somethingood 2006

day 3

2006-06-16T22:47:00.000+08:00

today was GREAT! the canners today were absolutely amazing - the BMDP committee member who came to pick up the cans was astonished at their weight. we had cans stuffed so full that people couldn't slip any more money into them. amazing stuff, all you auntie-killers and sweet young things with large eyes!

*applauds wildly*

now for the weekend.

it is also amazing what people who are 'donating' to charity will do. one was a lady who put a 20 cent coin in and then turned and remarked loudly to her friend, "I can't find a 10 cent coin lah." and another lady who put a 10 cent coin in and said, "NAH! 10 cents!" oh, and one of the many guys who waved us aside was wearing a shirt that said 'charity is a virtue'.

strange, strange. at any rate, there were also the lovely people - the lady who gave us a pack of m&ms, the people who stopped and talked to us about the BMDP and how they could sign up at donors. and the ice-cream. :D

might I also take this chance to remind you all about our closing night?

A Vacant Affair, Auburn's Epiphany, Broken Orange Fence, West Grand Boulevard and ZHEN will be bringing Somethingood 2006 to a resounding close at Plaza Singapura on 25 June at 4pm. They're part of more than two hundred performers busking in aid of the Bone Marrow Donor Programme during the course of the two week festival this June.

The Bone Marrow Donor Programme is dedicated to maintaining a register of potential bone marrow donors and finding a match for patients with leukaemia and other blood-related diseases. Potential bone marrow donors have their finger pricked for a small blood sample, which is then sent for a tissue typing test which both complex and expensive - testing each new donor costs $150. Given that the odds of matching unrelated patients and donors are 1 in 20,000, the Bone Marrow Donor Programme needs your help to fund the testing of potential donors to build its register.

So come down to Plaza Singapura on the 25th of June at 4pm; watch our closing, enjoy great music and do Somethingood!

2006-06-16T00:27:00.000+08:00

okay, break days are in reality (for me at least) not break days. well, actually, today would have been okay had tomorrow's performers not pulled out on me. spent most of it replanning the day and sorting it out with everyone involved tomorrow. quite tiring, yes. frustrating, that too.

somethingood's been going pretty well so far in terms of operations - we haven't had any major problems with running the stations, thanks in large part to the good weather and a little trolley we loaned from shaw. with a trolley, you can move anything. including our 1.8m by 1.2m signboard that looks like one of those things that squash cartoon characters flat.

sometimes people stand and watch for 10 minutes and when you shuffle hopefully up to them with a bright smile and "would you like..." on your lips, they disappear. BAMPF. with a donation can, my people eradication powers are to be FEARED!

2006-06-15T14:24:00.000+08:00

argh, I was going to make a nice post talking about how the days have been so far, but this afternoon has been full of frustrating madness because a group supposed to perform tomorrow have just PULLED OUT. with less than 24 hours notice!!

so I give you photos.

the night before

2006-06-12T00:17:00.000+08:00

OKAY.

TOMORROW BETTER BE GOOD.

AND IT BETTER NOT RAIN.

and I take my finger off the shift key.

PHEW finally

2006-06-01T16:28:00.000+08:00

just uploaded the schedules - they're subject to change until 5 June, after no more changes should be made without good reason.

*tired*

notes on logistics and scheduling

2006-05-27T13:47:00.000+08:00

thought I'd drop in to describe the logistics for somethingood so that people can be clear on what we can/cannot provide.

basically the set-up for each station will consist of:

chairs (up to 10)
a table with donation boxes and material related to the BMDP
stands with a poster and a chalkboard that the buskers can use to say who they are, when they're performing next
a PA system

I think we made it sufficiently clear to most groups that we can only provide a PA system! (although strangely enough, people ask whether or not we're providing a drumset after this) we're very sorry about this, but the reason why we can't provide more is because it will cost us a lot of money bringing down guitar amps and drumsets on a daily basis and could even double the budget - and I don't think that's fair to the donating public at all.

that said, we have some fantastic bands (I mentioned them in a previous post) who want to do their bit, whom we would like to see play as well. so that's why we're doing the closing night, where we will get a decent set-up for a full band down.

regarding the PA system: each system will cost us approximately $100/day to rent. now, that's not so bad because it works out to about $12.50/hour. but this is only on the condition that the station is being used for the whole day!

the fact of the matter is that in certain cases where groups are only busking for one hour, the station only remains open for an hour. so that hour works out to a $100 hour! so if you've only signed up for one hour please consider extending your busking by one or two more hours. this makes things a lot more viable for us and it means you can help bring in more donations too. so please give it some thought and talk to your liaison officer about it. :)

also, a note regarding signing up for slots: please, please do not sign up for slots you cannot commit to! this is because you're going to be taking up the time that someone else is keen on and if you pull out (as some groups have done, unfortunately) our manpower department have to scramble to recontact other groups to see if they're still interested.

