Fall 2008 McNally Smith Interns

Trevor Weitzel - Universal MPLS

2009-02-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

What a busy week it was. I spent a ton of time helping make sure that everything was in order for the upcoming Hinder in-store appearances they will be doing at Best Buy during their current tour. Looks like everything is good to go though.

I actually just got done watching the Grammy's and was pleasently suprised. There were a ton of great performances. I loved that there was more of an emphasis on the actual music instead of the awards. It was cool. Plus, Lil Wayne took home best rap album so that is huge for us at Universal. It should make for a busy week and will also help hype his album that is supposed to drop in March.

Other than that, all is good and I'm still really liking it here. I'm just crossing my fingers that a spot opens up for me to come on here full time come May!!!

Trevor Weitzel - Universal MPLS

2009-02-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

It was another great week at Universal. Thursday was an especially fun day. My mentor and I put together an event at the BANK restaurant inside the Westin Hotel for a special screening of the new Stevie Wonder Blu-Ray DVD that will be hitting stores soon. It is his first ever video recorded of one of his live performances and is going to be a pretty big deal. There was free food and free drinks, so who can complain about that. Hopefully I'll be getting to do more stuff like that this semester. I'll be keeping you posted.

Trevor Weitzel - Universal MPLS

2009-01-23T11:51:00.001-08:00

So it's my first official week back at Universal. I unfortunately haven't gotten to spend much time here do to some family issues, but it feels good to be back none the less. It looks like it's going to be a busy semester here at Universal. There are going to be a lot of albums dropping, artist visits, concerts, and all kinds of other good stuff going on. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Now all I've got to do is pray that a job opens up here, so I can hop on board once I graduate!!!

Veronica's Last Day @ 93X

2008-12-18T23:46:00.000-08:00

Well, today was my last day going to the station. We had 2 commercials to do but the multitrack recording system we usually used was down for maintenance so I learned a new way to record straight into the playback databases. I guess Patrick hadn't done it that way since the early 90s but it was cool because he had to read through the add straight through without stopping. Then we did a different kind of show today that consisted of nothing but new bands which was a good idea because there had been a lot of submissions piled up. Then i trimmed the show up for my last time and said my goodbyes to Patrick and Rudy. I had a ton of fun there with both of them, even though I wasn't Rudy's intern, we still got to chill whenever Patrick had other stuff to take care of that didn't involve little old me. I'm bummed that I wont be going anymore but hey, maybe I'll see them at the bar.

Veronica, 93X 2nd to last week

2008-12-18T23:40:00.000-08:00

So Patrick had a TON to do this time. Not to mention he had to run home so I was on my own which was pretty fun. I work best when I know I have to get it right without supervision. He laid down the vocals to a commercial and then left for about a half hour to check on his puppy that was home alone. While I sat in the studio and put music to it and recorded it into the 2 different databases that are used. Then my other task was to listen to the pile of CDs that had accumulated from local bands to see what was good for our taste and what was not so much. Anyway, the show went smoothly and I was proud to hear the commercial I did on the radio. It played a lot.

Andrew Frost | Wooddale Church | 12/07 - 12/13

2008-12-16T02:18:00.000-08:00

This week I ran a rehearsal for a regular event at the church called The Gathering. It's a service aimed towards a younger crowd from students to 20's to 30's. It was fun becuase it is a more upbeat music selection. It is pretty rockin at times. The sound system in the room it is held in is great for this too. It can handle the low end pretty well. The Gathering is on Sunday nights so I'll let you know about that in my next blog.

I also helped out for the Saturday night service. It was a typical setup at noon. The band showed up around 3:30/4:00 and then the service started at 5:15. The service went well and was a little more Christmas oriented. I'll keep you updated in my next post (it will also be my last).

Andrew Frost
Wooddale Church

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 12/7-12/14

2008-12-14T22:13:00.000-08:00

This internship is done in a week. I don't think I'd ever want to work at ASCAP or any other PRO.

It's boring and not exactly what I'm looking for.

The internship itself wasn't for me but I got through it, learned some things, and helped sign up a few bands.

I guess that's what the internship was all about anyway.

~Langen

UMGD-Aaron Chesling

2008-12-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

Hello Everybody,

Well this week at Universal Music Group Distribution, I put myself to work. I did a lot of PIM this week due to there being not a lot of work. The Quarter is coming to a close and like i said before the albums are out and are ready to be sold. This week I obtained a couple new albums: Fall Out Boys "Folie a Deux as well as isouljaboy Tell 'Em, All-American Reject's "When the World Comes Down" and Taylor Swifts new album "Fearless". All of the new albums are great and you should all check them out. This week I worked on some VIP passes for a Saliva meet and greet that is going to take place in St. Louis and Chicago. I have an opportunity to meet the group as well but we'll see if I have time. I think I may have a final during that time. But that is all I got for now.

Merry Christmas

Aaron Chesling

Andrew Frost | Wooddale Church | 11/30 - 12/6

2008-12-09T00:59:00.000-08:00

This week at Wooddale we spent some time in preparation for the Christmas season. In the main worship center there are now all this Christmas decoration including simple lights too. We tied the lights into the lighting dimmer so that we have full control over all these lights too for the Kids Christmas Banquette/Concert. There are times during the show calls for the worship center to totally dark.

Later that night I can audio and a camera for an event in the chapel. It needed to be recorded so that it could be put to a DVD.

Peter has a friend in the live sound industry named Brad who got me a gig running sound for Robby Robinson and the Twin Cites Gospel Choir. It's a full band... drums, bass, 2 keys, sax and the Choir. I had to set up a portable system by myself becuase Brad had another gig. Setup went fine but just took some time. It was a festival type event with multiple acts. I didn't have to worry about the other acts just the band and choir. The band didn't get there until after the prelude/into music had started 15 minutes before the event. So with no sound check it was an interesting first song. It wasn't that bad at all but just a little frustrating. They played about 45 min. Then tear down with a little help and that was the night.

More to come this next week I'm sure.

Andy Frost
Wooddale Church

Aaron Chesling-UMGD

2008-12-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

Hello Everybody,

Im sorry but I haven't blogged in like 2 weeks, Not much going during thanksgiving and honestly this week I forgot. I am going to be done at Universal in about a week or two due to the fact that Universal shuts down for most of December thus concluding the internship. Lately I have been doing pretty much the same things but I have gotten to a few things for the Interscope Record branch. Just some random party organizing and some cleaning and some organizing of some record singles. And as for that we have been extremely slow, the quarter is almost over and product has been distributed and is ready to sell. I will try to remember this time to keep you update on these last few weeks. Thanks and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all who read this.

Bookin shows

2008-12-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

Hey this week was pretty good and stressful at the same time, the life of a music business student right? But im still just booking shows for Franki Lee and some of the other groups upon getting ready for my own show at the Redsea. well thats pretty much it for this weekend to everyone else have fun!!!!

Rob Peek - Alan Ett Music Group - Dec. 7 2008

2008-12-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

Hello again.
This week has been crazy busy. I came back from a brief respite at home and hit the ground running this week.

I'm working on the usual projects here at AEMG. Right now we are retitling one of our catalogs to share with another company.

AEMG recently made a deal with a major production company in which we are going to change the titles of all of the songs in one of our catalogs in order to share the publishing with the other company (which we will call AR Productions for the purpose
me of the best people you could meet as a burgeoning talent. It's a community of music professionals, whose sole purpose is to give young talent the opportunity to meet and talk with some of the top industry professionals. The people they get to speak on panels are extremely knowledgeable, and have a love for helping out the incoming generation. It's one of the best things you could do for yourself out here.

www.lawim.com

This will be my last week here at AEMG, I'm very grateful for the opportunities I've received from the moment I stepped off the plane. I've grown tremendously as an industry professional, and I can't even begin to describe how amazing this whole period in my life has been.
Thank you to all the people who were instrumental in bringing me here!
Debbie, Sarah, and Charley have gone above and beyond every expectation I had in coming, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for believing in me, and giving me the opportunity to not only show the industry, but also myself, what I'm capable of.

As I wrap things up here, I can't help but think about who I was when I first stepped off the plane, and who I will be when I get back on it. The amount of change I've experienced in myself makes jaw drop. Working with the wonderful people here at the Alan Ett Creative Group has given me so much confidence, and I thank them all for inviting me into their place of business and taking the time out of their busy schedules to befriend be and guide me through this whole experience.
My thanks to Ryan Neill for not treating me like an "intern", but as a young talent who needs to know what I'm doing in order to secure gainful employment. He has pushed me and not let me get away with mediocrity. Under his guidance, I've worked harder and with more passion than I ever have before. I am a stronger, smarter, and better equipped person now because of him and his tutelage.

I've fallen in love with this city, and with this industry, and I am going to do everything in my power to come back out here as soon as possible and start what I foresee to be a wonderful career.

Thank you all for letting me find myself and become the professional I always dreamed I could be!

Sincerely,
Rob

Josh Woodard Pangaea Entertainment Group

2008-12-07T22:29:00.001-08:00

Well hello my devoted fans.... haha just playen. But yeah I here things back MN way are getting kinda snowy, which makes me extra glad I am still here in beautiful Los Angeles for another two weeks, before I have to join yall in the cold.
This last week at Pangaea was another week of business as usual, i did my fare share of internet research, putting together lists and spreadsheets, I sent out a mailer of a hot new artist which i wish i could share with yall, but that is top secret classified pangaea information ya dig?! On tuesday we put on a Christmas networking party which I got to attend. I met a lot of really cool industry type folks, got to eat some really good food, and even saw a few celebs!!! OOOO AHHHHH All jokes aside it was a really good week, and like always, I spent most my time observing and absorbing as much as possible from my mentors, because that is really what its all about.

Peace tty next week,
Josh

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 11/30- 12/7

2008-12-07T20:28:00.000-08:00

This week was more of the same. Just trying to contact bands.

I did finally get Dave Pickerign from Sleep Is The Enemy signed up as a writer

It was perfect timing since their new songs are starting to get some airplay.

Maybe this week I'll be able to sign up a few more bands.

Andrew Frost | Wooddale Church | 11/23 - 11/29

2008-12-06T22:52:00.000-08:00

I worked on the eve of thanksgiving at Wooddale. There was a service for people to come and share what they were thankful for. So pretty much that meant running a handful of wireless mics for random people to come say things in... every person speaking a lot louder of softer than the people before them so it keeps you on your toes. There wasn't much setup for it just getting four handheld wireless mics synched and patched into the room.

Earlier that day we tested out new podium mics. Now that we are broadcasting recorded sermons we need to have a mic that isn't in the picture and covering his face. We want some type of podium mic as a backup incase his wireless pack were to die to have interference. We tried a mic that sit flat like on a desktop. It was just not close enough to the pastors mouth to pick up what he was saying without feeding back. We are going to try more mics in weeks to come and see what we can find out.

Trevor Weitzel - Universal MPLS

2008-12-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a busy week. I had so many things to do each and every day this week, from the moment I walked in the door to the moment I left. My mentor was preparing for a big meeting in New York next week and she needed my help getting ready for it. I prepared all kinds of excel spreadsheets and a bunch of other random projects. It was so nice to have things pick up around there again. Next week I'll be on my own though, so I'll be helping out in other departments around the office which should be cool.

