Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Cedric will be in Raleigh on JULY 22

CEDRIC THE FIDDLER of the BEDLAM BARDS will be in Raleigh for one night on Wednesday JULY 22, 2009, at Tir na nOg Irish Pub in Downtown Raleigh. He will be playing his ever-popular award-winning Renaissance Faire music and Browncoat tunes in the cottage room from about 7-8pm. $5 per person. No advance tickets are being sold, seating is on a first-come first-served basis beginning at 6:30pm.

And remember, there's a very special level of hell reserved for child molestors, people who talk in the theater, and people who sneak in before 6:30 and try to sit in the cottage.


The Bedlam Bards album "On the Drift" won BEST FOLK RECORDING in the 2006 CELTIC MUSIC AWARDS, and the BEDLAM BARDS were voted Best Renaissance Faire Band 2006. Before joining the Bedlam Bards, James Hazlerig (Cedric) played in a classical orchestra and an old-time country band-his mom was the other fiddler in that band. He also cooked hamburgers and taught college English. When not at faires, he works as a writer/editor. Cedric looks suspiciously similar to a person of the same name, who has spent over ten years as a bard in the Society for Creative Anachronism, eventually being inducted into the Order of the Laurel and being made a Lion of Ansteorra. He also collaborated with Sam Moses on an instrumental trance acoustic album titled Vitulari. Instruments: fiddles, mandola, strumstick, mandolin, guitarron, voice.

Monday, May 11, 2009

CSTS 2009 official website

Tickets, sponsorships and souvenirs are available through the NEW 2009 Can't Stop the Serenity official website for the Raleigh screening. This year's event will be the evenings of Sunday June 28 and Monday June 29, at Raleighwood Cinema Grill.

I am no longer the CSTS-Raleigh coordinator, but this year I am a GLOBAL CSTS SPONSOR.

Can't Stop the Serenity Global Website
NEW 2009 Can't Stop the Serenity-Raleigh NC official website

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

New CSTS 2009 coordinator

After three years and three successful events, I have stepped down as coordinator of the Raleigh Can't Stop the Serenity "Serenity" screening and fund-raiser for Equality Now. Many thanks to all of the sponsors, volunteers, donors, and attendees who helped us raise a combined 3-year total of more than $10,000 to fight for the rights of women and girls worldwide. And also many thanks to Joss Whedon and everyone involved in the movie "Serenity" for giving such joy to our lives.

Mary "Maer" McKay-Eaton has taken over as 2009 coordinator. Contact her at taimdala@gmail.com for information about planning meetings, sponsors, prizes, volunteering, etc. Or join the NC Browncoat Yahoo Group for updates.

~Flame~

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Raleigh Browncoat Christmas Party


The Raleigh Browncoat Christmas Party will be Thursday December 4 this year! Come out and kick off a Happy Gorram Holiday season! We'll be meeting at the Colony Theater in Raleigh to watch SERENITY. The Colony will be showing SERENITY as part of its "Cool Classics at the Colony" series! Sponsored in part by one very shiny Browncoat, Jim Shires of Berkeley Cafe. Admission is only $5.00 per person.

There will be an optional holiday gift exchange. To participate, bring a gift of $5-$10 value, something related to Firefly/Serenity/Browncoats.

This is NOT a fund-raiser, just a no-fuss low-stress casual holiday get-together, though maybe someone involved in Can't Stop the Serenity will be on hand to fill us in on the big Equality Now event coming June 2009.

The Colony doesn't serve food/dinner, but it does have alcohol, soft drinks, popcorn, candy, etc.

~Flame~

Monday, July 28, 2008

Two Nights! One Big Damn Movie!

JOSS WHEDON'S "SERENITY" MOVIE
SUNDAY JUNE 22 and MONDAY JUNE 23, 2008
Raleighwood Cinema & Grill
6609 Falls of Neuse Road, Raleigh.

RALEIGH'S TOTAL DONATION TO EQUALITY NOW IS $5,254.00.

