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Well, heres me back from Sugar Hill and I think I have about finally recovered. It was HARD WORK! I am not talking here about the manual lifting and moving things around the site, nor am I talking about the time I was set free on the Sound Desk in Main Stage. I am talking about the MUD - lots of it - lots and lots of it!
When we arrived it wasn't so bad as the sun had baked the ground around the farm and the ground was nice and firm. T'was a good 5 minutes that was! Then it rained, and then a bit more rain and then some more - in fact there was loads of rain! What was nice and firm and ready to be walked all over nicely soon became a bog that churned up at the slightest notice especially when lorries and other suchlike were ruining it more and more turning into the mudpit I knew and loved!
I will skip over the back breaking work that would usually have been manageable with a bit of effort and I will also skip over the fact it was raining and got very muddy - whoops - I aint good at this skipping lark!
I will say that I felt sorry for the organisers if the Festival, that the punters were mostly scum who couldn't care less about anyone else around them or their own living environment. Some of these "bands" were rebel types and their rebellion seemed to manifest itself in throwing away as much crap as possible, having open flames i.e. FIRES!!!! next to tents and shouting abuse at each other till 4am then moaning to each other afterwards about the dogs they had shagged that night. Pigs - the lot of em!
The music was crap and there were only 2 bands that I liked, one of which I didn't catch the name of at all. The other band I DID like was that of Imelda May - I must say she was awesome - sexy, sassy, raw talent and a strong voice singing rockabilly, backed up with a band of professional, talented musicians. This girl will go places given half the chance and the only thing holding her back is that the genre she sings is not the most "chart friendly". She definitely has the talent of some of my other favourite singers of today in Duffy and Adele.
Check Imelda out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWHMnQ0cSu0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW0DG0DQXrA
the above links are her singing in small venues but in the big top venue she was awesome. The crowd was the biggest I saw in there all weekend and they all braved the mire with glee, enjoying the show. If you can catch this girl live I would encourage you to do so. Anyway thats enough of the fanboy - onto other stuff now!
I don't think Sugar Hill festival will go on next year - it's been loss making for too long and this didn't do anything to help the situation as I think there were less than 100 punters there all week. I will not be back myself though even if it does go off again next year. Once is enough for me.
I came away from the Festival completely knackered, demorilised, confused, muddy, smelly and with a brand new waterproof, weatherproof Regatta coat for a Fiver! Bargain!!!!!
I will bid you adieu on this note - F Sharp.........
Friday 12 September 2008
Tuesday 2 September 2008
Right. About time I got back to this blogging lark and told you about the rest of this years Support Team members at Greenbelt isn't it! I had better do this tonight as I am going to the Sugarhill festival in the morning as Site Crew.
http://www.sugarhillfestival.co.uk/
Here we go then - in no particular order!
Sweetcorn - or Doctor Sweetcorn as I have always called her, even when she wasn't a proper Doctor yet. 5ft 1 and a half inches of gullibility, sweetness and fun. Sweetcorn has such joy about life that it often overflows into singing, or dancing or other such entertainment. Whether she can sing or not is open to debate but her Choir "almost" made it to Last Choir Standing on BBC1. By the way........YES she IS really a Doctor and I believe she also has ambitions to be Mrs Martin Finey after telling him "you'll do" recently. Sweetcorn is a farmers daughter and there are few things better than telling her a tall tale such as Junior Connect 4 or Cycle lanes on motorways and having her believe you. Saying all that, life would be poorer without our Sweetcorn and I am confident she will continue to develop as a Hospital Dr or GP and be a credit to herself, her family and the NHS
Dangly - happy when hanging from rigging suspended by his harness I find Dangly in all sorts of odd places. Pictures of him half naked are distributed around the Internet and they do NOT make pretty viewing! Viewers discretion required!!! http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45875&id=563182132#/photo.php?pid=1109606&id=563182132 Dangly is also a model railway enthusiast - and when I say enthusiast i mean nutjob! - he likes model trains, building them, showing them and talking about them. He is a bigwig in some society called DEMU or something. Ah well, someone has to do it and keep Doodah company I suppose! Dangly also likes piercings - quite a lot of em - you cant miss him - leather , long hair, piercings, ciggie - thats our Dangly! He also likes looking for wristband offenders - the offence being not wearing any!
Miriam - new to the Team this year Miriam hasn't got a nickname yet - although may I suggest Broken - as we seemed to break her half way through the festival when she fell ill. Sorry! Heres me thinking "oh you need a lie down love" and helping her to her tent like a good Christian boy should and thinking a good sleep was in order. Turns out she needed a little more than that - we broked her ( is that proper Lolcat?? ) Miriam has something on her chin - not that one, the other one! I enjoyed Miriam falling for one of the initiation ceremonies of the team. Miriam is in O and S some sort of singing and playing around group the Methodist have. I think she plays around and have heard the Bassoon or Oboe mentioned,I cant remember which as far as I am concerned they are both rubbish!If it aint Brass I aint interested! Oh yes Miriam wants to be an Oprah Singer - good luck to you lass, although I didn't know they had any singers on Ms Winfrey's shows - I hear the pays good though!
