NYC is a crazy, crazy city. I like it a lot in retrospect, but I spent a good portion of the time I was there wanting to leave and never come back. Spending that much time in bars, surrounded by music industry people who all know each other, while unable to drink... horrible. I like the feel of the city overall, though... I think it was just far too hectic of a trip for a good first impression.
One of my professors was in the airport, and I was talking to him... when I said I was going to CMJ his eyes bugged out and he said "oh my god! is your band playing???" That would have been so cool.
I like the subway a lot, it was really weird how many conversations I got into while on the subway. Considering, you know, the thing is that you should never do that. I never initiated these conversations, so apparently it is just new yorkers who don't know what you should do on the subway. my roommate, who is from brooklyn, was horrified.
I also witnessed a cute scene where these two people about our age were sitting across from each other, and the guy commented that he liked her boots, and asked if she knew if the train stopped at a certain stop, and she said "oh, yeah, that's my stop," and then she walked over and sat next to him and they started talking... adorable. She had multiple facial piercings.
lots and lots of good concerts. I generally hated all of the big "buzz bands," but saw two of the best rock shows of my life. More details when I have uploaded pictures and videos from my trip. I spent a ridiculous amount of money, mostly on food, but also on some records and t-shirts.
the whole "College Music Journal" thing is a big sham, it was basically a huge music industry circle jerk. I went to all these showcases where we were some of the only college kids there, everyone else was a pro. Which, I guess, means we were going to the right shows-- lots of shows we were at got written up on big blogs and stuff. Lots of venues we couldn't get into due to our in-advanced age. The only alcohol I touched all weekend was the huge amount of beer that got spilled on me while seeing Monotonix, who are just the most insane garage-rock-y band I have ever seen. I had thought the era of shows getting shut down by management because they were too out of control was in the past. It was good to see that people were the most excited about just seeing, like... rock bands. I only saw one cutesy indie band the whole time (although... they were the best ever.) Lots of loud guitars, lots of great riffs.
I only got 5 hours of sleep a night 3 days in a row, which was kind of cool.
There was this one promoter who I was supposed to meet who spent a ridiculous amount of time and money tracking me down. My friends were convinced that she wanted to smooch on me, and she was really really attractive... and really bad at her job. By the end of meeting her we had agreed that she just had no idea what was going on, didn't know any of the other industry people, and was grasping at straws to try to get something done while she was in the city.
It was interesting seeing Williamsburg and the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village and seeing all the "hipster" types... apparently fashion has followed the music, as there was a decided lack of cute little outfits. A lot of girls in flannel and jeans, it was kind of refreshing.
It poured last night and none of us had jackets... being completely soaked in cold weather is really unpleasant.
now I am just tired.
in other news: don't play your electric guitar, it is actually 2 AM, people.
also: I told the director of training at the radio station "that girl, [name]? Make sure you assign her to train on my show. I like to use the training period to meet cute girls."
Apparently that was not obviously a joke, and so she called me today to tell me that she went out of her way to assign the girl to my show. She did not understand what i was trying to say when I said "that is not OK. do not do that. do not change her assignment based on what i said. i was kidding. please do not put me in this position." We will see what happens.
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Topic: Today I'm gonna... (Read 1349137 times)