Meeting Cool People and Doing Cool Things

I have been wanting to blog for a while! I've been waiting on the photo here of me with my coworker and Jordin Sparks! Cherry Lane just signed to publish all of Jordin sparks writing. I have to admit that although I don't listen to her music that much Jordin Sparks was an amazing young woman. She was so sweet and down to earth.
Cherry lane has had a lot of activity recently besides Jordin. We had a small acoustic show by Jeremy of Days Difference and we had meetings with Keke Palmer of Akeelah and the Bee!
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity, thanks to a really cool friend! He invited me to the SNL after party!! It was a great night even though later we found out that it was the after after party and most of the famous people are already in bed asleep. We did hear that the members of Dave Matthew's band were walking amongst us, which was cool I suppose! Haha
Last Wednesday for class we went to go see Wicked on Broadway, which is one of my favorite shows! It was incredible as always! After the show we schlepped through the rain to the Rockefeller Center to see the big tree all lit for the first time this year. It was very pretty! Things are winding up here so fast... It is amazing, I feel like I just got here! NY has been an incredible experience.

I recall Central Park in fall.

So I just realized that I have not posted something on here in quite a while - time just got away from me! You know what they say, time flies when you're having fun. Everything has been pretty standard since the last time I wrote, interning and classing, going out in the city and just living in NYC. My best friend was here this past weekend for a little visit and to celebrate her 23rd birthday. It was awesome! We went to a show for one of the band's represented by Stunt Co. Wild Light and it was stellar. They put on a great show and the guys are super nice, so it made for a perfect b-day celebration. We hung out in Central Park on Sunday, which I have discovered is my favorite place to be in the fall. It is gorgeous, I could sit there all day and take pics of the autumn colors everywhere.

I am STOKED for this week because my family is making the 10 hour drive to spend Thanksgiving with me. This year is a bit different because "my family" includes my parents and their best friends, Steve and Carla, and their two sons Chris and Matt. I am so happy for everyone to be here and to spend the holiday together! The other great part of this week is my 22nd birthday on Saturday!! I am sure it will be fantastic since I will be journeying out to Long Island with my boss to see one of my all-time fave bands, Brand New. I cannot wait, especially since this is their hometown show AND it's at the massive Nassau Coliseum. So, I will be sharing my birthday with a bunch of hardcore LI kids belting their lungs out to their hometown heroes. I honestly can't think of a better way to turn 22.

Only 2 and a half more weeks! WHAT?! Where has time gone? I want to stay.

Quick Update

Wow, it's been awhile since I have updated you all on my life.

The past few weeks have been pretty exciting. A few weeks ago, I was able to attend one of the Rock n Roll 25th Anniversary concerts at MSG for free! The show lasted about five hours and was packed with amazing performances. Some of the performers included Aretha Franklin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Annie Lennox, Lenny Kravitz, Sting, ZZ Top, Ozzy Osbourne (my personal favorite of the night), Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, the Black Eyed Peas, Mick Jagger, and U2! A great experience for sure.

On Monday night, Amy and I went to see Luke Bryan at the Bowery Ballroom. Nashville came to NYC and we couldn't have been happier! He put on a great show. We've missed the south and country music. While we were there, we met some new friends who graduated from Vandy last year and now live in the city. Small world.

My internship at AMO couldn't be better. I'm sad that I don't have many days left. This was the perfect internship for me. I have learned so much and have gotten to know so many people. I feel like I am a part of the company. They always involve me in everything as much as possible. I have also gotten to attend all of our artists shows when they come to town. I've helped prepare for these shows all semester and it's fun to be able to see the final product. On top of all that, I have been able to help with some special events for our artists. I love special events and event planning so I enjoyed every minute of it. Two of our artists have a show tonight, so I am going on a field trip to CAKE BOSS with one of the girls from the office to pick up cake (obviously) for the evening. I'm not going to lie, I'm excited about the little adventure to New Jersey.

My mission this weekend is to go out and experience more of NYC! I'll hopefully hit up the Brooklyn Flea Market as well (this is the last weekend for it).

Until next time...

Shannon

P.S. I have located the Chick-Fil-A in NYC for all of you who are missing it!

Parent Weekend!

This weekend my parents came into town to visit me! It was great to see them, but we had a pretty tough time meeting up. First their flight was canceled and then there were issues with the F train, which made it difficult to get to their hotel in Midtown, but it was done.

