Commodore Remix

That sounds ultra fine to me... I'm sure Mark would be up for it... It's seems to be what he's building to for the future anyway...

> I'm sure Mark would be up for it...
I know you are, but what is... er... he?

That didn't come out right

Chris

I was talking about MingMark

> I was talking about MingMark
I know, childish joke from me there

I'll get my... oh, hang on, I'm already wearing it....

Ok, let's anwer some posts:

The club:
The club is owned by a friend; despite that, i still have to go there what i know for sure is that it's 650 square meters and is a "themed" club for latino-american dancers. They make mainly live music, so there should be not much problems for the PA.
I still have to talk to the guy to ask about all the specs: i think i'll be able to be more precise today.
The website is http://www.azucar.it



Sleeping:

there are several possibilities: as i said, the Garda Lake is a very well known touristic area, so, it's full of hotels. The main problem is that, being in June, they would likely be a problem to book for beds (if booking takes place after May). Mid june is also the "beginning" of tourism in the close city of Verona, but finding an hotel there should be not a problem.

Connections:

I have to check those, but there should be busses from the Airport to the Garda Lake and, for sure, from Verona to the lake and back.
The Club is not on the lake, but very close (5 minutes).

The Lake:
http://www.gardalake.it/
http://www.lagodigarda.it/changelang.asp?ID=2
http://www.garda.com/

well, i hate lakes but many ppl loves them. Garda's lake is the bigger italian lake and is well equipped to sustain summer tourism. That means, it's full of pubs, bars, clubs, and (expecially) german girlies in vacancy .

Verona:
http://www.verona.com/

Verona is a not-so-known internationally city (everybody talks about Rome, Firenze, Venice..), but is, imho, the better balanced one.
That means, is literally full of monuments and places of hystoric interest.
It's not big and it's not little. A good place to live in.
Beside the "Arena", there are a shitload of pretty places to visit.
Of course, pubs, clubs... and everything else is there.

About the proposed "Bitlive in Arena".
Sorry man, that's absolutely impossible, for 3 reasons:
1) starting from june the "operas" season begins and the Arena is already booked.
2) Renting the Arena would cost more of what i'll ever earn in the average Joe life.
3) The responsibles are very picky to give it away.

More news to come.

Ok, update:

I talked to the club owner: there is a "bad" notice and plenty of good ones


The "bad" one:

Saturday is impossible: he has about 700/800 customers in saturday and of course he can't affort to loose them.

Good days are: Monda, Tuesday and Thursday.

The Good ones:

1) he told me that June is not a so critical month to book for a bed; also, there are a certain number of campings around the lake.
2) the club has, of course, his own audio amplification and lights; a stage is there too.
3) For mics, mixers and so on he usually rely on a third party that, basing on the concert specifications, take the gears. Price for the rent is distribuited automatically by the Club owner on the tickets.
4) He can also arrange to:
-book beds for the performers (in italy there's no "per room" policy, but "per person". A good 4 stars hotel is about 80€ per person, but there are also much cheaper hotels around).
-make special agreements for other hotels/camping for Bitlive attendants.
-organize coaches from/to airport/club and verona/club (and of course, club/lake).
-We discussed also the possibility to advertise the event on newspapers and so on to get more ppl at the show.
-He told me that tickets, on a 100/150 persons basis, wuold be around 20 euros each (depending on the gears needed for the performers).
-Optionally, he could also arranhge for a "common" dinner in the club (it's also a restaurant). In any case, everyone can order what he wants in any time for lunch (after the 21.00) and to drink (at any hour).

Basically, what he needs is a planning of the event, with the bands playing (how many members, what kind of instruments are they playing, what gears are they carrying themselves [mics, guitars, synths, and so on]) to get an idea of the expenses and the cost of the tickets. Tickets may or may not include the costs for the coaches.

I think I'll check personally the club in the week.

Wow!

thats sold it to me

So.. er... it sounds like the club owner will be in full control of everything. Which is bad and good, since if this is a Retrovision, there would need to be C64s and TVs, but then there's no risk on Mark (or indeed me, not that there was going to be). This is kind of unusual.

*culture shock!* What happens if the club owner wants to organise it differently to us lot? Is he friendly and open to co-operation?

The other thing is:

(a) 100-150 people in such a big club? Might feel a bit Back in Time Live 1 esque?
(b) Weekdays? Who will fly on a weekday?
(c) If this is a Retrovision, then June 2006 is Copenhagen. Or do we put RV in the middle of the week and BIT Live at the weekend? That would make it an international jet-setting "must take week off for time of life" thing.
(d) If this is marketed as a Retro event then there's a chance it might pull in the passing trade. Dunno how big that scene is in Italy. If it's not explicitly a C64 event (but if most, but not all) of the acts are C64 related (with perhaps someone like Bastian), then it could work to attract extra crowds. But do we _want_ extra crowds who don't know us? Or do they just add bulk to the event?

* confused now! *


Chris

Of course... don't forget the costs will be more flying the performers out. Copenhagen is PPOT's home turf, so no flight or accomodation costs there, just the "others".. In Italy... everyone needs to fly, and stay somewhere...

To be honest, I think this is a bit of a side-track, maybe even a dead end...

As Chris said, weekdays are not going to be possible for many people.
Still, it's one option to put on the "possible" list.

Chris Abbott wrote:So.. er... it sounds like the club owner will be in full control of everything. Which is bad and good, since if this is a Retrovision, there would need to be C64s and TVs, but then there's no risk on Mark (or indeed me, not that there was going to be). This is kind of unusual.

For now we didn't talk about giant tv screens and/or computers.
The question is: are they really needed? I mean, ok, it's about retrocomputer, but, more
precisely, retrocomputer music. I think the event could focus on music instead of
videogame clips on a screen.

Chris Abbott wrote: *culture shock!* What happens if the club owner wants to organise it differently to us lot? Is he friendly and open to co-operation?

He's really friendly (by now) and i think it will be enough to be certain with him
on who will have control of the whole thing.

Chris Abbott wrote: (a) 100-150 people in such a big club? Might feel a bit Back in Time Live 1 esque?

I still have to check the club, but from what i know it should be divided in various parts.
The bar/restaurant part should be enough "intimate" to give the right feel also if few ppl
wil be there. On the other side, we could do some advertising too. Tourists are there looking
for fun, and maybe we can gather some other retro-maniacs and guys interested in alternative
music and culture.

Chris Abbott wrote: (b) Weekdays? Who will fly on a weekday?

Everyone who can afford to take 2 days off work, i presume. I'm sorry about that point,
but i can't do anything about that. On the other side, ryanair flights will be surely
much cheaper on weekdays.

Chris Abbott wrote: (c) If this is a Retrovision, then June 2006 is Copenhagen. Or do we put RV in the middle of the week and BIT Live at the weekend? That would make it an international jet-setting "must take week off for time of life" thing.

Look, i'm not trying to stole the scene from any bitlive/retrovision event. What i'm doing is to
give an oppurtunity to do something related to our passion. May it be labeled Retrovision,
Bitlive, Bitaly, Badass Nipple or something. June isn't mandatory. It could be June05,
September05, December04, January05. There's absolutely no problems about that (of course, it's
hard to see attendants sleeping in tent in january).
As i said, that's an opportunity to do something: "in place of", "in addition of", or "nothing"
is just something we all have to decide.

Chris Abbott wrote: (d) If this is marketed as a Retro event then there's a chance it might pull in the passing trade. Dunno how big that scene is in Italy. If it's not explicitly a C64 event (but if most, but not all) of the acts are C64 related (with perhaps someone like Bastian), then it could work to attract extra crowds. But do we _want_ extra crowds who don't know us? Or do they just add bulk to the event?

That's why i'm not so sure too it's a good idea to give it the retrovision label.
Sure, there are retromaniacs in italy, but they are mainly associated with some
cultural/political trends i wouldn't be happy to see at the event.

I guess a bitlive concert/happening/whatever would be more correct, and the point
is to advertise it the right way (if any advertising will be made), to avoid
misunderstandings with the "casual" attendant.

The extra crowd factor is a good point too: ppl from verona (if any) would come mainly
attracted by the retro-thing, it's more likely to see uninformed dudes coming from the
lake side (tourists).

Chris Abbott wrote: * confused now! *

Sign of the times

> Badass Nipple
Heh, good title.

Any other thoughts?

madfiddler wrote:Of course... don't forget the costs will be more flying the performers out. Copenhagen is PPOT's home turf, so no flight or accomodation costs there, just the "others".. In Italy... everyone needs to fly, and stay somewhere...

I definitely would love to come to Copenhagen, so there's no prob about that. As i said, my idea is just an opportunity, not a "in place of" proposal.

Said that, flights from europe to italy (expecially inweek) with ryanair could be as cheap as 0,90 euros.

On the fact that everyone needs to get a bed, that's true, exactly as it has been true for *any* bitlive until today. Performers had to sleep somewhere (ppot too) and had expenses. Ok, mainly we saw ppl from UK.

If the idea is to keep the event in the uk, so the great part of the attendants don't has to spend money, i can't do anything about that.

I spent my money to come to 2 bitlive. I don't see why other ppl can't do the same.

cheers.

> If the idea is to keep the event in the uk,
That's precisely what's NOT happening.

But I get your point: as an additional filler with one-man-and-his-Sidstation stuff, it could be good. I'm just not sure how many people will be able to fly to Italy in the middle of the week. Getting 100-150 UK people off their arses to come to London at a weekend was hard enough. And yes, it made me indignant and angry. Still does, kind of. Though somehow there managed to be over 200 people at the event.

Chris