I will probably put the (tentative) schedules up sometime today/tomorrow - because of logistical issues we're doing some juggling so there may be some surprises.

karma police

2006-05-24T23:32:00.000+08:00

I can't leave the last post sitting right at the top of our blog, especially given what happened today.

I'm dead tired and I seem to have lost the ability I acquired in JC to think past midnight, but in quick summary: I called Shaw House yesterday and sent them an email to follow up, this morning I woke up to them responding with 'no objections' and putting me in touch with someone about storage and utilities.

the person I spoke to was incredibly helpful too - was concerned about how much we'd have to move everyday and wanted to situate us best - it was fantastic!

so shaw house is good to go. I can't say how many problems are resolved by their provision of storage space. am so relieved.

have a nice day

2006-05-23T20:10:00.000+08:00

I don't know whether or not I'm allowed to be annoyed, or if I should apply for a license to feel that way. you know, notify the appropriate authorities that I feel that something's gone wrong and people have been unpleasant.

after sending an email detailing what we're doing and the kind of help we need, I got this reply from a certain building's management:

Hi Claudia
Thanks for your interest in our building. Unfortunately we have bookings for a number of weekends in June.

well... perhaps I should have made things a little clearer. so I sent an email in response clarifying
that we wanted to use the area outside of the building as well as nearby utilities. they replied saying that this was LTA's concern - that's true, but they didn't give me an answer about utilities or storage. I sent this in response:

Hello!

As I mentioned in my first email, what about the powerpoints [description of location]? We would really appreciate it if we could use them as our buskers need the power for amplification.

Also, we have some items like chairs and stands which we would need to store in an area nearby - could [name of building] sponsor some amount of storage space for these items?

We would be very grateful for these as we are a charity project and are seeking to keep costs as low as possible - your help would be as good as a donation to the BMDP. Thank you for your consideration!

Regards,
Claudia

and perhaps I had asked for too much, because they told me:

Claudia,

We regret we are unable to assist you in this event.

oh. well. have a nice day, too.

I leave you to draw your own conclusion about how kind people are in certain parts of Orchard. fortunately, this is a small part of Orchard - everyone else has been really helpful so far, even going as far to discuss placement and so on with me.

yeah, I'm wondering if I should ask them for an explanation, or if that will annoy them enough to drive us away altogether.

music when the lights go out

2006-05-23T00:55:00.000+08:00

and again a flurry of days have passed since I last updated. so where are we now?

well, the BMDP have just come off several huge recruitment drives and I've been sending official emails as 'Claudia Chang, Chairperson, Somethingood 2006' all over the place - unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that a title least impresses where it most needs to impress. so really in the face of the world I am just toddling around asking for money. not the most charming of images. grins.

over the past couple of weeks, however, what's really begun to come together are our opening and closing events (the latter more than the former). and I'm really excited to tell you all that we will be closing the festival with 4 great bands - A Vacant Affair, Auburn's Epiphany, West Grand Boulevard and ZHEN. I'll post more details and a poster you can stick on your locker when we've confirmed the venue.

for the opening event, we're probably going to do a simple ceremony - Jane Prior, the chairperson of the BMDP will say a few words, so will our Guest of Honour, after that we'll have a group open the busking for us. we've not yet confirmed who this mysterious Group will be, but I assure you, Good Things are happening.

right! we're also approaching people who could probably help us out by donating funds to print t-shirts and rent PA systems, so I'm hoping that every cent our buskers raise on that hot, sweltering day itself goes to the BMDP. where it should go.

hmm... we've also got some publicity material on the way (shiny posters and things like that) but we've got to confirm sponsorship first, so we can thank them in a grand manner. ;) when that's happened, I'll be posting them here as well so you can stick them on your friend's locker.

regarding licensing: we've filed for the police licenses (the house-to-house and the public entertainment) but we have yet to file for the MDA license because we're still waiting on people to send their details in! so if you want to register, do it soon, ya? and how soon do I mean? HOW SOON IS NOW! grins. but yeah. do send it in as soooon as posssssssible.