I took them to some of my favorite hangs in NYC and Brooklyn, including Tom's Diner in Prospect Heights (if you ever go to NYC you HAVE to get breakfast and a milkshake at this place) and we spent a lot of time around Rockafeller Plaza, which is probably my favorite touristy area in NYC. The Rockafeller Christmas tree was recently brought in, and it still has scaffolding around it, but I look forward to being around to see it lit up.

Unfortunately the weather was less than desirable because of a hurricane/tropical storm thing that brought cloudy skies, a light rain, and a lot wind, so we weren't able to go to the Top of the Rock, which has the best view in NYC. We ended up going to MoMA, which was great and we saw the play A Steady Rain which has the actors you may know as The Most Recent James Bond, and Wolverine. It was fantastic, and it was just the two of them, but the way they told the story it made you feel like everything they were talking about was actually happening on stage with them.

Anyway, it was a nice short visit and I got to do a lot of things that I normally wouldn't have gotten out to do.

Also, I just thought I'd mention that it's November 16th and yet it is 60 degrees outside. Wow.

This is Sirius.

Better late than never.

Well I'm pretty slow to jump on the blogging bandwagon even though so many amazing experiences have happened to me up here in NYC. Belmont East was one of my major reasons for coming to Belmont University and I'm happy to say it has not left me disappointed.

I am interning at SiriusXM satellite radio and I have learned so much. I have gained education on many different systems, a great knowledge of how to trouble shoot a network with over 40 studios, hands on physical maintenance from the studio gear to cables. I spend most of my days following around the Engineer on Duty (EOD) responding to maintainence calls as well as the day to day upkeep. Some of my other days I am working in BNOC- Broadcast Network Operations Center. It is essentially the command center for SiriusXM. And when things are getting to technical I pop my head into to studios and work with Studio Operations. I've worked on live recording sessions with some amazing artists as well as really famous people such as: Oprah, Dr. Phil, Barbra Walters, Howard Stern, Smokey Robinson, Queen Latifa, NeedtoBreath...and many more (those were just my favorites).

I've had a great time at Belmont East and believe it has not been just my internship. I feel like I always have exciting weekends, and compared to the ones I have during the summer in Fayetteville, Georgia they can't even compare. This weekend I saw two shows and spent very little money. I saw Tourdant at the Metropolitan Opera. But the more amazing part was I was able to "stub-in" and see 2/3's of the show in $222.50 seats for free. This was an amazing experience. The show was phenomenal and the setting was more breathtaking. But this was only half the weekend. My roommate Jake and I had been trying to win a ticket lottery for a Broadway show for a while, and after six failures we found great success. We landed Box seat tickets for the show "Next To Normal" for $25 each.

My weekends continue to impress me, and I constantly don't know what to expect from my random adventures around The Big Apple.

Patrick Griffin

Macy's

If this group were any luckier it'd simply be unfair. unfair.
So far we've gotten random free dinner, free tickets to opening nights and final dress rehearsals, free tickets to pro football games....and the entire time in GREAT seats, btw. and now - Balloons.

All you kidz out there who want to attend Belmont East should go to church on Sundays. Why? So you can meet peeps with the hookup to Macy's Balloon Fest.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - it's a nationally televised event. You'd think it'd be super easy to get to become balloon handler - or to find out when the testing happens for new balloons, right? WRONG.
The Macy's Balloon people are a tightly-knit, super secret, initiation required society. It's like a sorority, but without rush.
(Think the Amherest society in the TV show 'Greek')

Anyways, thanks to Church, I met a young man, whose name must be withheld, who scored me and 4 friends free tickets to the Macy's Balloon Fest - an event for sponsors of the parade and new balloon handlers to come out and test the new balloons.

We all got free breakfast, sweatshirts and a chance to walk Snoopie around a large parking lot for an hour an a half.

So much fun.
The photo is us in front of spider man.

I mean, you're right. it's unfair.

This is the greatest experience of my life.

TuneCore - Tyler Bryant

I've gotta show my face sometime, huh? :)

New York has been a fantastic experience - it's been a lot of fun hanging out with the Belmont crew (Tori, Ashley, Emily, Shannon & Amy - yes as one unit, Jessica, Patrick my roomy, Ian, & Matt.Dowd). Shannon & Amy live below Patrick and I...and they've had to suffer a lot of unnecessarily loud and obnoxious noises from us over the past few months. Let me publicly apologize for that :)

TuneCore

While I've been up here, I've been interning at a digital music distribution company called TuneCore. TuneCore distributed independent artists' music to all the major digital stores, including iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, Shockhound, eMusic, etc... They handle about 150,000 artists' music on iTunes (that's a rough estimate). I'm their only intern and I've been treated just like a new member of their team, helping put together content for their newsletter and exploring different marketing strategies. I was originally given the task of finding articles for the newsletter, but soon found it was easier to write them myself than to track down other people to write them... Sooo, you can read a few of my articles here if you want:

Talk the Talk with Your Sound Engineer by Jake Hartsfield
The Producer's Checklist by Jake Hartsfield
Stay Hot in Online Marketing by Jake Hartsfield
Inside EQ - Keys to a Great Mix: Part I by Jake Hartsfield
Keys to a Great Mix: Part II by Jake Hartsfield

Tyler Bryant

Another large part of my existence this semester has actually been spent in various cities around the US, touring with an artist out of Nashville named Tyler Bryant. I'm currently his tour manager and front of house engineer (and marketing guru, online techie, graphic designer, etc..) I'd fly in to California, meet the band, run front of house sound for a few shows, hang out, then fly back to New York... I did this every weekend since I got up to NY until about 3 weeks ago when we all got a little break. But guess how many classes I've missed this entire semester? Only 3! :) Two of my good friends at Belmont actually started playing for Tyler back in March before they got me involved - Caleb Crosby (drums, junior at Belmont) and Calvin Webster (bass/vocals, junior at belmont. I started running Front of House sound for Tyler earlier this summer, and we toured along the west coast, down south, and on the upper east coast, opening for B.B. King, Styx, REO Speedwagon, and Heart, among others. My role with the band grew into tour manager as the summer progressed, and we're all just one happy little family now :)

Obviously, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this if it weren't for the Belmont East program. I may have had a stranger, more hectic, experience than most, but it really is what you make of it, and New York is a fantastic city to be a part of.

Peace,

Jake Hartsfield
jakehartsfield@gmail.com
http://jakehartsfield.com

October Re-cap

Sorry that it's been a while! No need to state the obvious... been busy! I guess I will tell of the month of October collectively. It was amazing. October is probably my favorite month no matter where it's spent, but it has definitely been my favorite in NYC. I had friends visit for 3 of the weekends!!! Three of my good friends from Belmont got to come for Fall Break and we all stayed in a hotel in Manhattan, so it was good to get out of Brooklyn for a little weekend. Then, another good friend from Alabama came for Halloween. We had a blast. I loved Halloween in NYC. The weirdest city in the world gets even weirder for one night. It's crazy. Although, having creepy people in masks on the subway and wandering around makes the probability for crime much higher... In turn, I was nervous all night. But we dressed as flappers and had a fun night people watching! But I must say the best part of the weekend was the day we spent in Central Park. I had been awaiting fall in CP since I've been here. It was pretty spectacular.

Life at Atlantic has been good, working hard and learning a lot. Nothing super exciting to speak of lately. Just a valuable experience on the good days and bad, and I'm really grateful for the opportunity. I went home this last weekend to see my little brother's last football game, and it really made me realize how much I miss life in the South. So I can't wait to get back to Nashville in December! I need a job!!! :) Roommate Shannon and I are embarking on accomplishing serious NYC To-do's that we've neglected all semester so I'll keep you posted on what's to come... -Amy

Pumpkin Carving and my first backflip!

One of my biggest challenges at Belmont East (and college in general) has been the time spent away from my family. My roommate, Ashley, is a dream of a roommate and knowing this, invited myself and some of our classmates to her home in Philly for the weekend.

We had a Harvest Party, complete with Pumpkin Carving, tours of historic Philly and of course, Philly Cheese Stakes. I've never gotten along so well with such a small group of people. We're becoming fast friends and I have this trip to thank for that.

The bigger news is that I learned how to do my first backflip. It was kind of amazing - i'm not going to lie. You can watch the video here.

:)

I believe that this picture just captures the essence of NY. I just experienced my first NY Halloween and let me just emphasize... you won't find anything else like it in the U.S. Although the crowds were massive and there were a few riots on the subways, it was great! A few of us sported garden gnome costumes and we got several friendly high-fives and we even got a hug from a fellow gnome on the streets.
It still amazes me that so many New Yorkers are really friendly and will go out of their way to do you a favor. My amazing friend and roommate Tori and I received a free bus ride from an MTA bus driver! We were even treated to a comped dessert at Max Brenner's all chocolate restaurant, just for being involved in the Music industry!
Unfortunately New York is full of amazing food, so my friends and I must come up with creative ways to work off all the goodness we eat. One of our favorite activities after Beka and Ben's class is to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge! The view is breathtaking at night and is a little over a mile walk. Ben and Beka teach the Entertainment Industry in NY class. I have to say, that I have learned so much about the music industry from their experiences. I feel like I am able to apply everything I've ever learned at Belmont in this class. I am able to discuss and strategize effectively about the music industry. Another great thing about the classes at Belmont East is that we get to have amazing guest speakers and field trips! But I’ll give out more details the next time I blog!

