Okay, we DO have a new venue! It is listed both on our MySpace page and on the front page at http://www.houstonpaganpride.org. I haven't been there myself and, in fact, have never heard of it. But we'll be getting a look at it on August 31st at the next Volunteer meeting. So come check it out. Please note that we will NOT be opening up more vendor space at this time as we need to get through one festival and see how we fit first. It may or not be possible at future events. We'll just have to see.

Also of note is the revised schedule. Now that our lovely Rain Riversong has confirmed our line-up, I have the new schedule up on the website.

To close, don't forget to see the fabulous Slinky or magnificent Margie at the next meeting to get your very own, VERY cool purple Pagan Pride silicone bracelet. These things are just TOO awesome and fun! I bought three! :-D A steal of a deal at $3 and the sales help fund your local Pagan Pride. Word is we'll have small sizes for the kids as well as the adult sized ones available at the event, too. Come get some!

Aazari Cantharess
Mad Artist/Drummer Chica
Official HPPD Web Witch

This could be good news or bad, depending on your perspective. This may be our sign that it's time to grow again:

Well folks, for those who haven't heard, we now have no venue for our event.  In a complete show of their lack of loyalty to HPPD, Last Concet Cafe has double booked us in favor of a paying group from Spain. This is a bit hurtful to the committee considering I've heard more than once how we try to support them and their events for allowing us to have PPD there free of charge. And this is, by all reports, the THIRD time we've had this kind of issue with them. *smirk* Seems our loyalty to them was a bit misplaced, no? Needless to say, I'm booting then right off the friends list for this rather UNfriendly act.

So, here we are left hanging with just over a month to event. But never fear. Your hard working committee is at this very moment looking into the options and we have some good ones. Just be aware we may come to you all asking a small donation to help us pull this off. With such short notice to change the venue, that may become a critical part of being able to keep our festival on the same date so that we can keep our musical guests. There may even be a possibility to open vending applications back up at the last moment if we score an adequate venue.

So, stay tuned to the website and MySpace for news as it's made available! And, if you would like to make a donation to help us pay for our venue or have space you would be willing to let us use,  PLEASE contact Local Coordinator Margie  Margie2207@aim.com  OR Regional Coordinator Slinky slink72@yahoo.com . Together we can pull this off despite this obstacle!!

Aazari
Mad Artist/Drummer Chica
Official HPPD WebWitch

The last word from our Vendor Coordinator is that there are still one full 10ft space and a half space open. If you're wanting to set up for the festival, I suggest you get with Armand ASAP and get that reservation in! Go to http://www.houstonpaganpride.or and click Vendors to find out how to reserve your space.

EDITED TO THE EXACT TEXT NOW ON THE HPPD WEBSITE 5/13/08

Okay, we've had our first volunteer meeting and it is now my pleasure to announce that vendor reservations will open on June 30, 2008. Our lovely coordinator, Margie, has determined that, with the cost of everything else going up all over, we won't stick the vendors with higher prices this year. The price will still be $50 for a 10x10 booth space. It looks like we won't have such a hard time fitting in our 8 to 9 vendors this time. Last Concert has done away with that annoying side stage! SO, here's the process to reserve your space:

1. NO EARLIER THAN 12:01 AM ON JUNE 30, 2008 send an email to our Vendor Coordinator at armand577@yahoo.com. Please CC your message to our Local PPD Coordinator Margie at Margie2207@aim.com . Please put Vending Pagan Pride 2008 as your message Subject. In the body of your message, please state your name, the name of your business (if applicable), what type of merchandise you will be selling and whether you will want a full 10x10 space or if your set-up is smaller (a small face painting station, carry tray or cart, for example). The latter is asked because we may be able to squeeze in a 9th vendor if they have a very small set-up such as those mentioned. Also note if you would like to go on the waiting list should the reservations be full by the time your request is received. If you have need of electricity for your booth, please let Armand know that as well.

2. Armand will then determine who the first 8 to 9 vendors are by the time stamps on the emails. Space is generally allocated on a first come, first served basis. The only exception to this is if we have more than one vendor selling similar merchandise. In those cases the vendor with the earliest time stamp will be allowed to vend. The second vendor may or may not be allocated space in order to maximize variety within our limited vending space. That determination will depend upon the variety and number of vendors applying.

3. You will receive a confirmation email letting you know whether or not you have reserved space with further instructions on making your payment if you made it in.

