Sorry for this long ramble everyone, but this IS my journal.
Maybe some of you will find this interesting. This is in response to Captain Groovy's post about Cradle of Filth. It is also kind of an explaination of how I was almost a Carnie and my adventure with Ozzfest.
So yeah, I spent about a month touring with Ozzfest last summer. It was like I had won a goddamn sweepstakes or something, but the truth is that I was a guest of a friend who had an extra lawn pass for the Cleveland show because her boyfriend dumped her. Being on the lawn meant not really being able to check out the main stage so we just walked around and socialized.
We found out that the Village of the Damned was in search of female crew members to run the games and since I was three days from finishing the summer semester at schoo, I decided I wanted to do it. I got the contact info and called a few days later.
The owner of the game booths gave me the go ahead to meet up with the tour again in Philly the following week, but I lost my wallet and couldn't go until a week after that. I met back up with the tour in Columbus. The day I left, my father (keep in mind, he's 84- heh, long story) decided to fake a stroke (yes fake). I didn't know it was fake until I got back, but I was already packed and on my way out the door.
The same friend who took me to the Cleveland show drove me to the Columbus show. We spent the night at a friends house, about 5 minutes from the ampitheater and left early the next morning for the show to meet the Carnie Master as instructed.
At this point, I was unsure of whether or not I wanted to be a Carnie because that meant I couldn't have my car. This meant that if my dad were to have a turn for the worse, I wouldn't be able to leave immediately.... not to mention not even being sure if I'll have a way home at the end of the tour, or even enough money to find a way. The last show was in West Palm and I was still living in Ohio then.
I told him the situation concerning my father and he told me that if I needed the money, I could spend the day working or if I didn't... he would give my friend and I sticky passes (in other words, backstage passes) for the day and we could have a good time and talk with the other VOD staff to see what they had to say about the job. All he wanted to do was go to sleep... so I chose B. He said that was fine and to give him a call at the end of the day to inform him of my decision. If I wanted to go onto the next show with them, I was to report to their bus at 11p.m.
Well, as the day went on... we met a very special Carnie and he knows who he is. He introduced us to many key people on the second stage who made it possible for me to return to the tour without having to pay admission and who could give me the opportunity to photograph their performances. Only I didn't know this yet.
My friend was interested in him( in other words, she was drunk) and they were MIA most of the evening... leaving me to fend for myself by the busses whose occupants comprised the second stage. When I finally heard from her at 10:30 pm she told me that they were going to go to a hotel and that he could get us into the next show (Scranton PA, the day after the following day) if we drove him back. I decided then and there I wouldn't be a Carnie and try my luck with this guy instead. That meant more time to photograph and make connections and less time heckling the crowd for slave wages like a monkey. Once again, B being the better option, I Met up with them and she dropped me off at the same friends house that we slept at the evening before and went to a hotel.
The next morning, friend and Carnie come to get me and friend, no longer drunk... now has responsibilities like a job to take care of, and says she can't go to the next show. See, I thought she'd be driving to the next show... so this put a slight damper in my plans.
With a stray Carnie on our hands, impulsiveness kicked in to my rescue once again and I decided that it was a good idea to take the strange Carnie, by myself, in my car... to the next show... which meant driving 2 and a half hours back to Cleveland and then about 6-8(?) more to Scranton PA.
Now it starts to get a little hazy here on because of the lack of sleep, but I think we met up with Depswa but I ended up sleeping in the room occupied by the titty tent staff (air brushers).
I got into the show the next day and continued to make friends. I really bonded with Grade 8's drummer (former drummer- the band broke up about 2 months ago and I called him about a month ago to catch up... guess whose drummer he is now! shhhh)- Scotty. We spent the day hanging out, he got me catering and backstage and up close for the Manson show.
We exchanged numbers and he told me that if I wanted to come back to any of the shows to take photos to let him know and he would hook me up with a pass. Also, at this point... Grade 8 was running out of $and Scotty and Guy were riding with Depswa.
I didn't have enough money to keep going at this point, so I spent the night in my car parked next to Depswa and drove home the following day. I think it was something like a week later, I drove back to Ozzfest, this time in Buffalo NY where I met up with Depswa and Scotty again... once again camping next to their bus in my car for the evening.
Their bus driver was really nice and let me just follow them in and park behind them. Everyone with them was cool as fuck. Scotty gave me a pass. I took pics of the bands. I made money by running errands for people (including cradle's bus driver. i took him to the store for a bus part because he couldn't get a cab to come for over an hour- he gave me $25 for this errand that took less than a half hour).
I'd like to give a special shout out to my boy Reno, maybe he's out there somewhere!