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Thought I'd post about the Late Night taping! Before the show started a comedian came out to get all of us laughing and ready for the show. He quickly explained how things were going to happen and next thing I know The Roots make an entrance and start playing some songs for us. The show began shortly after! The guests on this evening were Artie Lange, Olivia Munn, and Chef David Chang. Oh, and Susan Sarandon made a surprise visit!

Here I am! Along with my friends John, Greg, and Kendal.

Matty D

Busy Week!

In the last two weeks or so I've made it to many shows!

10/15 - I went and saw a band we (The MuseBox) work with called Hey Ocean at Piano's.

10/17 - Saw a band from Missouri called The Bottle Rockets. Great Alt-Country Band. The show was at the Mercury Lounge.

10/21 - We (The MuseBox) put on a free showcase for two bands called Parlovr and Little Fish. This show was at Bowery Electric.

10/22 - The MuseBox put on a CMJ showcase for several bands we work with at Webster Hall. I really enjoyed the group called Bottle Up And Go.

10/23 - I volunteered at CMJ.

And tonight I am going to a live taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon!

Should be fun!!!

Matchooo

Memphis opening!

Hey everybody ~

Last night I worked the opening night of the new musical, Memphis. The red carpet was not very spectacular, but getting to got to the after-party at the Hard Rock Cafe was pretty sweet. I escorted the cast members through the crowds to the press line for photos as they arrived at the party. After the photos were over, I got to just hang out at the party.

Tori and I saw the show over the weekend and really enjoyed it. The music and choreography were really tight, though the plot was fairly bland. The story takes place in segregated Memphis during the 1950s. A white DJ named Huey Calhoun finds success playing ''race'' music and finds himself falling in (forbidden) love with a black singer named Felicia Farrow. The original music was composed by David Bryan, keyboardist and a founding member of Bon Jovi.

Nostalgia.

For about the past two weeks, I have been getting random intense feelings of nostalgia. Maybe it's the changing seasons or something, but what I know for sure is there are some days I want to go back in time. This all started when I was looking through old documents at my internship and found a tour press release for Motion City Soundtrack and The Format. These two (fantastic) bands toured together in 2006 and three of my best friends and I took a super-fun road trip to Cleveland, OH for the show at the Agora Theater. It was a date featured prominently on the release - March 31, 2006. The fourth time I would see Motion City Soundtrack live in less than a year. (For those curious minds out there, to date I've been to 8 MCS shows. Great times!)
As I was reading this press release and as The Format was serendipitously pumping through the speakers in our office, I could not help but remember my former self, a girl from suburban Ohio, about to graduate Catholic school and head south to a Baptist university with a music business program that no one I knew had even heard of. If you would have told me then I would be interning with the publicity company for these bands who made music I listened to on repeat while driving in my car, I would have laughed. But here I am.
Tonight when we were at Island Def Jam, I had another bout of intense nostalgia. Erik brought up Fall Out Boy and the fact that their strong internet fan base was a tipping point in their success at a major label. I instantly remembered sitting in my den after school and streaming From Under the Cork Tree on purevolume.com. This was in February and that album dropped in late April. I remember hearing "Sugar, We're Going Down" and thinking "WOW." I had been listening to FOB for almost a year and my love for the pop-punk GEM that is Take This to Your Grave led me to become a total fan girl of Pete Wentz and Co. Needless to say their impeding massive success story turned me away from them for a while (it's SO not punk to like mainstream bands), but they always have a place in my heart--and my CD player.

I think it's important for all of us to remember that we are music fans first and formost. The sole reason I got to this place in my life is that I lived for this music, these bands. Recently, the business side of music has made me a little jaded. The hunt for the next big thing, the next way to make a buck off the emotions of song annoys me from time to time. I don't know about you but the second I forget about being "Jessica who blasts pop-punk at top volume everyday" or the moment I don't feel a sense of longing to just be the girl driving around listening to Motion City and singing along from the front row of a show in Cleveland, is the second I leave the industry. I'm doing what I'm doing so that other kids across the country who are like the teen I was can connect to the music that so changed my life.

Luckily, I haven't reached the point of total cynicism just yet and the new MCS single makes me just as happy as when I heard them for the first time :)

A Little Joy

The last time I wrote I talked about getting into free concerts because of my internship, and that's exactly what I'm going to write about now.

