Wednesday, February 18, 2009

IMMERSE

So as you probably gathered from my last post, work as been a bit busy as of late. Not only did we just finish the Hall of Fame, we are also gearing up for one of our biggest events in April, GMA Music Week which is followed by the Dove Awards. And while that's all well and good (and quite time-consuming I might add), what I'm really excited about is our brand new event coming this summer - IMMERSE.

Some of you may remember me talking about our event called Music in the Rockies, which was held every summer in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado. Well, after 39 years, our Board decided the event needed some fresh life, so the decision was made to move the event here to Nashville (where every musician & songwriter wants to come, anyway) where we will have much easier access to our industry, including artists, industry pros, businesses, etc.

The past months have been quite busy as we work to not only keep our current events running smoothly, but also to create this new event from the ground up - and it has been so fun to be a part of this process! I work with some incredibly creative people, and as a team, I think we've come up with a pretty awesome event. We'll have classes on everything from the craft of songwriting, to music publishing, to booking, to wardrobe & styling for artists, and we'll also have incredible opportunities for fieldtrips and venues that you can only find in Music City.


Anyway, I'm sure I'm boring some of you so I'll stop there. If you're interested, you can check out our awesome website designed by one of my coworkers: http://www.experienceimmerse.com/. (And if you know anyone that might be interested in the event, please send them our way!) You can even find a picture of yours truly on the staff page of the FAQ section :-) Just thought a few of you might like to hear a bit more about what I do at work that doesn't involve dressing up or waiting for the day to end!

(my staff photo for the website)

Monday, February 16, 2009

Technical Difficulties

Okay, so I'm not really having "technical" difficulties per say... except that "technically" I haven't been doing a very good job of blogging lately. Whatever. Close enough.

It's 5:04 on Monday and I already feel like I've put in a full week at work. Ugh. Meetings all day. But alas, it is still Monday afternoon.

I just realized that an entire event went by that I never even mentioned on this blog, which proves that I really have been a slacker. On Feb. 2, we had the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame here in Nashville, which I am proud to say I worked quite hard on. This year we have a slightly smaller staff than we have had in the past, and it really came down to 2 of us who put the whole thing together. Needless to say, being 1 of 2, I invested a lot, and I was quite proud of the results.

We inducted 5 new members into our Hall of Fame: Michael W. Smith, Lari Goss, Dr. Bobby Jones, The Dixie Hummingbirds, and the one and only Dolly Parton. It's always such a fun event to be a part of as we honor some of our industry's pioneers & legends. Here are a few pics from the evening, in case you're curious. I know I'm not in these - I'm more of a behind-the-scenes type :-)
All of our inductees for 2009, plus a few of my "colleagues" (ok - bosses)

A few folks you may recognize - TobyMac, John Styll (GMA Pres.), Michael W. Smtih,
& Steven Curtis Chapman

Pals SCC & Smitty

Star power: Smitty & Dolly

The Classic Imperials closing out the evening with some wonderful entertainment.



A shot of the room - and a glimpse at some of the flower arrangements I put together.

Cool - it's 5:20 now. Only 10 more minutes until I get to head home! I should really do this more often...