As far as everything else, I can't complain. I'm still going to shows on a regular basis. I got to check out Revolution Theory, Trapt, and Hinder at First Avenue this week. It was actually a really entertaining performance and I had a great time. Now I'm just looking forward to The Killers in January!

Toni Alberte @ Urban Network in LA, CA

2008-12-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

Good Evening,

My last week at work has begun and my flight home to Milwaukee, WI is next week Thursday.

Last week at the Urban Network was a short one with the Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday off. I spent a lovely Thanksgiving with three wonderful people, Antonio Rosario, Tim Bjorkman and an old roommate of his, Kathy; each of us brought something to the table.

Work has been keeping me busier and busier as I am preparing to leave. The responsibilities I have held while at the Urban Network must come full circle to completion and then turned over to someone else. I have to leave with confidence that the work I have done will continue to progress because there are projects that I have started that will need to remain ongoing long after I have left. To whomever joins the Urban Network intern team, I am doing my best with the projects I have started, to leave the office prepared for next year.

As I have promised, here are the pictures of the past... Please enjoy them--they took for-ev-er to load...

::Q-Tip visiting 10/13/08::

:: Nayo visiting 10/20/08::

::Labelle visiting 10/29/08::

(I love these pictures, they show all of us with so much character. The funny man throughout the "photo shoot" in the back left, behind Miller is A. Scott Galloway--an amazing writer for the Urban Network, and has been with the company since the beginning, 20 years ago.)

(From left to right--Nona Hendryx; Patti LaBell; Me; Sarah Dash)

::Evelyn "Champagne" King visiting 10/30/08::

Hope you have all enjoyed this casual posting. Until next time,

Smiles,

Toni

Trevor Weitzel - Universal MPLS

2008-11-30T21:32:00.000-08:00

What can I say??? It was a quick and painless week. I sure do love how record companies fully embrace taking days off for holidays. I definitely fit in here. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 11/23-11/30

2008-11-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know I did! Since I was back home I didn't really have much time to do internship stuff Butttt I have a few shows coming up that I plan on attending including:

Crew Of Humans at House Of Bricks in Des Moines, IA (12/10)

A huge music fest at a small coffeeshop in Stuart, IA (12/27)

Tomorrow's Storm at Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines, IA (1/2)

Among many others.

These are ones that I have talked to the bands and they are interested in signing up but would rather talk in person.

Peace

Booking Shows

2008-11-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

This week has been a little slow but it alright. I'm still booking shows for the Franki Lee and Claw Throat. I also found this Hip-Hop group that I want to bring to the teams attention should go great! Well thats it for this week.

Toni Alberte @ Urban Network in LA, CA

2008-11-24T11:29:00.000-08:00

Hello My Special Blog Readers,

It means a lot to me that you have taken an interest and time out to read what I have here to share.

I'm experiencing what some may call a bittersweet emotion. My last day in the office is Friday, December 5, 2008 and my flight home to Milwaukee is the following week on Thursday the 11th. I have adjusted to the climate out here and trust that I will find myself freezing terribly the first few weeks back in the midwest-I'm wearing sweatshirts out here when its 70 degrees! My apartment at the Meadows has become a place I have enjoyed to call home and the beach is soon to become thousands of miles away. I have developed wonderful friendships with people whom I will miss very much from a distance. Here at the Urban Network, where I have grown so much, there is so much more for me to learn. I feel like I have only just begun here, but my time here is passing.

Last week was one of the busiest weeks I have had out here. Being that there are now six interns here, we had one week to set up our promotional giveaway campaign. With great organization we successfully completed our agenda with soft dates for launch.

Until Next week, Toni

Happi Turkey Day!! =}

Finally Back at Work 11/20

2008-11-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

It just so happened that the last 2 weeks were times that Patrick had vacation days so I didn't have to go in on my last 2 Thursdays. I asked if he had a nice romantic getaway planned with his fiance but as it turns out, he was just having some buddies in from out of town so that negates the romance. This week back was super busy though. We had to record and edit what felt like a billion spots but in reality it was only like 8. However, that is a ton compared to the usual 1 or 2. We ended up having to put less thought into the loud and local show this week by doing a shuffle mode show where I just grabbed random CDs off the shelf and he played a track from each of them. I loved that it was busy. I wouldn't have as much fun any other way. I'm kinda bummed that I wont be going next week because of stupid Thanksgiving and then the week after Patrick has another Thursday off so thats 2 more weeks I'll be missing out on. That just means that I wont be writing a blog for 2 weeks unless I just post one saying "Hey, I didn't go today" haha! Joke

Vance McCain, Darp Studios, Recording Technology

2008-11-24T04:04:00.002-08:00

Im soooooo tired right now. I feel like I been here engineering for a week STRAIGHT!!! Lol I dont really care. I LOVE THIS STUDIO...I dont have too much to say this week because my mind isnt functioning that well. Happy Thanksgiving to you all and see you soon!!!

God Bless,

Vance McCain

Vance McCain, Darp Studios

2008-11-24T04:04:00.001-08:00

Evan Gundlach, Music business, Universal, Twin Cities

2008-11-23T18:08:00.000-08:00

Everything seemed to really slow down this week. Since there are not a lot of releases this time of year there seems to be a lot less to do compared to this summer when it seemed nothing would ever let’s up. I am still filling in some responsibilities since Tim is gone and I did some advertising work for target this week. On Tuesday I used a system called fastrac to putting in some marketing information for the Transworld account which I had done for target before and it was pretty much the same thing. I also did some updates in the target history reports but Tuesday was a pretty quite day. Friday I updated the album tracking database and helped out with some posters and did a lot of mailings. This upcoming Tuesday is the last big cd releases for universal with, The Killers, Kanye West, and Ludacris’s new albums all coming out. On Friday we actually got all these cds in so I got to listen to a couple of them which was pretty cool. This next week coming up I am only going in on Tuesday because of the holidays, but ill keep updating after that.

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 11/16-11/23

2008-11-23T17:21:00.000-08:00

This week I spent some time going out and talking to bands.

Friday night my band that I manage played with The Exies and Trust Company. I introduced myself to both of their managers and we had a conversation about ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. Unfortunately, both are already signed up but it was awesome to get some insight from these people. Both managers expressed some complaints about the PROs and how they work but they both agreed that it was a good tool for musicians.

Last night, I was in Storm Lake, IA for Edge'd Out Fest and talked to all of the bands that were there. I got phone number and emails of the bands interested in signing up. One of them was actually looking for someone to help out so hopefully I will be the one to get them signed up.

Thats all for now.

Peace, Langen

Trevor Weitzel - Universal MPLS

2008-11-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

As the year comes closer to the end, things seem to be getting more quiet around the office. This week I stuck to my usual routine of setting goals for upcoming releases, pulling sales numbers, and other random projects for people.

I'm really trying to learn more about Digital and New Media because that is obviously where this industry is headed, and that is where the jobs are going to be at in the future. McNally really needs to start emphasizing this, and implement it into the curriculum a lot more.

I got to go to the Cities 97 20th Anniversary Party on Wednesday, which was a good time. I actually got to meet Jason Mraz before the show. I've met so many big artists this semester, I'm starting to feel spoiled. The only bad thing about the show was that they took way too long between sets. I'm talking 30 - 40 minutes. It was ridiculous!

Rob Peek - Alan Ett Music Group - 11/16/08

2008-11-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

First of all I want to send out my deepest and most sincere thanks to all of the other interns, alumni, and Debbie for the wonderful surprise party for Sonny this weekend. You all have no idea what it meant to me, and how wonderful of a surprise it was.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!

Next, it was the busiest of busy weeks last week. I sat in on a sound design session at Media City Sound. I made a couple of contacts and exchanged business cards with a few people, and I made my way into an industry mixer with some of the top music supervisors in the country.

Sound Design was very interesting. By far the most artistic of the post production duties, the sound designers are responsible for making sure that the music picked out by the music supervisor fits in and works well with the moving images and audio clips that are part of the tv show. The sound designer referred to it as "Surgery" on the audio clips. Cutting and slicing bits and pieces of library music to fit the time frame of the scene, and adjusting the volume at various places to go underneath dialog as well as taking the library music and adding other pieces of music to it in order to make the music really become part of the show!

The Hunnypot Party was the official party to kick off the Billboard Music/Hollywood Reporter convention on Music in Film and Television. Most major supervisors in the U.S. were at least invited to this event, and alot of them showed up.
The most interesting thing about this event, at least to me, was watching the people interact with each other.
This was a party at a club, which meant, live bands and dim lights. What was cool was watching how people did business in this setting. Two salesmen from Alan Ett were here, and they had a strategy. Watching these two guys work was like watching pro sports, each of them knew what the other one was doing, and they were both working for the same common goal.
The Vice President of sales here at Alan Ett was also at the event. She had her spot staked out right by the door so that she could be the first one to talk to people as they came into the club. She also came equipped with her camera and took pictures of herself with people. At first it reminded me of being back at college and taking pictures with people because it was going to go up on their myspace, but then someone told my why she does it; Like I said, this was a club, so dim lights, and very hard to see the faces of the people you are talking to, so she takes pictures of herself with these people, so that she can see who it is she's talking to.

Brilliant!

It was a learning experience for me, and a sort of eye opener as well. This is how business is done out here. It wasn't a party, it was a giant business meeting.

That's all for now.

Thanks again everyone.

Rob

Evan Gundlach, Music Buisness, Universal, Twin Cities

2008-11-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

I’ve been so busy I even forgot to post a blog last week. Everything at universal is going very well and they are keeping me pretty busy. I did a lot of work on target databases for advertising and history reports on sales. I am playing catch up since there was a gap for about a month where no one did any work on it so it almost feels like a never ending project, but I am catching up. One of the people on the analysis team is going on a vacation for two weeks, so while he is gone I am taking over a couple of his responsibilities. I am putting in the weekly information for the album tracking database which is very important to keep up to date, because they use it to project weekly cd sales. They also added a new function in the database which I hadn’t seen yet that allows you to look at an artist's first week cd sales and compare it to other albums. I think it’s really interesting looking at this because you can really see how large of a following a group has. This past week I have been doing a lot of analysis and I figure I will be doing the same this week since he will still be gone. On Friday we had our last music meeting of the year which was a bummer, but it is a slower time of the year and there are not a lot of releases. Well I’m out but, I’ll be sure not to forget to update you next week.

Toni Alberte @ Urban Network in LA, CA

2008-11-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well; Good morning All,

I should tell you at least a little bit about what I have been doing at the Urban Network over the last two weeks. As it has been an adventure with different things happening and new people entering the picture.

The projects that were presented to us are being revisited and we are putting out better results. There is now a totaling six interns here at the Urban Network and it has been exciting to be able to work with a larger group of people and function as a whole; new ideas and better creative sessions.

Last week there was an office meeting to discus direction of the company and expressed was the increased importance of us, interns and how much we can affect the success of the company. Our responsibilities are directed to increase popularity of the website and increase website traffic.

The pressure is on, ready, set, go!

