BAM XIV: NBAIC Caravan
08-25-2014, 10:54 PM
#47
Your car got a lot of discussion. I know you didn't win but I wanted you to know that. We ALL discussed how well sorted your car is. Sleeper done right. Very clean. Was a very very hard segment to vote for. Had Mason left his old wheels on his car it would have been even harder. Had Mike still had his forester it might have been a little easier. LOL!
Seriously though. Nice car man.
Seriously though. Nice car man.
08-25-2014, 11:40 PM
#49
Considering you haven't shown up since the year you unsuccessfully catered the event in Alameda, where the first batch of tritip was destroyed and the wait for food was very, very long, (I didnt get a shirt i paid for), you don't have much to stand on really because you haven't see what the meet was like the last 3 years now.
Let me fill you in:
The very next year back at Mt Hamilton we had cars parked in the grass due to a lack of parking. The food truck thing did not work out at all, they bailed on us. We salvaged it with BBQ and a dog vendor. People were happy. But we knew we out grew the place.
Last year we had 280ish prepays, which according to Daniel was the most ever. We had a blast at Quarry Lakes, donated more than $6000 to charity. Everyone was fed, but it was hard to cook fast enough.
This year we had to do it in 3.5 weeks. We had 366 prepays, food line was moving super fast, we nearly filled the lot with cars, we gave show awards to mostly different people, who yet still deserved them.
But you can stay in Sebastopol for we all care. Seems to me everyone is having a blast lately, if greater and greater attendance and smiles are any indication.
Let me fill you in:
The very next year back at Mt Hamilton we had cars parked in the grass due to a lack of parking. The food truck thing did not work out at all, they bailed on us. We salvaged it with BBQ and a dog vendor. People were happy. But we knew we out grew the place.
Last year we had 280ish prepays, which according to Daniel was the most ever. We had a blast at Quarry Lakes, donated more than $6000 to charity. Everyone was fed, but it was hard to cook fast enough.
This year we had to do it in 3.5 weeks. We had 366 prepays, food line was moving super fast, we nearly filled the lot with cars, we gave show awards to mostly different people, who yet still deserved them.
But you can stay in Sebastopol for we all care. Seems to me everyone is having a blast lately, if greater and greater attendance and smiles are any indication.
You guys all laid it out pretty well. But I'm going to give my input.
Greg... I'm sorry for what happened to you. I know first hand how hard this thing is to do when it's on your shoulders. And I know first hand how hard it is to deal with dicks that don't get it. You put a lot of effort in to your event and it had it's good parts. But it wasn't successful. That is not my fault and it is not the fault of the team Gagan and I put together. It is definitely not the fault of our vendors or the charity that we've given larger donations to than any previous organizers. How much was your donation to the gigantic Tsunami Relief Fund?
We are as transparent as ANY organizers have been with this event. ANYONE can see what money came in and will be able to see where it ALL goes.
Alameda. The location seemed cool but it was voiced by a lot of people that it wasn't the right way to take the event. But, I'll give you your due respect. You thought it should. You did the work. You went for it. Like I said... it had it's good parts.
But it had a lot of bad ones. People stole ****. **** them. People broke ****. **** them. Your team failed you. Walker stepped up and helped save your butt. The vendor turn out was very slim. LIC and FW saved your butt. Interestingly enough, that's the last event that LIC has attended as a group. They still help us but they do not attend. Adam did personally and I was very very happy to see him. I hope he had a good time.
The car show was wack. The DJ was too damned loud. The place got smoked out by burning meat. And who in the hell thinks a bunch of 21-35 year old dudes want to drink wine in the middle of the day that they have to pay extra for? I seriously snuck beer in.
One of the best parts of the whole damned event was Joey (RIP) parking the cars and spelling Subaru... and climbing his happy *** up on the roof to take some pictures with Matt.
So... you got put through the ringer. You got burned. Your event didn't do as well as it hoped. But that doesn't mean you have any ground to stand on to bag on the one that isn't yours. You have not been to it. Period.
Here's my side of it. You took over the event and you bailed after one tough year because you were bent that your idea didn't work out.
