Posted in Music, Roadie, Travel, Uncategorized, Work

Vermont and Rhode Island- States Number 48 and 49

If you read this blog, you know that most of my writing is about the music industry. Since my work is slow right now, I figured I’d write about the other part of my life: traveling. I travel on the tour bus from show to show so I see a lot of the country from the tour bus. Technically, I’ve probably been to all the states based on driving. However, I don’t count that. I think that it’s important to spend time in each state that I’ve been to. I can personally tell you the pros and cons of each state.

This trip wasn’t a work trip, but it’s very important to mention these two states due to the nature of being a roadie. As a roadie, our agent books shows in certain areas based on contracts with the venues. Since the surrounding areas of Vermont and Rhode Island are surrounded by states such as Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, it’s safe to say there’s really no reason to go to those states. With the states being so close in driving distance, it’s pretty easy to head over to Boston if you live in Rhode Island and go to New Hampshire if you live in Vermont

Basically, we aren’t suppose to do a show within an hour and half of each other, to keep the competition between the venues and such. Since my goal is to go to all 50 states, it was my mission to go to Vermont and Rhode Island.

It’s still snowing in Vermont, so I was lucky to catch the tail end of the spring ski season. Of course, on the last day, they got hit with snow, which I missed. But I will say it was much better skiing than I expected it to be. I figured the snow would be gone and the mountains wouldn’t be worth it. To say the least, I was impressed. Well done Vermont, I would love to come back to ski.

As we make our way down to Boston, I’ve been to Boston several times. Great city, but the mission was to go to Rhode Island. So we took the hour drive to go down and hang out with all the big mansions on Ocean Avenue. Have a very expensive and delicious lunch, and have a look at the cute towns on the water. I really wish I was born into a wealthier family.

If you haven’t been to that area, I strongly suggest you go. It’s very beautiful, there is a lot of history, great food and of course drinks. It’s very easy to drive from place to place but public transportation is great too! Now I will say… the highways in Boston are super confusing and not everyone is super friendly, and it was surprisingly still really cold for this time of year. There are more pros than cons to the northeastern part of the states. So you should go!

I think it’s important to say this, every state has its’ own personality, history, and more importantly story. There’s a lot each state has to offer big or small. Make sure you try to travel far and wide to go all the states.

Posted in career, entertainment, Music, Travel

Down Under Part 4: Auckland, New Zealand

While I could stay in Australia forever and ever, it was time to finish our tour in Auckland, New Zealand. I’m going to sound like a spoiled brat, but I’m telling you this for future reference. If you decide to go to New Zealand, make the south island a priority. I think it is prettier, greener, and most of it has all the “fun stuff” that everyone talks about. Skydiving, white water rafting, Milford Sound, you get the picture. The south island is where everything is at. I especially love Queenstown, I can’t wait to go back there. There’s a reason why they call it the “adventure capital” of the world.

Auckland is the one of New Zealand’s biggest urban cities. It’s also known for its skyline and all the other cool islands around it. Other than that, I can’t say that much about Auckland. To me it’s another big city, but all the surrounding islands and landscapes around it is pretty cool. You can drive two hours to see where they filmed Lord of the Rings, there’s also all of these cool mud hot springs, but also great wine and wildlife in the area. There are tons of boat tours and tons of scenery to see outside the city.

Luckily, I’m a chatterbox, and I was told by a handful of locals to go to Waiheke Island, basically not known for much except for sights, food, and lots of wine. It was just starting to get into the summer, so not too many people were on the beaches. But it’s better than the weather that I’m currently experiencing in Nashville. I would totally go back early in the morning because it would be a good day trip… to drink wine and eat food.

I was under the weather and due to high restrictions still in place in New Zealand, I was not allowed in the venue. I think the show went well, but I was working from my hotel room. Overall, the run down under went fairly smoothly with some bumps and hiccups in the road.

I’ll be completely honest, touring down under is hard and arduous. There are no tour buses and you are dealing with a big island that’s the size of the US. If you don’t plan accordingly, you’ll be going up and down left and right, flying all around til you get to the show. You’ll get crowds in Australia, but you won’t get the sleep on show days.

It was a great learning experience. It taught me more about traveling, traveling fast-paced in a large country, but most importantly about me. It taught me a lot about my patience, my value, and my worth. But more importantly, I like to think I’m pretty good at my job. It’s very easy in this industry to get lost in what you do, to get lost in the sea of people, but just stand up for yourself and just do your job well.

Easier said than done.

