Late arrival of Ents Tech disrupts Club D
Following the responses below, and after investigation, nouse wishes to issue an apology for the errors this article contains. Please read our full correction and apology.
The ‘Club D’ event of February 24 was disrupted after Ents Tech showed up over an hour late to set up the stage.
The ‘Club D Funked’ event was based around live music sets from visiting artists Joel Owen and Soul Cellars and campus band Make It Better Later, all of which were cut short.
Following the late arrival of Ents Tech the order of performances had to be swapped, and bands were given reduced time on stage. The DJ set, which was schedluled for the end of the night, was cut from 90 minutes to less than an hour.
The Derwent JCRC has asked the Ents Committee for a 50 percent refund of the money paid to Ents Tech that night, and have proposed an amendment to Union Code to ensure that a campus event organizer could deduct a certain amount of the fee, depending on how late the Ents Tech were to set up.
Jamie Tyler, Derwent JCRC Chair said, “If they can charge extra for late booking, then we should be able to get reduced costs for late arrival. By overrunning, they’re reducing our event’s time.”
Tom Wright
I know for a fact that Entstech were actually waiting outside the JCR for the exact second they would be allowed into the room to set up.
I dont work for entstch myself but i work for a similar company outside uni [JSSAudio], and it is not possible to set up what they needed to in the time you gave them [one and a half hours!!].
At fibbers the sound engineer gets TWO and a half hours to get everything ready for a gig and he doesnt even have to setup the PA/stage/lights, he just has to turn it on and soundcheck the bands!
MIBL were actually cut short because some drunk Derwent JCRC girl decided she didnt really like them and wanted to hear some cheese. Then later their rider was removed as they “werent allowed it anymore”.
NO WONDER THERES HARDLY ANY LIVE MUSIC ON CAMPUS!! [botb excluded]
Nezih Savaskan
Dear Nouse,
I am appalled to be reading yet another article full of mistakes after spotting this one after reading your outstandingly bad article about BotB Final.
I can confirm that the Technical Crew were in fact EARLY to set up, and not “over an hour late to set up the stage” as you published.
On top of this you are completely neglecting the fact that:
a) 1.5 hours is not enough time to set up a band rig in Derwent, and it is the Uni who give us this time.
b) The money colleges pays to EntsTech goes directly back to YUSU funding to colleges (after staff wages and other necassary costs).
We have since come to an agreement with Derwent and I expect a full formal apology for the inaccuracy in the article in your next issue.
Yours,
Nezih Savaskan
YUSU EntsTech Technical Manager
Stephane Petter
Dear Nouse (in particular the author of that grossly incorrect article),
I was working at the event in question and I can indeed confirm that we were waiting outside the dining hall with all our equipment before our access time.
As soon as the rugby game finished we were allowed in and again I assure you we did everything possible to get the event started asap.
The time we’re given for band-rigs is by no means sufficient and as this matter has already been taken up in dicussion by the relevant committees, I am quite frankly disgusted and insulted by your article.
I too am waiting for an official apology.
Regards.
SP
Lewis Bretts
As Derwent Ents Rep, and someone who was doing artist liaison on the night. I can only support what Nezih and Stephane have said above, and point out the unfortunate inaccuracies in what Tom says. Ents Tech were not late, they arrived early, and were ready and waiting to start as soon as they were able to. The issues which have been brought up above are something which we are working in conjunction with the YUSU Ants officers to resolve, and following a successful meeting on Wednesday, Derwent JCRC is happy with the situation, and look forward to working with Entstech in the future. With regards rider, MIBL requested towels, water, and Chocolate. They got all of this, plus some beer and pizza. I personally put the towels and water stageside for them before they began the set, and to be honest, seeing as the food had been out all evening I doubt there was much left anyway. As seems to be case with Nouse this issue; If you weren’t there and you’re not sure of your facts, then don’t publish statements that are simply untrue. If you weren’t there and you’re not sure of your facts, then don’t publish statements that are simply untrue.
Lewis Bretts
Derwent Ents rep
YUSU Ents Assistant
Ian Hodgkinson
As a YUSU EntsTech employee and PA operative on the night in question i am quite offended this incorrect article. As I was working on the night in question I am certain that the article is completely incorrect in the following fact.
“Ents Tech showed up over an hour late to set up the stage”
This, the basis for the article is completely wrong; EntsTech showed up to work at 6:00pm. We had access to Dewent Bar from 7.30pm. We had our gear waiting outside the venue by 7.20 at which point we had to wait for the Rugby Match being shown in the Bar to finish. We started moving our gear into the venue at 7.30pm straight after the match finished. EntsTech were not late for the event at all.
This inaccuracy damages the reputation of EntsTech and also has managed to annoy the staff who work very hard to provide a professional service.
On the night in question the running of the event was late by over an hour, I would again however like to confirm this was not due to EntsTech arriving late, but due to the access time for the venue being insufficient. I would like to make a point that Access times for all Events have been getting shorter and this has been putting extra pressure on the technical crews and event organizers. It has got to the point where setup time is stripped down to the bare minimum leaving no time for problems or unforeseen eventuality’s. It is quite often to turn up and find halls full of tables and staff or people unaware that an event is booked for that evening.
Problems with access times and late opening of event’s are completely unacceptable; especially for a JCR trying to run successful events and it is a shame that this disruption had to occur. The late running of the event however hopefully brought this problem to light and a solution can be found.
As regards to the article I would like to question its objectivity, especially as no attempt seems to have been made to contact EntsTech about the issue. The article therefore clearly represents a incorrect and biased viewpoint. This does not represent good Journalism.
I personally hope to see a formally apology from Nouse about the articles inaccuracy.
Yours,
Ian Hodgkinson
Admin
A correction to this article is now online here:
http://www.nouse.co.uk/2007/03/13/ents-tech-correction/
Please also see the note at the top of the article.
Emma
Web Ed
Nezih Savaskan
Thank you!