Then guess what... no one was there to pick it up. Then a scam artist picked it up and you know what... he almost pulled it off because not many people knew what was going on. I got a phone call from Mike at GST telling me that the vendors were pulling out and the event was going to die. He'd back me 100% if I took the event.
I talked my share of **** for years. Even to Daniel who I consider a good friend. So... I took it.
My thought was to take it back to where it was and not just location but vibe. I wanted a family friendly, laid back environment that people want to go to. And I knew if I was going to do it it was gonna be for charity and preferably for kids.
So I took my vision and I took input and I busted my *** to do the whole damned thing myself. And you know what... Mike did support me. The vendors came out huge and I'm sure it had everything to do with Mike supporting me. The input from the O.G.'s was to take it back to Hammy. The input from the new guys was food trucks. So I did that.
And guess what... hammy worked out but I had a nice conversation with the park. It went something like this. Sir... we don't have any more parking. We're putting cars in the horse stables and we can't allow anymore people in to the park. Go on google earth and tell me how many spots we filled. The vibe was right back where we wanted it and the event was killer.
But you know what happened... I started putting together a team to help me. Mainly a handful of my close friends. Guys I trusted to have my back and guys that I knew had the interest of the community in their minds.
And you know what else happened. The **** fell out from under me and I needed a LOT of help. And guess what... my meat didn't ****ing burn. Why? Because my guys are loyal. My guys have integrity. My guys ****ing showed up.
Cliff busted his freaking ***. I had food trucks pull out on me on FRIDAY, SAT AND SUNDAY of an event on Sunday... the freaking day of. The hot dog dude was a BEAST. Walker came up huge there.
I fronted over $4500 (estimate because I don't feel like thinking about it) of my own money while I was saving for a down payment on a house. I got something like $3500 back. The donation was soft so I padded it with an additional $500 of my money. It was still small.
So the next year I actually had some time to do what I thought was right. All year I carried with me the failure I felt our donation was. So I worked to restructure the entire event.
I felt like the event should not rely on one person. Live and Die with one person. It's the communities event.
So I formed a committee. And I put in motion my vision. And it worked.
Right here is where I address your bull**** north bay comments. I'm from Santa Cruz. I drove to Navato for the meets up there. That park could not handle this event at the size it is. Period. And they don't deserve it. They got to the point that they were charging 4x's the cost of parking so they could pocket some extra money. I made that drive and you know what.... I freaking loved it. A HUGE part of the event is the drive... and the meet ups.
Hell, I remember sitting outside of hammy so long we were playing frizbee on the road.
We have people drive from LA and we had over 50... FIFTY cars drive from Sac this year. And those 50 cars through down HARD in the raffle. Some of them put over $300 in raffle tickets.
Anyways... last year. I talked with Gagan and Jourdan about the fremont spot and both felt that it was a good spot but failed for the wrong reasons. So we took it back there. It's got the big lot. The weather. The set up.
And.. once again... the event was a success. The team killed it... again. The vendors killed it... again.
And most importantly we donated... not just over $6000 but nearly $7000 to charity. To a boy going through chemo fighting cancer. A boy that's currently beating cancers ***. And I put enough seed money in a cash box that no one would have to put the event on their credit card and hope to get paid back.
But we had more to fix. I was still doing too much and my wife wasn't happy. Too much money was going through me. It was still too much on one person.
So we split it more. BAM now has it's own paypal and it's own bank account. Hopefully at some point it's own
We formed team leads. Those leads were trusted to handle their teams and do a good job. Gagan took over a leadership role and I took what I could.
And guess what... it was a bigger success. We had more cars. A bigger raffle. Less issues. Just as much fun with even less drama. Hopefully we'll have another big donation, but it's tough to say what it will be until the accounting is done.
So.... I'm not really sure what ground you're standing on to talk **** about this event or my guys, my vendors, or my community.
I'm sorry that it's such a huge deal for a handful of guys have to drive they're precious vehicles to a meet. You know... despite the fact that the bulk of the people are from the area. Just as many people are driving from Monterey/Santa Cruz/Salinas as they are from the north bay and none of them are complaining. In fact... I didn't hear any complaints on the drive distance. This year or last year... interesting.
The parking entrance barely got backed up... including when over 50 cars showed up at once because we paid for an additional person to work the line.
