We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!

Personality of Cult has officially arrived! We even made it onto the marquee!
Six months ago, this was an idea in my head, and this week, it became a reality. The past week has been nothing short of complete terror gradually fading away to wonderful elation.

Wednesday night, when we were collecting the final pieces, I was on pins and needles. As each piece came in, I was blown away by what the artists have created. They really embraced this concept and knocked it out of the park. By the end of the night, we only had a couple of works left to be delivered in the morning before we started hanging.

My buddy Scott came up a day early to help out. I haven't seen him in person in a couple years, and it was like old times. With this art show causing so much stress over the past couple weeks, it was necessary for me to have the stabilizing element of my oldest and best friend at my side. We grabbed a late dinner and watched Cinematic Titanic, a much needed good laugh, before going to sleep.

Thursday morning, we got to the Circle bright and early for the live segment on NewsChannel 8's morning show. The segments went extremely well, even though watching it later, I realized just how many nervous ticks I have. I need to work on the whole nervously scratching my forehead thing before my next poker game.

We did two short segments in about an hour, and shortly after the first one was over, a guy showed up at the Circle wanting to talk with us about his idea for a motorcycle rally and was picking our brains on how to get it started. I gave the guy as much advice as I could about people he could talk to. He stuck around for a while, and was there for the opening show...really taking advantage of the free food.

We left for a bit to pick up our friend Corey and his (the final) piece for the show. We grabbed some burgers and finished up the hanging of the show. Later in the afternoon, we had to take care of the last three things before we were ready to open the show:

1) Music. We were borrowing Mary's iPod for the show, and the problems we had with the music was copying over the music I bought on iTunes. Mary's only stipulation with the iPod was that we must NOT register the iPod on whatever computer we used. So, all that purchased music needed to be burned to CD, taken to another computer, ripped to MP3s and copied over the old fashioned way.

2) Title Cards. We stopped by my office to use the laser printer and dry mounted them to some thicker paper.

3) Food. I had ordered three huge party trays on Tuesday and picked them up Thursday afternoon. I decided against getting a fruit ray and do it myself, saving a few bucks in the process.

We were done around six, ready for the crowd.

People started pouring in. I was nervous as hell. We had not done any mailing for the opeing, instead relying on word of mouth and Myspace. We had nearly 150 people over the course of the night, everyone having an absolute blast. Around eight, I addressed the audience. I introduced myself, and asked that at the count of three everyone SMILE!

For three hours, I was meeting and greeting. I celebrated with the artists, met many new ones who are dying to be in the next one. Channel 6 came by to film the art and the crowd. And, I did all of this without a single drop of alcohol.

We were a bonafide hit! People loved the art, loved the concept, and we are now clear to proceed with Personality of Cult 2: Electric Boogaloo. Plus, the response may just help us land some sponsorship.

When we stopped by my place for a moment earlier in the day, Corey noticed my novelty clapboard, and suggested we mark it up for the show. It wound up being my favorite souvenir from that evening. At the end of the night, I addressed the crowd one more time, holding up the clapboard, "Ladies and gentlemen! Personality of Cult: Exhibit One is a wrap! Cut, print, check the gate!"