the everyday adventures of sabrina

i was prepared, this morning, to forgive o’fest for its sins of not letting me run the jukebox, on the condition that they let me do something cool. at that point i was even prepared to really cut them a discount on cool factor, but, no.

needless to say, niqui did nothing cool. i helped run some cable for some of the mics on the stage, and held them taut so the other guy could gaff them. that was really … about … it. for the rest of the time i was with the music booth, i either stood idly by the table, or sat in the grass behind the table with my laptop, listening to the bands.

the unfortunate part was that even though i got there at 7, for setup, we didn’t even start setting up for the bands until 9 — nobody was at the stage area, even, so i was just sort of sitting and waiting for someone, anyone else to show up there — and our first band was supposed to go on at 10. needless to say, they didn’t go on until 11. and for some reason starlister fell off the schedule, so then they did play, and that pushed the schedule back even further. even more unfortunately, health & beauty — who i don’t particularly care for — played a kinda long set. this resulted in the one act i did rather like, beat freakers, being crowded out and only getting to play for like half an hour or so before the final act came on. actually, i exaggerate. first coat weren’t bad. but this was the second time i’ve seen H&B play and i still didn’t really enjoy it. no doubt some will feel that this is a personal failing on my part. alas.

(the yet-unmentioned fifth band that also played were mmHg — ‘millimeters mercury’ for you non-U of C dork types — who were not awful, but i resented them for taking time away from beat freakers, and then we started breaking down and i fled from ofest before they completed their set. conor seemed to like them, so maybe they’re not awful, if i would just give them a chaaaaaance.)

and although, to console me in my woe, val had offered me the chance to deejay some between sets, she played her own powerbook for the one break between starlister and first coat, while i had to leave to go work the “Quiz the Wiz” booth at noon. feh.

considering that working music was the only reason i had volunteered at all in the first place, to say that “well, at least the wireless signal on the bartlett quad was strong enough that i could read some of alt.books.stephen-king instead of just sitting there” is not nearly enough of a consolation for getting up at five a.m. on a saturday.

quiz the wiz: fortunately, although we had heard ugly rumors that this was to be a game-show style booth and someone had actually written questions for people to attempt to stump us with, this actually involved sitting in a booth and handing out various flyers and freebie notepads to people, nearly all of whom wanted to know where to get the Connectivity Package. but at least many of them were pleased to get free notepads and sidewalk chalk, so that was all right. also, i had an actual chair and wasn’t stuck sitting in the grass with my left leg constantly going to sleep.

also over at the q-t-w booth, there was this one girl, a grad student whose name i have since forgotten, who had the best hair. i’m so jealous. i wish i could do something like it. she had a cute, kinda pixie cut, with it overall colored in a purple-maroon, and with a big star-shaped splat of pink slightly off-center at the crown. she said the pink is actually faded purple, but it looked really good nonetheless. and i’m not the only one who thinks so, evidently, as she said she somehow ended up being a house model for vidal sassoon as a result. i’m so jealous. i’m not kidding, it really was gush-worthy. i wish i had hair that cool.

i’d settle for having any idea whatsoever what to do with my hair, actually….

so. yeah. that was o-fest. lots of boredom, occasionally interspersed with interesting commentary, a little good music, a lot of meh music, and a lot of wind blowing flyers off tables.