Josh Woodard- Pangaea Entertainment Group

2008-11-16T21:55:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody I'm sorry I missed you all last week. I do have a lot to tell you all about the last two weeks though. I got to have a little bit of fun before everybody got back from london. My mother came to visit me and we went on a tour of LA seeing all the sights, we also went to a taping of The Price is Right which you can watch on Jan 12(look for me in the front row!), and we even conquered Space Mountain at Disneyland! Just proving that if you have the time to explore LA you can find an endless amount of fun things to do. But by wednesday everybody had landed back in the states and it was back to business as usual. I stayed pretty busy for the rest of the week getting things reorganized, and helping out with some computer software updates.

This last week I stayed busy with a couple large mailers that we did for some of our artist development campaigns. I also did research for the hush hush ATTACK! newsletter, and did a lot of work with the hhA! myspace. I also got to learn how to track radio airplay. We used these two industry websites to track every single spin an artist that we are doing a campaign for got in the last week. We then recorded the spins into an excel to show our artists what we've been able to achieve for them with our mailers. It was pretty sweet to see artists who's cd's I had mailed out getting airplay on radio stations across the country. This Weekend was also pretty awesome we had a McNally Gathering/Birthday party of sorts at our apartment on sat, which was loads of fun to see lots of awesome people that I haven't seen in forever, and see what's new and going on with everybody else. Today me and Monte from work went on an awesome OC adventure, we hit up Laguna beach, and Newport beach which are just as glamorous as the t.v. shows portray them to be. We drove onto this ferry and went to Balboa beach, then off to Huntington beach where we got to watch some crazy surf sets. We ended our sweet journey in Long Beach, where Monte showed me the different neighborhoods that Sublime, Snoop Dog, and Warren G were all from, which was pretty epic. It was the perfect end to a great week, and I can't wait to do it all again tomorrow.

Take care everybody
Josh

Trevor Weitzel - Universal MPLS

2008-11-16T21:23:00.000-08:00

Things have been going great here at Universal as of late. I am really getting comfortable and confident in everything that I'm doing. It's nice to know that I am making a difference and that people respect and appreciate my work that I do on a day-to-day basis. I feel like I have a lot of freedom to do whatever I feel is necessary throughout the course of my days. I'm not stuck doing the same things over and over again which is really nice. I get to bounce around a bit and do different tasks for different departments throughout the office. It really keeps me on my toes and keeps things interesting.

I have actually had quite a bit of time to myself this last week to focus more I things I need to do. I started putting together a portfolio of all my work that I've done at this internship, as well as work I have done at school, to use in the future for job interviews. I'm really proud of how it's coming along, and hopefully it'll help me out here in the next few months as I start to apply for jobs.

Other than that, I don't know much else. I had the pleasure of catching some really great shows the last couple of weeks. Kings of Leon absolutely killed it at the Orpheum on the 4th. That was the most amazing show I think I've ever been to. I also saw Coldplay on Friday. Our seats were so ridiculous. There was one point where they were basically playing right in front of us. I could almost reach out and touch them. It was crazy and definitely another great show.

Toni week of 11/3-9

2008-11-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

So no excuses for not having written a blog in two weeks; but I do have measurable reasons...

The week of November the 3rd, was election night as all of you know, an abundance of emotions are still visible and will only continue to grow. Here in Los Angeles, California there is commotion concerning Proposition 8 and I am now, not here to go into those details. Although I will make note:

The night the we celebrated President-Elect OBAMA there were unheard of events in the streets. West Hollywood was flood by all of its neighbors, with people dancing and embracing each other in the streets. The same people that would not even think twice to look at one another, as they crossed each others paths on any given day, were the same people who encouraged each one another's excitement, calling to celebration.

The following morning people were saddened and all of the night's prior excitement felt in vain. West Hollywood on November the 5th, people were brought to the streets again, and all across California to rally against Prop 8. Now, the nation is making noise, I pray that EVERYONE is listening.

With an open mind, ear and heart, my travel's in life always bring upon an array of views and opinions, excitement unmeasured. In Los Angeles, I have gained many more. The encouraged Los Angeles experience has proven to be life altering. Every moment spent here is yielding to be ever present in tomorrows' past.

Signed,

Antonia Maria Alberte

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 11/9- 11/16

2008-11-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

This week was full of more of the same.

Still just trying to convince bands to join ASCAP.

Many don't want to because they aren't ready to commit to a contract which is definitely a good reason.

I thought it was interesting that at my other internship at Innova (a huge label based out of St. Paul) kept on bashing ASCAP because of their prices. I wanted to speak up and say that ASCAP is nothing but good and will only help but they brought up many good points about how much ASCAP charges venues and what not.

Also, while on a field trip with tour management we went to The Acadia Cafe where the owner told us that he doesn't let anyone play any cover songs because he can't afford to pay ASCAP or any other PRO. I think that it kind of stinks how much it costs to be a member if you are a venue but at the same time I think organizations like ASCAP really do help out when it comes to getting your money for your music.

I thought it was weird how many times it came up in this one week.

More bands should be signed up next week!

Peace,

Langen

Andy Frost | Wooddale Church | 11/09-11/15

2008-11-16T19:05:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday it turned into project day real fast. With the new campus being added, all the wireless mics need to be configured the same for both campuses. This is becuase the pastor travels between campuses on Sundays to speak and uses that same wireless pack. So that was 8 wireless receivers and mics at each of the 3 FOH locations that needed to be changed. It got a little confusing for a while there. The new Edina campus has been open now for two Sundays, including this morning. It's been going pretty well so far. We then went over to the Edina Campus to get some things set up for the following weeks. Pretty much like TV/DVD carts for some rooms. I might have the opportunity to start running sound at the new campus which would be a large promotion from what i'm doing now so we'll see...

On Friday I came in for the morning to run sound for a funeral. It was only a podium mic and a soloist with piano so pretty easy to manage. That was about it for this week. More to come in following weeks...

Andy Frost
Wooddale Church

Booking Show for Franki Lee and Clawthroat

2008-11-16T10:56:00.000-08:00

Well this week has been kind of busy booking shows for both Franki Lee and Clawthroat. I also had to figure out how to get Clawthroat into to some out of state festivals which way really fun trying to track down all of the information. I've noticed while doing this that there isn't one thing in the world that you can find on myspace or one company that don't have one lol. well thats it for the week

Aaron Chesling-UMGD

2008-11-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hello Everybody,

This week at Universal Music Group I was quite busy. First I started with some good old fashioned data entry for some sound scan weekly sales on their excel files on the shared drive they use. After that I did some work on Pollstar material, I searched for all the groups playing soon and basically sorted them for Carolyn McKay. Both jobs were pretty big so they kind of took up most of my time, but after that I had just enough time to finish some radio grids for Sara Hartley with Fontana Records.
I am ready for what they have in store for me next time, I think that I'm gonna be learning some more stuff soon. That is all I got for now.

JEL Entertainment

2008-11-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well this week we have played a tour out east for Franki Lee and Claw Throat. Should be something exciting for both performers. Setting up this tour gas been great a nd i like that i get to talk directly to the clients instead of through other people, it gives me the impact of the business. So far so good.

Vance McCain, Darp Studios

2008-11-09T20:58:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone...These last few weeks been craaaaazzzyyyy. I been blessed to engineer for one of the Artist here at the studio. We been working like everyday for about 16 hours. Its been an experience because I have been introduced to so many people that can play a big role in my future. So other than that, I have nothing more to say but God Bless and someone make a snow angel for me ha!!!

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 11/2- 11/9

2008-11-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

It's becoming hard to find bands to work with. Many bands are interested but then don't follow through on anything.

Some bands feel that it isn't necessary for them to sign up right now, which is probably true for some, but it's hard convincing some this is a benefit.

Della Gleason is all signed up as both a writer and publisher and Sleep Is The Enemy's singer Dave Pickerign is signed up as a publisher and we are working on the writer application.

Also, This Last Dance is signing up on their own time but I'm pushing them to do it soon.

If anyone knows of any bands that would like to get signed up let me know!

Peace.

Langen

Antonio Rosario - Week 8 - North Star Media

2008-11-09T12:10:00.001-08:00

Another week, another blog...
So last week, week 7, I got approached by a film director to design their myspace page for a little money. It was a nice part time gig, and it feels good to make some California income. I was also designing a landing page for Noises 10 via North Star Media - the placement didn't make it, but the layout is still up there. You can check out the rough draft of what it was going to look like at: http://www.orikal.com/noises10

This week, week 8, I did some more royalty statements, spreadsheet work, copying license agreements, etc. the usual. One cool thing about this week though was when Ron Sobel took about 45 minutes and told me about how he discovered Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam (if you're lucky enough to be my facebook friend, you've been seeing me post the pictures of the platinum plaques.) He also helped connect me with someone back in St. Paul for some potential work when I return.

hope the snow is treatin' you all good back in Minnesnowta. I'll be there to enjoy the driving conditions and shoveling duties soon enough :-)

Positivity,
-Antonio Rosario

Aaron Chesling-UMGD

2008-11-05T17:54:00.001-08:00

Hello Everybody

Well this week has been just about as fun as it it gets. First of all I started my week with about 3 hours of PIM, after completing about 50 of those was running around like a lost puppy (always an awkward feeling). Both of the individuals I work with were headed out early to vote, so I had to find something to do, so went around to all the labels asking for work. I was thinking of getting up and doing something constructive, so I was asked to do some packaging of some signed merchandise, in this instance it was a bar stool signed by NKOTB (New Kids On The Block). IT was kinda big so I had to pretty much build a box that would fit it safely without bending the steal or scratch off their signatures. I had to tape some a couple boxes together, wait it gets better, I then reinforced the inside and outside and filled it with packing papers and bubble wrap. After that I was pretty much set so I handled the front desk for a bit and I was off. On the way home I listened to the new Hinder album that I received from Universal Republic, I'm not sure what I think of it but for now that's all I got.

Andy Frost | Wooddale Church | 10/26 - 11/01

2008-11-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

This week we went to the new campus of Wooddale in Edina to get all the band gear setup and sound checked to be prepared for the first rehearsal. We had to unpack all the stuff like cables, DIs, mics... Then we laid out the stage with the band gear. We got the drumset all miced, the bass setup with a Sansamp, the guitarist setup with a POD X3 Live, the piano miced, the synth setup with a Yamaha S90, and all the vocal mics. We got the HearBack system working, it's an in-ear monitor system to eliminate stage noise. It sends seperate channels of each instrument of the band and lets you mix it yourslef. The vocalists a pair of stage monitors, L-Acoustics 8XT's, they are an amazing sounding box. We had a couple musicians there so we got levels set on most of the instruments and got a feel for how it will sound. Pretty good. We then checked the audio coming from the video souce. The video station has the audio from the computer, DVCAM and DVD all summed with a small mixer and sends just one line to the FOH console. That was pretty much it for this week.

Andy Frost
Wooddale Church

Rob Peek - Alan Ett Music Group - 11/3/08

2008-11-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

Not much to talk about this week.

Most of my time was spent on a project that consisted of linking composer and lyricist information to songs in the Opus 1 music library database.

I got to see a very cool show at the Canyon Club on Saturday. A Pink Floyd tribute band played The Wall in its entirety. They were very good! The music was right on, and the over all band performance was amazing!

That's about all. This week should bring something good!

