Everyone is entitled to my opinion...

 

Last week I helped put on a charity event at the Gaelic Theatre in Surry Hills. It was called Perform4YourCharity and was dreamt up by Simon Cranley. It was a huge night and we raised somewhere in the vicinty of $10,000 for 10 different charities... but it nearly didn't happen.

 

I spent weeks trying to think of everything that could go wrong before the event so I was prepared for any eventuality on the night. After checking all my spreadsheets and making sure I had everyone's mobile number in my phone, I was feeling pretty confident before I walked in the door of the venue.

 

Damn... the Venue! I forgot to check the venue!

 

When I arrived, the place looked like a bomb had hit it. Admittedly we knew they were renovating, but we'd been assured that they would be finished by the time of our show. Looking at the venue at 3 in the afternoon, I seriously doubted this was possible.

 

There was so much dust on the bar I could write my name in it. There was no PA or lighting system in place, wires hung from the ceiling and somewhat inconveniently, there was a cement mixer in the doorway. This didn't look good.

 

After a quick chat to the bar manager and the stage guy, I was assured that everything would be OK before doors opened at 7pm. That was only four hours away..

 

True to their word, the venue pulled out all the stops and at 5 minutes to 7, they wiped down the bar for the 10th time and the place looked like a venue again. People were even queued up out the front waiting to get in! No one who attended the night would have known the condition of the room when I first walked in there. Once the lighting went down and there was music playing and people drinking, the room looked a treat.

 

Big thanks to all the acts who played on the night, including Johnny Zoch, Mandi Jarry and Impro Australia who took the first, secong and third prizes on the night. Also thanks to Natalie and Jen our production girls who kept the show running, plus Steve our sound guy and Sam for setting up the lights and making sure the drum kit would look good on video!

 

And huge thanks to Erin from The Gaelic who made the venue work.