Too lazy to set a custom title
Industry Role:
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Player Del Ray
Posts: 9,716
|
The Good From the Players Ball
Now that I explained the bad from the Ball, time to talk about the good because the good outweighed the bad.
No matter what, the worst thing ever is to have a VIP feel like they're not a VIP and for that I'm very sorry. We did everything we could to beat C2K's ass that night and the nights leading up to it. It's obvious they don't want us back, so they can go fuck themselves.
That being said, let's talk about the good because I feel the full story needs to be told.
First, it?s better to have everyone want to go to your party then to have only a few people show up and not really care about it. Seeing the response and hearing the feedback at the booth, we can see that this event has grown beyond what I ever thought it would. It makes me feel great that a simple gesture to hook up your friends in the biz turned into something a lot larger. All I ever wanted to do was point the attention to sponsors and give back to our community for all of the wonderful things this biz has done for me. That?s my drive and my goal. I?m a webmaster like you guys, I don?t need to make a profit from throwing an industry event, just have it pay for itself is all I want to accomplish.
Normally, I?m uncomfortable with mainstream media filming. I love our industry filming but really never needed the mainstream to know we have such an event because all that will do is make the lines worse with party crashers. I was approached by MTV Networks, GQ, TNN, VH-1 and tons of other media. I gave the OK to VH-1 to cover our event because they?ve done a great job for our industry showing mainstream that porn is good, not bad. They did specials like ?Porn to Rock? and most recently, ?Porn to Rap?. They contacted me about that last special, Porn to Rap and I gave them the story about Digital Underground doing porn movies and other little details of rappers gone porn. I would never knowingly let a network film knowing they were slanted to make us look bad. That being said, I blew off almost all big time media accept for VH-1. They wanted to come out and cover it, then it grew into it?s own special of at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. The th that blew me away is that they wanted me to actually interview people with their VH-1 microphones and make it a D$ Show on VH-1. Never in my life would I have ever thought I?d host my own show on VH-1. I walked around with their VH-1 microphone and interviewed webmasters and Penthouse Pets, Jenna and other big time pronstars. Believe it or not, I was really relaxed and did it the way I always do for my own D$ Show. They loved it, ate it up. The walk to the venue from my pre-party suite was the best. After interviewing the beautiful people in my room the cameras followed our walk to the party. Every year I roll up with an entourage, they wanted to film the whole thing. With Jenna on my right arm and Briana Banks on my left arm, Aria Giovanni, and other Penthouse Pets behind me and an army of about 100 to 200 people followed us and those numbers grew as we got closer to the venue. They filmed in the Casino, which I couldn?t believe we got away with. It looked rockstar and webmasters will be proud when it airs. People lined up to take pictures as we walked by, just like the AVN Awards.
I won?t go on and on about VH-1, the party isn?t about them, I just let them film, it?s about the webmasters. In short, they got incredible footage and was truly blown away with the whole night. Once I got to the venue, they wanted to boss me around and have me continue hosting with the mic. I kindly explained that as fun as it is to host my own show, my responsibilities were for my sponsors and guests, so I said whatever you film you film ,I have a job to do, gotta take care of business.
Other then VH-1 being a huge success, the actual event was a hit for those who stayed. I asked for Digital to change things up so webmasters wouldn?t say they?re played out. They did a remix set that was tight. Money B wasn?t very happy with his set because it was an experiment for them too, so he is overly critical, but I can tell you, I was loving it. The girls got freaky on stage, they were playing all the new cuts with their raps over it and they did some of their classics. The audio problems they delt with were a result of C2K not letting us in to do a sound check because they had a show in there right before.
The Woody Awards went great. Almost everyone scheduled to win an award showed up and was ready. A few winners were not present at the time of the awards which is too bad for them. My new policy is that if you can?t be there to accept, or if you?re not by the stage where I can see you, I won?t give the recognition and give the award. There are tons of worthy people who would love to be present to receive an award, we can give it to plenty of other worthy people who do show up. So it?s a different policy, but a fair one. We?ll give you the recognition, but you have to be there to accept it. Lensman was the greatest, FM was awesome too, AdultBuffet represented well, and all other winners did a great job handling the pressure on stage, props to the winners!
The vibe was great, everyone was dancing and throwing their hands up. Once the bullshit at the door was out of the way, the party took over and became a good vibe once again like always.
Warren G was a special guest of ours and shared my private booth with my lady JenAVN. He was impressed and had a blast. His eyes were popping out of his head. Lot?s of other celebs were there as well. Too many to name off right now. Maybe later.
Xzibit was watching the crowd during Digital Underground from a backstage TV monitor, he was tripping on how everyone was dressed the part and how people were really into this event. He had his lady there, so he wasn?t about to get out in the crowd with all them ho?s. The place was off the hook once the artists started. Xzibit went on at 3:40 am and it was still a pretty full venue. What a nice guy he is. I have a picture with him I?ll post later. It?s too bad so many people left before he even started, but once he began, the energy level was at it?s all time high for the night. He was well received and the feedback I heard all night was, ?I know this song!? Every song he played was a hit, most of the crowd knew at least half of his songs.
Cecash.com was the main sponsor by picking up the majority of the bill. My main concern is that our sponsors are real happy, especially CE. FM was thrilled with the party and had the best time. That goal was accomplished. We also made sure all mini sponsors got a plug at some point on the mic, some were mentioned early, some later, but they all were thanked for their support as well and will continue to be supported in our weekly newsletter for the next few months.
The way I judge this event is as follows:
The extra?s were the best yet. Meaning the VH-1 hype, the response at our booth and feedback from past events. The girls getting wild for VIP passes at the booth made my fathers eyes pop out of his head, he worked the booth. We will be posting pics of what these ladies did to EARN a VIP pass. Gotta have hotties in VIP, but they have to earn it. Tons of great pics. The awards went better then ever, the planning on stage was the best yet with the exception of the sound guys having dead air for 15 minutes (out of our control). These Woody Awards were the best yet, hand blown glass. The performance by Xzibit was one of the greatest Players Ball performances ever 2nd to Snoop and a few dope performances by Digit Underground over the years. Ice-T couldn?t make it due to personal problems which I can understand, very important stuff he needed to take care of, by the way.
The people who brought cameras were allowed to film this time.
So I?d say that after the drama, this was the second best Players Ball ever, but because of C2K it will be slammed and that?s a shame.
Thanks again to everyone who made this possible, more props to come later to those people.
__________________
Still Ballin'
|