Well...I have been very busy as of late traveling to New York City, meeting with major and indie record label executives and living as a New Yorker for 10 days!! It has been a complete blast and am hopeful that by next fall i may be living in the big apple. (i think new yorkers hate it when people call it the big apple but what the hell:) 10 days ago, our whole group left the CMC for our mid/end semester road trip. This semester it was New York (L.A. and Nashville being the 2 other cities that are chosen from each semester.) and let me tell you I was sooo excited to go, as i have never been to NYC before. We arrived in the city (via van caravan) on Friday and had the whole weekend to do whatever we pleased before our two full days of meetings at various businesses in the music industry. Let me just say by the end of each day, my feet were DEAD from walking everywhere! I definitely got in some good exercise in NYC!

The first night there, I went with a couple people to "The Living Room", a hole in the wall bar where CMC alumni "Gretel" performed their last concert on their short East Coast tour. Gretel came to the CMC and performed for us the first night we were here and have grown to be one of my favorite bands during my semester of music-listening overhaul. It was great to talk to them again and meet other CMC alumni that are now living and working in NYC. I also got to eat at KATS...AKA: the diner in "When Harry Met Sally" (Meg Ryan's infamous scene...yeah that one.) It was fun just walking around with friends in a new big city! I found it was much easier to walk around with 4 or less people!! The rest of the weekend was full of walking around Times Square, Rockafeller Center, SOHO, and more! There was just so much to do! The food was amazing wherever we went...for the most part.

Then came Monday, our first of two days of meetings. First stop being Sony Records. We met with some big names, V.P.'s of A&R, College marketing, Celine Dion's A&R guy, digital marketing execs and more. It was really cool to have these women and men take time out of there busy schedule's to sit for an hour and just talk to some college students and answer there questions. It was a pretty surreal experience to be in the offices of people who have the jobs I have always wanted! After 4 hours at Sony, we headed down the the Avenue to The Orchard...a licensing company for indie artists and their labels. It was so hot there, we didn't even remember a lot of what was said because we were exhausted and sweating to death! We learned a lot about licensing and how important it can be especially in this time, to get your artist on a tv show soundtrack or a commercial on tv.

Tuesday was started at BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated), one of the three performance rights organizations. This was a very exciting day because we got to talk to a music business lawyer who has worked in the business for over 30 years with all sorts of artists, famous and not. We also talked to two A&R agents, one for Razor and Tie record label, the other for a publishing company. But the most memorable guest for me was JULIE GOLD...most famously known for her song "From a Distance" (which she performed for us!!) made popular by Bette Midler. She was the most inspirational and awe inspiring speaker i have ever met. It was amazing to hear her life story, and how long it took her to make it big and how much pain and hard living she had to endure. But this was so great to hear that even in this cut throat business of music where virtually everyone is disposable, that if you work hard and follow your gut and heart, you WILL succeed. She said you just have to keep saying "They're WRONG!" talking about "The Man" or the industry big wigs. After talking to us and answering our questions, she walked over to the piano and performed From a Distance for us. I don;t think there were many dry eyes during or after the performance. Before we left I got to talk to her and tell her how much that song means to me and how it is sort of a theme for how i feel about life. I remember hearing that song for the first time at family camp in Michigan (Friedenwald) when i was a little kid listening to Tom and Louis Harder sing and play it for everyone. I was smiles for the rest of the day after this meeting at BMI.

We then stopped at the Grammy building which was neat, but we didn't really gain much from the speakers until they left and we got to talk to Dan Beck from Sony Records. (Yes he worked with Michael Jackson on the Thriller album!) But our last stop of the day was at Nettwerk, a management company as well as a record label. they are in the forefront of the change in the industry these days working with all sides of the industry to help the artist as much as possible. I would love to work for them some day! They are all about the artist and staying true to the pureness of the artist/manager/label relationship and make sure it's about "the music." and not political BS. It really made me want to move to NY immediately! If only it was that easy to get a job! :)

Wednesday was the start of Thanksgiving break, but myself along with 14 others stayed in the hostel and spent the rest of the week in NYC. I missed my family and friends dearly, but had an unforgettable experience!! I won't even go into the details because this blog would go on and on! But my relationship with many people from our group was fully bloomed and i was able to connect in a way that i haven't been able to with many friends in my life. This experience ceases to amaze me and i am dreading the day i must leave!! (although i do miss everyone back home a LOT!!)

Two other notable awesome things that i did were go on the Today show with my friends Ryan and Rachel...we got up at 5am but got perfect spots!! We were on tv for a solid 5 minutes right behind, Ann Curry , Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Al Roker and Willard Scott!! It was crazy! i got to talk to Ann Curry and shake her hand!! Rockafeller Center was one of my favorite places to go while being there...watching people ice skate, seeing the huge tree (lit up on accident!!) and all of the lit up snowflakes and trees was just gorgeous!! i miss it already!

We are back on the island now, and last night when we arrived, a real Christmas tree was put up in the cafe and decorations were out for us to put up!! I was ecstatic!! So we started a fire in the hearth, made some hot chocolate and played Christmas music while putting up garland, ornaments, wreaths and lights! It made me happy since this is the first year I haven't been at home to decorate the house, tree and put up lights outside!! So thank you to the CMC for making feel at home!

Well...i am now sitting in front of the fire in the cafe playing Sarah McLachlan's Christmas album and hoping to take a nap after this! Hope to find you all in good spirits and ready for the Christmas holiday...if not, too bad...it's here!! :)

Peace...