The Insiders
-
Apr
13
Block Party, in photos.
Posted by: Neal Yonson | April 13, 2008 | 16 Comments
so my day started with the RBF, who had waterguns and when not hitting each other with them (or getting yelled at for getting too close to the camera) were going to defend the KNO to the Knoll folks during their counterprotest of the Knoll.
Here’s Tyler, RBF President, threatening someone.
It turns out the protection was necessary: Jasmine was on the scene right quick, hurling insults and accusations and stripping signs from “protesters” and tearing them in half. 
The KNO folks took this in stride, and held up their banner while chanting “Peaceful Protest” as Nate tried to calm the situation down, and Jasmine got in a shouting match.
A sampling of their beliefs.
Controversy over, I wandered a bit and sampled the delights of the carnival:
A bull rider.
A little faux-gladiator action.
Outgoing Ubyssey Letters and Copy Editor Levi Barnett and incoming News Editor Justin McElroy square off in the Bungee Run.
a little kebab action with the RBF.
I spent the rest of the evening either backstage (as ACF Alumni) or in the media pit, so here are some selected shots.
one of the sponsors of the event.
probably the worst photo ever of Brian Sullivan.
Becca Coad, getting signed by Torq from Stars
Mitch Wright, getting signed by Amy from Stars.
Stars threw flowers into the crowd… I caught someone after they caught one.
He’s making a heart with his fingers.
Jeff Friedrich, Mike Duncan, and the always lovely Nancy Toogood.
Anna and Emily from AMS Events.
As always, I’ve got more photos up here: my Flickr page.
How was your day?
Comments
16 Comments so far
The event was good mainly because I got to avoid lines and go backstage and meet/hang out with some really cool people.
I posted this in the other entry while drunk, but I’ll post here too since I’m sober now.
It was fairly decent I suppose. The lineups were incredibly lame. To have only 2 entrances into the whole place just so insufficient, and it was the same for buying beer tickets. I felt like they didn’t learn anything from ACF on that front. But other than that, I had a great time. It definitely could have been worse. I’m just thankful it didn’t rain.
Oh and regarding the lineup to get in:
My friends and I waited for a good 45 minutes and moved all of 10 feet, so finally we just left the lineup and went to the front and sort of just inserted ourselves into the lineup there, and then were in within 5 minutes. I’m pretty sure a huuuuge amount of people did that. I think the reason why the regular lineup didn’t move, was because everybody just kept rushing the front, and the cheaters would get in and the patient line-abiders wouldn’t.
Four reasons the lineups were bad:
1) People were cutting
2) We had security be THOROUGH in their searches for fear of people bringing in whole bottles of vodka.
3) There was some confusion as to what that line was actually for. A lot of people just got in line and didn’t realize they had to buy tickets at a tent adjacent to the line, not at the front door, so they held up a lot of people as they kept running out and back into line.
4) Just like ACF, everyone feels the need to wait to show up until 4-6 pm and wonders why the line is long.
#3 is easy to fix for future large scale events like that. A little more signage, a megaphone, and it’ll be a lot better. #4 is on the patron. Come before 4pm and save yourself so much time.
I think you guys just needed more people letting people in. 4 people checking for 6,000 people is just plain not enough. And security didn’t do a very good job, because I know several people who did get whole bottles in. They checked bags, but I never got patted down, and could have easily snuck something in if I had been trying.
free backstage pass + free beer + NOT HAVING TO WAIT IN EITHER OF THE RIDICULOUS QUEUES + old friends + new friends + mike duncan dressed up like the village people = amazing.
1) The Kno to the Knoll protest photos are hilarious.
2) That might be the best photo of me ever taken.
On the thoroughness of security… Umm… not so much.
My girlfriend has a rather large purse, and it wasnt even glanced at let alone checked for booze.
Admittedly, last year at ACF I accidentally brought a 26 of vodka in with me, which helped alot because of the ridiculous beer lines.
The event had two big hangups that proved problematic. The first was a high incentive to not go into the event early. With all sorts of fun stuff outside the gates, why go in early when you dont have to?
The second was sheer manpower (or I suppose I should say person power), as was said not enough people letting people in and not enough people selling beer tickets.
Next year, have more personel on hand. double the number of people hawking drink tickets, you could even have a few people walking around selling them to reduce lines. Also, have a 2 hour power hour at the entry both where you just double or triple the number of people letting folks in, ramp up to 10 or 12 people there checking bags and taking tickets for 2 hours and your laughing ande veryone is happy.
Overall though, FANTASTIC event guys! Good job!
Also, Jasmine Ramzee Risee is absofuckinglutely batshit crazy.
Apparently only social issues she cares about are valid points of protest, and everyone else needs to be treated like second class citizens.
All Id like to say to her is grow up, being a trust-fund protester living in a mansion in Shaunessy can only be seen as ironic at best and pampered stupidity at worst.
My mind is boggled with just how crazy this woman is, I wonder if she will now denounce me as a front for CSIS.
Patrick, give it a rest. Every insult you hurl Jasmine likely applies more appropriately to yourself.
Grow up?
I, too, am a strong supporter of the B.A.R.F. (Beer Ain’t Radical Faction). We are UBC’s Marijuana Party on hops! We assume that the “silent majority” of UBC is as one-dimensional as ourselves, and hence we have created the BARF single-issue non-political pro-BARFing party (party as in “whooo! party! [BARF]”) in order to promote the overcomsumption of Molson products. It’s like a Molson advertisement, only we do it for free! We’re so drunk that we project our intolerances onto a woman named Jasmine – who we don’t even know, and haven’t spoken to for more than a minute, and who is way smarter than us…but being sober she has an unfair advantage! Oh yeah, and we watch the Colbert Report, and take it literally. BARF!
Uh oh. Anonymous commenter(s) 6:15 and 6:39 have a serious case of butthurt it seems. Poor bbs.
At least I dont hide behind the comforts of anonymity.
Also, I am not speaking as a member of the RBF (though I am a proud member), Im speaking as a student.
Though it should be noted that the Molson sponsorship is quite lucrative to garden attendees as it keeps the price down a great deal.
My last post came off a bit angrier than I had planned, I just get peeved at these little vindictive rich kids that think they can be socially righteous without ever having worked an honest day in their lives.
Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions for future events. Unfortunately, I will not be here next year, but I’m sure my colleagues are taking down your suggestions. Keep in mind, there are lots of reasons why specific things were run a certain way that may have seemed inefficient to outsiders. There’s always room for improvement, but we had to abide by certain restrictions in order to run the event (especially since this was the first one).
I will say this: overall (with a few small exceptions- namely the ass clown that threw something at the lead singer from Stars) I was relatively pleased with everyone’s behavior despite their intoxication. Friday proved that UBC students can be relatively responsible and have fun at the same time, without unleashing mass destruction and chaos upon the campus and community surrounding it.
I hope UBC admins, the UNA and the RCMP have noticed.
I hope everyone had fun on Friday and that you’ll support other AMS Events shows in the future. I’m sad I won’t be around to work shows next year.
Thanks to anyone who helped organize or run block party. I had a great time!
I love the 10 things better than the knoll poster.