Marthe Mekuria at EMI/Capitol

2008-11-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Today is my first day 'independently' at work. The person who's position I've taken and who trained me is back in Chicago, and I won't be able to ask him anymore questions!

Over the course of three days training with him, I have filled up an entire note book full of notes. All for me to learn and do. You could say I'm not bored anymore.

I'm a sales assistant to a few great new mentors, I do a lot of data base research and work directly with the RIAA to make sure tour managers report their album sales on the road (so artists can get nominated for awards). I also need to make sure they receive their product accurately and on time on road, and create accounts for them to a have products shipped. I'm responsible for making sure new release marketing books are accurate and delivered on time, this all is a two week process.

All by all, a bunch of computer researching, faxing, and constant back and forth communication with different record labels/groups.

Toni Alberte @ Urban Network; LA, CA

2008-11-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

Howdy ;o)

Last week was exciting. We had more visitors and with each visitor I feel more and more comfortable in this professional world amongst the stars.

Labelle was in on Wednesday, as in Patti LaBelle. The Labelle trio, including Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, who began working together in 1961, are best recognized for their 1974 hit "Lady Marmalade". Reunited, Labelle has released their new album "Back To Now," it's hot!

On Thurday, we welcomed Evelyn Champagne King, who is best known for her 1978 disco hit "Shame". Evelyn was just 16 when she made her debut in 1977 and has now returned with her new album "Open Book", definitely check it out!

In the office our projects are evolving and I'm looking forward to taking on more responsibilities. A newly hired intern came in for her interview and will now be joining us every Friday; I'm looking forward to working with her.

This past weekend was wonderful. It "rained"!! I would more or less call it "drizzle" ;o) I was in Hollywood Halloween night at a party with a number of McNally almuni who are currently working an living in L.A.; that was fun and fabulous. Saturday was comfortable. I went out for brunch with alumni Olaf Thomson, Megan Grosz and Dan Goldstein on Sunset; wonderful people who I am looking forward to hangin' out some more before my time here in L.A. has come to pass. Sunday was relaxed. I woke up bright and early and sat on my deck while it rained, so beautiful--the aroma, the still quiet and soft greenery that surrounded me. It was comforting, reminded me of home in the Mid.

'til next week,

Toni

God Bless

What I've been up to

2008-11-03T09:17:00.001-08:00

To be honest, I've been so busy with work, interning and playing music that I just never even got around to realizing that we had to do posts! I know that sound stupid but, it would be nice if it didn't cost so much to take intern credits, or if I was getting paid from MJG Production... where I'm interning... but its never that easy. So time is short and work is long! However, I've been learning a ton from MJG. MJG is a company that books and promotes local and even some national acts. Over the summer I helped work festivals like Log Jam and 10K Lakes. Just recently, we signed a managing contract with The Breakfast out of New York! When I first started interning my boss Mark had me answering phones and making business calls for him. This was a great way to break me into the industry and introduce me to the people we would be working with. I was also doing a lot of mailing of bills, checks, and promo. More recently I've been focusing more on promotions and venue research. To be honest this is my true passion. I would love to someday plot and plan tours for bands. I love venues! Anyways, all last week and this week I will be doing alot of ground work promoting our November shows at Trocaderos, The Cabooze, The Downtime. I usually start in Dinky Town and then I head to Uptown. On Wed, Ill go to Downtown and then through St. Paul. Then last but never least Ill hit the west suburbs because that's where I live.

~Mikel Wright
MJG PRODUCTIONS

Evan Gundlach, Music Business, Universal, Twin Cities

2008-11-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

This was probably my shortest week at universal. I didn’t go in on Tuesday because I wasn’t feeling good. It was actually a really a bad day to not be there because some really important people in the company came out for a visit to the branch. I went out of town this weekend so I ended up going in early on Friday so I could leave town a little earlier. I have always really liked how understanding everyone is at universal and it just makes going there that much more enjoyable. While I was there on Friday I got nearly caught up on the target history reports. These are data spread sheets that target uses to look at the market share they have on CD sales. It is actually pretty cool to see what genres of music sell the most at target stores. I’m feeling a lot better this week so I'm sure ill have another good week.

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 10/26-11/2

2008-11-02T17:03:00.000-08:00

Finally! I found out who my mentor is! And I got my first band signed up!

I got Sleep Is The Enemy singer, Dave Pickerign, signed up as a publisher and later tonight I should have him signed up as a writer as well.

I'm also meeting with many bands this week including:

The Dizzies

This Last Dance

Della Gleason

The Track Record

Asher

Third Supply

Black Days Down

I'm so excited that this internship is finally going somewhere.

I'm actually liking it and it feels like I've only had it for a week.

Thanks to Sarah Peterson in the career center for helping me get everything sorted out and not giving up!

My Frist Blog

2008-11-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

My time here at JEL Entertainment is going pretty good. I like the responsibility I'm getting so far it feels great! So this past weekend I went out to promote Clawthroat and greatness of them making it to the final stage for, "Battle of the Bands," and I admit it felt good to say i was doing this. I've also set up shows for Stacy K and her group and this is also coming along great. Well thats all for now, lets see what happens next week!!!

Josh Woodard- Pangaea Entertainment Group- Week 6

2008-10-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

Well hey there folks, this post is coming kind of late because I've been trying to think of what to tell you all about. If you have been following my posts you know that my whole office is in London at the moment, our music media and technology confrence MUSEXPO Europe just concluded yesterday, and was a huge success. As for me back in Cali I've been doing stuff to help keep things running smooth while they are gone. Things like getting important stuff in the mail, doing online research, to checking the mail, and making sure things are in order on the home front. Other than that I've been enjoying my opportunity to relax a little bit, it's been a busy six weeks so far, and when the office gets back I'm gonna be excited and ready to jump back into the middle of this fast paced rollercoaster they call the music industry!

Peace
Josh

Veronica Rodriguez, 93X Week 6

2008-10-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I pretty much feel at home with the guys at 93X by now. I have done either super tedious Best Buy commercials or no commercials at all. Last week there were no commercials for me to do and Patrick had to do something online so I chilled with Rudy while he was on the air for a little bit. Its funny, because there is a segment on the show where we play email requests but they aren't always real email requests so we just make up a name and a city and say they wanted to hear the song we play. Anyway, I'm usually the one that gets to come up with some obscure name for him to use so this time he used my 10 year old brother's name so when my brother heard it on the radio Sunday night, he was so excited. He went to school the next day and told all of his friends. All in all, it has been a great experience and since its never the same around there, I expect the remainder of the semester to be just as cool

Antonio Rosario - Week 6 - North Star Media

2008-10-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hello world,

I am two days late in writing this blog, and my excuse is work.
I hope that works for you. :-)

So 2 weeks ago, I realized the work-load I had at North Star was okay, but it wasn't enough to really keep me stimulated, so I asked for more work. A lot more work. And a lot more work is what I got.

Besides trying to track down a ghost record company for over due royalties, I am now involved in designing a "landing page" for the band Noises 10, to promote their song being on the show Army Wives. My administration internship has now officially taken an interesting turn, as I am now doing web design for North Star Media.

This week, a huge project is under-way to track all of the quarterly source files for certain catalogues we own from 2004 til now. I didn't take my lunch today, instead, I took a brief half hour break to research current trends.

I suggest all other interns (or anyone who wants to get involved in the music industry) to block out a few minutes daily and check out the following sites:

http://www.billboard.biz
one of the leading sources of new in the music industry

http://www.artistshousemusic.org
wonderful resource for musicians and music business people

http://www.imeem.com
good site with some pretty tasty playlists

http://www.trendhunter.com
updated every 5 minutes with trends in every category

ASCAP also has a daily news feed that just started yesterday. They send you about 10-15 links to some good articles daily to your inbox. It's been a good resource so far.

Once again, I apologize for the tardiness of this blog entry. Days have been flying off the calendar and I can't believe it's Holloween this Friday.

Aaron Chesling-UMGD

2008-10-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

Another day another, well since this is an unpaid internship, I guess I wouldn't get that dollar but the perks of the internship definitely outweigh what I would make as an intern. I have opportunities to obtain promotional albums, these are the albums we would distribute to all of the Radio stations nationally. Also as UMGD Interns we have opportunities to get tickets when available as well as many other perks like meeting artists. I have really enjoying what I have been doing the passed month. This week I have been doing mostly data entry, and mail room. I have been doing a little more odd jobs for many of the other label reps around the offices as well. As for now its kind of been same old same old stuff, I know that it should get a little more exciting as soon as the holidays come around.

Marthe Mekuria at EMI/ Capitol Records

2008-10-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

A little late entry but here I am...
Its Tuesday, 6 weeks into the internship program, and I have to go to Santa Monica today to do some paper work to officially be employed with this company.

Other then that.... I completed the internship requirements but will still be living at 'The Medows'.

Last week I learned how to use an online distribution data base to figure out what marketing and promotional tools are cost effective for certain albums and genres at the labels that we work on behalf of. I also went over several contracts of well known artist and record labels that my mentor has established deals with. I went to an in store, sat in conference calls and meetings.

I am very interested in how my following weeks will develop. I will have a lot of work to do, and a lot to learn. I also will have to get up earlier!!!!

To be at the office before 8 am every day... I would have to start taking the bus between 6 and 6:30 am. On Wednesday's I will have to be at the office before 6 am..... That means I will get up around 4 am...... I will take a bus between 4 and 4:30am...... Hmmm.... Good luck to me, going to sleep earlier, waking up on time and not to missing a bus!

Waking up early in California is not so hard because at least it isn't below zero, snow, ice, cars that won't start up etc....

Rob Peek - Alan Ett Music Group - 10/27/08

2008-10-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,
Sorry for a late entry, but last week was busy as all get out.

A major company was in town last week looking over the company and meeting with the different people to decide whether or not they want to do business with us.
It was very formal and very busy. A few major projects were also in the works, last week, and I got to sit in on a Sound Effects editing session for one of them, which was very interesting. No one really notices, but you'd be surprised how many background noises there are in a show that you don't even think of. Everything from the sound a couch makes when someone sits down, to just ambiance that goes on in whatever setting you're in.

I also got to attend a music supervision panel discussion that was put on by L.A. Women in Music.
That was also very interesting. I got to see a few of the people that I might someday be working for, as well as hear their opinions on what the industry is like today, and the different ways they deal with music on any given project.

After that, we got to the McNally Smith Interns and Alum picnic. It was a beautiful setting at the Marina, and a beautiful day to have it. It was good to see the other interns, as well as some of the alumni who are out here making their way into the industry.

Lots of things going on, and I'm looking forward to being able to relax a bit this week.

That's about all for now.

Stay tuned for next weeks exciting blog of L.A. Internships.

Andy Frost | Wooddale Church | 10/19-10/25

2008-10-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

This week at Wooddale we finally got to install all the different components into the system. The two full time guys I work with put in about 30 hours in 2 days to get a lot if it installed Wednesday was about a 16 hour day. We needed to be done by Thursday morning so that this guy Matt from AVI could come in and program everything. On Wednesday we finished getting everything in the racks that wasn't in already and getting all of it tied into they system.

