The Hurricane Hafli is on!!!

[alonewiththemoon]

Excellent news--I just heard from the Northeast Belly Dance Association that they can front the money for a hall deposit, etc. So I've reserved the Dilboy VFW Post in Davis Square for 4 hours on Sunday, Sept. 25. They have the whole day free, so I'm going to reserve it from 3-7, with the first hour for set-up. I'm a little scared about the bar minimum, so I encourage everybody to drink freely :)

So now, I need:

A. Dancers!
B. a PA, or speakers at the very least, and a multi-deck CD player. An actual DJ would be sweet, too.
C. miscellaneous items like a cash box, tickets, etc
D. Raffle items, if I don't need a special permit in MA (don't think I do)
E. Volunteers to do things like work the door, supervise the raffle, help dancers, etc.
F. Advice from people who have put on events like this before
G. Lots of support and encouragement ;-)

I'm thinking suggested minimum donation of $15 for admission--that seems reasonable to me, so I assume it would seem reasonable to most people.

I have such a roller coaster feeling right now, but in a very good way :-)

Comments

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

Great news!

I don't have speakers, but I do have a Peavey amp, a mixing board, and a couple of mics ... although I guess you have this sort of thing at your house anyway.

Otherwise, I can do E, F, and G.

[trixie.livejournal.com]

I can bake louisiana things. I just learned pralines.
Congrats for you and all you're helping!!!!!!! -K

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

There's an idea!

Maybe we could also have pitchers of Hurricanes and Zombies ;)

I bet that the Saters would kick in a tray of hummus, at least, as well.

[alonewiththemoon]

I heartily encourage people to buy pitchers of hurricanes and zombies from the bar--yay for multi-liquor expensive drinks! ;-)

I haven't decided what to do about food--I think that would depend on if I can get a food wrangler or not.

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

Oh -- along the lines of F:

Now that you have your date and venue set, get flyers made ASAP. Not only for the obvious reason of promotion, but it also makes it easier for anyone who is soliciting donations for the raffle and the food table to have tangible evidence of the event in hand. Some businesses (like Trader Joe's) will require a flyer.

[spitcurl.livejournal.com]

Z, offer still stands of you want flyer design help here, so email me.

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

And for D, I have some baskets I'd like to get rid of constructively, if they can be used for putting together gift baskets for the raffle.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Along those lines, my dad might actually have a portable music system you could use. He's not a DJ, but he is a bit of a techie, and at my last show he had alot of constructive criticism about the lighting set up and sound system--he may be able to help with that, I'll ask.

[alonewiththemoon]

I will definitely keep that in mind--I'm going to follow c'ris' suggestion of checking with Tony, but he travels so much with his gear he might not be able to lend out his stuff.

[panzerkunst.livejournal.com]

If I didn't have other plans, I'd offer to DJ. I can lend CDs at least if you'd like.

[alonewiththemoon]

That's too bad, you'd have been a great dj for this. I think I'm ok with music, but thanks for the offer!

[sanguineempathy.livejournal.com]

That's Gothstock weekend - so that's where I'll probably be :/
But I'll do a donation anyways - keep me posted when/where to send $$.

[slickgothgurl.livejournal.com]

i'm sure that phillip wouldn't mind doing it, since he's got all the equipment anyway. you should send him an email: shinyblack72@hotmail.com.

[alonewiththemoon]

are you sure things won't be too crazy busy for you guys round about then?

[slickgothgurl.livejournal.com]

nah. i think it'll be fine. just send him an email and i'm sure he'll give you the thumbs up or down :)

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Go you!
I think I can help in some way. Most likely the dancing. What would it entail?

[alonewiththemoon]

Well, dancers would do a 5-10 minute piece, depending on the number of interested dancers. And shorter than the limit is always ok too, if it turns out to be 10 minutes but you didn't want to do that much. So if you'd be interested in dancing, I can put you down!

It's too bad Seyyide will be away, maybe Sarab could have quickly resurrected one of our older numbers.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Oog. Much more likely for me to be able to handle a 5 minute solo piece, unless you want to help with choreography--I'm fine with being part of a group piece too, it's much easier to do--that and I have a couple choreographed pieces I could try to remember.

Let me know when you have more details, and I'll plug for it in my journal.

[danceforme.livejournal.com]

Would you be able to put me down as well....just so I know if I should mark my calendar? I'd be up for either group or solo work.

[danceforme.livejournal.com]

I would love to perform a dance if you would have me :) I am a trained dancer who owns much belly dancing music and have choreography experiance. I don't have formal belly dancing training, but my style is very simular.

[alonewiththemoon]

Because this is a belly dance community-based event, I want to be sure that I have enough space to accomodate the belly dancers who want to dance--so if you don't mind I would rather put you on a waiting list. My post about this hasn't gone out to the Massachusetts belly dance mailing list yet, and I'm anticipating a big response when it does. I will keep you posted!

[danceforme.livejournal.com]

Ah OK. Thanks :)

[cris.livejournal.com]

excellent! you can also talk to Tony about a PA setup for B.

as for the raffle, you don't need a permit in MA (or at least, we didn't when we did the AIDSride fundraiser) -- tickets can be bought at party supply stores. I can help with that if you'd like, but I'll be out of town from the 16th to the 21st, and so might not be the best choice for organizing prize donors.

as for the bar minimum -- if it helps assuage your fears, from experience I can say that a crowd of thirty will easily make their minimum. Especially if it's our friends in attendance.

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

staples has raffle tickets, too.

[saturniidae.livejournal.com]

I have a locking cash box you can use.

[alonewiththemoon]

that would be great, thanks!

[tisana.livejournal.com]

1) Can I link to this so other belly dancers and potential audience can see it, or would you like to wait until details are ironed out before talking it up?

2) When you do have more details, may I suggest posting it to the davis_square community, among others?

[alonewiththemoon]

I'd rather wait until I have things more firmed up, thanks :-) Good idea on the Davis Square community!

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking suggested minimum donation of $15 for admission--that seems reasonable to me, so I assume it would seem reasonable to most people.

Actually, that sounds minimal to me. The night before, I'm going to a hafla in Vernon, CT, that is $40/head. Granted, that includes a full sit-down dinner, live musicians, and other bells and whistles, but it is also not for charity. Then again, it's an annual event that has built up over time, so there is no risk of not selling enough tickets. Still, I think you could charge at least $20-25 easily.

[alonewiththemoon]

Well, I think I'll call it a minimum suggested donation--people are welcome to pay more. I just don't want to shut out all the students...

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Good point!

[mistresshellena.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy to donate a couple of tea cups and/or mask for the raffle!
I'm going to be out of town that weekend. Alas. :(
I would love to get drunk at the Dilboy for a good cause.

[alonewiththemoon]

Your donation would be wonderful, thanks!!

[nepenthedreams]

I'm not good enough to dance, but I will help you out in some other capacity, like the raffle (I'm good at announcing!) or the door.

[alonewiththemoon]

If you're good at announcing, would you like to be the MC and announce the dancers as well? I'll try to get everybody to write out their inventive belly dance names phonetically ;-)

[nepenthedreams]

I'd love to be the MC. I'll dress up too.

Did you find a DJ yet? it would be great to actually have an open dance time where people actually danced.

[alonewiththemoon]

Great, you're hired! :-)

I'm working on the DJ thing--I'm hoping that we'll get people dancing as well.