Current mood: EDGY!!!!
Category: EDGY!!!! Movies, TV, Celebrities
At about 2am, everything is winding up...
And after having had shit all to do for hours except slowly drink beer and chat, Kevin and I finally get a parade of Somalian Big Wigs and performers who come to talk to the camera about how wonderful the evening has passed and how good an advert for Somalian culture it had been...!!
Some of the interviewees appear a little surprised to see a coupla spindly white guys on the job, but everything is jovial and buzzing and we get done what has to be done...
When the last interview is complete, we pack up the gear and noticing that the music has turned from more traditionally African sounding music to more fierce and disjointed 'grime', I go down and take another good luck at what's happening in the main hall...
I've got the right kind of wristband, so I can stand at the side of the stage.
A whole bunch of people take it in turns to rap and take their piece of the action. I notice that the line between performer and audience is becoming very blurred indeed and the atmosphere feels a lot different to how it felt to start with...
As the music JARRS AND GRINDS, it isn't long before there are surges and rushes within the crowd...
A couple of small fights break out.
It's nothing too much worse than happens down any English main drag of a Friday night and a lot less bad than what happens at a Slayer gig, but the atmosphere is getting a bit too edgy and it's not being helped by the fierce and jagged beats blasting out of the PA ...
With my job done, I'm getting the feeling it might well be worth leaving on the off chance that things become heavy - but at the same time I've still got that writers desire to stay to the end and see what happens....
And I also need to get paid...
When another crowd surge and fight kicks off, someone grabs the Mic and says that's it - THE PARTY IS OVER!!!
The lights come up, and I move towards the dance floor to see what's happening. There's still a bit of the scuffle, but the friends are already moving in and calming things down...
So, with everything having apparently petered out, I go back upstairs and start collecting the gear together.
Mo tells us to take it downstairs to the car.
I do so, with some angst. I'm feeling a little drunk and tired, and now that it's settled in, all the excitement of the minor scuffling has made me feel a little uneasy and on edge - and now I have to walk outside with a huge heap of expensive fucking gear and I've just remembered I also have the £300 in my pocket...
Yes boss, it's one thing swanning around mild danger when you can run, but quite another when you're loaded down with kino lights and fucking great big camera bags that don't belong to you that are worth thousands of ££££...
Anyway, it's my job to do as I'm told and I want to get paid, so I wander down and out through the heaving crowd.
It's heavy going - everyone is trying to get out and I'm in the middle with all this fucking gear - worse than this I've lost sight of Kevin or for that matter any of the rest of the crew...
By the time I get outside, I'm feeling properly rattled:
It's raining, I've lost the crew, I don't know where this bastard fucking car is into which I'm supposed to be delivering the gear, I have £300 in my pocket, I'm surrounded with and hemmed in by Somalians - some of whom remain agitated, the police have started turning up in numbers, and the atmosphere is bad all round...
I walk around in circles, the crowd isn't dissipating, I and the gear is getting wet and THERE'S STILL NO SIGN OF ANY OF THE REST OF THE BASTARD FUCKING CREW OR THEIR FUCKING CUNTING CAR!!!
I decide to go back inside.
I get to the front door, but it's closed and the bouncer is in front of it.
I tell him I need to go back in.
He says 'No-one is going back in'
I tell him I NEED TO GO BACK IN!!!!
He tells me that 'NO-ONE IS GOING BACK IN!!!!'
I move away again, and start to panic. I have gear getting wet!!! WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH IT AND WHERE IS THE CUNTING CAR????
Well, there's another good 10 or 15 minutes of my aimless and nervous wandering around....
I think about phoning Mo, but for some reason - as far as I can remember 'no credit' - I can't do that, I look for a car, but there are no cars and I and the gear gets wetter and wetter by the minute.......
Eventually, someone comes up and asks if I'm Paul..
'YES!' I say...
'WELL COME BACK IN HERE, WE'VE GOT SEARCH PARTIES OUT LOOKING FOR YOU - WE THOUGHT YOU'D RUN OFF WITH ALL THIS GEAR!!!'
So, with the aid of this guy, I get back in and there is the whole rest of the crew sitting around chatting like it's Sunday afternoon. They all look relaxed and easy.
I'm wondering 2 things:
1) WHAT ABOUT THE BASTARD FUCKING CAR!!!.
2) THANK GOD THAT'S OVER WITH!!!!
Mo, looks a little furious and then relieved to see me with the gear...
'Where did you go???' He asked me
'Out to the car - you told me to go out to the car...!' I replied, realising I was still shaking a little..
'I told you to go down to the BAR!!' he replied...
Well, after another half hour of waiting, Mo paid us all (I was surprised he paid me, and I wouldn't have argued if he hadn't.) and that was about that....
Before leaving, I thanked Mo Vidz for giving me the nod and he said he'd be in touch if he wanted me to do work for him again...
I figured that was about as likely as Saddam Hussein pet ghost declaring war on China - and sure enough, I've never a word from him since....
And there endeth the story about the time I worked for Mo Vidz...
 | Currently listening : The World’s Heaviest Dubstep Grime and Bass By Various Artists Release date: 2007-06-12  |
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