This past summer I discovered a band called Little Joy, and their debut album quickly became my summer jam. One of my best friends and I would always put it on when we were cooking dinner or driving around aimlessly. I'm awful at describing music, but it's great pop with a Brazilian feel.

I had no idea that they were part of Beggars until I started working at the office and saw one of their posters on the wall, and when I found out that they were playing a show at Webster Hall I decided that I HAD to go, so I got myself on the list before it filled up and did my best to prepare myself for the awesome rock that was about to occur.

The concert was great, as I expected it to be. Devendra Banhart was a secret guest opener. I had never really listened to his stuff, and I probably won't start, but some of the stuff he did was pretty cool. He was dressed like he was at Bonnaroo, totally druggy and greasy, but oddly enough after his set I saw him in the VIP section and he looked clean and had changed into a suit. Weird.

Anyway, Little Joy did not disappoint. They played pretty much their entire album (I didn't notice if they missed any songs) as well as some new tunes and covers. I sort of got my dance on during the encore, and after the show a fellow Beggars intern and I attempted to pass out stickers for a new band called The xx and flyers for a different show the next night, but the people at Webster Hall didn't seem too into it. At the Yo La Tengo show most people took the flyers that I was handing out, but at the end of the night I still had a ton of stickers and stuff.

As much as I loved the show it did make me a little homesick, as it made me miss my friend who would have loved to have seen Little Joy with me. It's sort of rough in NYC. It can be hard to make friends. At least, it's harder to make friends than it is in Nashville, where it's really easy to meet new people, at least for me. I always took that for granted. I mean, I love NYC and all that it has to offer, but people who live here, people who walk down the street, a lot of them seem really lonely. You know, it probably doesn't help that most of the other interns where I work are 25.

Should Have Seen it in Color...

It's been a while since, I've blogged (Sorry Ben and Bekah!) Let me re-cap about all of the exciting adventures I've been on lately.

I'd like to start out by thanking the Lord it is no longer disgustingly hot. I love fall! Shannon and I went to see the Braves and the Mets play in Queens! I'm so glad the Mets are terrible so that college kids on a budget can pay 15 bucks to see them get beat. (It really was like watching little league.) Go Braves!!

We finally got to go on the Circle Line Cruise on Belmont's tab. It was worth every penny Bob Fisher paid. It was such an amazing day and the perfect way to usher in this Fall season. Later that night, we went to Williamsburg in Brooklyn to have dinner with Anna and Emily (BU alumnas). I think it's worth mentioning we made smores over a fire fueled by the pages of last month's Rolling Stone.

My best friend from home came to visit this weekend! Yay. I needed a familiar face because I was getting a little homesick! We had a great weekend complete with a lot of Nashville events. On Friday night we saw a country concert at the Bowery Ball Room (Jamey Johnson and Randy Houser)! We were exhausted but decided to go because some one gave us free tickets. I didn't expect many people to be there, but we walked into a packed house! And to my further surprise, when Jamey Johnson played his hit song "In Color" the entire house sang every single word and Jamey really only joined in on the chorus. It was a crazy NYC experience! To further the Nashville feeling (that I miss so much), we went to a West Point football game on Saturdaay to watch Vandy! West Point is beautiful and so was everything about the hour train ride it took to get us there!

So, that's what I do when I'm not at my internship. I guess I should touch on what I've been doing at work in the publicity world. I've been working hard and learning A LOT. I like being busy; time flies. I have been doing a lot of tour market research looking for press outlets. I've also tried to organize stuff because our office is a mess! We threw out a lot of old magazines and we're sending them to charities. We also sent some to certain artists on the label who are currently in prison (hard to say with a straight face), and I know of one who is going to be very excited we got rid of a bunch of old Playboys and Penthouses.

PEACE AND LOVE.
amy

Hello!

NYC has been amazing! Some of the standout moments so far include being treated like stars at the restaurant B. Smith’s, seeing a Yankee’s games while they played my hometown team the Kansas City Royals, and a tour on the ferry.

Last weekend I went to the Lucinda Williams concert and this weekend I believe I will be going to an NBA game!