On top of that it was the one day of the year that they have a huge lift come and use it to get up and change all the bulbs in all the lights up in the truss. Since this time last year there were 14 lights out that we thought were just the bulbs. We bought 12 lights to replace others up there since the ones up there are about 20 years old. But once up there it was determined that some just could not be revived. So that meant getting those 12 new light fixtures set up and then mounted and aimed from the truss. After all that it was about 3am. Quite the day.

Andy Frost
Wooddale Church

Toni Alberte @ Urban Network; LA, CA

2008-10-26T23:38:00.000-07:00

Good Evening My Friends,

So another week has gone by... My mother bought my plane ticket home already for the holidays, I've seven more weeks at my disposal and I'm out to optimize life with my time here.

_________________

Monday we had a special guest come into visit the Urban Network, Nayo (Nigh-o). She is a beautifully talented artist. Nayo's voice and style has been comparable to Sade. As a well-written singer/songwriter, Nayo has had a lot of success in Europe and is now eager to break into the States. Her music is refreshing, check in out on her website, www.nayomusic.com.

_________________

So what do you do when you start to say, "same old, same old?" ... You change what it is you are doing. That is exactly what I am going to be doing this week, switching up the routine and doing something different!

Looking forward,

Toni =}

Evan Gundlach, Music buisness, Universal, twin cities

2008-10-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well this has been quite a week. My week was already pretty busy since it was midterms, and I had tests in almost every class. I was already worn out on Tuesday, but when I got it I found out I could meet Ludacris. I was pretty excited although I've never really been a huge fan, I thought he would be really interesting to meet. The meeting was at best buy’s headquarters and there were about 40 people there. They played 2 of his new music videos and then introduced him. Ludacris actually did a lot of the talking which I was surprised about. His manager was there along with the vice president of Interscpoe records in New York. He talked about his new cd coming out, and we heard clips of just about every song that was on it. Again, like I said I’ve never been a huge fan, but I liked what I heard and it was cool having him explain each one. After the meeting everyone got to meet him and take a picture and get a signed photo. The meeting was a really nice break from the stress of midterms. I thought we were supposed to have a music meeting on Friday but since it’s a slow time of the year they didn’t have one. I worked on sales history for target and then organized a room full of promotional things for universal. This was definitely one of the more exciting weeks at universal and we will see if this next one can top it.

Another week passes

2008-10-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

So another big week goes by at Universal. Unfortunately I spent a ton of hours mailing out all of the raffle prizes this week. I did, however, get to meet Ludacris at Best Buy Corporate, which was sweet. I was really really impressed by him. He came off as a very well-spoken, intelligent dude. His new album sounds like its gonna be dope. November 25th is definitely gonna be a big day in the rap world with Luda, Kanye, and Akon all releasing albums. I'm totally stoked.

Oh and other big news for myself. I found out there is an Artist Development Rep position opening out in Chicago that I think I'm gonna go after. Wish me luck!

Josh Woodard- Pangaea Entertainment Group- Week 5

2008-10-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry everybody I didn't mean to leave you all hanging! But boy has it been a busy past week and a half. I just left the office and said my goodbyes to rest of the staff heading to London for MUSEXPO Europe. I spent my time last week sending out mailers to tastemaker radio stations, working on stuff for the hush hush ATTACK! newsletter, and most importantly helping get the final touches together for the confrence. It's a really great feeling contributing to something so big, that will bring so many big names in the music industry together under one roof, and it is crazy to think about the huge outcomes our confrence will provide to the industry. I'm just really thrilled that I've been given the opportunity to be a part of making it happen!

Aaron Chesling-UMGD-Ludacris

2008-10-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody, this past week was one of the most exciting experiences i have had so far. Don't get wrong I am loving the soundscan, DMAs, and the PIM and what not, but I was ready for the this week. I was able to sit in on a artist discussion at the Best Buy Corporate Offices. This week they were able to bring Ludacris, one of my favorite hip hop artist. I was very shocked to see how Luda presented him self when he came in, he had excellent public speaking skills, this might be do to the fact that he used to be a DJ. Luda discussed his new album coming out in December, and what we could expect from it. He said that they were going to take a different approach to writing and mixing the album. The album is called "Theater of the Mind" it takes the approach of making what you hear to be very cinematic or very theatrical, in not only lyrics but maybe even a plot over the course of the album. The album is going to be mix in 5.1 surround sound as well as his music videos. His videos are now being shot in HD and blue ray for the even more up close experience. He showed us many of the new tunes on the album as well, we were some of the first to hear them as well, very good stuff coming this winter. After the discussion we were able to meet and talk to Island Defjam Crew icluding: Ludacris, his manager, and the president and CEO of Island Defjam, very fun experience, wont ever forget it.

Toni Alberte @ Urban Network; LA, CA

2008-10-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

So, for whatever reason last night, my computer didn't want to turn on. I had a word.doc already written so didn't wish to write another... anyways. Greetings, Good day to you all =)

Happy Birthday to Me =} (Sunday, October 19th)

This last weekend I had some well-earned fun with my bunkmate, Marthe (Aaisha) Makuria. Went to Hollywood Saturday night-going to Boulevard Three night club (amazing design-large dance hall, large gathering hall, larger patio, great DJ and comfortable people surroundings) and Mel's Dinner-where George Lucas filmed "American Graffiti (here they sung me 'Happy Birthday' after they presented me with a large piece of chocolate cake). Sunday I went to Your Neighborhood Studio for some dance exercises classes (for free and loads of fun), then went to see "Body of Lies"-staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russel Crow. I really like this film for the suspense within characters, action, and vivid portrayal of frustrated governmental politics against terrorism. I closed the evening with my homemade hot wings, the cake gifted to me Saturday night accompanied with Rocky Road ice cream. Unwound with a creative music making session.

Every year my birthday comes at the right time, to keep the smile on m face that I hold so dear. This last week sure tested my views and opinions of the industry, opened my perspective, has me missing more and more of my craft, missing McNally Smith at my disposal-these events pulled my smile upside down at times.

Last Monday's intern meeting turned out to be very resourceful, giving direction and purpose within our tasks, raising expectations and allowing more room for growth.

On Tuesday of last week, the one and only Q-Tip visited the Urban Network. An American hip-hop emcee, singer actor and hip hop producer who was the leader of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest. With his career beginning in the early 1990s, Q-Tip is now about to release his next album "The Renaissance" on November 4th through Universal Motown. He was part of the 1993 film "Poetic Justice" and in 2002 "Brown Sugar," to name a couple.

While engaged in conversation within the conference room, I found hi to be very humble and personable as I sat back and enjoyed the conversation. Making only a few contributions to the conversation; my comfort level having improved since the Nelly visit five weeks ago.

Regular discussion involve dissatisfaction in the record business, consumer interest in music in music these days, and what various changes the industry must make in order to turn a profit now.

I also got the privilege to spend some time with Skip Miller-talent manager for high profile artists like Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie-introducing myself and getting to know him in conversation. Digesting the information he had to share really triggered session of reflection-my world within music and what my place is in this industry.

Tosha Thomas, Vice President/Managing Editor of Urban Network, invited me to a prescreening of a movie-press invites only. I thoroughly enjoyed the laughs and story of adventure and maturation between characters. "Role Models," staring Seann Williams Scott ("American Pie" and "Dude, Where's My Car?") and Paul Rudd ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up") was entertaining and slightly disturbing. The laughs I enjoyed covered the over-the-top, inappropriate language that was hard to swallow, coming from the mouth of a child. You could wait for it to come out on DVD, but I know that this movie is going to be a hit.

Tosah is a very influential writer in the Los Angeles community and she also introduced me to some other powerful writers who I hope to meet again. I am grateful and look forward to other possible invites to more industry functions. I love going to the movies.

These days, I'm learning to separate my personal and my professional representations of myself. There are a few people in this world (relatively) who want to see me succeed and without their own personal gain attached. I have to remember how powerful, every word spoken in conversations are to success and failure in the professional world. People are not as forgiving one might think, it's cut throat out here. With my success in LA, continuing throughout the semester, I will find success anywhere I go.

I am anticipating everyday's adventure and where my decisions will direct me. Have a beautiful week.

Smiles,

Toni

P.S. Stay posed for more pics from the Urban Network.

Andy Frost | Wooddale Church | 10/12 - 10/19

2008-10-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

I talked before about Wooddale Church expanding and adding a campus in Edina. he way it works is the pastor speaks live at one campus while a pre-recorded video of the sermon is played at the other campus. We have been having to add a lot of equipment to the main Eden Prairie campus to accommodate for all this. We have added a lot of new equipment like switchers, scalers, playback and record devices for both DVCAM and DVD, and much more. All those being tied into the system require a lot of new cabling. We ran all the cable a few weeks ago, just the wire with no ends on it so it was easier to run through conduit. This past week we had to put all the different connectors on all the ends of the cables. There is a lot of different video cables and audio cables.

Also we added about 10 new monitors video station for the person running the new and expensive video switcher. They are for viewing all the different video sources coming from different places.

There is a lot more work to be done here....

Andy Frost

Wooddale Church

10/19/08 - Rob Peek - Alan Ett Music Group

2008-10-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

This week was a mental challenge for me.
I did the same sort of things that I've been doing the whole time, however this week seemed to be up in my head too much. Sometimes we all just need to take a step back and refocus our energy and determination back on to our goals. It's easy to get side tracked out here. This whole city is a booming hub of entertainment. It's easy to loose oneself amidst the constant hustle that goes on out here on a daily basis, it can be a bit of a whirl-wind that takes you for a ride in circles, but never really gets anywhere, which is what I contended with this week.
Saturday, however, was a great day. I finally got to get out of the apartment and see some real sights. It was a day of reflection and realignment, further affirming my goals and aspirations of making money in the industry out here.
I got to see some very cool places that have alot of musical history in them. As well as meet some people that were very inspirational and very wise.
This weekend was just what I needed to put me back in the right mind to do what I set out to accomplish. I can't wait for these next few weeks. I'm expecting some very cool things to happen!

Vance McCain, D.A.R.P Studios, Recording Technology

2008-10-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

This week at D.A.R.P was great!!! Dallas is getting ready to go on tour which means the interns get to man the studio for a week or two. During the week the rehearsed every day for about 4 hours so I know his set from front to back. The music he plays is more of a house/electonica sound so it was real intense to listen to. Life outside the studio this week was really interesting also. I met Talib Kweli and Novel on the set of video shoot for Novel's new single. I also was introduced to Dj SouthanBred who was SouljaBoy tour dj this summer at a networking event downtown Atlanta. Sad to say, my computer still has the flu so I still have to use my phone as my only source of internet. If you all would like to donate to the Vance Has A Sick Computer Fund, contact Debbie in the Career Center ha ha!!!OBAMAFORPRESIDENT

God Bless,

Vance McCain

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 10/12- 10/19

2008-10-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Bands never know what's going on.

In order to sign up for ASCAP you need to have one or two writers that will be getting the money.

You can not sign up as a whole band.

Bands don't understand this.

It's hard to convince bands that you want to help them with their money for free. They get all defensive and don't trust very easily.

I have not been able to sign up any bands yet but I swear! This week I will get Sleep Is The Enemy at least!

I am waiting to meet up with Andrea who had my internship a few semesters ago and hopefully she will be able to help a little.

