Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ponkster on October 2, 2011 at 9:26am

get some digs that has a bar and some where we can all congreate and even have a strum.

 

All wear name badges with our web names as well on - I'm still confused!!

 

recee out some good cafes for breakfast so we can all meet up in the morning ( always thinking about food)

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 2, 2011 at 9:29am

Name badges...too right!?  It twists my melon on the day, trying to figure out who's who!!!

Ponkster said:

get some digs that has a bar and some where we can all congreate and even have a strum.

 

All wear name badges with our web names as well on - I'm still confused!!

 

recee out some good cafes for breakfast so we can all meet up in the morning ( always thinking about food)

Permalink Reply by Malcolm Wright on October 2, 2011 at 11:32am

Got loads of ideas buzzin round my head which - when I'm not so tired - I'll post here.

 

Biggest problem?......finding a headline act to better Ben Prestage.

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 2, 2011 at 11:50am

Well....there you go...we all thought getting Seasick Steve would be cool..but with all respect, they aren't in the same class.

 

Permalink Reply by Mark on October 2, 2011 at 1:02pm

Some initial thoughts - not meant as a gripe, just trying to give some practical feedback:

The Public seems a great venue in terms of the facilities (and I got the impression they were reasonably helpful as an organisation).

On the downside, there's some issues around accomodation and facilities in the area generally. I guess accomodation was a pain because the Premier Inn got booked up. For anyone travelling by public transport that meant the options were rather limited. To be fair the rooms at the Hare and Five Hounds were fine - the downer was the slog carrying my gear from the tramstop on a freakishly hot and humid night on a route that crossed unlit wasteground.

It was also a pain in the arse that Friday night's do was a considerable distance away - fine for those with cars but not for anyone for whom the only option seemed to be a pricey taxi ride. If you want to draw in more people I think you need to at least keep accessibility/transport issues in the back of your minds.

The options for somewhere to get a bit of dinner on Saturday night weren't great (a bit telling that a lot of people ended up at Pizza Hut). It really surprised me that in a place that size there wasn't more choice.

So I guess you have to weigh up whether the benefits of the venue outweigh the deterrent factors associated with West Brom.

As for the event itself - there remains a great value in just having a space to meet people and talk and play guitars. The setup at the public seems very good for that (eg. having a relatively secure space for our exclusive use). The only snag for me was that sometimes things got a bit loud in the general mix-n-talk area - eg. when the open mike session was happening or when someone tried a guitar through one of the bigger amps it got hard to hear what you were doing if you were playing around with something acoustic. Perhaps the ideal setup would be to have all the louder stuff in side rooms - but obviously you have to work within the facilities available.

Another minor criticism was the lack of a clear timetable. Last year we at least had a printed up schedule (even if it did drift somewhat). I think most people understood it was all a bit mad and we generally muddled by, but it does make a difference if you have a programme and schedule and and everyone knows what's going on when. (I think Hollowbelly's sessions worked well - he's good at working out the right amount of content and keeping it tight.)

Finally, having a spectacular headline act for the evening gig was clearly a big success - I know it takes a lot of work to sort something like that but I think it made a big contribution to the general feeling of punters getting value for money.

 

Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on October 2, 2011 at 1:47pm

Would love to see MIKE SNOWDEN from Georgia headlining next year, though probably not as technically gifted as mr.Prestage he does some amazing songs and is a very talented entertainer,   he hasn't graced our shores as yet as far as i know but would be great if we could get him - he's a great builder, performer and recording artist, the one who really got me going with CBG's ! (-:

 

http://www.snowdenguitars.com/

 

 

 

 

 

ChickenboneJohn said:

Well....there you go...we all thought getting Seasick Steve would be cool..but with all respect, they aren't in the same class.

 

Permalink Reply by Chris Tinker on October 2, 2011 at 7:41pm

Thanks again. Brilliant work John and everyone else, I really enjoyed it.

A definite yes to name badges (and perhaps just before next years boxstock everyone could change their avatars on CB nation to recognisable pictures?) It was a shame I didn't get to meet everyone I know of here.....

Timetable was definitely another thing, I missed Chickenbone John's workshop! I didn't even know it had happened till I read someone's comment here.

Ben Prestage every year and as our patron? I think we may have peaked too soon on headliners, oops. If Seasick steve had been there,I think he might have been supporting lower down the bill......

 

 

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 2, 2011 at 8:00pm

Mark..thanks for the comments..and I think they are bang on. Firstly, after last year, I deliberately kept the timetable a bit loose, as last year it did drift somewhat..I think I went too far this year..and as you say, the printed timetable is helpful to remind people what is happening.

 

From an organisational point of view in terms of the actual spaces, the perfomance space, technical support, helpful staff..and the price, The Public has set the bar pretty high. It's not perfect - this year they didn't do hot food (my fault, as last year I'd specifically agreed a lunchtime menu)..and they ran out of beer!

