ubuntu-allstars team mailing list archive

[Steve Conklin <sconklin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2011-04-07 at 11:08 -0400, Barry Warsaw wrote:
> On Apr 07, 2011, at 09:44 AM, David Henningsson wrote:
> 
> >If that is our goal, I think we need to split: more than one rehearsal room,
> >every band can only play x songs, and so on.
> >
> >A little more structure, a little less ad-hoc: rehearsal times on the
> >schedule, a formal playlist on the party night, etc.
> >
> >More rehearsal rooms could also help in getting different kinds of music (i e
> >not just american rock classics ;-) ) on the jam.
> 
> I have to be honest, I think there was *too* much structure in Orlando. ;)
> 
> I totally get the desire to want to put on a good show, rehearsal and have
> everything Just So.  OTOH, I personally fall more to the improvisational side
> of things.  I like mixing it up, jamming, seeing what happens, and not
> worrying so much about the results.  The latter tends to work itself out if
> everyone's having fun and the alcohol is flowing. :)
> 

My 2 cents:

Over the last couple of years, things have moved away from a loose sort
of style of organization toward what we had at Orlando, and I think that
Orlando was the best jam we've ever had at UDS.

The organization served to resolve a problem that had been seen at
previous jams - the 'band' performances start out with the set list,
then become more impromptu, and end up in a sort of general chaos that
lasts long into the evening. That's a lot of fun for the folks who are
on stage, but not so much for everyone else. I understand how cool it is
to have an audience to perform for, but it's mostly non-participatory
for the audience as compared with dancing. As soon as the tight numbers
are over, it's not so fun.

The UDS near Brussels was a really good example of this - people
wandered out early and the party fizzled.

The short, limited band performances followed by DJs worked much better
from a general party perspective - there were a lot more people who
stayed much later and spent a lot of time on the dance floor. The dance
floor is also a good place for the sort of interpersonal bonding that
makes the whole party important.

Multiple 'bands' could possibly work except that there are a limited
number of some performers (drummers for example) and having separate
practice rooms is going to make it difficult to share these resources,
Also, it's important to keep things moving along during the party.
Changeovers would break the momentum.

Steve

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