The car show was much different than it was last year. We had new winners in nearly every category if not all of them. Your precious foresters came huge. Very tough category. There were amazing high horsepower builds that didn't win. A bagged wagon with a crap ton of custom work that didn't win. Several other amazing cars that didn't win. Some vendor cars that were dope as hell that didn't win. We spent an hour trying to figure out who was going to win and some of the winners came down to near split votes. Matt won because he made more changes to his car and no one else beat him. One other car was pretty damned close and got one of the other awards.
The raffle. Lots of new winners. And yeah... a few guys won a lot.. but between 3 of them they had around 1000 tickets in. Of course they're going to win. If you're trying to say the **** is fixed... then why didn't I win the motor? You know the guy that's struggling to survive right now with 242,000 miles and a car falling apart around him? Or why did the volunteer team barely win anything at all?
Stupidchicken not only paid but he dropped $300 in raffle tickets. And he led his group of over 50 cars on a drive from Sac. A group that probably accounted for damn near half our raffle donation. He's been a very positive influence on the event since I've been involved with it. Strange.
Food. The food truck thing was a joke. We fed everyone last year. We fed everyone this year. The lines are moving faster and people are having less and less to complain about. The food was good and it was delivered quick. Yeah we ran out of food for a minute. The event was big. But we fixed the issue quickly and people got fed. Most people were fed before 1pm. We pushed over 100 people through the line in 12 minutes. Not we... they. The crew was amazing.
So... what's changed.... not much. We've just made the good stuff better and the bad stuff less and less. It's gotten bigger and it's still just as fun.
I'm sorry we can't impress you enough to come out. You truly missed out and it was truly your loss. People need to get those few bad years (one of them being yours) out of their heads and realize that it's a good time for a good reason.
We're donating to Jacobs Heart Foundation this year and I hope it's big.
I'm really sorry for what you went through with the event and personally shortly after. I really identify with you. My first year was very difficult. Very. The second one wasn't much better. Hell Cliff and I were up until 4am one night running numbers and both of us had to work the next day. I was up until 1-4am every day for 2 or 3 weeks straight last year. My wife told me I was not allowed to participate this year. It was hard on our marriage. It was hard on our finances. I get what you went through. Hell... look at the way I blew up on Chase last year. It's a tough thing to do.
But doing what you're doing and a few other people are doing is petty and unfortunate for you. You're missing a great event so you can talk **** and feel cool... I guess?
So do me a favor... come next year. I'll pay for your ticket and your shirt myself. If you still think it's a joke... then you can talk ****.
Until then, **** off. My guys don't deserve this ****. They busted their asses to make this happen. My vendors don't deserve this ****. They make this event financially possible and bad ***. My attendees don't deserve this ****. They come, they donate, they're respectful, they have fun. They smile. They laugh. They drink. They eat. They pull stupid pranks. All that together makes the best damned subaru event I've ever been too.
OH.... and I didn't get my shirt either. You know... the shirt I designed for free at the event I paid to get in to and barely got to eat at.
08-26-2014, 01:50 AM
#50
VIP Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: N38.6775* W120.0805*
Posts: 3,548
Car Info: psm.03.wrx.wgn
I don't like beating a dead horse, but I just wanted to clarify a couple things.
This year, we did not run outta food. Just an assumption on my part made me go into scramble mode. My apologies to Gagan for having you go on that unnecessary food run.
About halfway through the 2nd general attendance group (green) mealtime, we assessed what food we had left to serve & saw that we only had enough to feed about 100 or so people. With about 50 remaining in the green group, I assumed we also had well over 100 in the final purple group to feed.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to distribute wristbands as planned (easily fixable for next time), and there were actually maybe only about 50 in the purple group. When I found that out, I called Gagan to 86 the burgers & hot dogs from his shopping list.
Bottom line, we nearly nailed the food & drink purchase... AGAIN. And the cooks & lunch servers killed it. They had everyone through the lunch line in under an hour, shattering our goal by a mile! The volunteers that stepped up for Kyle's & my teams were nothing short of awesome! So much props to them.
I think the only thing we ran out of was lettuce & tomatoes. My bad on that.