Anyways, this is where the story begins to turn tragic. Grade 8 and Depswa both decided that Buffalo would be their last shows because of label/money matters. I took Scotty to the airopuerto at about 5:00 and then came back to party with the Depswa boys.
Then at around 11p.m. I was sent on a mission to retrieve the gentlemen who drove the busses for Depswa and Chaimara. I was rewarded handsomely for this task... something like $40 and a hotel room (Chaimara's bus driver rented his for that day so he still had it until checkout the following morning but it would be unused otherwise because they were going to Maine for a couple of off date shows).
When I got back to the venue with the bus drivers, the only people left in the entire parking lot were the venue crew, Depswa and Chaimera (if you didn't catch it... i had their bus drivers...muwhahaha).
Still partying with Depswa was a chick who was drunk and missed her ride and a chick whose ride dumped her because she was porkin' someone in one of the bands. Depswa gave them to me and we hit the hotel. The next morning we got to know each other.
The girl who got left behind lived on the way to the next show which was in boston... 48 hours from that morning. The other chick who was drunk turned out to be a Carnie and said she could help me get in, feed me and possibly have a place for me to sleep if I could take her to Boston.
So on we went. We drove all day and all night, finally crashing in a hotel lobby in south boston around 6 am because we couldn't get a hold of anyone. I left my cell phone on Depswa's bus and she didn't have one.
A couple of hours after crashing we got up and drove around Boston all day, taking photos and gathering infromation about where the next show was and where her crew was staying.
We got a hold of them around 4 p.m. and we were on our way south. The venue was about half way between boston and providence RI. We were so delirious and distracted by the people driving on the shoulder of the highway that we drove past our exit (we were taking pictures of this strange phenomena and laughing hysterically) and ended up in RI.
The funny part is that we didn't know we were in RI, not even after getting off at a rest stop. Nope, we didn't notice any signs welcoming us or indicating the change of state.
Later, when I got all the film developed and was fully awake...in one of the pictures of the cars on the shoulder of the highway I noticed it: Providence RI 1 mile. Harr.
Anyways... we turned around and that evening is a whole other very long story that will be saved for some other time- but lets just say that I spent that evening camped in my car again in the Holiday Inn Parking Lot where most of the main stage acts were staying. Maniacs!
The following day in Boston, E-Town Concrete replaced the two bands that left and funny enough, a friend of mine( who I'd known for 10 years) was their tour manager. Now, for those of you who don't know, I couldn't have been luckier because this is the guy who is in charge of assigning photo and guest passes for the band.
That night, most of the second stage camped in the parking lot because Cradle of Filth were throwing a party. The boston show was actually two shows, back to back. Cradle saw the opportunity to make this an event and went for it.
They planned an art contest/ exhibit for that day. I'm pretty sure every band on the second stage participated. There were rules about the amount and types of materials to be used and I think there were prizes for the "best of's" in different categories. I know that one band used a roadie in their art project and made him stand in the exhibition all day long.
That evening there was a DJ, drinkin, smokin and general debauchery as everyone partied and mingled with each other. Turns out I was parked right next to Cradle, rather they were my neighbors for the days and night. I like to think of the busses as traveling houses and the bands family. I guess my Civic (the bumperless wonder) could be compared to something like a cardboard box.. heeh.
I hung out with James the most that evening, but I also met Dani and I think Dave earlier. The following morning on the passenger seat of my car was one of their metal bug sculptures. I still don't know how it got there, rather who put it there. It still hangs in my rearview mirror cluster though.
I got to see their shows from Boston to NC ( I went to Atlanta-the second to the last show on the tour but never actually entered the venue because I was busy running errands to make money for gas to get back), behind the line and photograph... although not many of these photos ever turned out well because of the light.
They headlined second stage so they didn't allow friends on the stage to photograph like the other bands and I didn't feel comfortable requesting a photo pass right away. I just stood with all of the other's who had regular passes, at the side of the stage and watched their show, shooting what I could.
The following day, I saw James out in the crowd. He sat down to talk with me for a while and mentioned something about going to Canada for the evening, before the next shows in NY, to gamble.
As he was getting up to leave, something clicked and he handed me a plastic bag with a pipe in it and told me to keep it because he couldn't take it across the border. In the bag was a pipe. This pipe has another long story attached to it, that I will tell another time as well.
In NY, my friend couldn't get me a pass because the band is from the area and had a full guest list so Cradle got me into the show. As I mentioned in your journal, post Ozzfest I went to see them in Cleveland and got a pass for Detroit but couldn't make it to any of the other shows that were rounding out the tour because I couldn't afford to travel. I could have had photo passes too
Anyway, they rock and they are great people to boot!
p.s. i'll add some pics shortly
Maybe some of you will find this interesting. This is in response to Captain Groovy's post about Cradle of Filth. It is also kind of an explaination of how I was almost a Carnie and my adventure with Ozzfest.
