CAUTION: planning music festivals may cause severe trauma to the neck.

Sooooooo...
The Good Seed Festival is 4 days away and there is still heaps to do and there have been some intense dramas along the way, let me tell YOU!

it's been my job to coordinate the market and the roving performers. I've expressed some personal issues I've been having wrt this job including: trying to find local businesses/artists to commit to a first-time festival, and stroking the egos of roving performers enough to drop their crazy - but well worth it - fees... not to mention the last-minuteness of services needed.

luckily though, I have confirmed a wopping 17 stallholders in the last week only when hopes were dim just a week ago with barely 3 confirmed. yay for me! haha and that's more likely because the festival's been promoted so well with interviews released in local papers and magazines, as well as on Melbourne's top radio station. in any case, it's awesome and I am definitely relieved. we've made some good contacts that will serve us well if/when FCF decides to throw Good Seed Festival part deux.

roving performers? well... yesterday and today have been quite stressful since it wasn't looking like we'd get anything at all... and the most frustrating part of that was due to the fact that we've promoted the extra entertainment on the websites! we would have been hypocrites! that's not a good reputation for the festival OR Leigh... or ME... but I don't live here and wouldn't have felt that part perhaps as severely. however, only 2 hours ago, I received a phone call from my contact at Cirque Mystique who was able to arrange for 3 excellant rovers to cover each 1 hour from 1pm until 4pm! and they are willing to work for 1/2 their usual fee because it is a good cause. (I'd like to think my charm had something to do with my contact's hard work... but, that's likely my own humble opinion... haha)

so 2 for 2 for Jacqueline Extraordinaire! haha ya right... I'm not taking all the glory, but I've been so fucking stressed out with the desire to do a good job that I need to revel in it just a bit... life's little glories. :)

but on to the dramas. I think this experience would have made a very interesting and addicting reality tv series!!! it's been a rollercoaster of things going right and things going so wrong... of people wanting to quit and pull what they thought of as their personal contributions to the festival, to other people standing their ground and sustaining their character and ability to pull this thing off. but we got through it and are still getting through it and for a while there, it looked as though everything would be (sort of) smooth sailing (through stormy, but not hurricaney waters). wouldn't you have been glued to your tv sets to a story like this?? haha but tonight... tonight we are faced with a big big BIG decision. yes folks, it's true. we have to decide - based only on our not-so-promising presale ticket sales - whether we keep quite a big space allotted for our now-AWESOME market, or, to scrap the room altogether and try to place what could be now too many market stalls in places that will neither 1) take away from the musical performances, nor 2) prevent the stallholders from selling/sharing as much of their wears and information. this part of the rollercoaster feels like that initial big drop of the Mind Bender at the West Edmonton Mall's Galaxy Land. the next few days will be like the 2nd couple loop-dee-loops and the festival itself will feel like that spiral around those crazy mirrors before the DEAD STOP when the day's done that throws you back and gives you whiplash and you feel like you're going to hurl, but sickly want to do it all over again... cuz at least then you'll have anticipation on your side. nice analogy? I think it fits well.

so we shall see, ladies and gents, children of all ages.

so I sit here, enjoying my Red Stripe and maybe another rolled fag when I'm through with this blog, and I'm thinking about what to do about tomorrow. what turns and spins will be delivered? I'm blindfolded. so's Leigh. but we are WOMEN! hear us ROAR! haha I believe in her and this cause and this festival so much that I know it'll turn out well... but it's a whole other story when you are behind the scenes and planning it all.

so stay tuned! the next time I write, I'll likely be wearing a neck brace... but still sipping on a beer imported from some strange country... and maybe a little hungover from the excitement... having just woken up from a dream about BEACH. I am coming beach... oh yes I am... I love you thai massage near sea... I think about you too, oh waves of salty goodness. and mr. sun, sun, mr. golden sun, you will indeed shine down on me in the near future... holding me in your warm rays and kissing away all the stress and frustration good seeds have planted.