 

It main drawback is where it is - lets be frank, West Bromwich is an archetypal cultural wasteland, and The Public was a very controversial project when it was built...I think you can imagine what the reaction was to a multi-million pound pink, black and green spaceship landing there. Basically it has a lot of prejudice to overcome...and they are trying hard to win over people against the odds to come and use the facility...that's why they welcome events like Boxstock. It doesnt have a solid week-in, week-out clientelle for music gigs (it covers a much wider range of arts & cultural activites). Against that background I reckon we do a heck of a good job to put on the event we do.

 

I decided to do the open mic at that pub because it HAS that music background..but the downside that it was  a fair step from the main venue...and nearby pubs just aren't doing open mics and proper live music.

 

Accommodation..last year most people stayed at the Premier Inn in West Brom Central, which was literally 5 minutes walk from the venue, but they were booked solid months before the event. The only way to have avoided this situation would be for me to have taken a MASSIVE personal gamble and booked 20 or 30 rooms the same week that I fixed the date of Boxstock. You can see the problem - 30 rooms, say half for 1 night, half for 2 nights  even at a rock bottom discount rate of £20  would have been £900 of my own money (at that time the HGMC wasn't properly set up and didn't have a bank account).

 

Yes..Pizza Hut ......I should have told people to got to The Vine pub and get a pint and a curry..ah well, but another problem West Brom is the back end of nowhere in that respect. On the other hand, Birmingham is just 4 or 5 miles down the road, and choice of places to go is greatl...but getting a venue there that would have satisfied all our needs and that we could have afforded would have been a tall order.

 

So....personally I'm up for a change of venu, and a change of location regionally too maybe...mainly to keep the whole concept fresh. The Public has been great, and for me made the practical side of running the event on the day as painless as it could have been....but time to set some new targets and move forward. I think any change of location and venue needs to set out some definite objectives of what we need, and what we'd like to see. Boxstock isn't a hole-in the wall operation now...after running for 3 years, 2 of them at a high profile state of the art venue, we should be selective about where it takes place.

 

I think in some ways the event came of age this year..we consolidated on what we'd achieved last year with the pukka venue and  growth in numbers, by securing a world class headliner and going to two days.....that was quite a step.

Permalink Reply by Strolling Tone on October 2, 2011 at 10:09pm

This year's event has been a massive success. The informal open mic at the Barge and Barrel, the hugely successful build a cbg workshop, exotic belly dancers (oh yeah!) and outstanding performances from Hollowbelly, Tinqui8 and, of course, Mr Prestage.

What would have improved it for me would have been accommodation, places to eat, the open mic pub and the venue all being much closer together - ideally avoiding the need to drive and take taxis. Also, somewhere to congregate, natter and possibly jam like a bar in the hotel.

Thinking about next year - it's likely that there will be far more people keen to get up and have a go so it might be worth running an all day open mic, possibly broken up with jam sessions led by various people. Perhaps this could run in parallel with other activities and people could dip in and out when they felt like it.

As far as headline performers go - I would really love to see the Drip Dry Man, or possibly Purgatory Hill, or even Shane Speal himself. And hopefully Kevin Brown will quickly recover from his illness so perhaps we should book him now?

Permalink Reply by Mark on October 2, 2011 at 11:02pm

The guitar building workshops seem to be a great success and I think they have a lot of potential for drawing new people into this game. Obviously from what was said on Saturday people are already working on taking these things further but it's worth mentioning again here that HGMC are open to ideas about other events where something like that might fit in. A thought that struck me is Cambridge Folk Festival - it's had instrument making workshops in the past and CBGs definitely fit into the category of a folk instrument.

Permalink Reply by Mark on October 2, 2011 at 11:11pm

Just to pick up again on my earlier coments. I'm right with you John on what you said about The Public. Creating something like that is a brave project and I think they deserve recognition for what they've achieved and support for the future - because sometimes those types of schemes can help start a transformation. Even if Boxstock were to move to another location it would be good to continue to have some sort of contact with them.
(although maybe someone should suggest a name change 'cos the current one has potential for confusion - when I told people I was going to an event at The Public most of the asked "the public what?")

Permalink Reply by smojo on October 2, 2011 at 11:48pm

Agree pretty much with all that's been said. I think John did a sterling job under the circumstances and it's hard to get everything right. For me I would welcome a venue where there's plenty of local accomodation, parking and decent food places to eat and prferably have the friday night open mic in the same walkable location so no expensive taxis etc. Me and Mark did manage to get in the Premier Inn but I booked it months ago. Last year we were bumped off by the B&B we'd booked the day before the event. Accomodation has to be a personal commitment, we can't expect John to sort that out as well but if we do move to another location, these things are important and I feel will encourage more visitors.

The schedule was too vague I have to say that - I missed some stuff I'd like to have seen. 

The Show and Tell was a good idea and think we should repeat that but allow an hour. I decided to tag my electronic stuff onto it and had to rush through it faster than I'd have liked so maybe that was a mistake. I wasn't sure how much interest there would be in my stuff but a few people said they were disappointed to have missed it because it was running at the same time as the build your own cbg workshop. So I would say definitley don't double up on workshops timings. Some people want to see everything.

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