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT

See Raleigh's video birthday card for Joss on YouTube! Filmed on Monday June 23, 2008.

See the "Mal's shooting gallery" that we had at our event. You can't tell, but the cans, boxes and bottles had Blue Sun, Fruity Oaty Bar and Chinese labels. Two of the beer bottles were "Two-by-Two Brew" with a Blue Hand logo, and Mudders Milk.

SUNDAY JUNE 22
* Doors opened at 6pm
* Goody bags
* Tam Sessions & Fanvids
* "Mal's shooting gallery"
* Serenity movie prop on display
* Souvenirs for sale
* COSTUME CONTEST: All winner received award plaques donated by Wake Forest Awards. First place also won a gift certificate to Tir na nOg Irish Pub.

First place winner: Jon as "Reaver"
Second place winner: Erin as "Kaylee with strawberry"
Third place winner: Kirsten as "Companion"
Shiny mention: Scott as "Badger"
Audience favorite: "Dinosaur playing with Mal and Jayne action figures"

* Raffle
* SERENITY at 7:30pm

MONDAY JUNE 23
* Doors opened at 6pm
* Goody bags
* "Mal's shooting gallery"
* Serenity movie prop on display
* Souvenirs for sale
* Joss Whedon birthday party with FREE cake
* Party favors and shiny hats (like the king of all Londinium) for the first 50 attendees
* Sing-along
* TRIVIA CONTEST trophy by Wake Forest Awards and gift certificate from Camelot Treasures awarded to Kimberly ("River")
* Raffle
* SERENITY at 7:30pm

RAFFLE
There were A LOT of really shiny prizes this year, including a Terrifying Space Monkey autographed by Morena Baccarin, "Women of the 'Verse" gift basket donated by Bookish Women for the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, handmade Serenity baseball jerseys by Brandon Bowker, a Celtic gift bag from Tir na nOg Irish Pub and Andrew Britton books, autographed "On the Drift" CD from the Bedlam Bards, a Jayne Hat from Heather Hill at WearWithStyle.com, a beautiful oriental tea set donated by the Charlotte Browncoats, a Monkeyshines costume replica of Saffron's necklace from the Firefly episode "Trash," and much more!

UPDATE!! Congratulations to the winners of the prize drawings held at the global level of CSTS (one of the winner was from the Raleigh screening!!): Creation Entertainment tickets, Denise Schumaker, Raleigh; Buffy Between The Lines Minisode voice role, Joshua Nussbaum, Tampa; and Browncoat Ball tickets, Tom McConnell, Phoenix.

EMAIL the event coordinator
Event website (Raleigh, NC)
Event email list (Raleigh, NC)
Can't Stop the Serenity website (Global)
Equality Now
NC Browncoats Yahoo Group
Charlotte, NC, Browncoats
Raleighwood (screening venue) website

Thanks for your love and support, it's what keeps us flying!

~Flame~
Event coordinator - 2006 - 2007 - 2008

2008 CSTS event financial report

The 2008 Serenity screenings in Raleigh are coordinated by me, Jen Hilton (aka "Flame"). There are many volunteers and contributors who help with the event, but I am the person who handles the expenses, advance ticket sales, sponsorship money, and will be the one submitting the donation to Amanda Sullivan at Equality Now. And while I contribute many hours, days and weeks of time to this event, I do also buy a sponsorship package and pay to attend the event, just like everyone else. I sincerely appreciate the trust my fellow Browncoats place in me in handling this event, and I strive to be worthy of that trust.

This is a FINAL financial report for the 2008 Raleigh Can't Stop the Serenity fund-raising event for Equality Now.

