CMJ 08 Zack and Ayisha

It ain't over till you hear HEARTSREVOLUTION sing!

2008-10-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

SO.......

We are back in Chicago. Notice how I didn't use the term "finally" there, NYC was amazing. It was the learning, interactive, social, and overall positive experience that we thought it would be. No doubt, something we both will continue to learn from as we attend more and more festivals and conferences of the like. BUT, home is where the heart is. You know we love the Chi, the Lou, Mil Town, and all our friends and family. I'm a Midwest boy at heart.

Aright....on to the content:

SATURDAY!

Went a little something like theeeeeeiiiiiiiiis.

Wake up.

Sleep.

Wake up.

Eat.

Then we shopped.

Chilled.

Packed.

Then Shows, Shows, Showssssssssssssss:

First show was Cantora Records Showcase at The Love. We went to check out a couple people we met over the week by the name of Savoir Adour. Definitely a great Indie Rock show. A girl and a guy sharing vocals, solos, and overall stage presence. I thought they had a great energy and trade off.

Savoir Adore at The Love

www.myspace.com/savoiradore

So after the Savoir set we all decided that we had to get to Williamsburg for the IHEARTCOMIX showcase at The Music Hall of Williamsburg, a popular venue. The line up for this show was insane, with acts like Franki Chan, JuiceBoxx, Ninjasonik, HEARTSREVOLUTION, hosted by Matt from Matt and Kim, and many more. You can check their blog posts and artist roster at www.IHEARTCOMIX.com. I suggest doing so.

Oh HEARTSREVOLUTION......

So basically we danced the night away. The End.

Well actually not the end. After a lot more networking, chilling on plush couches, and passing out promo material, we hit the road. So after the show we checked out where French Horn Rebellion (Scroll Down) filmed their video, and Rob's favorite bar.

We got about a game of air hockey in before we were kicked out by a chick smoking a cigarette saying her boss would be their any minute. Whatever that meant.

At this point it was about 3 AM. Ayisha and I had to be on a plane at 8AM, and at the airport around 6AM. Sleep was out of the question. We hopped a cab back to Manhattan, and got ready for our journey back to the Chi, and what a journey it was.

I was deemed the one who had to stay up for any announcements at the airport. I swear I fell asleep about every 10 minutes. Disregard that Ayisha. Luckily we got on the right plane, and I passed out right away.

I woke up in Chicago and here I am.

Thank you to all of you that supported this tremendous experience. In particular Sharod, Jill, Carrie, and Mark. We could not have done this with out you and your undying support of us and our peers. Thank you.

While We're Waiting for the Saturday Post

2008-10-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

Check out this rad video from one of the artists we saw this week.
We were actually at this location. Williamsburg Brooklyn on Saturday night.

Can you tell what kind of people they're trying to mock?

Friday

2008-10-26T16:44:00.001-07:00

Friday Zack was so hungry that he turned into this:
He was yelling "Mmmm me want food, me want cookie...!" and so on and so forth until someone bit into his candy shell.

Anyway beside Zack's ongoing hunger,
It was our last panel today,

Artist Managers: The New Labels? The roll of the manager has drastically changed over the recent years. With many labels downsizing, artist managers have found themselves having to pick up the slack. Panelists will discuss these new rolls of artist management. M

MODERATOR:
Jason Spiewak

PANELISTS:
Dave Bason
Adam Berger
Tony Couch
Pat McGee

Mostly we had learned and talked about most of the trends and obstacles artists are facing but the Q and A really helped us understand more about percentages, what other managers are charging and the duties they are taking on for the artist.

It was informative for us.

We had a great time at the networking parties.

Luakabop = big surprise.
For those of you who do not know what Luakabop is, it is a world record label and you can check them out here: http://www.luakabop.com/cmp/index_banner.php3

They had this insane band called The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt that you can check out here: http://www.myspace.com/theterrorpigeondancerevolt
There was a lot of suspense of this artist. They threw down a costume box for everyone to choose a perfect outfit to dance with. There were slices of pizza and lions running around a guy and some characters with instruments in hand. We even chose our own costume to rock out in.