Chris - or as I will continue to call him Teflon. Chris has been going to the Festival for years and rumour has it he was even there back in the day that Zippie got his name. However ------ I dont know why but every year passes and Chris STILL doesn't get himself a nickname. Hmmmm - a few suggestions
Teflon - because nothing sticks.
Pardon - because he says that a lot because he is mostly deaf
Ear Trumpet - see above
Guy Rope - because he still uses guy ropes made out of 50 year old twine!!!
See what I mean though - my favourite must be Teflon because we just can't pin a name on him!
Chris' car got bashed on the final day of the Festival - I hope it don't cause too much trouble and that the right details were written on the note attached to your car!
Storm - or Mrs Long Suffering. Storm is married to Dangly and as such has to put up with trains all day long.PLUS she gets to see the aforementioned Dangly all the way naked!!! Arrrggghhhh half the way naked is bad enough! Storm is what they call a Goth apparently - nice people really even when they do carry around bags looking like Eeyore full of safety pin piercings! Storm knows just about every Goth worth knowing on the planet I think. She also likes cats. Nice that - I like cats too. Storm is a fairly placid soul generally and when she wears that hat of hers, when you catch her in the certain light, she looks like one of those vintage Hollywood Movie actresses in their prime. I dunno who these people are really but think Rita Hayworth or Greta Garbo with a big hat and you get the idea.
Staples - earned his name this year when he dared to challenge Doodah and say he had got it wrong with a staple gun - and was proved right!!!! Genius!!! Staples likes snowboarding, especially when he can get the school he works for to pay for it. Apparently he is also a sought after DJ playing many nationwide clubs and even being invited out to Ibiza to do the rounds of the clubs there - as a DJ not a punter! I found out a lot about Staples this year as it was my first shift working with him and I like to get to know the people I am Stewarding with. He does Visual Arty Techie things at festivals sometimes - the stuff you see on the big screen - whatever it is he seemed to enjoy it and for me, its the enjoyment that counts! Good luck on getting more freebies teaching the kids to snowboard mate! Seems he has it made!
Decaf ( or is it De - caff, or decaff or whatever??? ) hmmmm how best to describe Decaf. I think a few punchy sentences are in order and then leave you, the reader, to decide just what type of girl this is.
Itchy - seems to listen to me when I give him engineering or DIY advice - bad idea ( see tables, Zippies Meccano Shelving and the Kitchen Camping Cupboard as examples ) Didn't get the classic radio call from Handbag that went like this "Itchy, Itchy from Handbag" "Itchy receiving" "Scratch that!" - everyone else was in stitches yet Itchy had to be told about this afterwards. Itchy wears shirts and jumpers while he is Stewarding, and also when he was getting sweaty during Site Crew. The freaky thing is they always seemed ironed!!!! He was living in a tent for weeks - how is this possible!!!!! Itchy is however a go to guy - he will literally do almost anything for you if you need help and in all the dealings I have had with him he has always been totally relaible. He will one day make an excellent accountant and probably rule the world!!! This is his secret plan - he will probably then feed us to his Dairy cows ( YES I know they are a Beef herd and not Dairy but that aint half so funny!).
Thats all for this years Support Team I think. Will tell you about some members from previous years another time. After collecting for Salvation Army Annual Appeal, packing for Sugar Hill, taking Imodium tablets AND reading the new David Eddings book, I think I am just about whacked! Will update the blog again when I get back from a week of Camping near Swindon - see you in a week!
http://www.sugarhillfestival.co.uk/
Here we go then - in no particular order!
Sweetcorn - or Doctor Sweetcorn as I have always called her, even when she wasn't a proper Doctor yet. 5ft 1 and a half inches of gullibility, sweetness and fun. Sweetcorn has such joy about life that it often overflows into singing, or dancing or other such entertainment. Whether she can sing or not is open to debate but her Choir "almost" made it to Last Choir Standing on BBC1. By the way........YES she IS really a Doctor and I believe she also has ambitions to be Mrs Martin Finey after telling him "you'll do" recently. Sweetcorn is a farmers daughter and there are few things better than telling her a tall tale such as Junior Connect 4 or Cycle lanes on motorways and having her believe you. Saying all that, life would be poorer without our Sweetcorn and I am confident she will continue to develop as a Hospital Dr or GP and be a credit to herself, her family and the NHS
Dangly - happy when hanging from rigging suspended by his harness I find Dangly in all sorts of odd places. Pictures of him half naked are distributed around the Internet and they do NOT make pretty viewing! Viewers discretion required!!! http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45875&id=563182132#/photo.php?pid=1109606&id=563182132 Dangly is also a model railway enthusiast - and when I say enthusiast i mean nutjob! - he likes model trains, building them, showing them and talking about them. He is a bigwig in some society called DEMU or something. Ah well, someone has to do it and keep Doodah company I suppose! Dangly also likes piercings - quite a lot of em - you cant miss him - leather , long hair, piercings, ciggie - thats our Dangly! He also likes looking for wristband offenders - the offence being not wearing any!