Posted in Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Work

Europe Tour Part 2- The Drive to the Netherlands/Netherlands/Denmark

This really wasn’t the “tour” part, this was the travel part from the UK to the Netherlands. But I will say I got to see a lot of the world… through a double-decker tour bus. If you haven’t been to Europe, you figure out really quickly, that a lot of these countries are very close. Driving through to the UK, to take a ferry to France, then the drive to the Netherlands, you hit about 6 countries just within that drive alone. However, you do get to see some neat scenery from the cliffs of dover, to the great big large ports on the coast.

While you sleep a lot on the bus, because what else do you do on a tour bus with 11 other people, you kind of just watch the world roll by. It’s a beautiful thing to watch the scenery as you drive to your next destination. As we get off the buses in Tilburg, everyone, everywhere is riding a bike. If you know anything about me, I love public and eco-friendly transportation. Tilburg is about an hour outside from Amsterdam, a cute little tiny, just making fresh food and coffee. It made me realize staying in this city that we really can do things better in America. From food, to work life, to transportation, there are better ways and things can always be improved. One of the many cities I’m lucky enough to experience that I may never go to again.

The show in Tilburg was great, a small cute venue I would love to go back to again. However, the city struggled as it reached record temperature highs, and they don’t have AC. My favorite part of my show was my runners, I can’t do my job without the runners, and they really help me out. Harold and Max, if you are reading this, I’ll give you recommendations any day.

Fun little fact about the Netherlands, it has the best tap water in all of Europe to drink!

Then we made the trip to Denmark, and I wish we had more time to spend in Copenhagen. From unique buildings and structures, the history, and the diversity of food is outstanding. The venue we were at was well designed, easily one of the best venues I’ve been to and the venue staff is very accommodating. I wish I could have stayed longer there, but I guess I’m very excited to see where life takes me next. My plan is spend more time in Copenhagen, I have a really good friend from there, I know there’s more to offer in Copenhagen!

Posted in entertainment, Music, Uncategorized

Are Concerts Too Soon?

With the music and entertainment world at a halt, the big question is when the next big show will be? The answer is we don’t know.

And if you have been hiding around a rock because the media is driving you nuts, you probably don’t know there have been a couple of concerts that have recently happened.

Two country artists this past weekend did have a concert. One was about a 4,000 person concert and the other about 2,000.

One artist posted very publicly on Instagram about how rowdy the show was. No social distancing and no one in the video was wearing a mask. Needless to say, it had a lot of backlash on the subject. And for good reason, because as one person posted in the comments,( This is paraphrased because I couldn’t find it in the sea of comments) what about the rest of the industry? What standard are you setting? Don’t you think it will set us back?

After having several conversations with people about it, yes a lot of people are pissed. A lot. The recklessness and how everyone else is being put in the risk of COVID-19 with no proper restrictions. People in the industry are pissed.

And as much as I want to go back to work, I have a feeling it is too soon for concerts to go back to normal. So until we figure out a way, concerts won’t be happening for a while.

 

 

Posted in entertainment, Life, Music, Nashville, Uncategorized, Work

What Next?

As we approach the phases of getting back to “normal”. We still don’t know what normal will be. We also don’t know what it means for live events and concerts.

So where do we go from here? A lot of people have been wondering that and quite frankly, so have I.

I know there are a lot of artists going rogue on the streaming and social media. That’s great! Keep the music alive! I know drive-in concerts are now becoming a thing. I know there are a couple of different streaming platforms that are happening and are in the works.

Will this become the new normal? The way we experience events becomes this social distancing and separating of people?

To tell you the truth, I’ve been reading a lot about what others in the industry think. And I have to agree with a lot of them. Regardless of how the events world is going to change, it’s never going to be the same as a live show with a cheering crowd.

There I said it. Eventually, can we get there? I’m hopeful, but enjoying a loud, noisy concert with the crowd singing at the top of their lungs will never be the same.

Posted in career, entertainment, Love, Music, Uncategorized, Work

Music World & Dating World

There is this crazy thing called dating. I know it’s been around forever and it’s how we find this thing called our “soulmate”. If you follow my blog, I talk a lot of my stresses, my ups, and downs, but not so much about my dating life.

Let me make this clear, I’m not writing this blog because I think the music industry is “bad”. I love what I do and I’m passionate about music ( as you all know). However, there are a lot of life adjustments and compromises you need to make to have your life work. One of them is dating.

Here is how the ” Hi, I’m Jaimee, I work in the music industry.” dating conversation that is called “my life” in a nutshell.