ALL OF THE SUDDEN! There was a guy who appeared to be a stuffed animal serial killer that sewed all of these plush toys together to make a all-encompassing cape outfit who thrashed out in the middle of the dance floor singing his dance songs. Every character came from the dance floor to join, an neon indian with his drum, a slice of pizza, cheetahs, glittery cousin its, 80's dancers, and more. They created a dance party band that the audience could either join or watch.

They had this song called "Snowday" where the lion and the cheetah of the band jumped on top of the counter of the bar with garbage bags of Styrofoam peanuts and a fan. You can imagine what happened.

The outfits changed often for the lead singer. I didn't catch a picture but the last outfit was him covered in white Christmas lights where he lit up on and off during the emphasis of his lyrics.

I strongly recommend you check out this artist! Especially if you can find a youtube. Live performance was key for these guys!

Fader Fort
The Fader Fort was a block from our hotel (good choice Sharod!).
This was the most decked out venue. It was basically a garage-like space that was totally re-invented with street and modern art from spray painting to pieces of vinyl, neon colors, stencils, and more.
We saw a few jam-band emerging artists, ran into some friends and some of the Windish crew including Matt and Kim from our previous SPB show.

It was a largely packed space with a great waterhole for networking. This was one of the most talked up spots of CMJ.

New York Noise Showcase

I'm not going to lie to you, I cannot tell you much about this showcase. It was very packed and the music was alternative. Everywhere there was someone who was someone important but all the press and photographers were dominating the venue.

French Horn Rebellion accompanied us for the night once again and Rob and I were spotted by the CMJ photographer to be added to the gallery!Representing CHICAGO!

Zack will fill you in on the artist playing but here they are:

Arlene's Grocery
It's not over yet!
We had to represent the Chi!
First a listen to The Envy Corps http://www.myspace.com/theenvycorps
This was the first band we were able to check out now at 1AM.
NYC never sleeps, I'm sure you've heard this.

Next was Hollywood Holt.
He taught me something, that New Yorkers didn't know what juking was!
I tried to teach them but ... uh... they need practice.

Holt of course put on a high energy performance as always. So intense in face that my camera could only catch awesome action blurs.

All I can remember after is that there was this amazing taco that was like a double decker except it had guacamole stuffed in between the shells. I wanted to tell Zack but he had already ate and cashed in for the night. It was good we had guides like FHR to take us to great places and spaces!

Webster Music Hall: Fools Gold Showcase (Thursday)
Sorry I thought this was Friday but I'll just give you my take on Webster really quick. All the showcases are so good they blended together!
We missed Crystal Castles!!!! but it was all okay because we got to check out some really hot Djs in this grand venue. I would say it compares to Aaragon Ballroom in size and very epic with older detailing and that grand ballroom feel.
Trackademicks or http://www.myspace.com/trackademicks definitely made us dance or I guess me dance but the rapper after well... I will let Zack rant about that one. All I can let you in on is that he sincerely said on stage, "Give it up for me!" and you can't give yourself credit as an artist, the audience decides if you're worth it.
Our Chicago artists were after including Kid Sister, Flosstradamus, and the whole crew.

Overview for Saturday:
Love- Paul Hammer's Band
IHEARTCOMIX- Juiceboxx
Totally Mike
IHEARTREVOLUTION
We have some amazing pictures for these next guys! We got in the crowds and in their faces.

We saw this and it reminded us of someone

2008-10-26T16:39:00.001-07:00

We're totally kidding

Thurzday nah mean?

2008-10-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Love it.

So as Ayisha said, we split up on Thursday for a panel and a couple shows. My first panel was on the future of the festival in North America. It was very interesting, I heard from people who market festivals such as Bonaroo and from people who actually produce festivals like POP Montreal and NXNE. I did some, hopefully, beneficial networking and then waited for Ayisha to head over so that we could listen to the Basics of an online Ad Campaign. I think she already explained that

So Lets move on to Thursday night.