Thats all for now!

Peace

Langen

Antonio Rosario - Week 5 - North Star Media

2008-10-19T14:35:00.001-07:00

Another week, another few new experiences.
The past week has been different - I've been working in the administration department exclusively, but I am now doing work for the creative department as well.

The major project of the week was going through all of our library contracts to see if they had a roll-over clause, and to check and see if the term had ended or not. Ron was so pleased with the work, that he said he may have some more contract work for me soon.

I've been getting a taste of the company in every department, and I am thankful for that opportunity.

I'm writing this at the Apple store in the grove, so i'll keep this short.

til next week.

Aaron Chesling-Universal Music Group- week 3

2008-10-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody. This week at Universal Music Group, was learning a new system that I have heard about but never really new what it was. After about 2-3 hours of doing some tour entries I was instructed to find out albums sales for hundreds of bands associated with UMGD, this is known as Nielson's SoundScan. It was very interesting to see what groups sold, and which groups didn't. Surprisingly there were moments where I saw less popular bands selling more then some major groups. I was also instructed to do some front desk work, I was very busy this week, cant wait for friday. Happy Blogging everybody.

Josh Woodard- Pangaea Entertainment Group- Week 4

2008-10-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hey sorry folks didnt mean to keep yall waiting, but its been a busy last week! The whole office is putting the last touches together for our upcoming music media and technology confrence MUSEXPO Europe. I got to help put together things and prepare them to be shipped to london for the confrence. I also stayed busy doing internet research, and helping people around the office with other projects. Thursday I got to promote the Passport Approved Meaghan Smith show by putting up flyers all over from melrose to hollywood. Saturday I got to go to the show and hang out with everybody from work, it was a really fun and eventfull week. I can't wait to tell you all what is going on this week! Peace out

Josh

B96 internship 10/13/08

2008-10-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

not too much happened for this week. We just had a meeting in regards to upcoming events, appearances, etc. Sorry on my blog not being the most entertaining. I'm looking to switch position to where i would be in charge of production slots, such as commercials between airings. I will keep ya posted as soon as i get the info..

Deuces..
Delreece

Toni Alberte @ Urban Network; LA, CA

2008-10-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Greetings,

My time spent here in Los Angeles, California is proving to be one of my better investment Becoming more aware of who I am and what my life is about, while maturing and developing my career, are only a few pieces of my excursion here. The relationships I am building and business skills attained, that I can add to my resume, are deemed to take me far in life.

At the office, I seized at the the chance of a leadership position. I will be responsible for our team of three interns, research and development or Urban Network's webpage (www.urbannetwork.com), marketing development for the magazine, and social networking sites.

I am looking forward to getting into the studio next week, for I was so graciously asked to write for a record and my work was well received, so I get to be part of a wonderful project--watch out for Flawless, album debut album coming soon.

My creative energy is finally coming back to me. I have not been myself since I came out here, mainly because this is such a new experience for me and I was thrown. Charlie Brooks, McNally Smith West Coast Representative, has help me in so many ways, including helping me to find my bearings again and open my mind to how special of an experience this is. I AM doing what is in my best interests and I AM "going confidently in the direction of my dreams," Henry David Thoreau, and I AM getting the most out of this internship program and I AM grateful for

all of those who are here with me and in spirit.

I was asked "how [has] the Career Center helped me" and I responded with this:

I was placed at the Urban Network due to the help from the Career Center. Their long time relationship with the company and the confidence they have in me, insured my placement in this internship. It was because of the Career Center that I even gained interest in coming to Los Angeles. Now that I am here, I am beginning to truly understand the important role LA has on the music industry. Being here gives me a leg up on the competition. I know that if I can make it here in LA that I can make it anywhere in this music industry; the best of the best live [and work] in Los Angeles. Without the Career Center I would not have gotten the chance to experience what LA has to offer me at this point in my career. I am experiencing personal and professional growth, and with the knowledge I attain here I will be able to further develop myself as an industry professional while in school because being out here I am one of them. an industry professional. Thank you, my dear friends in the Career Center!

Sincerely,

Toni Alberte

The following pictures were taken the week prior to last on Oct. 2, 2008...

(across the top) David Lilly; Warren Griffen; Arthur Mitchell; Harlod Whaley

(left to right) Miller London; Tosha Thomas; Ryan Leslie; Me

Me & Ryan Leslie

"Diamond Girl"

www.ryanleslie.com

(left to right) Miller London; Me; Ise Lyfe; Tosha Thomas; David Lilly

Ise Lyfe

Price Cometh

www.iselyfenation.com

Evan Gundlach, Music Buisness, Universal, Twin Cities

2008-10-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well hello everyone! This past week at universal was actually a little uneventful, but I still had a pretty good time. On Tuesday I worked on fastrac for target. I do this about once every other week, and it is getting easier and smoother to do every time. Once I got done with that I worked on the song placement analysis. I have been working on this for quite awhile and fell a little behind with all the other stuff I'm doing with target. We also put a lot of the databases online so anyone who works for universal can see the data even if it is being updated. I thought this was pretty neat since it’s like a giant shared drive for the company on the internet. On Friday we had a music meeting, and watched some new videos. After the meeting, I worked on some mailings for the new T.I cd. I also put away some posters that have been coming in and helped organized this room where they keep a lot of promo items. Well that was my week and I’m ready for whatever this week throws at me.

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 10/5-10/12

2008-10-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

This internship is proving to be harder than I thought.

Finding the bands that want to sign up with ASCAP was easy but trying to get them to organize themselves is proving extremely difficult.

I need to figure out who the write is for the songs and who will take all the credit for publishing.

I should have known that this was going to be hard being that I'm dealing with a bunch of rock bands and all that but it's frustrating.

My goal is to get two bands completely signed up this week.

We will see how this goes.

Peace

Langen

Vance McCain, D.A.R.P Studios, Recording Technology

2008-10-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

This week was a busy one for D.A.R.P. Dallas has finally launched his clothing line and store on last thursday. I was really glad to be involved because as an intern, I made a big impression because of my hard work. The party at the store was a great networking experience for me. As far as the studio goes, I basically slept there lol. I left late alot because I got to engineer a few sessions. I wish I could write more but I am still working off of my mobile phone. God Bless Everyone.

Vance McCain

Antonio Rosario - North Star Media - Week 4 - 10/11/08

2008-10-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Another week, another weekend...

This week I finished up my royalty statements at North Star Media, got to work on an EPK i'm working on for Sota Rico Productions, got to work on a press release i'm doing for Sota Rico, got asked by Warren Griffin to do his myspace design, and picked up a paid design gig back home for a group called Self Made Hustlers.

I also sent out ASCAP writer / publisher registration forms back home to Maria so she can register her stuff.

Marty Silverstone of NSM checked out my CD and liked it - the next time there's a hip hop placement needed he said he'll try to pitch my stuff. That's exciting.

ummm... what else... I'm supposed to go visit Toni out @ the Meadows tomorrow - hopefully I have all my work done before then.

My new toy of the week is the Blackberry Curve - it is a very handy device for a businessman on the go - if you're considering picking one up, I encourage it. my business number is 818-433-5876, you may give me a call if I can be of service to you.

That's pretty much it - it's been a month already. time flies when you're handling business. i've been making some wonderful connections and enjoying the warm weather. The amount of knowledge i've obtained so far out here is unbelieveable - it's a crazy game, but being out here is teaching me how to play it properly.

My company back home in MN; Graff Roots Media will be making a holiday album. that should be fun. :)

Rob Peek - Alan Ett Music Group - 10/10/08

2008-10-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit of a roller coaster this week, a few great highs, and a few personal lows. However, all things considered, I'm still here and I'm still learning.
I mainly stuck to my normal intern duties, data-entry, casting, random odds and ends. however, I did get to do a couple interesting things this week.
I got to sit in on a dialogue editing session, which was very interesting. Most people who I talk to say it's probably the most boring job of the sound design field, however I found it pretty cool. Maybe it's because I don't do it every day.
It's interesting to see a technician take rough recordings, and I do mean ROUGH, and shape them in pro tools. The end results were amazing. I even watched this guy take parts of two other completely different words, cut them apart, and make an entirely different word, and you would never be able to tell, the guy on screen even looked like he was actually saying it.
Keep that in mind the next time you watch an interview on a reality show.
Anyway, not much else to tell. I'll try to have something really good for you next week!
Until Then.

Attention to Detail

2008-10-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Apparently I need to pay a little more attention to detail and actually read my email messages when they are sent to me. I apologize for this being my first post of the semester.

I am currently interning at UMGD (Universal Music Group Distribution) in St. Louis Park. So far it has been a great experience. I really think I lucked out with where I was placed. I think I am getting the best overall experience you get from an internship here at Universal. I have plenty of responsibilities, and truly get to learn the system. It's nice knowing my work actually makes a difference.

I am in the Sales & Marketing Dept. for Universal/Motown/Republic. This is the largest division under the entire Universal label. It is our responsibility to work with accounts like Target and Best Buy to get them to bring our products into their stores, and get placement in their weekly ads. I do quite a bit of analysis, like what an artists previous album has sold, and project what their next album will sell. Its definitely not easy these days, with all the digital downloading that takes place.

My biggest project thus far has been organizing a raffle for a charity called City of Hope that does cancer research. We got all of the branches together and they donated all kinds of Autographed Music Memorabilia. Then we sold raffle tickets for $5 each. We ended up raising $5000. Not too bad if you ask me.

Well I think that gets me up to speed thus far. I promise there will be more to come.

Tim Leutgeb.Acadia Cafe.Week 2

2008-10-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

Another busy week on the WestBank. I just got about fifteen e-mail from musicians who are interested in playing the Acadia Cafe. I am working on editing the newsletter that is going to be sent to 2,000 people on the 15th. I have three mid-week bracer series shows to book and make posters to distribute. The owners are interested in starting a street team that I would manage, sounds like fun. The website is going to be redesigned soon to accomidate the newsletter and the myspace needs updating constantly. Just the usual this week...
Tim

Aaron Chesling-Universal Music Group-Week 2

2008-10-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well everybody it is officially week two, and things are off to a great start. After doing some extensive data entry, I was exposed to some new more interesting tasks.

Fonatana and their representative Sara Hartley, who I met the first week, had me do some sorting of various tours and merchandise in each of those areas. It was mainly just excel work but it was interesting to see how many shows each band was doing, and where they were playing. I was sorting info for bands of almost all genres like Pennywise, Tech 9, Pop Evil, as well as many other independent artists. As for Friday I believe we are going to have another board meeting discussing more pre-released material and stuff that just came out this week, I am very excited to see whats new.

Antonio Rosario - North Star Media - Los Angeles - Week 3/4 or something

2008-10-06T15:03:00.001-07:00

Greetings,
Antonio Rosario here reporting live poolside in Los Angeles, California.
I just got out of a meeting with David Llauger Meiselman of Boricua Films (http://www.boricuafilms.com)

I'm a day late (oops) on posting, and for that I apologize - I had one helluva stressful week, so i'll try to break it down as well as possible -

Last week I completed another catalogue, which lead me to working on royalty statements. I got through 2 different stacks, and now my last stack awaits me on my desk tomorrow. Besides that, I got to watch an upcoming episode of American Idol: Rewind for any songs that weren't cleared.

