That was fun
Yet another Friday night in the arts district of Honolulu...
Tonight was a street festival entitled Taste of the Arts, sponsored by the Arts Council and produced by one of our theatre's board members. Instead of wandering the festivities and slowly getting trashed I opted to work the event instead. Given the producer's ties to the theatre, it was no trouble getting involved.
Taste of the Arts included three stages of music, chef demonstrations from local restaurants and an aerial performance. Oh yes....and the booze. Alcoholic options included a wine tasting tent, and three outdoor bars serving beer, wine and mojitos. In addition to the slew of bars located in Chinatown.
I was one of half a dozen people selling wristbands to the crowd. Wristbands weren't admission to the event so much as an easy ID for the busy bartenders at the tents. We card them and band them to permit them to buy booze. It also gave the cops an easy target for under-agers if someone without a band had booze in hand. And the booze and the wristbands provided the only income to the event itself...
It is amazing how stingy people are. They complain about needing to pay three dollars for a wristband in order to buy alcohol. But honestly, everything else was free. Most people whined about the cost of the band on top of the cost of booze. Give me a break. I know these are outdoor bars, so servings are slightly smaller and in plastic cups, but outside of a happy hour, our drinks were substantially less expensive than most of the local bars. I got a lot of comments along the lines of "corporate america" and feeding the machine. Even when they were told all proceed benefit the Arts Council which has been largely responsible for revitalizing Chinatown and supporting the arts scene (including events like this and First Friday) they still bitched and moaned. Apparently most people just want to drink. Cheap at that. So go to a dive bar and screw the entertainment, galleries and cheap gourmet eats! Arg!
Actually those people were few and far between. We rarely ran into any under-agers either. When asked for ID, most just decided they'd rather not buy the wristband.
It was a busy 5 hours. And while I wish I could have seen more of the event than the little bit visible from my station it was a fun 5 hours. And I got paid for it.
The next one coming up is Halloween which by all accounts is insane...even compared to Mardi Gras and Patty's Day. They need workers again. But I think I'd rather show off my kick ass costume.
Tonight was a street festival entitled Taste of the Arts, sponsored by the Arts Council and produced by one of our theatre's board members. Instead of wandering the festivities and slowly getting trashed I opted to work the event instead. Given the producer's ties to the theatre, it was no trouble getting involved.
Taste of the Arts included three stages of music, chef demonstrations from local restaurants and an aerial performance. Oh yes....and the booze. Alcoholic options included a wine tasting tent, and three outdoor bars serving beer, wine and mojitos. In addition to the slew of bars located in Chinatown.
I was one of half a dozen people selling wristbands to the crowd. Wristbands weren't admission to the event so much as an easy ID for the busy bartenders at the tents. We card them and band them to permit them to buy booze. It also gave the cops an easy target for under-agers if someone without a band had booze in hand. And the booze and the wristbands provided the only income to the event itself...
It is amazing how stingy people are. They complain about needing to pay three dollars for a wristband in order to buy alcohol. But honestly, everything else was free. Most people whined about the cost of the band on top of the cost of booze. Give me a break. I know these are outdoor bars, so servings are slightly smaller and in plastic cups, but outside of a happy hour, our drinks were substantially less expensive than most of the local bars. I got a lot of comments along the lines of "corporate america" and feeding the machine. Even when they were told all proceed benefit the Arts Council which has been largely responsible for revitalizing Chinatown and supporting the arts scene (including events like this and First Friday) they still bitched and moaned. Apparently most people just want to drink. Cheap at that. So go to a dive bar and screw the entertainment, galleries and cheap gourmet eats! Arg!
Actually those people were few and far between. We rarely ran into any under-agers either. When asked for ID, most just decided they'd rather not buy the wristband.
It was a busy 5 hours. And while I wish I could have seen more of the event than the little bit visible from my station it was a fun 5 hours. And I got paid for it.
The next one coming up is Halloween which by all accounts is insane...even compared to Mardi Gras and Patty's Day. They need workers again. But I think I'd rather show off my kick ass costume.
posted by Unknown at
4:26 AM
2 Comments:
I'd pay to drink to support the arts, but that's just me. I'm a giving person. And I'm counting that I came out ahead because I didn't have to bounce a check to support Bitch Magazine.
Oh man, I just caught up on your blog...I salute you for building TWO Halloween costumes after sewing all day. I'm contemplating a bag, but I can't even muster up enough enthusiasm to hem the drapes I sewed two weeks ago.
And I agree that it sucks to have to listen to people complain...I'm always cranky when guests complain about the entrance fee to CW. Yeah, it's expensive, but you're not paying MY salary, you're paying for the AC that keeps George the Second's cravat from disintegrating.
Keep up the awesome! And try not to step on any more geko's.
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