First we hung out with Rob from French Horn Rebellion over at the Red Bull artist lounge (If you didn't check them out by now, do it...like now....stop reading.....http://www.myspace.com/frenchhornrebellion). I had a nice PBR and Ayisha had a PBR mixed with Red Bull Cola, please do not ask my why, did some networking and chilling and I was on my way towards Bowery to meet a friend, Edwards Bros! Ayisha took off to the her porno movie, I mean Kevin Smith's new movie, and I got ready to go to a few early shows. My buddy and I took off to Santos Party House for a hip hop gig. We stepped in and the Disco ball was blinding (eummmmm www.myspace.com/keithmasters) DJ Babu and Evidence from Dilated Peoples were on the tables, some would say a perfect combo. Saw my boy KOSHA DILLZ!( http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=17959646) Lets give him a round of applause, 4 out of 5 in URB and was recently in Spin for his new CD. Lehiem! Long time coming. Check his new CD out with the man C Rayz Walz, Freestyle vs Written, if you like hip hop you should know Mr. Walz (http://www.myspace.com/crayzwalz). If you have a friend that is constantly free styling, show them C Rayz, he is the definition of. We chilled for a minute, saw a couple people like Immortal Technique come in, and then we were on our way to the next spot.

So the next place we went was Webster Hall. Now this place is a little confusing, it is absolutely huge, like an old cathedral huge. There was some time mix ups, but because of them I got to see a band by the name of Passenger play. Very good. I mean this is the type of stuff you expect to see when your watching quality television like that emmy winning show One Tree Hill. Wow, quality entertainment. Anyway, that band was good, look for them. Hmmm, I say a lot of bands are good, you should trust me I think.

So after that short stint, we went on to check the band Passion Pit who I graciously have hipped you to. (www.myspace.com/passionpitjams). Wow that was a little cocky, anyway, if you haven't had time to check them out, make some. There show was packed, I mean packed tight. I finally met the guy who has been pretty instrumental in their new found success, owner of Neon Gold Records, and brother of the owner of French Kiss. Cool Dude, respect is definitely deserved. I am still listening to Sleepy Head right now, actually, I can't stop.

So I apologize for having no pictures of all of this for you. BUT, what I can do is show you these and tell you to vote.

If your not going to vote, this is what my reaction will be:

So after all of this I met up with Ayisha finally. We all decided to try the Fader Fort, ehh closed, don't worry we made it to the hippest party in the world eventually. So we actuallye ended back up at Webster Hall, yes where I basically started, and checked the Fools Gold Showcase. I love their artist roster, go ahead Google them, but I will be honest there was some scallywags on stage for a minute. Speaking of Scallywags! We decided to head to a local bar, Odessa, and hang out for the rest of the night. It was dark, musty, I wanted to say Arrrrrrrr, and I liked it. It was a cool place to end the night and a couple indie artists and industry people were there which made the trip all worth our while. So, then I ate a falafel and went home. The end. Oh yes that was definitely my happy ending....

Damn I am hungry. Ok ok, so I don't want to bombard any of our awesome readers, yes you, you are awesome, with another post about Friday night yet. Just know that it is coming shortly, here is a preview:

Friday:

Panel:

Artist Managers: The New Labels?

Shows:

Luaka Pop
Fader Fort
Takka Takka
Arlenes Grocery-Envy Corps and Holllllywoood! Holt that is.

Oh yeah, and my candle light dinner on the curb with a nice big slice from Rosarios.

ZE

Recovery Day

2008-10-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Zack and I have been going strong every day non-stop til 5am. We don't want to miss anything. It's gotten to the point where Zack hasn't even put on his pjs... he's just sleeping over there.
I got him candid.

Our days were a little different Thursday.
I went to the international panel.

What's It Like Over There? This Panel of International Artists and music industry professionals will be discussing their respective international music scenes in depth. The goal here is to expose resources, programs, and information for aspiring international artists and industry professionals. I

MODERATOR:
Jean Cook

PANELISTS:
Rio Farabi
Joel McDonald
Paulo Andre Moraes Pires
Rachelle Van Zantan

I got to meet someone who's in a hard rock band from Australia that really helped me understand the music and job scene down under and let me in on some of the good companies to work for. His best advice was to do something niche and stand out. That's how most people are successful there.