Work as usual - things are going fantastic at North Star Media.

Last monday, I was offered a spot as Vice President of Sota Rico Productions, and I accepted - this increased my workload. I am now working on online press kits, writing press releases, designing the new Sota Rico myspace, and I designed all of our business cards! :-)

Besides that, I catalogued all the songs under my own company Graff Roots Media, and am working on clearing samples for a project we have released so it can be considered pitch-able.

It's been a week full of phone conferences, meetings, typing, and headaches... but this week is a completely new week.

you may now reach me at Antonio.Rosario@SotaRico.com - but it'll just forward to my Orikal@gmail.com account anyway ;-)

B96 internship 10/3/08

2008-10-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

We had went out to Little Ceasars in Hilltop (on Central Ave NE) to promote B96. We had given out prizes, like movie tickets, t-shirts, DVD's, CD's, and candy to name a few. I got the chance to meet Peter Parker and have a small conversation with him. The pizza was good as well lol. I acknowledge the value of street promotion by actually meeting your customers. Giving back to your customers provides more customer satisfaction and reduces turnover.

Rob Peek - Alan Ett Music Group - 10/5/08

2008-10-06T09:13:00.000-07:00

Another week down here at the Alan Ett Music Group in Los Angeles, CA.
I'm starting to get myself into a bit of a routine here, which is both good and bad. It's good because I'm getting comfortable with what I'm doing, and the people I'm working with. I'm building great relationships with the people here, and have turned some important heads already. It's bad because now I have to keep myself from getting complacent. I'm finding myself drifting off into space every once in a while, and while it's nice mental break, I need to stay focused.
There is alot to learn here, and no one will tell you what to learn, or how to learn it. Everything I've done so far has taught me something, though it's easy to view it as tedious, monotonous, and boring, there is a purpose for it.
The trick is figuring out why it is so important, and then deriving a lesson from it.
That's about it. This up coming week looks like it will be busy and full of new experiences.
Until then,
Rob Peek

Toni Alberte @ Urban Network, LA, CA

2008-10-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Good Evening.

This week has gone by and I would like to say that it seems like a long time ago that last Sunday was were here. Really, it just means that I've been keeping myself busy and have been working hard to accomplish what it is I have set out to do.

Last week was filled with a ride of excitement and variation, a lot of personal revelations.

On Monday, we had to sell our program (in theory). This was not what I had expected nor prepared for, although the lesson was still well learned. Hands on experiences are crucial. The remaining of the week I continued work on the next marketing project.

I met the Urban Network's Program Director, Harold Whaley. He has introduced me to Second Life (a website) and I will be doing more research about it and will tell you more when I know more.

I went out to eat with my mentor, Miller London, Publisher/CEO of Urban Network last week. It was a pleasure to get to know such an influential man in the business. I thank him for his time. If there is one things that I hope he got from our conversations, it would be for him to know that I want to be a singer/songwriter.

Last week we had two visitors on Thursday, Ryan Leslie and Isc Lyfe. Ryan Leslie is a self-promoted up and coming star. He has had some years in the industry now, and with his level of talent, many more years to come. Ics Lyfe is a spoken word artist, comparable to Mos Def, who has established himself as a professional speaker. I am looking forward to following the progress of both of these artists.

I wrote another news feed for the Urban network Internet site.

Jay Z Recognized by the UN for his Humanitarian Efforts (10/03/2008 15:19)

Again I was at the beach Saturday.

Good night.

Josh Woodard- Pangaea Entertainment Group- Week 3

2008-10-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

YO! Whats up?! Well it was another beautiful week in Los Angeles, It was extremely hot here the first part of the week. As for my internship, i stayed busy puting together a mailing list of Dance Radio Stations, around the country, to promote one of our artists with a mailer of her new cd. Among a few other things I also got the chance to go on an adventure from our office in Beverly Hills all the way to Hollywoods walk of fame, taking pictures of Pink Log siteings. This saturday I was lucky enough to get a ticket to go to The Detour Festival in downtown L.A., there were a lot of great bands there, but the highlight of the festival was either the DJ tent on the steps of city hall blasting dirty electro beats, or seeing the Mars Volta bring the fetival home and melting my face off with their awesomeness.

Keep it real,

Josh

Evan Gundlach, Universal, Music Business, Twin Cities

2008-10-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well, Another interesting week at universal. This week I ended up working on a lot of little projects. Tuesday I worked on entering pim for best buy. This is putting packaging information into a computer system to make shipping of cd’s easier. I did that for a while and then I helped with some more mailings for some best buy items. I also found out that we have an extension until February on the target tour analysis so I will be working on that every once in a while when I have free time. On Friday there wasn’t a music meeting, but it gave me a lot of time to catch up on target history reports. I had to pick up where the last intern left off so I have about 2 months of sales to record. I am almost caught up now and it got much easier the more I did it. Well, that was my week this week I think next week ill be working more with target, but I guess we will see on Tuesday.

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis- 9/28-10/5

2008-10-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

This week was pretty lame yet again for my internship.

I talked with two people in the industry who were:

1.) Doug Weaver... Manager of Racing Kites and works at Fearless Records

2.) Jay... He owns his own management company and also works at two venues in California.

I got a lot of good tips from both of them about how to improve my business and all that good stuff which was really awesome.

I am going to start signing bands up tomorrow. Hopefully I don't mess it up!

Peace!

Vance McCain, Darp Studios, Recording Technology

2008-10-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

In my last blog, I don't believe I had the chance to explain what Darp studios is. D.A.R.P is an acronym for Dallas Austin Recording Project Studios based in Atlanta Georgia. For the past few weeks Atlanta has had a gas shortage so a lot of stations were only allowing citizens to by $25 dollars worth of gasoline. Its crazy to ride past a gas station and see cars waiting in line for hours to receive gas. On a brighter note, my days at Darp were very active. They allowed me to de-solder many xlr and 1/4 inch cables. I also got to sit in on a session with one of Rowdy Records hip hop artist. On thursday I attended a networking mixer at Apache café. It allowed me to meet a lot of the big local artist and djs. That's about wraps up everything I accomplished this week. I am writing my blogs from my phone until my laptop is repaired.

God Bless,
Vance McCain

Marthe Mekuria at EMI/Capitol

2008-10-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Monday: Went to visit the director of Urban A&R at Capitol Records in his office at the 9th floor (he got a nice view!). I had met him prior to starting my internship at an Interscope party where his artist J.Holiday was performing. We talked for a long time, almost an hour, and I was blessed to learn a lot about Capitol Records and A&R. My dream.

Tuesday: Went to the premier for N.W.A. VH1 documentary, and happen to run into Charley Brooks and Nancy from Cube Vision. The documentary was amazing. I want to see it again! After the documentary there was an intimate discussion on N.W.A. and the life of Easy-E with Easy-E's son, ex-group member, film makers and the questioning industry professional audience.

Wednesday: My supervisor helped me get my resume and cover letter cleaned up as we are hoping to find me WORK! He also wrote me a stunning recommendation to put in my cover letter. I also got assigned to three other people at the office so I can build my skill and network.

Thursday: Went to one of the in stores for the group "People Under The Stairs" to help promote their new album Fun DMC and increase sales for the independent record store. They had a singing, but there where barely any fans there. It was very boring. Especially because it took us almost two hours to drive to the store in traffic, and we still had to make a trip back.....

Friday: We went to another in store for the same group. Technical difficulties took forever, and boredom kicked in again. I again, like the day before, ended up spending most of my time talking with Shawn Jackson, a MC signed with Tres Records, who was just as bored as I. After hours of music talk, he gave me both his albums, that much reminded me of the Roots and a Tribe Called Quest. We kind off talked about collaborating. But I already know it all depends on life, schedules and deadlines. You never know though.

Veronica, 93X Week 3

2008-10-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

So, this time I edited a commercial all by myself. Patrick even left the studio and went to get a cup of coffee while I gave it my first shot on my own. It was a commercial for Motorheads where they apparently sell "pimpin wear." I think it took some serious dedication and concentration for Patrick to make it through that whole script without laughing. Anyway, I had to go through and edit out every little pause and breath between sentences to try to get it down to 1 minute long but it ended up being 1:01 which was pretty good considering it was almost a whole page worth of words single spaced. After the commercial, I set up the Loud and Local show for him so that all he had to do was talk and play the songs. There was some pretty good music in the show this week. Just as a courtesy, and since he has the time to if he has help, Patrick myspace messaged one of the bands to let them know that they were gonna be on the show so that hopefully they could tune in and hear themselves.

Evan Gundlach, music buisness, universal, twin cities

2008-10-02T09:41:00.001-07:00

Hello again it has been a really crazy week with school really getting into gear and my internship ive hardly had any time to do much of anything. So this past week I again was helping with the target account at universal. I have been helping in adding titles to a database that tracks targets sales of an album to the national sales of an album and then calculates the share target has over the market. It is really interesting being able to see how some genres have a much higher share while others have a very low. I also finished up the target tour data ase that tracks record sales in an area after the show or group had gone through the area. On Friday I actually helped mail out promo boxes to independent record stores all over the Midwest. We also had our music meeting on Friday which has gone from weekly to bi-weekly so that was a lot of fun. We saw new music videos and talked about more upcoming releseas like the killers and fall out boy. Even though this week was crazy and I havnt been able to write till now it was a lot of fun and im sure this week will be the same.

Veronica, 93X Week 2

2008-10-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

So, week 2 was a lot of watching and seeing again. I got to do a little more hands on stuff this time. I got to work on an online commercial for some car repair place and I used some funny sound fx on it. Its pretty fun and to work on something that I hear on the radio. I always used to listen to 93X and I made it a preset in my dad's car for my 10 year old brother because he really likes rock music. Anyway, next week I'll actually be recording the show for Patrick so he wont have to do that and talk too. Not that it's difficult to him, he makes it look like a piece of cake. Hopefully I will get the hang of it pretty quick but we'll see how it goes next week.

Andy Frost | Wooddale Church | 9/20/08-9/27/08

2008-10-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

On Wednesday we spent a lot of the time putting together racks of audio and video gear. It's all for the new campus that is opening in November. The church is in the middle of being renovated so its pretty dirty everywhere. We are not just waiting for a some thing to get finished until we can get all the gear into the church and get everything up and running. It's pretty cool we could have had an install company come in an do a lot of the work but we are saving the church so much money by just doing it ourselves. It involves some extra work though... plus it's pain cleaning up everything.

I also was in on Saturday becuase they needed extra help for the Saturday night service. I ran cameras. They record every Saturday night service as a backup in the case that there is an emergency and the pastor is unable to speak. They would be able to play the video of the sermon for the Sunday services. It doesn't seem like a difficult job but you have to follow the pastor as he walks around stage so that he never gets out of the camera shot. It's easy to get distracted i guess. It went fine though.

I guess that was most of what happened this week, I'll keep you all updated.