4. Please send your payment for your space as soon as possible after notification. If your payment has not been received 30 days before the event, your reservation will be cancelled and the space will be made available to those on the waiting list.

OTHER NOTES Of IMPORTANCE

1. This is a family event. Thus, we request adult oriented/mature subject items not be sold during it. Please save those for venues where small children will not be present.

2. To keep up with information regarding the event, it is in your best interest to join our Yahoo Group using the button in the left sidebar.

3. Only 2-3 spaces will be located on the deck and have a cover over them. The rest will be in the open in the sand pit. It is in your best interest to plan to have a canopy over your booth as the weather during festival is notorious for throwing brief storms at us in the morning and mid-afternoon.  Solid storm walls are also a good idea.   

See you all there!
Your friendly neighborhood
Aazari
HPPD Web Witch/ Insane Artist Drummer Chica

Wow, my apologies for not getting in here and answering messages sooner. Your Web Witch has had a hectic life since Pagan Pride Day 2007 and it was only the announcement of our first volunteer meeting for HPPD 2008 coming up May 4th that reminded me that I really SHOULD be checking the Web Witch email and My Space accounts once in a while, too.  See what happens when you give someone with brain damage six email accounts and two My Space pages to deal with? LOL Seriously, I'm not usually THAT bad, I've just been having one crazy art year and then my computer decided to blow up a six month old power supply. But I'm back now and ready to roll for a whole new year of Pagan Pride! Yeeehaw!

Rumor has it Last Concert has a new stage. I'm wondering if that means they got wise and got rid of that annoying little one off to the side that was crowding out the vendors last time. We can hope....  Anyway, please do come out for the first meeting. It's just a quickie one to get things rolling and see what they've done in regards to the stage. If you have ideas you'd like to submit, now is the time to do it so we can make arrangments if it's possible.  I just posted the particulars on the main My Space page if you need the info.
( http://www.myspace.com/houstonpaganpride )

I'll be there. I'm looking forward to the event as usual! Come on down and eat some nummy Tex-Mex food and discuss what you would like to see at this year's Pagan Pride Day!!

Aazari
HPPD Web Witch & Mad Artist/Drummer Chica

*yawns, clutches mug of coffee*  Good day all you beautiful people. I hope you're all faring better than your creaky, achy web witch this morning. Wow... we survived another festival! :-) We pulled it together through an evening rain storm and still managed to have a good (if a tad damp) time. Thanks SO much to our wonderful volunteers, the performers, the sound crew, the vendors, HOPE and, of course, all of you who braved the rain to stay for the rest of the evening.  I hope you found it was worth it. I send out a special thanks to Alafia from D.R.U.M. for hanging out to drum with us at the closing drumming. It's always a pleasure to drum with him. He's great!

All of our performers did an awesome job! Davida Moonsong said even some of the grown-ups went and enjoyed the crafts in Youth Activities. *chuckle* There's talk of leaving that open  later in the evening for adult craft time next event if it seems like it's going to be a trend. I think that would be a fun thing to do. :-) The food, as always, was delicious.  I personally had a good time despite having to sit in a vending booth all day and feeling like I'd been through an episode of Survivor by the time we got all my sand muddied gear packed in.. I really appreciated the willingness of several people to provide helping hands for me to set up and tear down since I was doing it alone. Without them I would be in MUCH worse shape today.

I'm hoping to get some photos for the site and MySpace in soon and will get them up ASAP once I have them. For now, I'm recouperating and hope you're all doing that , too. ;-)

Aazari

Mad Artist/Drummer Chica &

HPPD Web Witch

We recently found out that The Wartime Social had to cancel our show because a show they were booked to play with another band  got moved to our event weekend.  Since that show booked first and is a paying gig, their obligation was to play it. Perhaps we can try again for next year?

So now our poor Rain is scrambling to find an act to replace them as our headliner. If you know any bands that are headliner material and willing to play free for a charity gig, contact our Entertainment Coordinator Rain Riversong:  rain333@hotmail.com . Send her some sample music or arrange a meeting to get a demo or CD to her ASAP. Time is short and we desperately need to confirm our headliner as quickly as possible.