Mateo Dowd

Mary Poppins on Broadway

Jessica and I have been wanting to see Mary Poppins on Broadway since we arrived. On Thursday night, we finally found the time to go. We went to the TKTS booth in Brooklyn to try and score discounted tickets. We were able to get 16th row orchestra seats for half price! Pretty sweet deal! I definitely recommend going to the TKTS booth in Brooklyn over the one in Times Square, because there was no line. The show took place at the New Amsterdam Theater. The theater was beautiful and it was packed with people of all ages. The set was amazing. I always wondered how they were going to pull off Mary Poppins on a stage, but they did. The show was great- very entertaining and almost went right along with the movie. Jessica and I felt like we were reliving our childhood! If you grew up watching the movie, this show is a must see!!

Shannon

A Steady Rain - opening night!!

Hey kids,

So I got to work the opening night of A Steady Rain - even got to meet and congratulate Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig between the performance and the after-party. Before the show I worked on the red carpet outside the theater making sure the celebrity guests knew where they were going and keeping the swarming crowds away from them. Some of them included: Jerry Seinfeld, Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Whoopi Goldberg, Matthew Broderick, Matt Morrison, Jeff Goldblum, Regis Philbin, Jeffrey Wright, Darren Aronofsky, and Rupert Murdoch.

During the performance, I helped set everything up for the post-show press junket at the Harvard Club. Following the press conference (check out the photos), the stars went to the after-party and everyone from my office went out to Joe Allen (right next to B Smith!) and it was really good. A Steady Rain runs until Dec. 6th and is grossing over $1 million per week.

Daniel Craig, writer Keith Huff, director John Crowley, and Hugh Jackman)

















(Daniel Craig, his girlfriend Satsuki Mitchell, Debra Lee-Funess,
her husband Hugh Jackman, and my boss Michael Hartman)














(My fellow intern Joshua and I)



Some other interesting things from this week:

I bought the new Paramore and Relient K albums and I'm enjoying them very much. The Amazon Exclusive track that came with the Relient K album sounded strangely like Owl City - so I looked up the track producer and it just happens to be Adam Young! And word on the street is that Adam Young and Matt Thiessen are looking to embark on a collaborative project called "Goodbye Dubai". So if you've ever wondered what techno-Relient K would sound like, we may find out very soon!

Until next week -
izh

Journeys...and BLINK!

First things first, my internship was crazy busy and awesome last week because Brand New's album Daisy debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. WOW. It is pretty phenomenal considering the entire album leaked about 2 weeks before its release and was available for free stream on MySpace for 2 days. It just goes to show that having a rabid fan base--and BN fans are hard to the core--can be a major determinate for an artist's success. You can check out some Brand New songs here. (I recommend the title track "Daisy"... so goood!)
This past weekend, I ventured to Grand Central Station in the wee hours of the morning to board a train to New Haven at 7:07 AM. It was ridiculous. I was going there to watch my friend Jess' school flag football team play Yale Divinity School's team. Even though it was cold, muddy and super early for a Saturday, I have to admit it was sweet to see Yale, and where I could have been a student if only I focused on academics instead of going to see bands.
Which leads me to my next exciting adventure: seeing blink182 at Madison Square Garden! AMAZING. I saw the show back in August in Cincinnati, but there's no way I was going to miss them at MSG. Keep in mind that blink182 was my obsession in life from like 2001-until ...ummm now. Let's be serious, they're still my fave :)
This date was supposed to be the final date of their "reunion" tour but due to DJ AM's untimely death, (he and blink drummer Travis Barker were great friends and played insane shows together with Travis drumming to live beats), a few dates had to be re-routed for this week. But the show was still incredible. One thing is for sure about blink182--they want you to have the best time ever at their shows, have a FUN life in general and never take yourself too seriously. I love it. Not to mention, Travis' drum solos are worth every penny of outrageous Ticketmaster fees. Plus, Mark and Tom do things like hug each other, talk about the early days of the band and how inane the "indefinite hiatus" was. Things that make chicks like me practically cry with 'happiness that they are back together. I could go on and on, but I'll spare you anymore blink details.
Up this week: More music publicity and wandering the streets of NYC. Sounds good to me.
Unitl the future. . .

Free shows galore!!!

Well, I finally found the post inviting me to this fabulous blog, so I'm going to blog about something that I know: free stuff.

Working for Beggars Group has some incredible perks! I can have almost any Beggars release that I want and on top of that I get VIP seats (when available) to any Beggars show.

My first free show was Yo La Tengo on September 25th at the Roseland Ballroom. Let me tell you something - the Roseland Ballroom is SWANKY. I mean to say that it is a nice place. That Rose Bar is something what I imagine when I think of bars that I will never see.

Anyway, Yo La Tengo was amazing. I've been listening to their new record (which I got for free) on the subway a lot, so I was really pumped for the show. What I didn't realize was that there was going to be a cool light show. Now, I don't mean laser lights or stage lights sweeping around and whatnot, what I mean is there was a screen behind YLT, and a group of people manually created the light show by reflecting lights and mirrors and whatnot onto the screen. Since I was upstairs in the VIP section I could actually walk behind the screen and watch them work, which I was cool. Here's a picture:
And here's a video:


The bottom line is that I have the best internship ever, and I plan on taking full advantage of not only the perks, but working with a real indie label. I'm often disappointed by the lack of discussion concerning the indies in classes at Belmont, especially since many of the professors have made it clear that they believe that major labels are, for the most part, dinosaurs.

Sunday's Adventure

Yesterday, we all went on the Circle Line Cruise. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We arrived at the port around 11:20am - barely making it on board. We had train issues that morning. When we got there, Emily Bines and Anna Pandorf were waiting on us with our tickets. We stood on the bow for mostly the entire trip, which provided us with a wonderful view.

After the cruise, we all headed to Juniors in Times Square where we filled up on huge meals and tasty desserts. To end our day, we went over to Emily and Anna's apartment for dinner. They made us delicious chili and cornbread. I think we were all ready for a home cooked meal! The night got interesting when we decided to make s'mores on a mini grill in their backyard. After many failed attempts, we used an issue of Rolling Stone Magazine to start the fire (You know you go to Belmont when you use Rolling Stone Magazine to start a fire). We still had some problems, but I am pretty sure we all got to enjoy at least one s'more. It was a perfect day and a great way to end (or start) the week.

Shannon

Talking to Strangers

Last night the class was taken to a NARIP (National Association of Record Industry Professionals) discussion of licensing for film and television. This is why it feels entirely appropriate that on our way back to the subway we came into contact with a big television guy - Dan Gasby.

While searching for a cheap burger joint we found ourselves crossing the street with a really tall and really well-dressed man who asked where we were heading. I told him we were looking for a good place to eat and to our surprise he said, "Well, how 'bout you guy come to my restaurant and I'll buy you a round of drinks."

A round of drinks turned into a round of appetizers and desserts like Bono's favorite bread pudding.

Want to be really jealous of our good luck? Click here to visit the B-Smith website.

The photo is of us at the restaurant.

I love New York.
-tori

Rock of Ages // Owl City

Hey everybody!

So last night Patrick and I went to see Rock of Ages, the musical featuring all 80s rock songs. I admit it is not the most intricate or moving plot, but it sure is one of the most enjoyable shows on Broadway. Excellent singing and choreography and it keeps you constantly laughing. We noticed how the audience was made up of mostly middle-aged women who quite enjoyed singing along and swooning over Constantine Maroulis. Overall, a very entertaining show leaving you with several songs stuck in your head.

Also, since we all love to discuss Owl City - this week I found out about their ground-breaking deal with Universal. Normally artists receive bonuses when they hit a given benchmark of album sales. And since albums simply aren't selling like they used to, very few artists ever receive these bonuses. However, Owl City's lawyer negotiated that their benchmark be counted in downloads of the album's single. I believe the details are that at 1,000,000 downloads, Owl City gets a $100,000 bonus from Universal. Their single "Fireflies" has already been downloaded over 400,000 times and we expect them to hit the 1 million benchmark by Christmas. As we've discussed in class, everything is negotiable, so here's an example of how an artist can actually put their leverage to use.

Until next week -
izh

N-Y-C! N-Y-C!

So, we're approaching the one month mark of being here and oh how time has flown. One second it feels like I've been here for a day and the next it feels like a lifetime. Either way, the time has been amazing. It feels great to be able to say I love living in New York, considering it has been my dream since the first time I visited in June of 2002. Plus, my internship is everything I ever wanted and everything I have been working toward since I decided to come to Belmont all those years ago. In addition to the magical feeling of being a resident of NY and the incredible internship, one of my best friends, Jess Reuter-BU Class of '09-is going to school in Chelsea. Basically I have to pinch myself on a daily basis because it all is just too good to be true! I once heard that you have to be very lucky to come to New York and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Since Owl City always ends up coming up in our Wednesday discussions, I thought I'd include this photo I took from his show at Bowery Ballroom. Adam was working the crowd with that hand clap. Taylor Swift was a dancing fool in the balcony. I was cracking up at the ridiculous awesomeness of the whole sitauation. Hardcore Nashville meets New York moment.

