Take a chance and say you tried.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

To make things clear...

Don't get me wrong, I've had the (if you could call it) pleasure of seeing a recent Dashboard show 2 years ago. It was the Rockband tour & my roommates boyfriend won and got to play Rockband on stage. Needless to say her and I got free tickets...I'm not for/against much beyond Places That You've Come to Fear the Most (there are a few gems here and there) but the crowd at the arena tour was VERY different from the one I remembered 7 years prior. Granted DC was not headlining and I opted to sit in mom territory on the side of the stage while the children (teens and tweens alike) were on the floor pushing and screaming towards the front of the stage...it was all very interesting.

I understand the way the business works, I get why 33 year old men with a couple of hits are on a Rockband tour, drunkly singing a Pink song with Panic! at the Disco. Do I agree with it...no. Are they still awesome musicians...yes. Carrabba doesn't even like himself for doing that, its kind of obvious in seeing it. But his voice is still great, John Lefler is still an awesome guitarist and Mike Marsh is still an amazing drummer. What they once were is still somewhere deep down inside of them.

Regardless, my first show will forever be engraved in my memory...

For you to want me, for you to need me, for you to notice me...

In thinking about what possible questions could arise at Thursday's "interview", I've been thinking a lot about why I came to school for Music Business in the first place...a lot about my college essay.

My essay was about my first REAL show. Dashboard Confessional & Hot Rod Circuit at the Webster in Hartford, CT...one would laugh, but when you're in 7th grade and DC is on the brink of blowing up with MTV's Unplugged and "Screaming Infidelities", that's pretty good indie credentials if one were counting, especially for a 7th grader.

All cool points aside, the meaningful part behind the essay was about how since I've been a sophomore in high school, I've wanted to run my own indie label. My reasoning for that all boils down to that show. At the time, I was one of the youngest in the crowd (besides my group of friends) but that didn't matter. Carrabba, being a CT native, had family there but even that didn't matter because when they took the stage, everyone kind of became family. As cheesy as it sounds, it was true. There was no pushing, no shoving in the crowd, there was just a group of strangers singing along and coming together, relating.

It gives me goosebumps thinking about it now but I will never forget that show. THAT is the reason why I'm going to school for Music Business. THAT is the reason why music is important. I want every 7th grader to go to a show like that. I love indie labels because I love the kinds of musicians that are on them. I want to give bands a chance to be heard and have a different room of strangers connect like that.

Though the past 4 years have been grueling...through the music theory, music history, ensembles, and lessons...I don't regret a single thing (besides this whole city of Lowell thing).

That show is symbolic of a lot of things...though I don't still talk to all of them, of growing up with some of the best kids I know, of a real passion for music, and of my furture career path. That will forever humble and guide me to where I should be.

I'm a smart kid, I have a lot of heart...and I think thats going to take me where I need/want to go in this industry.