I should add a note about logistics - basically the golden, silver and bronze rule is that if you need logistics outside of what we can provide (chairs, PA system) then you would have to justify that. it's going to cost us money to bring this stuff in so we can't take money out of the public's pocket without putting it back. yup. so I hope those concerned about what we can and can't provide will bear this in mind. for the opening and closing events, we're working with a musical equipment company (heh, I think you can guess which one) for sponsorship.

the image of a busker I have in my mind is really closely tied to the regular buskers I see everywhere, in jurong point, junction 8, the orchard underpasses, where have you. it isn't so much about getting heard than it is about just being heard, if you know what I mean. yeah, if you listen to the libertines (whom I have just turned on for the first time since last year) you should be playing france, not what became of the likely lads.

on music and performance

2006-05-05T23:03:00.000+08:00

so, radiohead did an acoustic set.

A curt "how are you?" from Yorke was his only welcome, though "Karma Police" needed no introduction, even with the frontman on guitar and Greenwood's beanpole frame hunched over an upright piano. The audience were soon in full voice. It was an instant reminder that despite all the sonic trickery Radiohead were first and foremost songwriters of distinction.

Yorke's muscled banter between songs was lost to us up in the gods, but it was clear he was a proficient busker, hitting a taut rhythm on "There, There" to which his partner added a crunchy accompaniment on his electric guitar.

Then Yorke finger picked precisely first newie "Arpeggi". As well as carrying a beautiful melody, he sang his most plaintive tune since "OK Computer". It was a straightforward arrangement, but no less beguiling for that. Another new tune had Yorke sample his voice to devise a rhythm, Laurie Anderson style. Like its peers it was propelled by a direct beat with an insistent tune on top. On the more proggy "Fake Plastic Trees" the pair met the crescendo to its emphatic chorus before the wearied finale. Greenwood even betrayed a sense of humour by peppering the number with seagull cries to add his own brand of subversion. Yorke, meanwhile, half-read green messages from small notes before chucking them away for the simple slogan, "It's not too late".

I'm posting this because I guess the singaporean music scene has disappointed me vaguely with their inability to offer acoustic - and while I would be one of the first to claim that radiohead are unmatchable, surely we could try?

underground, it's on fire

2006-05-05T20:30:00.000+08:00

I believe I may have committed the cardinal sin of blogging: not posting enough.

okay, so in my last post I said we had problems, but I didn't really say what they were, other than that they pertained to licensing and they were pretty big.

for obvious reasons, we need to apply for licensing from the appropriate authorities for the various aspects of our festival - namely, fundraising and performance. the license for fundraising (the house-to-house license) is fairly straightforward with the support of the BMDP, as you can imagine - we only need to detail where we'll be soliciting the public, approximately how many people will be involved and how we're going to go about that.

we're having lots of problems with the licensing for performance, however. essentially, we need a public entertainment license from the police and we need an arts entertainment license from the media development authority. in 2004 when we were still with RJC, we only needed the public entertainment license and the house-to-house license. since then, things have changed - we're no longer with an educational instution, evidently policy has changed (although I'm not sure what exactly) so we need an arts entertainment license nevertheless.

while this sounds reasonably straightforward on paper, it's hellish in practice. it means that we need every performer's name and the time they're scheduled for on paper when we submit the application, it means that we need the whole festival organised even before it can be given the green light.

so if the publicity person from somethingood is pushing you to register, now you know why. :)

our secondary problem is logistics. while I've approached a couple of firms and got a decent quote from a friend's contact, it nevertheless remains that we may have to spend thousands on just getting sound systems. and if we cannot find sponsorship, the money comes out of the public's pocket. the festival is still more than a month away so I refuse to go down that avenue - if you're good enough to donate, you don't deserve to have your money spent on something else. because donations are the end, not the means.

with all this happening against the backdrop of the general election, I must say I've been finding out things. great things - finding out there are so many people out there striving against the cliches to make a difference, hearing people talk of ideas like they would of action. it's an exciting world, to say the least.

roadblocks

2006-04-26T18:55:00.000+08:00

riiiiight. just as we thought we'd finally got our licensing underway, we're called up and unceremoniously dumped back at square one in spite of all we've done so far.

so right now, despite the fact that we could do a whole lot of good and we want to do a whole lot of good, we can be bundled off the streets by unamused Important People.

mumbles.

moving ahead

2006-04-24T11:05:00.000+08:00

right, so I'm seeing the effects of mass mailing a thousand people and running around on the great interweb. and it is encouraging to see your unique vistors suddenly jump to 50 a day over a weekend.

