Call for submissions:'This Is Not Our Last Goodbye'

[sockii]

Ok, so in light of and in lieu of other threads, let me put the final proposal up here in a new one. The original conversation took place here, several weeks ago:

http://www.stewartcopeland.net/forum/vi ... php?t=7954

And with that out of the way...

The basic idea:
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To put together a collection of fans' stories from the tour, from the Whiskey A Go Go in '07 to Madison Sqaure Garden on '08, in the form of a fanzine or fan-published book. From meeting other fans, to road tripping, to meeting the band, to whatever else happened related to the Police tour that brought folks together during these past two years.

As stated originally, there have been some great stories shared here on the boards these past two years that I *think* a lot of folks would enjoy having collected in some kind of memory book, so as not to be lost to the perils of time (and not always easily searchable messageboards!)

The plan of action:
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The first goal is to gather submissions. Did you post a blog or story here or elsewhere about your adventures you're willing to share? Please send me a link to it (or email me a text file of it directly.) I may contact folks directly asking their permission if I remember a particularly amusing tale, but please do not count on me remembering every adventure posted here. If you want to make sure your story is included, your best bet is to email me a copy directly at sockii@earthlink.net

Photos to go along with these stories are also most welcome (though please read the codes of conduct below), as are any cartoons, artwork/etc that you have, which you have created personally, which you would like to share. However, please do not submit other peoples' work.

Codes of conduct:
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For privacy/personal concerns, only "board" or "screen" names should be included in any tales told. If you specifically would NOT want yourself referenced in any form or fashion in any such collection, please let me know and we can edit submissions to cover this.

Photos will NOT be included unless we have received the permission of any/all fans seen in the photo to be included in the fanzine.

Please use common sense. If something happened/was told to you that was not meant to be shared with a wider audience, please do not submit it for the fanzine.

Deadlines:
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Ideally, all submissions should be received by the end of September. I'd love to have this ready for the holiday season, so to give enough time for formatting and proofing, please get me your submissions by October 1. Anyone who submits will have a chance to preview how their story (or stories) will look before being printed.

Publishing and costs:
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No profit will be made off this publication. It will either be an old-fashioned photo-copied-and-hand-bound 'zine, or printed through a service such as Lulu (http://www.lulu.com) if the costs are more reasonable and the quality better. Copies will be "sold" at cost-only, with perhaps a $1 added to each cover price to go to the Leroy Coolbreeze Fund.

Etc etc:
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If anyone thinks this is a truly horrible, terrible idea, please feel free to let me know. The initial proposal seemed to generate a lot of positive feedback, so I figure it's worth going with it. Similarly if anyone has reason to think The Powers The Be (Stewart? Gio? Anyone?) would object, thus will be the end of it. But since we are not talking any content that would take away from any "official" Police "product" this year--that it's more about *us* than the band, it seems fair game to me. But I'm more than open to hearing any objections as to why not...

[TheEqualizer]

I think this is a great idea. In particular, I would like to see like 5 or six or 10 or 20 different takes on MSG and Vancouver.

With that said, are you wanting us to edit our own stuff or will just giving you the link to our original posts enough? Part of me thinks that, given the amount of work potentially involved, you will want us to do our own editing, but part of me hopes that you wont need us to. I'm ok with my contributions having errors in them.

I intend to contribute my Guitar Center story, my SLC story, and my yet to be finished MSG story. I'll give you the links later, assuming you are OK with just that.

[TOWOS]

That is great. I will contribute with the few things I have.

[sockii]

[quote="TheEqualizer"]I think this is a great idea. In particular, I would like to see like 5 or six or 10 or 20 different takes on MSG and Vancouver.

With that said, are you wanting us to edit our own stuff or will just giving you the link to our original posts enough? Part of me thinks that, given the amount of work potentially involved, you will want us to do our own editing, but part of me hopes that you wont need us to. I'm ok with my contributions having errors in them.

I intend to contribute my Guitar Center story, my SLC story, and my yet to be finished MSG story. I'll give you the links later, assuming you are OK with just that.[/quote]

The whole editing thing is a bit of an issue to be decided yet. Everyone is of course welcome/encouraged to edit their own submissions before sending them in. I had a couple folks volunteer with proofreading as well, and I've done a fair amount of it in my time as well so it's not a big deal to me to do final run throughs.

That said, I don't want to take away from the individual voices and charm of folks stories, and we have a lot of folks who aren't native English speakers as well. So I'm inclined to go with a light touch on the editorial side unless specifically told "please fix my grammar/typos!" by someone.

And like I said, everyone will get a chance to see a "proof" copy of their submissions before printing for approval. So no surprises, hopefully, in the final product for contributors.

[bella]

This is very exciting. I'm definitely interested.

[any_other_day]

[quote="bella"]This is very exciting. I'm definitely interested.[/quote]

As am I! Although my experience was quite short

[Susan]

Count me in for some contributions.

[copeland_girl5]

Count me in as well...I'm actually in the process of writing about my experiences for the last 5 shows + The Apollo taping (Pittsburgh thru MSG)...with particular attention given to JB2...soooo much fun to document...

[Divemistress of the Dark]

I think it's a great idea. Any wank in theory may well be offset by the paper-and-ink nature of the thing.

Let me know if I can help, particularly with layout. Have a copy of InDesign, will travel. Oh, and I'll finish up the Whisky tale for it, too...

[Spec A!]

Totally in. This thing is gonna be HUGE.

[sixteenlaps]

How the hell is this thing goin to be produced and sent out... we have FAR too many stories.

Sock, I think you just undertook the project of the century

EDIT: I'm in

[luddite lady]

You can count me in, too. Like CG5, I'm in the process of writing about my personal tour of final shows. This'll be fun!

When I saw TOWOS' and CG5's avis as I scrolled down this thread, all I could think was, "Some things never change no matter how much time passes."

[copeland_girl5]

[quote="luddite lady"] When I saw TOWOS' and CG5's avis as I scrolled down this thread, all I could think was, "Some things never change no matter how much time passes."[/quote]

Good observation...

[TOWOS]

It's called "Syncronized Avataring"

[CirceNYC]

count me in. great idea.