More, More, More

During a two-year period, Amy Hall, 19, promoted metal, goth, and death-metal shows at two different church facilities. All the proceeds went to charity or directly to the church.

"I still want to promote but not with pastors anymore," says Hall, who works as a medical bill auditor and attends Grossmont College. She began organizing shows in October 2004, while still a student at Kearny High.

"I wanted to help kids who were into metal but who were kind of shy. I was going to [a church] in La Mesa. They offered a ["youth"] room that holds 500.... The first show did well; we had, like, 250 to 300 people. We used all local bands. We did really well even though there was a big show at the Epicentre [in Mira Mesa] the same night. The pastor thought it was a great idea."

Hall says she organized nine multi-band shows at the same church and estimates the profit at over $2000. The money raised was used to help fund an AIDS treatment center in Angola.

"The pastor started pushing us to bring in more, more, more. We took in $1000 for the first two shows, but he kept wanting more for every show."

Due to the pressure, Hall says she moved on.

"I found another [College Area] church. I did three shows there. The pastors were unreliable. They didn't return phone calls until the last minute. The first show was punk, but it didn't do well. Nobody likes punk. Punk is dead. The second show was metal, but Soma and Epicentre had shows the same night. The third show was amazing; we had 300 kids."