The next one we both went to.

The Basics Of An Effective Online Ad Campaign Online advertising campaigns are in their infancy stage with regards to the future of music. In an open discussion form, this panel will start with the basics and continue on to discuss more in-depth info and strategies. M

MODERATOR:
Robert Cukierman

PANELISTS:
Adam La Rue
Doug Perlson
Scott Portugal
Derek Sentner

We got some great ideas in promoting our artists and being creative in our grass roots world.

Everyday our set itinerary changes in one way or the other. It's an adventure.

Artist Lounge
French Horn Rebellion lead vocalist, Robert decided to meet with Zack and I and take us to the Red Bull Space Artist Lounge. I came to find that Red bull Cola and PBR is a good mix. Go Milwaukee! There was also an artist showcase here and you could play with the koog boards, guitars, more. They were doing star interviews, having competitions, and everyone was branding. It was the first time of the week Robert used his badge and we explored a great time.

Zack and I split up from here.

Kevin Smith and Zack and Miri Make a Porno

If you haven't heard of Kevin Smith, you really have. He's made all the Jay and Silent Bob Movies, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Jersey Girl, The Clerks and more of your favorites. In fact, he is Silent Bob. He also made Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Kevin Smith is one of my film idols and I could not miss this production. The line to get in was wrapped around the theater almost twice over! Rob accompanied me to this event. First they played the movie which was comic, witty, and essentially a romance story if you can believe that. Seth Rogan and romance...
The second half of this event was a Q&A with Kevin Smith. People asked him silly questions in the nature of Kevin such as "do you wipe from the front of back" and how he's influenced them in potty words and where does he think of these things , etc. Some of the more music related questions were basically how did you choose these songs? He said instead of hiring a music supervisor he just checked out his ipod and put in songs that he liked. That tells you something about the possible dangers of that music business position. It was funny to hear that some artists didn't give him permission like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs because they felt that particular song is too played out for them. "Being artsy!" Kevin said. Other songs he cannot release on the soundtrack because the artist themselves would like to do this. Another insight is the idea behind this movie has been thought of since he was 13 and this is very self-explanatory.
Potty Jokes of Kevin Smith
I just want to add in some great stories and potty jokes he instilled us with so you have the option not to read this. Kevin was talking about him getting fatter eating Permanti Brothers Sandwiches in Pittsburgh where the film was filmed essentially. He said he pretty much broke a toilet in half but after he'd poop (poop stories are his favorite). The contents were swishing around in the bowl dangerously so he decided to launch off the toilet to save himself. Unfortunately, after all of that, someone was knocking on his door, a business friend of his. Now he couldn't say "Who did this?! He opened the door and gave a horrified face and pointed to the toilet speechless. His friend says "No one has to know."
Sony gave Kevin Smith a 103 inch flat screen TV which he decided to put 2 feet away from his bed. Smith is one to be associated with pot jokes so he was saying only recently has he engaged in this sort of activity. He never left his bed with this flat screen. He would put his own movie in and stand next to himself being very upset that him on the screen was ignoring him in real life. The were the same size on the screen basically is what he said. An alternate reality.
Ben Affleck jokes are the best but here's one that Ben told Kevin. Kevin references Star Wars a lot in his films including Zack and Miri with a film they created or wanted to create called "Star Whores." He's always been a little weary as to if George Lucas would care so Ben called him because he happened to go to a thanksgiving dinner with George there. He said the experience was really geeky. All he did was talk about his websites with his friends and then they would go look at the websites and then look for porn. It was pretty geeky. When Ben asked what he thought of Clerks, all he had to say was "haha Death Star right" referring to the movie.
Monologue here: http://www.whysanity.net/monos/clerks5.html

Off to the shows!

We checked out some great showcases at Webster Hall with some great Djs but we also checked out local life and hung out at Odessa while networking with musicians, booking agents, and more.