We're just having a whale of a rough ride this year. We've had our Local Coordinator resign, which threatened to cancel our event. No way! We all  said "NOT HAPPENING!" and our wonderful Margie stepped up to take the reins. You are truly a blessed woman and we love you! We found that our venue recently added a secondary stage which very much encroaches on our vending space (two whole spaces... YIKES!) and we can't put anyone up on it to vend for safety/liability reasons. We will be working through this challenge and NO ONE who has reserved space will lose it even if we just have to sit a little closer together in the middle. We've already determined that it is possible to work things around with a little ingenuity and we know this crew has that in spades.  We had our promised web hosting fall through. That was okay since we had a plan in back-up just for such emergencies. Houstonpaganpride.org is now settled in and fully functional again after some down time while we got it relocated.

There is also some other good news. One of our former Local Co-cordinators, Cat McNulty will be with us again this year, though not as a Coordinator. She had moved away several years back and just come home to Houston this year. Her return could not have come at a better time for she fell gravely ill not long after and had much need of the loving magick her Pagan family here had to offer. After quite a bit of time in the hospital, she is now on the road to recovery and looking forward to joining us at the event. We are eagerly awaiting her return.

I've added some pictures from 2006 on the HPPD domain and will soon be uploading more images here as well. That's all the news I have for now. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Aazari The Mad Artist/Drummer Chica

Official Houston Pagan Pride Web Witch

The lovely and wonderful Rain has put together the schedule of entertainment and, without further ado, here it is!!

..> ..>

12 PM	Tom the Folksinger
1 PM	Drumming
2 PM	Dance Instruction
3 PM	Ceili (Open Mike)
4 PM	Wyrdgrl
5 PM	Ted Miller
6 PM	Khandroma
7 PM	Drumming
8 PM	Ritual
9 PM	Soul Fixx (formerly Soul Fusion)
10 PM	The Wartime Social
11 PM	Drumming

As you can see, by popular demand, more time slots have been allocated to drumming so that those who can't stay late or have a limited window in which they can participate can still come and get their groove on with us! Bring your drums and have some FUN! I know I will!

Our schedule may change due to the chaos that can occur at any festival. So keep

Aazari

Web Witch & Mad Artist/Drummer Chica

Saweet news, Houston Pagans! Your ever-lovable entertainment guru, Rain Riversong had scored a GREAT band for your enjoyment at the festival! Some of you may remember The Wartime Social from their gig in Houston with Wyrd Girl and DreamTrybe. I know quite a few of us were impressed with them and they are all OURS for Pagan Pride Day! We should be honored. They kicked butt and took names at the KLBJ/Verizon Wireless Battle of the Bands in Austin, which they won!

So, what else is going on? Well, we've got a DOMAIN! You can now check out the official Houston Pagan Pride website at http://www.houstonpaganpride.org!  We should have some schedules for folks to look out and more information about our featured acts coming soon.

Don't forget to come on out to the next meeting on August 26th and help us put together purple ribbon pins!

Well, the Houston Pagan Pride domain is taking a bit longer than I expected, so in my hyperactive need to feel like I'm WORKING or something at all times, I decided to do a bit of tweaking to the good old MySpace page for the event. Thus far, I have added in the left panel of the page:

Some links to things hither, thither and yon about the Texas Pagan community since a lot of us Houstonians are good and friendly with our Pagan fellows across the state *waves to all the Pagan family in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Bryan,  and Denton*

A cute little witchy graphic made by SilveryWitch Creations from the art of an artist I actually have gotten gifts from for my birthday (Joel Adams is such a sweetie  )

Some info on the confirmed vendors. If you're a vendor and need to be added, drop me a line with your info, please.

A link to a movie I wish I didn't feel was necessary to add. But it has a message I feel is very important for us animal lovin' Pagans to spread to everyone. I warn you, don't watch it if you cry easy. It made ME bawl and I don't cry all that easy.

I'm also looking for you die-hard raffle donators who have given stuff to the HPPD raffle for at least the last 2 years to give me a shout so I can link to your website or at least mention you up here and on the web page when it finally goes active. We're honored that you choose to donate and would like to thank you! If you want to make yourself a little banner for me to add, please keep it to the following restrictions:
*No adult material
*No larger than 235 (width) x 60 (height) at 72 dpi
*Static images only, please.
OR you can ask me to make one for you. ;-) They take just a couple of minutes to do.

I also fiddled with the blog look a bit. I'll add more as soon as I have it. And if you beeeyoutiful Pagan peeps out there can think of anything I'm missing up here, please do give me a shout with your suggestions.

Aazari the Mad Artist/Drummer Chica
Official HPPD Web Witch
HPPD_webwitch@sbcglobal.net