So the Halloween party has come and gone. It was about 4 months in the making and the night went by in a brilliant flash! We didn't get the turn out we had wanted but the people who were in attendance had a really great time. There was a very strong and positive vibe throughout the entire night, and y'all know I'm a sucker for the vibe. The Pyramid looked great with all the pumpkins and decorations and there were some really great costumes in the house.
The night started off with Doug-E playing a funky house set to a nearly empty club. Playing from 8-9 he hadn�t really expected much more than a "bartender set" and I think he had a good time playing on the Pyramid sound system. From 9-10:30 Sisk and Oxide played a really amazing Electro/Breaks set. By this time people were starting to arrive in the club and I headed off to pick up Nick, (Professor Groove), from his hotel. When we arrived back @ the club, CO-OP was about to go on and dance floor was in full effect. Co-oP's set from 10:30-11:30 was great. The dance floor was full of smiling faces and Professor Groove was really digging it. Your Brother In My Backpack went on from 11:30-12:00. There weren't enough hip-hop heads in the place to show them love. Sadly, the crowd felt they couldn't dance to the hip-hop beats and the dance floor cleared. I really enjoyed their set and I think they did a great job faced with a non hip hop crowd.
At midnight the Professor took over the decks and the dance floor came back into action. What a funky set! We tossed candy and clothes to the crowd and later did our costume prize giveaways. I was really happy with crowd that showed up so I attempted to treat them to a little freestyle, which came out really muffled and I think I'm the only one who actually heard what I was saying. Hahahahaha. After Professor Groove, Sisk stepped up to the decks for a second time and treated the crowd to an energy fuelled electro/techno set. By this time there was really nothing left for me to do, so I treated myself to a lot of dancing!
Looking back on the event, I think we learnt a lot about promotion and party organization. My initial goal for the party was to bring out a fairly diverse crowd of people and attempt to expose them to some different styles of music. The genres of music that were showcased were all directly related and yet very different from each other. Electro is tied to hip-hop through b-boying. Hip-hop and breaks have used funk as a sample pool from the beginning. I was really hoping for a larger turn out from the hip-hop crowd. YBIMB should probably have gone on earlier in the night so that the flow of the night might have been a little smoother. But then again, the point of them being there was to expose the crowd to local hip-hop music and had they played earlier there wouldn't have been much of a crowd to expose.
We knew from the beginning that we weren't going to be making any money from the event. However, we had no idea we would take such a loss. I mean, I knew there would be competition on Halloween night, but I really hadn't expected the amount of competition we got, (especially not another funk party, a jungle event and a hip-hop party.)
The party was worth it for so many reasons. I think Nick had a really great time in Winnipeg. Standing up on the stage and looking out at a crowd of smiling faces made me feel really good, (especially since the smiling faces weren't just those of my friends and family!) As for the monetary loss... over the years I have gone to countless local events where the promoters have lost 100s of thousands of dollars in total. I just see this as my donation to the Winnipeg music scene for all the years of great times... great music.... and of course great vibes!
Over the years I've heard the Winnipeg mantra over and over: "There's nothing to do in this town... This city is boring..." That is just plain wrong. If you spend a little time searching you'll find that Winnipeg has a lot to offer... especially music-wise. You just have to dig... or try your hand at promotion. My advice for future local promoters is this: 1) Try to bring out a diverse crowd! It just ain't a party with the same click at every event. 2) Collaboration is the key... I wish I had had the foresight to collaborate with some of this cities other promoters rather than try to compete with them.
That's it for the wrap-up!
If you want to check out some really funny/twisted comics then look no further. (Andrew I think you will love these!)
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