so far I guess lots of people are hearing about it, and there are folks out there interested, but it's all rather vague. so if you're reading this and you're thinking about signing up - send us an email! and we can talk about what you can do and stuff.

in terms of organisation, we're having a publicity meeting this weekend and I need to sort out some stuff with the building management along Orchard. by the end of the week everything should be set for somethingood to go ahead. well, I'm hopeful. :p

an embarrassed writer of flyers writes

2006-04-21T22:31:00.000+08:00

oh gods. I've gone and made a stupid factual mistake in the email flyer I just sent out to about a thousand people. where in the first line it says "first held in June 2004", it should read "first held in December 2004". why did I miss that when proofreading?! it was in december! in june I was still in diapers junior-college-wise!

argh. :( I'm mortified. :( soph is laughing at me.

oh well, it's done. here's the flyer for your perusal:

do SOMETHINGOOD
12 - 25 June (except Tuesdays & Thursdays)
11am - 7pm
Orchard

Somethingood is back again - first held in December 2004, this year it's a busking festival in aid of the Bone Marrow Donor Programme. This year, we'll be playing for two weeks in June right in the heart of Orchard and all funds raised will be donated to the BMDP. We'll be playing for two weeks in June right in the heart of Orchard and all funds raised will be donated to the BMDP.

If you're a performer, we want you to busk at Somethingood! Musician, singer, dancer or street artist; we're looking for people to make the streets of Orchard a different place for two weeks and the days of leukaemia-stricken children brighter for a lifetime. You'll have an opportunity to play to crowds and do Somethingood this June - all you have to do is register at http://somethingood.atspace.com.

We are also looking for people to 'can' - that is, work the crowds around the buskers to raise awareness about the BMDP and to get them to donate. Grab your friends and spend some time this June with us; again, by registering at http://somethingood.atspace.com.

If you have any questions, please email us at somethingood2006@gmail.com. You can also subscribe to our mailing list, somethingood2006@yahoogroups.com, by sending a blank email to somethingood2006-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

so do SOMETHINGOOD - spread the word to your friends!

With many thanks,
the Somethingood 2006 planning committee

wandering in to update

2006-04-12T17:12:00.000+08:00

I got my finger pricked last saturday, so somewhere out there is a form with a little bit of paper on it that's got my blood all over it. That's going to be tissue typed (for a whopping $150 which the BMDP pays for - that's why they need the money) and entered into the BMDP's database.

So when someone out there contracts leukemia, they're going to be tissue typed too, and that tissue type takes the form of a number. If I match the first 12 digits of that number, or even the first 6, I'll be a bone marrow donor. But that chances of that happening? 1 in 20,000.

They need people in their database as potential donors - www.bmdp.org will give you more information.

somethingood proceeds apace, I've got two bits of news, the proverbial good and bad. The good: we've finally sussed out what licensing we need and we've started applying for it. The officer at the BMDP helping us out with this was routed in this strange endless loop to government agency after government agency. Bizarre. Anyhow, we're applying for the two that we used last time. That satisfied the people checking our documentation in 2004, so it should be alright this time around.

The bad news is that we have some major competition for the festival. Unbeknownst to us, the Singapore Arts Festival is also doing some busking along Orchard between 10 and 20 June. Which would, yes, be the majority of our festival. I'm really not sure how this is going to work out.

We're having a planning committee meeting this weekend and once we get our licenses, I suppose more people will be reading this. ;) And I should add people to this... it really isn't a one female show. Really.

BMDP donor recruitment drive

2006-04-04T22:18:00.000+08:00

if you're attending Raffles Junior College's opening ceremony this saturday (april 8), do go down to the Bone Marrow Donor Programme's room on the 1st floor of block b. they will be running a recruitment drive for potential donors and need your support!

the BMDP need potential donors in its database because the chances of an unrelated match for a child with leukaemia are 1 in 20,000. so to give a kid just one chance in life, the BMDP needs a huge register of potential donors. so go prick your finger - that's all it takes.

on spelling

2006-04-01T10:16:00.000+08:00

this is somethingood.

not something good, somethinggood or somethingGood. just one g in the whole thing, okay? (we're not particular about capitalisation, somethingood and Somethingood are both acceptable.)

It lives!

2006-03-30T14:15:00.000+08:00

This horrible little two column thing took me two hours to resolve to my satisfaction. (To those who can understand: I'm floating both columns, and MSIE and Firefox wouldn't cooperate for ages. I tried about 12 different solutions, none of which worked; then rewrote the whole second half of the page.)

At any rate, now we have something up to refer people to, get the word out - somethingood is coming your way in June 2006!