LOS ANGELES (New
Music Weekly) - The weather was as if it was "rented" by New
Music Weekly. Mid-November, highs in the upper 80's, and just a hint of a breeze.
The venue was awesome; the people were wonderful. New Music Weekly's fourth annual awards show was a smashing success.
If you didn't like country before the show, you did after you heard Tim Murphy sing solo, and together with Carmen Rasmussen. If you thought Faith Hill sounded like a superstar before she became one, you would think that by this time next year, Carmen could be as huge in the industry as Faith. The other performers that graced the stage did a phenomenal job.
But, you shouldn't take my word for it. Those who attended the awards ceremony and the assorted events surrounding it know what I'm saying is right.
What I'm suggesting is that you plan now to be at next year's event. Unlike the Gavin conventions of the past, this is an awards show. Bill Gavin did have an awards show, but not nearly as extravagant as this one. There may or may not be options in the future to have seminars and round table discussions as it grows, which many Gavin reporters took in, but I was able to "talk shop" and share ideas with others, and took much more back home that I can now use in my everyday job as a programmer...and I did it this year simply on my time and when it was convenient for the other person or persons. Very informal.
Many of you who report to NMW may have never visited Hollywood. It is all they say it is, and all they say that it isn't. If you've lived in a small city like me most of your life, prepare for a culture shock. I have been there before, but not to pack 72 hours into 48. But networking- meeting the people who have talked to on the phone or via e-mail, meeting new folks that do the same thing as you, and making it a working "weekend vacation"....it really is too good to pass up. The "host" hotel, the Hotel Roosevelt, is an amazing place. You're right across the street from the Chinese theater, right on the Hollywood walk of fame....just a few blocks away are great places on Sunset Blvd., with world wide fame like the House of Blues and the Laugh Factory, amongst many others, and you most likely won't go a few hours without seeing somebody you recognize from the small or big screen.
The venue for the show, the Avalon, is an amazing place. It is directly across the street from the home of Capitol Records, the round building that many claim the Beatles "helped build". Kudos to Tom Weir and all of those involved with the video and audio production of the show. It was simply amazing. (Because of fog in San Francisco, I had to fly north to Seattle to fly south to Burbank... so I missed Mama Weir's famous spaghetti feed during Friday's sound check).
What does homemade spaghetti have to do with programming radio stations, promoting artists, or trying to break into the industry as an artist? NMW gives you get the best of both worlds. New Music Weekly really is a family in and of itself. It also hosted one of the biggest and most successful bashes I've ever been to, Hollywood style, this weekend. The publication itself has grown dramatically in the past four years.
But the "family" feel you get as an NMW reporter, or attend an awards show, is unparalleled in this industry. And I don't think you will ever see that change.