INCOME
Event ticket sales*: $2,734.00
Sponsorships: $1,345.00
Souvenirs* & raffle tickets: $3,661.00
TENTATIVE TOTAL: $7,740.00

EXPENSES
Serenity movie (two nights): $ 475.00

T-shirts: $ 591.00
Souvenirs: $ 537.00 (ceramic, strawberry totes, QMx money packs)

Program printing: $ 299.00
Party supplies: $ 180.00 (Monday night, cake, hats, plates, napkins, etc)
Raffle: $ 82.00
Pay Pal fees: $ 130.00
Misc. expenses: $ 192.00 (envelopes, postage/shipping, fliers, paper bags, etc)

TENTATIVE TOTAL: $2,486.00

RALEIGH'S TOTAL DONATION TO EQUALITY NOW: $5,254.00

Of that total, $3,794.00 was sent to Equality Now immediately following the event. The balance will be sent at the end of July (I was waiting for all out-standing bills to be paid and any last-minute souvenir sales to come in). The total currently reflected on the Can't Stop the Serenity website ($3,819.00) is incorrect due to a mistaken calculation on the EN end, and has been corrected with Amanda Sullivan at Equality Now and the global coordinators.

* Individual sales. Does not reflect items included in sponsorship packages.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

CSTS 2007 event report

CONGRATS, BROWNCOATS, THIS EVENT SOLD OUT ALL 200 TICKETS!!

PHOTOS FROM THE 2007 SCREENING - CLICK HERE
MORE PHOTOS HERE

PODCAST INTERVIEWS: COSTUME CONTEST WINNERS & EVENT COORDINATORS

FINAL TOTAL RAISED IN RALEIGH: $3,521.00
That's more than TWICE what we raised in 2006! All proceeds go to EQUALITY NOW, Joss Whedon's charity of choice. Last year, SERENITY screenings around the world raised $65,000 for Equality Now, a 501(c)(3) organization. See the CAN'T STOP THE SERENITY main website for the grand worldwide total and how Raleigh measures up against other cities.

WHEN: THURSDAY JUNE 21, 2007
WHERE: RALEIGHWOOD CINEMA & GRILL movie theater and restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina. Raleighwood generously waived its venue fee of $500 for our charity event. Raleighwood and real estate broker Denise Keane also provided two free movie passes for everyone who attended the event!

EVENT SCHEDULE:

6:00pm – DOORS OPENED
* Everyone who attended received a goody bag with an event program, treats and promotions from sponsors, and some bags had extra prizes.
* We had "Hello my name is..." tags in the lobby for those who may have forgotten their costumes. Some tags were already prepared with names of the crew and villains.
* While everyone was finding seats and ordering food, we played the promo video from Browncoat Cruise, Done the Impossible and QMX. We also played a FIREFLY tribute video by local Browncoat David Coulter.
* We sold official event t-shirts and posters. We also had a souvenir table with blue gloves, dinosaurs, teddy bears with parasols, Chinese checkers, chopsticks, buddha statues, Chinese necklaces, strawberry light-up firefly bug candy, and plastic grenades.
* Costumes and props from "Firefly" were on display, courtesy of Gerry "Crew Chief" James.

6:30pm – COSTUME CONTEST:
1st Place: SERENITY ship costume
2nd Place: BADGER costume by Will
3rd Place: INARA costume
Shiny Mention: BROWNCOAT costume by Gerry "Crew Chief" James
Winners received award plaques from Wake Forest Awards & Engraving, and 1st, 2nd & 3rd place received gift certificates from Tir na nOg Irish Pub.

7:00pm – RAFFLE PRIZE DRAWINGS
We gave away hundreds of dollars of shiny prizes, including a Serenity ornament; visual companion; Done the Impossible; Kaylee, Simon & River, Zoe, Jayne and Saffron prize packages; replica and handmade jewelry; a framed event poster; event t-shirt; and more.

7:30-9:30pm – SERENITY

MYSPACE PAGE FOR EVENT COORDINATOR - Join JEWEL STAITE, NATHAN FILLION, and MARK SHEPPARD on my friends list!!

LOOKING FOR THE CHARLOTTE, NC, SCREENING? CLICK HERE.