can really start.

This stuff is under way, actually.  The group that approached us said that
they would handle the whole shebang other than getting our people out to the
show and distributing the GREX fliers and brochures.  It's what they do.  They
went into it knowing that GREX doesn't have anyone who really knows how to
put on an event of this sort and offered to be responsible for all of it. 
Otherwise the borad wouldn't have been so quick to say "Sure" to the offer.

I don't know... This sounds almost too good to be true.  Don't expect to
make much, if any, money out of this.  Talk to some of their previous
clients.  Preferably ones they didn't supply you.

They're funding it with their own money, and just giving the profits to Grex.
All we have to contribute is our name.    Even if we don't make a cent off
it, we won't have lost anything.

will there be a grex store booth and memberships available?

Dunno.  Rob?  Jan?  Mark?

hullo?

I heard from Keith (who said he's post it here a weekago -- oh, well.)
that Patty Smith has bumped us at the gallery, so we've been rescheduled for
Mothers day weekend.  The address of the Gallery I hadn't been able to
remember is 210 4th Avenue.

This response has been erased.

  It sounds like North 4th. Because 200 block of South 4th is mostly
businesses and stores. I seem to recall a gallery somewhere on N.4th.

There is that gallery on S. 4th, between the Asian bakery and the Asian
Martial Arts Studio.  The address would be about right, and I've seen other
strange things going on in there recently.

That's the place, Scott.

*sigh*  OK, folks, I think I'm going to have to turn the reporting of this
over to Keith Harder.  (login kharder)  It seems that it may come off this
weekend, or it may not.  The artists involved are still excited about the
project and the interest in the artistic community appears to be growing, but
every time I hear about it, there seems to be some delay.

I hope it comes off someday, but frankly, I'm not holding my breathe anymore.
(These are very fine people and the delays have been beyond their control --
but still, I think I spot a trend.)

BTW, the Observer lists the band Poingnant Plecostomus as playing at the Gypsy
Cafe on May 10th.  I'll probably try to attend.

This response has been erased.

That happened to me too, earlier today.

<<it's the fund raising item .... hint/hint>>

This response has been erased.

Ahh! I see...yes, TS is right. The item is *passing the hat*.

I did see them in the 10th, but it didn't look like a Grex benefit.  I did
like the band, though.

grex does that to me a lot.

As far as I know it didn't happen.  I suspect the best way to get a definitive
answer is to ask kharder.  (I haven't seen him in a while.  Odd.)

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss