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Being that I was in an adrenaline haze for most of the evening, it's hard to say.
I loved Dominic Miller's story of trying to be cool in hospital, and his trangender encounter with the Adelaide police.
Kylie Purr's story was especially entertaining, but I think the best stories of the night came from Robyn Gallagher, the NSYNC junkie, and Paul Cowan, the Gameshow junkie.
A few of them I missed key parts of, as I was getting ready to hustle the next reader on stage.
But all in all, I think it was a pretty good night, and I'm looking forward to being involved with the next one.
– Ben Ryan who traveled from North Melbourne to Fray Day Melbourne |
I had told my story to friends and loved ones many times in my life ... this was the first opportunity I took to tell it to a crowd. It was the most awesome experience, especially since my tale was so close to my heart. Thank you Derek (and everyone else who helped!), for a wonderful event. Even when I am a silent listener at Fray Day, it rocks ... add the experience of sharing my tale and it rocked harder.
– JISH who traveled from Pacifica, CA to Fray Day San Francisco |
The stories, the art, the music, and especially the people were great! What a fun event. Thank you Derek and anyone who helped out or went up on stage. Can't wait till next time!
– Dave {dave@bernreuther.com}, who traveled from San Carlos, CA to Fray Day San Francisco |
it was wonderful - seeing rob was great as was seeing all the other participants and guests. thank you derek, for making it all possible, and to all of those who's work went to make fray day possible.
– evan {evan@evanrose.com}, who traveled from oakland to Fray Day San Francisco |
While Derek read his story about his VW Beetle almost going up in flames and delivered some opening comments Gareth whispered to me that it was beautiful to be able to see in-person how completely passionate Derek is about fray. I agreed.
Unfortuntely, it was annoying that many of the evening's first-up "featured performers" did not bother to stay to support the open mic readers. (The only ones I saw listening to the final open mic performers were Derek, Brad, Shawna, and Rob Brezsny.) Unfortunately, I think the "us" and "them" paradigm is sort of divisive for a community website, where "us" becomes the "a-listers," and "them" are the hoi polloi.
Of course, almost all of the "featured performers" had engaging stories to tell, but the "featured performers" overran their featured opening time slot and even though the event wound up running one hour over its scheduled ending time of midnight, three people on the open mic list didn't get a chance to read their stories.
Yes, some of the open mic performances were self-conscious and meandering. Yes, some points of the evening were a tad difficult to sit through. (When I complained to Gareth about the quality of a few of the pieces, he wisely said to me, "But just getting up there to speak is such an important act for every person who did it. You have to be excited about that." He was right. There were great pieces from Jish, Mena, a guy named Paul, and several others whose names I don't recall. Particularly engaging for me were the woman who read the poem and the other woman who sang about "Aural Pleasure." Metagrrrl's singing at the end of her story about San Francisco even got Gareth a little teary-eyed.)
Yes, several of the open mic performers ran over their time limits too. But I can't believe a group that claims it is about "community" couldn't stay around to support their fellow "community members'" fledgling efforts at story telling. It made me sad.
"Please, if I ever become a 'cool person' or a popular writer, don't ever let me get that way," I fumed to Gareth.
"I'll remind you not to," he whispered back.
I read my story just after midnight, and we all stayed until the event closed down at 1a.m., when we helped stack up the chairs. More importantly, we stayed in our seats to support the final performers. The general trend was that once people were finished reading their stories they would exit to the lobby to chat loudly with their friends.
Apparently, I'm not the only one who found the "A-listers'" behavior, both amusing and annoying.
All this said, I am glad I was able to attend and participate in the event. I loved the interactive art projects, I enjoyed DJ Soul Pants' spinning, and I was inspired by Tarin Towers' poetry reading. I think Derek and everyone did an amazing job, and I hope no one will be too offended by my frankness. It just pissed me off to see that a few people whose writing I had previously enjoyed turned out to be so self-congratulatory and disrespectful to others in real life. Maybe I am overreacting. Maybe I am misreading the situation. Maybe those people who left had some other important event they needed to get to. Maybe they were tired. Maybe I should just shut up. But unfortunately, that is a sad result of an event that is supposed to be encouraging others' story-telling.
I have some pictures and commentary posted at http://www.poprocks.com/photos/frayed_weekend/
– Jess Barron {jess@poprocks.com}, who traveled from down the street to Fray Day San Francisco |
this was my second fray day in san francisco and i had a marvelous time! the stories were wonderful as was the audience. i appreciated the opportunity to share 'word oracle' with everyone. i'm counting down the days until next year. thanks to everyone who particpated and stuck around to help clean up. see you in the fray!
– heather who traveled from delightful cole valley to Fray Day San Francisco |
I had a great time, despite a cold that I caught on the way over to the US in the plane.
It was brilliant to meet friends, both old and new.
Will I do it a 3rd time next year? Will there be a {fray} day in Dublin? Who knows?
– Tom Cosgrave {tom@tomcosgrave.com}, who traveled from Dublin, Ireland to Fray Day San Francisco |
Fray Day was a wonderful celebration of spoken and sung word that covered a broad spectrum of thoughts, words, and word patterns. Derek and all the others who helped make the night a success my wife Joy and I thank you deeply.
– Thomas Vander Wal who traveled from Washington, DC to Fray Day San Francisco |
The stories were wonderful. The crowd was wonderful. Those listening to the open mic performers were exuberant and supportive.
Completely overwhelmed with nervousness when I first stepped on that stage, I soon felt quite at ease because of the cheers of support.
I especially liked the story about the sapling and the building inspector, though I do not remember the story-teller's name. Who are you?
It was a delightful evening and both Ben and I had a great time.
– Mena Trott {mena@dollarshort.org}, who traveled from Petaluma, California to Fray Day San Francisco |
Mena, Kevin Smokler was the fellow with the sapling story. And thanks so much for facing down your nerves and telling your bookstore 'n' boots story! What a privilege to host the open mic and hear everyone's wonderful tales. I do feel bad that we didn't get to everyone on the list; I think had we known everyone would stick around and tidy the joint in 20 minutes flat, we might have gotten a little slack and squeezed the last couple on stage.
My favorite moment? All of the ones that ended in hugs and handshakes and laughter...and there were quite a few!
– Brad L. Graham {blgraham@bradlands.com}, who traveled from St. Louis, Missouri to Fray Day San Francisco |
I had been reading fray.com for about three years on & off and had followed the fraydays wistfully from my monitor halfway across the globe wishing I could attend. it was a wonderful surprise to find out that this frayday would be held while i was actually in san francisco...
this was my last night in the country and there were many many things i would have liked to do, especially considering that i had just fallen in love with a native west coaster whom I would only get to enjoy for this one last night until who-knows-when. but attending frayday has been a strong wish for a long time, and there was nowhere else i wanted to be & nothing i would rather end my stay in the us with, so i took my man along (who was way too wonderful to complain). I was at FrayDay.
it meant a lot to me.
it was a pleasure to see and hear so many people speak names i had known for years, people who make up what i have long since jokingly called the "internet bratpack", people whose efforts, stories & websites I have admired along with half the computerized world I would guess.
I was not expecting to be so strongly dissapointed and - to be quite frank - disgusted at their behaviour. I was both. The reasons were very well stated in Jess's message so I won't go into them all again.
Now I'm left with a stale taste in my mouth. Too bad, it really tarnished what otherwise would have been a heart warming display of community.
As it stood it was - with the exception of the disrespectul and thoughtless behavior of the "A-Listers" - a very nice evening, all you open-mic'ers: it was great to share your captured moments with you. Derek - thank you - you did a wonderful job, you continue to be an inspiration.
– trouble {lucifaa@yahoo.com}, who traveled from Heidelberg, Germany to Fray Day San Francisco |
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