Literally… pretty much every conversation goes: ( In bold is me)

“Oh! You work in music that is so cool! What do you do”

“I help make the show run smoothly. Basically, any fires that need to be put out, I put them out.”

“Oh, so what exactly is your title?”

“Production assistant/coordinator, it changes from gig to gig.”

“Oh cool, you’ve probably have worked with some pretty amazing acts.”

“Yes, I’m grateful for the opportunity with the ups and downs of my job.”

” So what are your hours like?”

“They are pretty much all over the place, it depends on the gig. My job/festival/tour changes from gig to gig.”

” Oh, I see…”

I’ve had this exact conversation at least 20 times in the past year. Guys find me fascinating, but they don’t walk into the unknown, that is my job.

Long story short, if people don’t work shows, they have a hard time understanding what I do. And therefore, get freaked out from the unknown of hours, will I have time for anything, when I’ll be available, am I partying with the artist…

It blows my mind most guys won’t give me a chance. But it goes for my guy friends too. Girls can’t stand when they are on the road. They look at them like they just got mono from them.

So for those of you out there that want to do this. Just know that dating will be extremely hard. And people will look at you like you just farted in public.

Posted in Music, Uncategorized

Musician Yes. Living No.

I’m hoping that if a little bit more time on my hands, I’ll start to write more music and playing more music. I’m in a better place where I understand what my music and writing mean to me. It’s a good thing, and my mind can be at peace.

I am not trying to take it anywhere or trying to pursue anything with it. I just really, really want to think about my music and what it means to me.

No more over analyzing or overthinking what phrases mean. Or thinking about what other people think about it.

Touring has made me realize that I was not meant to live my life as a musician. And I’m totally ok with that. Truly OK with that.

Touring has made me realize more of my strengths and weaknesses. Made me realize what I want more out of life. But I’m starting to see more and more what my purpose is in this world.

 

 

Posted in Life, Love, Music, Uncategorized

Artists

Hello from Casper, Wyoming. Not much to do here since there is one Uber in town and we are actually 20 minutes outside of Casper. Either way, happy for a day off.

Before this last run in South Dakota, I decided to fly out early to stay at my grandma’s house for a couple of days. It was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in a while.

Just to give you an idea of my grandma’s house:

She lives out in the middle of woods in Custer, South Dakota. There are no city streets and you can see every star in the sky at night. It is truly a beautiful experience. Sometimes I think I’m in a scary movie it is so remote.

My grandma died on my birthday three and a half years ago. She was a great person and a talented artist. My grandma went to school for seven years with her masters in art education. She painted very well and she drew like it was real life figures. I cried when I walked into her house and all the paintings were still up. It is what she would have wanted. She didn’t paint for anyone else besides herself.

I know I write mostly about music artists, but I think it’s important to address all the different kinds of artists in the world. My grandma died a true artist and she was one of the best ones who went undiscovered.

Rest in Peace Grandma

 

 

Posted in Music, Uncategorized

Balloon Girl On Tour

I will say this. Getting back into the swing of touring again, is another roller coaster in itself. Trying to get the right amount of sleep, on top of remembering to eat and then, of course, remembering if you showered that day or the night before. Did I mention you still have to do your job?!

Do I think I want to do this for the rest of my life? I don’t know. It does take a special person to live on a tour bus a be a 20-year roadie. To give up your weekends completely. To live your life on the road on someone else’s  schedule. To eat catering food three times a day and it may or may not be good food.

Woof

Are there perks to the job? Of course! Lots of perks. First off, you are working a show. I’ve spent PLENTY of money going to shows before I started working in the industry. Secondly, you do have time to have fun. Like I created Balloon Girl On Tour. It’s pretty much an inside joke between friends. But if you want to catch a glimpse of my adventures, feel free to follow on Instagram: @balloongirlontour

 

 

Posted in Music, Uncategorized

“All Hail The Heartbreaker”

I went to another show, yes, another show that I wasn’t working! How Fabulous!
There are still a handful of bands that I have yet to see or really want to see. Either I miss their show or just missed opportunities for shows.

One of my favorite “emo” bands is The Spill Canvas. For as long as I can remember being emo in middle school, I would listen to this band on repeat.

It was a little bit of nostalgia for me because I never saw them live before. I thought I did with Fall Out Boy a long time ago, but I’m going to say probably not.

If you don’t’ know who they are, you should check them out. Especially if you do like bands such as New Found Glory and Simple Plan. These guys are part of that era and part of a huge part of my growing up.

If you get the chance to see them, they are on tour now and tickets are priced about $12/15 dollars.

Below is a song that will forever be a classic in my heart.