October 27, 2004: Ministry, Thrill Kill Kult, with Hanzel and Gretyl at the Myrtle Beach SC House of Blues

Final Head Count: 380

Well, overall the show went well even though it had really shaky beginnings. Upon arrival at 5:30 sharp as per the email and as Anais had requested, nobody at the House of Blues seemed to have any idea who our contact, Angie, really was or that Music for America existed. Nor did Cory or I get a chance to meet up until a little before the show began. Luckily, he got the gumption to march back behind the scenes and just take charge while I was hesitant and skeptical because of my former experiences with the Myrtle Beach HOB staff. He setup a table in the corner near the entrance ramp, an excellent position and kudos to him for getting it, even before I was able to figure out how to get in. It turns out that the mystical “Angie” was none other than Al Jourgenson’s (lead singer of Ministry) wife, also tour manager, and was not very useful for her to be our contact because she was so busy. It may be advisable to try and get local people at the venue as contact persons in the future on this, or any, tour.

Corey found the MFA box o’ stuff, but there was no after-show info sheet to fill out as well as it was missing the SASE (self addressed stamped envelope), so I will take the liberty to spend like 2 bucks and mail the signatures myself. We immediately took it upon ourselves to pass out the buttons to the crowds waiting to get in to pique their interest even before they scurried by our table, which proved to be a successful tactic. It became noticeable that more people of the older demographics seemed to be attracted to our setup as the people began to filter in. We took their info, but we tried to focus more on the younger looking, and consequently the harder-to-get-the-attention-of group. Corey and I seemed to be able to work the crowds well and directly confronted people with our clipboards with good results. Before the night was through, we were able to get about 4.5 pages of signatures and hopefully most of those are valid emails. I was hoping to get far more; there’s always next time. I was also able to enlist a few of my friends to aid in passing out buttons to the crowd and getting signatures; if you want their information for possible new volunteers, let me know.

The bands were good, but the only pictures of famous people we were able to get was of Al Jourgenson. The rest of the bands just got into their busses and prepared to depart after the show. Al came behind the busses to greet a few fans and to sign some stuff, and Corey sprang into action and ran to get his camera so we could get some promo shots for MFA and for personal effects, I might add. He snapped a few pictures, and the night ended pretty much as Al got onto one of the busses and wasn’t seen again. We tried to get a few more signatures of some stragglers and that was about it after we snagged the headcount from the venue manager. Overall a successful gig!

Success with the Freebee Materials

The pamphlets seemed to interest the people the least. One possible reason could be, as I noticed and several people mentioned, was that they seemed “wordy and not very ‘picturesque,’” as one crowd member said (obviously referring to the fact that there were few pictures or things to catch the eye of the reader…remember this venue isn’t exactly full of people wanting to read about politics, seriously). This is truly unfortunate because in my opinion these pamphlets should have been one of the main focuses of the entire venture since we could no longer register people to vote.

The buttons were an excellent edition to our presentation and presence partially because it was something tangible that everyone can relate to with little participation on their part. I mean, you don’t have to be Einstein to pin a button on yourself and you’ll still feel like you are contributing to the cause at hand. The “Punk Voter” buttons went faster than the MFA icon advert buttons; the addition of some catchy phrase or something on the MFA buttons would make them more popular. Before we knew it, there were girls pinning them on their boobs and even some of the band members ended up with a few. Good idea on the buttons!

We weren’t allowed to pass out the stickers until the end of the show, but they disappeared nearly before I could grab one or two for myself. With this said, perhaps changing the way the pamphlet information is presented, maybe make them stickers or something shorter with catch phrases, and this would increase the interest and the audience. The “keep it simple” method usually works best, especially at rock shows where people often go to relax and try to forget their worries. The pamphlets seemed contrary to what people prefer to do at shows. I feel I was partially to blame in that I didn’t prepare any posters or anything to grab the attention of the people, but it seemed there was little time for that. That could be an idea for a possible addition to the tub; a poster or something that would make the MFA presence more noticeable.

We also were able to wrangle some promo CDS away from the Ministry merchandise manager to give out; hugely successful. MFA should be able to organize some promotional materials directly related with the bands as well. So instead of saying, “Hi, we’re from MFA and trying to get people interested in becoming politically active,” you can say, “Hey come and get a FREE CD or some FREE STICKERS and learn some stuff that could change our country!” Anyway, these are just ideas from someone on the outside, a meager volunteer, that probably doesn’t realize how truly busy you are!

Concluding Remarks, Logistics, and Demographics

• We were able to get the box o’ stuff onto one of the Ministry tour buses without too much trouble and security wasn’t too much of a hassle after they realized we were there for a cause and were supposed to be there. I will be mailing the email lists either today or tomorrow. The buttons and stickers were the big takers, getting the most interest from the crowd and helping us give out some of the pamphlets. It would be awesome to get some promotional Ministry stuff to give out with the pamphlets so at least the crowd would read our stuff later.

• Angie the contact wasn’t to be found, and having a lack of a good person to meet up with was the most difficult situation of the night. Local venue persons would probably prove to be more useful as contacts, though it would prove to be more difficult and time consuming to contact each venue.

• We were able to get signatures from younger and older demographics, at least making our participation in the show a success. This is quite the alternative crowd to try and approach about political activism, but I think we did well.

• Got some good pictures for your website, and we will be blogging this and the pictures on your site with your permission; though, I wanted this to be more directed for administrative consideration. I will also include a copy of this in the envelope with the email lists.

That’s about it. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact either Cory or myself concerning the show. Thank you very much for allowing us to participate in this show, we equally appreciate it. I hope you will consider us again for any future shows at this or other venues that we could manage to make it to!

Regards,

Gabriel Barbee

Cory Sanders