Miriam - new to the Team this year Miriam hasn't got a nickname yet - although may I suggest Broken - as we seemed to break her half way through the festival when she fell ill. Sorry! Heres me thinking "oh you need a lie down love" and helping her to her tent like a good Christian boy should and thinking a good sleep was in order. Turns out she needed a little more than that - we broked her ( is that proper Lolcat?? ) Miriam has something on her chin - not that one, the other one! I enjoyed Miriam falling for one of the initiation ceremonies of the team. Miriam is in O and S some sort of singing and playing around group the Methodist have. I think she plays around and have heard the Bassoon or Oboe mentioned,I cant remember which as far as I am concerned they are both rubbish!If it aint Brass I aint interested! Oh yes Miriam wants to be an Oprah Singer - good luck to you lass, although I didn't know they had any singers on Ms Winfrey's shows - I hear the pays good though!
Chris - or as I will continue to call him Teflon. Chris has been going to the Festival for years and rumour has it he was even there back in the day that Zippie got his name. However ------ I dont know why but every year passes and Chris STILL doesn't get himself a nickname. Hmmmm - a few suggestions
Teflon - because nothing sticks.
Pardon - because he says that a lot because he is mostly deaf
Ear Trumpet - see above
Guy Rope - because he still uses guy ropes made out of 50 year old twine!!!
See what I mean though - my favourite must be Teflon because we just can't pin a name on him!
Chris' car got bashed on the final day of the Festival - I hope it don't cause too much trouble and that the right details were written on the note attached to your car!
Storm - or Mrs Long Suffering. Storm is married to Dangly and as such has to put up with trains all day long.PLUS she gets to see the aforementioned Dangly all the way naked!!! Arrrggghhhh half the way naked is bad enough! Storm is what they call a Goth apparently - nice people really even when they do carry around bags looking like Eeyore full of safety pin piercings! Storm knows just about every Goth worth knowing on the planet I think. She also likes cats. Nice that - I like cats too. Storm is a fairly placid soul generally and when she wears that hat of hers, when you catch her in the certain light, she looks like one of those vintage Hollywood Movie actresses in their prime. I dunno who these people are really but think Rita Hayworth or Greta Garbo with a big hat and you get the idea.
Staples - earned his name this year when he dared to challenge Doodah and say he had got it wrong with a staple gun - and was proved right!!!! Genius!!! Staples likes snowboarding, especially when he can get the school he works for to pay for it. Apparently he is also a sought after DJ playing many nationwide clubs and even being invited out to Ibiza to do the rounds of the clubs there - as a DJ not a punter! I found out a lot about Staples this year as it was my first shift working with him and I like to get to know the people I am Stewarding with. He does Visual Arty Techie things at festivals sometimes - the stuff you see on the big screen - whatever it is he seemed to enjoy it and for me, its the enjoyment that counts! Good luck on getting more freebies teaching the kids to snowboard mate! Seems he has it made!
Decaf ( or is it De - caff, or decaff or whatever??? ) hmmmm how best to describe Decaf. I think a few punchy sentences are in order and then leave you, the reader, to decide just what type of girl this is.
- Cambridge Math Student
- Daughter of a Methodist Minister
- Will do anything for 4 Quid
- Sets herself on fire
- Gets stuck in the mud with a flatbed truck and then proceeds to break the 4x4 sent to rescue her
- Likes to be poked in the eye and then feign terrible life threatening injury
- Needs to be kept AWAY from coffee at certain points of the day - in fact she is only allowed it during a supervised period of 1 hour during the day
- Likes rolling on the grass with Squeak
- Likes clouds
Itchy - seems to listen to me when I give him engineering or DIY advice - bad idea ( see tables, Zippies Meccano Shelving and the Kitchen Camping Cupboard as examples ) Didn't get the classic radio call from Handbag that went like this "Itchy, Itchy from Handbag" "Itchy receiving" "Scratch that!" - everyone else was in stitches yet Itchy had to be told about this afterwards. Itchy wears shirts and jumpers while he is Stewarding, and also when he was getting sweaty during Site Crew. The freaky thing is they always seemed ironed!!!! He was living in a tent for weeks - how is this possible!!!!! Itchy is however a go to guy - he will literally do almost anything for you if you need help and in all the dealings I have had with him he has always been totally relaible. He will one day make an excellent accountant and probably rule the world!!! This is his secret plan - he will probably then feed us to his Dairy cows ( YES I know they are a Beef herd and not Dairy but that aint half so funny!).
Thats all for this years Support Team I think. Will tell you about some members from previous years another time. After collecting for Salvation Army Annual Appeal, packing for Sugar Hill, taking Imodium tablets AND reading the new David Eddings book, I think I am just about whacked! Will update the blog again when I get back from a week of Camping near Swindon - see you in a week!
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