Rob introduced me to a lot of great contacts and then he tried to eat me.

I'll Be Bock

2008-10-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Aright Aright.

So we haven't been blogging as much as we have meant to. I will be back tomorrow morning to catch everyone one up on what we did yesterday as well as tonight. You know Ayisha left out a few things like "The Bronze Chorus"...definitely worthy of listing. Just a guitar and a drummer with a keyboard next to him. Oh yeah, and its COLIN MUNROE (http://www.myspace.com/colinmunroe), not cullie....where the hell did she get that from...I think she wasn't a fan, too bad I gave him her card and told him she has a crush on him. Admire is a bit of a strong word, but it was definitely an interesting performance and his version of flashing lights is for sure worth downloading. SO, we have seen a lot of amazing stuff in the past 36 hours and I can't wait to share it with all of you.

In the mean time be sure to check out Passion Pit (http://www.myspace.com/passionpitjams)! Those of you in the office, eh umm Sharod, I think you guys would love them. Sleepy Head is one of my tracks of the month. They are in the middle of negotiations with a major, and we will all probably will know about them soon.

HI MOM!

ZE

Wooo! All Right

2008-10-23T00:24:00.001-07:00

OHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHH it's only day 2 and it feels like it's been a week.

Here was our agenda:

1. Sponsorship Panel

Sponsorship: A Futuristic Music Industry Strategy Effectively pairing the right artists with the right brands can lead to lucrative and mutually beneficial end results. What are some of the newest concepts around this fast growing strategy? How can managers and other entities in the industry utilize this concept? M

MODERATOR:
Marcie Cardwell

PANELISTS:
Maurice Bernstein
Andre Gaccetta
Dave Santaniello
Jay B. Ziskrout

We talked to some great and amazing panelists letting us know about band branding. They informed us it's all about "pounding the phones" really reaching out to venues and companies that could benefit from your artist. If you want money though, you really need to build a fan base otherwise there's nothing in it for the brand whom now have risen their funding to tours and bands up to 75%. That's a lot of opportunity.

2. Universal Music Group.
We were able to tour the offices of Universal Music Group, an obnoxiously huge building near Times Square. We met regional directors, artist development reps, digital sales people, and more. They were very helpful informing us their views on the music industry and what's happening in NYC. We may be meeting up with them again later in this trip.

3. Alumni Event
A friend of mine, Umaar hooked us up with an alumni of Columbia event in NYC where they bought us drinks and food as well as encouraging us to network. Zack and I met some great people from theater to film to marketing companies and some guy who plays the citar. It's crazy how Columbia students continue in the arts and pursue further, it's as if they never left but they did and now are just doing there passion as they were for money.

4. 205 Club
We checked this show out first. The venue was an obvious knock off of Any Warhol's factory, completely covered in silver aluminum foil and brillo pads and fifties products hanging behind the bar. Guess who waltzed in???? GEORGE CLINTON was in the club. He just went to the back and chilled like a pimp. We started to watch some band that Zack admired almost too much called Calum Cullie ( I think that may be totally wrong) It's a guy who sings and uses a kick drum with a guitar player by his side. It was crazy.

5. Bowery Poetry Club
So Many Dynamos was an artist with the highest energy in a show that I have seen. One of the most unique bands I've come across with electro, alt rock, touch of metal, and pop in one. Check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/somanydynamos. They had the best live show.

6. Bobs Bar
We made it! Finally we get to meet Tiffany Hardin, former SPB president and works with some high class Marketing companies such as Violator and Jay Z's new marketing company. She is the reason I am here today! Thanks Tiffany! She helped Zack and I with some insight of the urban music scene at Bob's where all the crew ended up in Chicago from Ruben at Atlantic to Mobillions and Mic Terror. It's family.

The boys went out to get some food and maybe do some "art." I can't wait to see what really happens. I will add pictures tomorrow morning!

Lit Lounge

2008-10-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

So we took it kind of easy for our first night. By easy I mean only a couple bands, a couple drinks, and some times square pizza face stuffing.