So I guess you & Greg were right. We ran out of food. Well, we ran out of produce.
And last year the day after that long night/early morning of logging & verifying prepays, only you had to work that day. Poor guy. I just dragged *** doing stuff for my online class once I got back home to Vallejo the next day. After a 1-hr, 40-min drive (boo freakin' hoo) from Watsonville in my caravan of one.
This year, we did not run outta food. Just an assumption on my part made me go into scramble mode. My apologies to Gagan for having you go on that unnecessary food run.
About halfway through the 2nd general attendance group (green) mealtime, we assessed what food we had left to serve & saw that we only had enough to feed about 100 or so people. With about 50 remaining in the green group, I assumed we also had well over 100 in the final purple group to feed.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to distribute wristbands as planned (easily fixable for next time), and there were actually maybe only about 50 in the purple group. When I found that out, I called Gagan to 86 the burgers & hot dogs from his shopping list.
Bottom line, we nearly nailed the food & drink purchase... AGAIN. And the cooks & lunch servers killed it. They had everyone through the lunch line in under an hour, shattering our goal by a mile! The volunteers that stepped up for Kyle's & my teams were nothing short of awesome! So much props to them.
I think the only thing we ran out of was lettuce & tomatoes. My bad on that.
So I guess you & Greg were right. We ran out of food. Well, we ran out of produce.
And last year the day after that long night/early morning of logging & verifying prepays, only you had to work that day. Poor guy. I just dragged *** doing stuff for my online class once I got back home to Vallejo the next day. After a 1-hr, 40-min drive (boo freakin' hoo) from Watsonville in my caravan of one.
08-26-2014, 08:13 AM
#51
Ah... thanks for the clarification. All I got was the panic part and seeing gagan split and come back.
Serious props to you Cliff. It's pretty amazing how well you've nailed the food every year man. Even that first year up at Hammy you saved my butt man. It's a critical part of the success of the event and you keep nailing it. And you've put together a crew that gets food out so quick even Gordon Ramsey wouldn't complain.
Serious props to you Cliff. It's pretty amazing how well you've nailed the food every year man. Even that first year up at Hammy you saved my butt man. It's a critical part of the success of the event and you keep nailing it. And you've put together a crew that gets food out so quick even Gordon Ramsey wouldn't complain.
08-26-2014, 10:30 AM
#53
VIP Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: N38.6775* W120.0805*
Posts: 3,548
Car Info: psm.03.wrx.wgn
Ah... thanks for the clarification. All I got was the panic part and seeing gagan split and come back.
Serious props to you Cliff. It's pretty amazing how well you've nailed the food every year man. Even that first year up at Hammy you saved my butt man. It's a critical part of the success of the event and you keep nailing it. And you've put together a crew that gets food out so quick even Gordon Ramsey wouldn't complain.
Serious props to you Cliff. It's pretty amazing how well you've nailed the food every year man. Even that first year up at Hammy you saved my butt man. It's a critical part of the success of the event and you keep nailing it. And you've put together a crew that gets food out so quick even Gordon Ramsey wouldn't complain.
Y'all provide a number to feed, I help make sure we get the right amount.
As far as cooking & serving it, I take no credit. I'm just the front-of-house guy who appears busy doing things. All the real action is in the back-of-house at the grills (Walker's folks last year; Kyle's this one). They & the awesome volunteers on my team kill it and make us leads look good.
All credit to them.
One thing I will pat myself on the back for is springing into action after getting that call from you at 5:25pm the day before Hammy two years ago. I was like the Tasmanian Devil scrambling around the San Leandro Costco 15 minutes before closing and rounding up burgers, chips, cookies, drinks, plates, etc. for 150 peeps. What was even more amazing was fitting it all in my wgn, which already had a couple coolers, an EZ-up, two 4-ft tables, a camping chair & other random stuff. If that Costco wasn't outta buns, I would have had to line my dash with those bags. LOL
Now that was Master Level Tetris right there!
08-26-2014, 07:29 PM
#56
Photos of BAM 2014
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126490...7646849476806/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126490...7646849476806/
08-26-2014, 10:18 PM
#59
pictures here of the drive
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126490...7646902100482/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126490...7646902100482/