So yeah, I spent about a month touring with Ozzfest last summer. It was like I had won a goddamn sweepstakes or something, but the truth is that I was a guest of a friend who had an extra lawn pass for the Cleveland show because her boyfriend dumped her. Being on the lawn meant not really being able to check out the main stage so we just walked around and socialized.
We found out that the Village of the Damned was in search of female crew members to run the games and since I was three days from finishing the summer semester at schoo, I decided I wanted to do it. I got the contact info and called a few days later.
The owner of the game booths gave me the go ahead to meet up with the tour again in Philly the following week, but I lost my wallet and couldn't go until a week after that. I met back up with the tour in Columbus. The day I left, my father (keep in mind, he's 84- heh, long story) decided to fake a stroke (yes fake). I didn't know it was fake until I got back, but I was already packed and on my way out the door.
The same friend who took me to the Cleveland show drove me to the Columbus show. We spent the night at a friends house, about 5 minutes from the ampitheater and left early the next morning for the show to meet the Carnie Master as instructed.
At this point, I was unsure of whether or not I wanted to be a Carnie because that meant I couldn't have my car. This meant that if my dad were to have a turn for the worse, I wouldn't be able to leave immediately.... not to mention not even being sure if I'll have a way home at the end of the tour, or even enough money to find a way. The last show was in West Palm and I was still living in Ohio then.
I told him the situation concerning my father and he told me that if I needed the money, I could spend the day working or if I didn't... he would give my friend and I sticky passes (in other words, backstage passes) for the day and we could have a good time and talk with the other VOD staff to see what they had to say about the job. All he wanted to do was go to sleep... so I chose B. He said that was fine and to give him a call at the end of the day to inform him of my decision. If I wanted to go onto the next show with them, I was to report to their bus at 11p.m.
Well, as the day went on... we met a very special Carnie and he knows who he is. He introduced us to many key people on the second stage who made it possible for me to return to the tour without having to pay admission and who could give me the opportunity to photograph their performances. Only I didn't know this yet.
My friend was interested in him( in other words, she was drunk) and they were MIA most of the evening... leaving me to fend for myself by the busses whose occupants comprised the second stage. When I finally heard from her at 10:30 pm she told me that they were going to go to a hotel and that he could get us into the next show (Scranton PA, the day after the following day) if we drove him back. I decided then and there I wouldn't be a Carnie and try my luck with this guy instead. That meant more time to photograph and make connections and less time heckling the crowd for slave wages like a monkey. Once again, B being the better option, I Met up with them and she dropped me off at the same friends house that we slept at the evening before and went to a hotel.
The next morning, friend and Carnie come to get me and friend, no longer drunk... now has responsibilities like a job to take care of, and says she can't go to the next show. See, I thought she'd be driving to the next show... so this put a slight damper in my plans.
With a stray Carnie on our hands, impulsiveness kicked in to my rescue once again and I decided that it was a good idea to take the strange Carnie, by myself, in my car... to the next show... which meant driving 2 and a half hours back to Cleveland and then about 6-8(?) more to Scranton PA.
Now it starts to get a little hazy here on because of the lack of sleep, but I think we met up with Depswa but I ended up sleeping in the room occupied by the titty tent staff (air brushers).
I got into the show the next day and continued to make friends. I really bonded with Grade 8's drummer (former drummer- the band broke up about 2 months ago and I called him about a month ago to catch up... guess whose drummer he is now! shhhh)- Scotty. We spent the day hanging out, he got me catering and backstage and up close for the Manson show.
We exchanged numbers and he told me that if I wanted to come back to any of the shows to take photos to let him know and he would hook me up with a pass. Also, at this point... Grade 8 was running out of $and Scotty and Guy were riding with Depswa.
I didn't have enough money to keep going at this point, so I spent the night in my car parked next to Depswa and drove home the following day. I think it was something like a week later, I drove back to Ozzfest, this time in Buffalo NY where I met up with Depswa and Scotty again... once again camping next to their bus in my car for the evening.
Their bus driver was really nice and let me just follow them in and park behind them. Everyone with them was cool as fuck. Scotty gave me a pass. I took pics of the bands. I made money by running errands for people (including cradle's bus driver. i took him to the store for a bus part because he couldn't get a cab to come for over an hour- he gave me $25 for this errand that took less than a half hour).
I'd like to give a special shout out to my boy Reno, maybe he's out there somewhere!