Andy Frost

Aaron- Universal Music Group Chapter: I

2008-10-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

I left my house very excited which contributed to me almost getting extremely lost on my way to Universal Music Group, I was wandering exactly what I was going to do there. I was expecting to do mailing stuff and smash boxes, (which i did later that day), but I didn't expect to discover that i was going to be taking part in a board meeting to review and listen to pre-released music videos and albums. I was taught how to do some simply data entry, they referr to it as "PIM" and simple computer stuff, emails, ect. I also was able to meet all of the label representatives from Universal Republic, Defjam, Mercury, Disney, and Fontana. It has been extremely fun and has really gotten me very excited for this next week and what new things I will learn, until then I will be posting later.

Tim Leutgeb, Acadia Cafe

2008-10-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

I started working with Ted, the owner of Acadia Cafe in the spring semester of 2008. My goals then were to learn how to develop a small music oriented business as they were re-opening the Acadia Café at the time. They closed down shop at the Franklin and Nicollet location December 2007 with plans for a new location on the west bank of Minneapolis as soon as possible. My list of duties then were to build the stage, re-work the sound system, buy lights, hang lights, hang speakers, buy equipment, fix equipment, and book bands to fill the room. I started my own weekly series on Wednesday nights called the Midweek Bracer series and started booking bands as well as working with the series promoters from the last location to fill the room.

I left Acadia May 2008 for the summer. I returned September 2008 to do another internship for the semester. My goals this semester are to increase sales through marketing. The question becomes, how do you use music to generate sales? I have developed Acadia’s MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/theacadiacafe) I work the calendar on the website (http://www.acadiacafe.com/) and am currently developing a monthly newsletter that will be sent to over two thousand e-mail addresses.

Upcoming shows at Acadia Café:

Last Weeks show had two McNally Smith bands involved...

Toni Alberte @ The Urban Network; LA, CA

2008-09-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

Last week was full of reflection, as I have realized it has now been out here for a month since I was last in the midwest. Crazy. A lot of personal growth is paving the way for professional growth. I have become comfortable with being uncomfortable and because of that I am finally becoming comfortable in this foreign environment. Also, to have friends out here is a blessing, without them my longing for home would ultimately become a distraction.

Moving to and entirely different climate during my favorite season of all (autumn) has definitely required an adjustment. I am finally accustomed to the weather. Last Saturday was a perfect example for my preparedness for the weather. I took the bus to the Valley and was comfortable in the blazing sun and then, wearing the exact same attire, I returned to Venice Beach that night and going to Santa Monica, still comfortable with the fog that had rolled in.

The environment I am surrounded in is beautiful and I am completely enjoying myself. The locals here on the coast I have found to be very inviting, making evening socializing pleasurable. Funny story. While near Venice Beach that same night, I was stopped by a film crew taping people off the street. I could have easily turned them down and kept walking, but I thought it to be a perfect opportunity to practice my on camera personality; they were impressed.

_______________

Everyday is something different here at the Urban Network. Last week was quite an adventure for me inside and outside of the office.

My fellow interns, Jayson and Stephen, and I were given an assignment. We were to develop a "program" for music colleges to purchase a full page in the Urban Network Magazine. This is in essence a sales pitch for an advertisement, but because no one wants to be sold an ad we have to use different language. The process we have undertaken is proving to be a valuable experience that I have yet to receive in my education, thus displaying the importance of my internship.

We have received another marketing project to design, one that will increase website traffic, some type of promotion for our social network sites with prizes to be awarded.

Also, since starting here I have written two news feed articles for their website. Check them out at www.urbannetwork.com. The articles are titled Janet Jackson Rocks Witchu Tour Kicks off in Vancouver (09/11/2008) and Run DMC & the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (09/26/2008).

________________

With great privilege, I am now considered to be "in" the industry. As a guest at two events last Tuesday night, must be on the list invite only parties, I found myself submerged in the industry and outside of the office.

I was invited to a showcase presented by RCA Music Group with headlining artists Nina Sky, with two up-and-coming artists opening the evening, Krista and Paul Freeman. Paul opened the show playing is acoustic guitar and harmonica and later sitting behind the piano. This multi-talented musician, with a knack for writing songs, ignited the party. I found his sound to be warm and inviting with a relaxed feel, mixed with dance worthy rhythms. Krista was the lady on stage that touched my heart the most. As a poetic lyricist and her aggressive melodies and elements of rock and pop with rap intertwined, was powerfully displayed through her emotionally driven voice. Nina Sky brought to the stage their signature energy level, performing new tracks off their sophomore release album, "The Musical."

Later that evening I was in the presence of greatness, celebrating the birthday of Ali Woodson, former lead singer of the Temptations, and Mickey Howard. Soulful music filled the Aqua Lounge leaving me with no other option, but to dance. The night was beautiful amongst Motown legends. I was witness to what hard work and dedication results, being surrounded by great people of success and wonderful music that feels good all the time.

This night my eyes were opened to the lack of knowledge I have and how much self-educating and research I need to attend to. Now being amongst the elite, I must show my respects and acknowledge their accomplishments, that way placing myself in a position to network. Being able to break the ice and strike up a conversation with someone of higher stature should not be over looked.

_________________

Thank you so much for your attention, I hope that you all are enjoying my blog posts. Until next week, take care.

Smiles,

Toni

Josh Woodard- Pangaea Entertainment Group- Week 2

2008-09-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well hello again! Last week was such a busy and eventful week that i almost forgot to post a blog. Things at Pangaea have been great! I'm starting to do a lot more work. Some of the things that i spent my time doing last week were, making a myspace for our upcoming music, media, and technology conference in London, MUSEXPO Europe 2008, I also got to help screen demo's, which is really cool because you never know if one of the demo's i pulled out of a gigantic pile of hopefulls, might be the next big thing! Saturday night the office had tickets to Paramount Rocks, which was an amazing concert on the lot of Paramount Pictures, i got to see LMFAO, Dirt Nasty, and Camp Freddy which were all awesome, but i must say that the best part were the special guests. Lemmy from motorhead, Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, B-Real of cyprus hill, and bunch more..... it was borderline too much rockstar for one stage!

until next time keep it real,
Josh

Langen- ASCAP-MInneapolis

2008-09-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

So far I haven't really done much for ASCAP. I have started a list of ten bands that I would like to work with. They are:

Sleep Is The Enemy
This Last Dance
Modern Day Satire
Same Sick Feeling
The Hand Me Down Kids
Here's My Chance

I still need to think of four more but I have a few in mind I just need to check some databases and see if they are already a member.

Also I need to interview two people in the industry. I talked with Steve McClellan the other day and I think I'm also going to talk to Doug from Fearless Records.

Things should start picking up this week!

Peace

Langen

Lessons, sunshine,and memories...

2008-09-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

...I've learned many things already during my couple weeks down here in Los Angeles.

Here are a couple of key points...

1) CHECK YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR
It doesn't matter what you did where you come from, when you come down here, the only thing that matters is what you get done, DOWN HERE. It's a whole other ballgame down here compared to the Twin Cities music scene, from the business, to the politics, to even the slightest interactions. Every single step you take down here will either A) open up a door, or B) slam that door straight on your ass.

In the Twin Cities, people are very open with their studio sessions and other musical business, it is very communal. Everyone tries to help everyone. Out here, you need to have your own thing going, because NOBODY is going to stop THEIR progress just to help YOU out. And if they do, you better be thankful, and it better be worth while in the end for them.

2) PEOPLE ARE ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS...
...and the person you see in front of you is in the same game and the same jungle you are - watch out. People are out to elevate themselves and will do whatever it takes to get to the top of whatever we think we're climbing.

With that being said, I've done a lot since my last blog update, so I'll try my best to recap the best I can.

Work @ North Star Media is phenominal - I transferred both their ASCAP catalogue and their BMI catalogue from a word document to a spreadsheet - may not sound fun, BUT - It gave me a chance to get to know their song catalogues, songwriters, sub-publishers, and how to efficently catalogue songs, which I then went home and used with my own business. All the transferring took me about a week to complete, which I think suprised them, as the job was supposed to last atleast a few weeks. This left me wide open for new tasks, so I got to review clearance sheets, do some song research to track down contact info for publishing companies and writers, and now am being involved in a HUGE project. Besides that, I got my music in the hands of Marty Silverstone, the VP of the creative department (who just got a mention in Billboard Magazine) - he is the one responsible for pitching songs to TV, film, advertisements, etc. - I also got to play the role of A&R and listen to some music submissions, take down notes and let them know what I thought. Not too bad to spend a couple hours @ work like that.

I also went out to Juliana Cole's performance at Genghis Cohen in Hollywood - she's an artist represented by North Star. I brought my camera and did some photography and video work, which also benefited Mr. Silverstone -

then on the way home...

Toni Alberte, whom is interning at Urban Network, came by to visit yesterday. It was nice to see her and spend some time with her - friends, (atleast "real" friends) are few and far between down here, i've found myself on the phone conversating longer with people back home than anyone down here. but who knows, maybe that will change - i'm still in my growth period, my LA transitional period.

It was a long week and i'm definitely enjoying the weekend -
I wrote 2 songs and made 2 instrumentals -
here's one:

"Lighten Up"
Antonio Rosario

http://www.orikal.com/LightenUp.mp3

til next time.
-Antonio Rosario
GRAFF ROOTS MEDIA
Sota Rico Productions
651-329-0699
Orikal@gmail.com

Take me out to the Ballgame

2008-09-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

Week 2 here at the Alan Ett Music Group in Los Angeles, CA.
It's starting to get busy here, or so I'm told. I don't really know what "slow" is like out here, so I have no reference to know what "busy" is, but I'll take their word for it.
I'm still working on the nuts and bolts work, filing, stocking libraries, organizing the stock room, casting music (which basically means listening to alot of music and inputting into a database the feel, genre, mood, description, and tempo. It sounds fun at first, but it quickly becomes tedious and mind numbing.) All these things are helping me in basic ways, for that reason, I'm glad to do it, but I can't help but be eager to get my hands on some bigger things.
Today I got sit in on another spotting session, this time for a Pilot episode of a new TV show. For discretion reasons I can't tell you what it is, but it's a dark comedy, with an extremely depressing storyline.
It amazed me how important the right music is to a show. The juxtaposition of bright, slightly cheery, almost comedic music kept the show from going completely dark. As I said earlier, it's a dark comedy, it's supposed to be a funny show with a depressing story, the music kept it from being a depressing show with a few funny lines.
Now, whether or not the show gets picked up has yet to be seen, however I don't think I'd be exaggerating when I say it has a MUCH better chance with the music that was put in it today.
On top of that, those who read my last blog will (hopefully) remember me talking about getting to sing on some recordings that were done for a commercial and a movie trailer. No word back yet on either of those, however, yesterday I got asked to do two more songs! I should be hitting the studio sometime on monday to record and I'm pretty excited. No one has really told me anything about them, other than what songs they are, and that they are for a video game. Not the commercial, mind you, but will be placed in the actual game. I'm not sure what the game is, and again, for discretion purposes, I can't tell you what songs, but I'm very excited to be doing even more work with my voice.
Yes, Janice, it sure does pay to be versatile in this industry. I can't believe the opportunities I've gotten out here in just two weeks, and it's all because I had that extra bit of training that put me in the position to do these things.
It's a crazy industry we've chosen to get into, it can do amazing things for you if you can step up to the plate and swing the bat.