So the first band we checked out at Lit Lounge was named Menya (myspace.com/menyamusic). Comparable to Yo Majesty with some MTV pop fused in the mix. Menya decided to give us our first CMJ Chorus Choice Pick, which was something along the lines of:

"Heyyyy Philly girls I want to eat your cheese steak"

wow...golden.

Apologies, we forgot the camera for the first part of the night.

So next up on the Lit Lounge CMJ line up for the night was a group Ayisha has been on the look out for, French Horn Rebellion aka FHR (http://www.myspace.com/frenchhornrebellion). These guys did it right. A drummer, two computers, an M-Audio keyboard, a regular keyboard, some mixing equipment, accompanied by sweet electro pop vocals, and oh yeah.....a french horn. Definitely a band worth checking out.

Hey Ayisha here,
Speaking of French Horn Rebellion, we are throwing a huge lingerie party on November 8th in Chicago with French Horn Rebellion and Kid Color. Please mark your calendar because this event is going to be one not to miss.

So after the show and a little networking we decided to take a stroll down to times square. Our first stop was the Virgin Record store. I have to say that it is amazing to walk into a large entertainment retail store today, being that a large part of our time as a young bucks was spent in the mid and large sized record stores of yours and our hometowns (STL/Milwaukee Baby!), and now that time is of course spent online. They had everything from the top 40 across the wall, to listening stations, to product placement stations, to video games, and even gear from my boys on Entourage. What up Ari! So I will spare you our touristy pics of Times square, but after that we went to stuff face:

Yeahhhh New York is nice butttttt its still about that CHI TOWN PIZZA. Tell EDUARDO I said what up fool!

We Heart NYC

2008-10-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

So I woke up at 4AM this morning after only a few hours asleep. I popped out of bed, ate some biscuits, drank 3 cups of espresso, zipped the suitcase up, and headed towards the Belmont stop to meet up with Ayisha. She told me her morning was much of the same, minus the biscuits.

We arrived in NYC around 11:30 AM. As soon as we grabbed our bags we were confronted by a handsome looking man with an English accent who had each of our last names written on a black board surrounded by gold trim. Unfortunately that was for a man named Jaffer Eastman. Luckily we did manage to stumble across a nice deal on splitting the cost for a limo into the city. So your friends were still able to roll into the city in fashion.

So lets skip past the New York strip and get to the filet mignon, or maybe past the broccoli straight to the Toferky. After receiving our badges and CMJ swag, we were right on track with our itinerary. Our first panel of the week was:

Go Cheap or Stay Home: A Cost Effective Touring Symposium It used to be: Get in the van > rock a club > sell cds from said rocking > fill tank, eat, sleep, repeat. Wait, no one is buying CD's and gas prices are over $4/gallon... This panel will assess the current state of the touring independent artist and aim to collectively shed some light on effectively squashing gig-obstacles.

MODERATOR:
Ralph Jaccodine

PANELISTS:
Stephen Brush
Howard Han
Heath Miller
Geoff Rickly-lead singer of THURSDAY (omg from Ayisha)

The panel members and discussions were great. Stephen Brush (President of IAA) was definitely the highlight of the hour. His insight on agency representation, touring, the path to profitability, and his take on the "new" economy was incredibly interesting.

And let me take it from here (Ayisha).
We are stationed in Chinatown near SoHo. AMAZING HOTEL! It's so swank.
Check out some bad pictures I took.

We decided to explore NYC for the food of course in Chinatown because you know Zack couldn't wait for it. "It runs in the family," he decided to use as an excuse as twenty of his Jewish brotherin run by.
We came across a buffet that was only $5 and piled on the somewhat suspicious foods that we have no idea exactly what they were but sufficed. We were warned that all the fresh foods in Chinatown fall into the fish water. I'm not really sure what that means but I did notice that all the fish and crustaceans for sale were still alive at all the markets. That's what I call FRESH!

After dinner of course we had to get hot cakes... that's expected for Chinatown

And then of course watch out for those car crashes that happen ever so often as you're trying to cross the street.