Anyways, this is where the story begins to turn tragic. Grade 8 and Depswa both decided that Buffalo would be their last shows because of label/money matters. I took Scotty to the airopuerto at about 5:00 and then came back to party with the Depswa boys.
Then at around 11p.m. I was sent on a mission to retrieve the gentlemen who drove the busses for Depswa and Chaimara. I was rewarded handsomely for this task... something like $40 and a hotel room (Chaimara's bus driver rented his for that day so he still had it until checkout the following morning but it would be unused otherwise because they were going to Maine for a couple of off date shows).
When I got back to the venue with the bus drivers, the only people left in the entire parking lot were the venue crew, Depswa and Chaimera (if you didn't catch it... i had their bus drivers...muwhahaha).
Still partying with Depswa was a chick who was drunk and missed her ride and a chick whose ride dumped her because she was porkin' someone in one of the bands. Depswa gave them to me and we hit the hotel. The next morning we got to know each other.
The girl who got left behind lived on the way to the next show which was in boston... 48 hours from that morning. The other chick who was drunk turned out to be a Carnie and said she could help me get in, feed me and possibly have a place for me to sleep if I could take her to Boston.
So on we went. We drove all day and all night, finally crashing in a hotel lobby in south boston around 6 am because we couldn't get a hold of anyone. I left my cell phone on Depswa's bus and she didn't have one.
A couple of hours after crashing we got up and drove around Boston all day, taking photos and gathering infromation about where the next show was and where her crew was staying.
We got a hold of them around 4 p.m. and we were on our way south. The venue was about half way between boston and providence RI. We were so delirious and distracted by the people driving on the shoulder of the highway that we drove past our exit (we were taking pictures of this strange phenomena and laughing hysterically) and ended up in RI.
The funny part is that we didn't know we were in RI, not even after getting off at a rest stop. Nope, we didn't notice any signs welcoming us or indicating the change of state.
Later, when I got all the film developed and was fully awake...in one of the pictures of the cars on the shoulder of the highway I noticed it: Providence RI 1 mile. Harr.
Anyways... we turned around and that evening is a whole other very long story that will be saved for some other time- but lets just say that I spent that evening camped in my car again in the Holiday Inn Parking Lot where most of the main stage acts were staying. Maniacs!
The following day in Boston, E-Town Concrete replaced the two bands that left and funny enough, a friend of mine( who I'd known for 10 years) was their tour manager. Now, for those of you who don't know, I couldn't have been luckier because this is the guy who is in charge of assigning photo and guest passes for the band.
That night, most of the second stage camped in the parking lot because Cradle of Filth were throwing a party. The boston show was actually two shows, back to back. Cradle saw the opportunity to make this an event and went for it.
They planned an art contest/ exhibit for that day. I'm pretty sure every band on the second stage participated. There were rules about the amount and types of materials to be used and I think there were prizes for the "best of's" in different categories. I know that one band used a roadie in their art project and made him stand in the exhibition all day long.
That evening there was a DJ, drinkin, smokin and general debauchery as everyone partied and mingled with each other. Turns out I was parked right next to Cradle, rather they were my neighbors for the days and night. I like to think of the busses as traveling houses and the bands family. I guess my Civic (the bumperless wonder) could be compared to something like a cardboard box.. heeh.
I hung out with James the most that evening, but I also met Dani and I think Dave earlier. The following morning on the passenger seat of my car was one of their metal bug sculptures. I still don't know how it got there, rather who put it there. It still hangs in my rearview mirror cluster though.
I got to see their shows from Boston to NC ( I went to Atlanta-the second to the last show on the tour but never actually entered the venue because I was busy running errands to make money for gas to get back), behind the line and photograph... although not many of these photos ever turned out well because of the light.
They headlined second stage so they didn't allow friends on the stage to photograph like the other bands and I didn't feel comfortable requesting a photo pass right away. I just stood with all of the other's who had regular passes, at the side of the stage and watched their show, shooting what I could.
The following day, I saw James out in the crowd. He sat down to talk with me for a while and mentioned something about going to Canada for the evening, before the next shows in NY, to gamble.
As he was getting up to leave, something clicked and he handed me a plastic bag with a pipe in it and told me to keep it because he couldn't take it across the border. In the bag was a pipe. This pipe has another long story attached to it, that I will tell another time as well.
In NY, my friend couldn't get me a pass because the band is from the area and had a full guest list so Cradle got me into the show. As I mentioned in your journal, post Ozzfest I went to see them in Cleveland and got a pass for Detroit but couldn't make it to any of the other shows that were rounding out the tour because I couldn't afford to travel. I could have had photo passes too
Anyway, they rock and they are great people to boot!
p.s. i'll add some pics shortly
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
Great fuckin story, by the way.
-
beed