Anyway, my friend Alex (Wendkos, a belmont east alum!) is here this week, my mom and her best friend Carla, also know as my second mother, are coming this weekend with Carla's mom, sister and another friend. AND Jess' golden birthday, 22 on the 22nd, is Tuesday. Needless to say, living it up with great friends and family in Manhattan will undoubtedly take up most of my time for the next six days. As soon as I put in a hard day's work at my internship tomorrow, of course :)

A little more local.

When I arrived in NYC, I felt like I was walking around with words on my forehead announcing the fact that I was a newbie and completely out of my comfort zone.

Now, I walk around with a little more confidence. I think I've cut back on the number of times I apologize for being in some one's way each day. (I've come to realize no one really cares that your sorry for bumping into them.) I even have mustered up the strength to shove people out of my way in certain situations, which really makes me feel like a New Yorker.

As for life in the City... It's pretty much Best Case Scenario. My internship is actually exactly what I wanted, even though I sometimes complain about its intensity. I wanted to come and work hard, to learn a work ethic. My intern experience in Nashville was way to low key to equip for a real-life, big-girl job. With graduation just around the corner, I wanted to be challenged... And that is definitely what life at Atlantic is providing me.

Now, I just need to work on my stamina... these 14 hour days of work then straight to classes are KILLING me!

Peace and Love.
Amy

Feeling like a New Yorker

Well, New York is starting to feel like home. My room is a mess, laundry is overflowing, and I have down daily routines. I am also learning what my favorite places are around the city. Park Slope, Brooklyn is one of them. I am sure everyone has gotten off at the 7th Ave stop on the F train at least once since we have been here. The area is so peaceful and full of new shops and restaurants to explore. Amy and I discovered Dizzy's Diner. If you come up from the subway by 8th Ave and 9th Street it's right there on the corner. The food is amazing. It is a "finer diner" so they have non-diner food at reasonable prices ($10-$15 meals). The atmosphere is cool. At night, all the tables are covered in brown paper for you to draw on and have flowers and candles on them. Sometimes they even have live music. One night we decided to write notes on the table to send to our family and friends on our phones...

We need to take a BE group trip there soon. What are everyone else's favorite places to eat here?!

Shannon

East Side!

It's week 3 in New York City and it feels like it's been a semester!

The group's done and seen so many things already. I thought when first arriving that this trip would be mostly composed of school work and my internship with limited time in the city - but I could not have been more wrong!

Ben and Jake goofing off at the Hershey Store in Time Square.

A late night stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge after our Wednesday night class

When the subway gets too crowded, it's good to know we'll make room for each other

Though most of my day is spent at my internship or studying for class, we have a lot of time here to really immerse ourselves in the city. Not only do I spent a lot of time with my Belmont East classmates, but we've also made friends with some characters who live in our apartment complex. Together, a whole bunch of us find ourselves staying up late for regular "explorer" nights were we find new places to eat, new areas to tour and new shows to see.

I've never had more fun in my entire life. For the first time school doesn't feel like school - it feels like life - and a good one at that!

-Tori

A Steady Rain

Hey Belmont East!

So I got this really cool opportunity this past Wednesday night that explains my absence from class. My internship at the Hartman Group PR secured a third-row seat for me to see the final dress rehearsal of A Steady Rain. The drama is about two gritty Chicago cops played by Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. Apart from the occasional vulgar joke, it’s a very serious show with an ever-escalating plot.

Both Daniel and Hugh pull off incredible Chicago accents, considering they are from the UK and Australia, respectively. Daniel Craig was not very Bond-esque – his voice was higher and completely unrecognizable, plus he was sporting a creeper mustache with a comb-over. I probably wouldn’t have recognized him if I didn’t see his name in the playbill. Daniel and Hugh exhibit great chemistry onstage. Both men are amazing actors and put on a very heavy and moving performance.

Now A Steady Rain is in previews at the Schoenfeld Theatre on 45th Street. It is set to open on Broadway September 29th and will run until December 6th. I would definitely recommend seeing the show – student rush tickets are only $31.50. And it’s Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig!

izh

Classes have started!

Well, the first week has gone by and everyone has moved in and started their internships, which seem to be going great so far. It's finally feeling more like fall here in NY and I am once again reminded of why this is the greatest city on earth! There's nothing better than walking outside with a great cup of coffee when the air is a bit chilly :) We (Ben and I) are very excited about this semester.....everyone seems very excited and optimistic, which is EXACTLY what this industry needs! We'll be posting blogs and pictures a lot this semester so everyone can see how much fun we are having....oops, or should I say, how much we are learning!!

Looking forward to a great semester and a beautiful fall!~
Beka

Move in weekend!

Belmont East alumni with 2009 Belmont Easters!