Work – The Thein Way to Live

Music, Roadie, Travel, Uncategorized, Work

Vermont and Rhode Island- States Number 48 and 49

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Jaimee T

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.

career, entertainment, Music, Uncategorized

What’s Next?

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Jaimee T

This year, everyone thought 2023 would be completely back to normal. Everything would be fine and it would be like 2020 never happened. Well, that’s not the case. Between inflation, skyrocketing prices, and gas, people can’t tour. There are a lot of many factors, but the main one is money.

There’s been a lot of talk in the industry that people are taking it really slow this year. Are they working on music, are they taking time off, or are there just stepping back and waiting to see what’s going on in the world. I can’t go into too many logistics but basically, it’s very expensive to tour for just a couple of days.

You have to rent the equipment, rent tour buses, get gas, get groceries, pay for the trucks, get hotel rooms, and possibly flights, did I mention you have to pay the crew? The crew includes as far and wide as TM, PM, PA, lighting, video, rigging, audio, truck drivers, and bus drivers. Then on top of it, as an artist, you have to pay your agent, your manager, your record label, and your publicist… you see where I’m getting at with this.

With the cost of everything going up, it doesn’t make sense to tour. Especially for the smaller/ just getting started artists. Let’s say you are an artist and you are going to about 500/2000 person venue(s). Right, so depending on your contract, you are either getting a set rate or you are getting a portion of the ticket sales. Now depending on the venue, these ticket sales can be anywhere from 5 dollars to 75 dollars. And that’s not including taxes and fees. Chances are, the ticket sales, or your rate, are not going to cover the amount to pay everyone, pay the expenses, and then pay yourself just to go out for the weekend.

So what’s next? As an industry, we need to think about new and inventive ways to make money. Will Las Vegas residency become a thing? Where an artist just stays in one city for a certain amount of time? Will venues have to start paying more for the acts to come to their city? It’s a real toss-up with what will happen next, but we just have to keep trucking and see what happens.

This is a great article about the harsh realities of our industry. I hope you take a read!

https://musicmayhemmagazine.com/lorde-explains-harsh-reality-of-touring-in-2022-says-its-a-demented-struggle-to-break-even-or-face-debt/#:~:text=Press%20Image%20Provided-,Lorde%20Explains%20Harsh%20Reality%20Of%20Touring%20In%202022%2C%20Says%20It’s,Break%20Even%20Or%20Face%20Debt%E2%80%9D&text=New%20Zealand%20singer%2Dsongwriter%20Lorde,side%20of%20touring%20in%202022.

career, entertainment, Music, Travel

Down Under Part 4: Auckland, New Zealand

Posted on December 20, 2022 by Jaimee T

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.

career, entertainment, Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Work

Australia Part 3: Sydney

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Jaimee T

I’ll be completely honest, I really wasn’t looking forward to writing this blog post. I love Sydney and I miss it all the time. Bringing up memories of living there makes me miss it more and more each day. Writing this blog makes me very nostalgic and happy but it also makes me sad. Because the life I had in Sydney is the life that helped me create the life that I had for myself today. It’s a big part of who I am today. It’s a good thing, but remembering Sydney really makes me miss it.

It’s also a big reason why I work in the music industry today. I moved to Australia because the recession hit the midwest so bad people weren’t hiring interns. I decided to do something about it and move away. I ended up working for the Willoughby City Council as a public relations/events intern which led to the start of my career. Eleven years later, here I am, working in the music industry. Living on a tour bus, writing to you amazing people.

Living in Australia and then coming back for work was very surreal. It was a full circle of my career and it made me realize I accomplished more than I give myself credit for. I’ve worked very hard for my live events career, and I never take any part of my travels or any part of my job as just “another day”.

I’ve heard a lot of people over the years talk about Sydney and say “it’s not that great of a city”. I always ask “why” because I’m genuinely curious. Most people don’t think it has a lot of culture, it’s just another big city, and it’s not that wow factor. The list goes on, you get what I’m saying. I don’t think people really appreciate the beauty of Sydney. There is culture, food, wildlife, and everyone from everywhere in all sorts of walks of life.

There are famous beaches surrounding the East coast of Sydney, there’s a lot of Eastern and Western culture embedded all around Sydney, and I’m sorry, maybe you have been to the wrong places but I’ve had some of the best food there.

Sydney is also famous for the Sydney Opera House and the Blue Mountains. Sydney has everything that any big city should have. Did I mention they have pretty decent weather year round?

I could on and on about Sydney. The wonderfully nice people, open-mindedness, and beautifulness of seeing everyone for what and who they are. Don’t get me wrong, every big city has its problems. But I have never heard people complain about the dating or job shortages in that city.

The best part about working and touring in Sydney is experiencing my work in the city that started my career. It was probably one of the largest crowds we had through out the tour. The venue is extremely well laid out and it’s very easy to navigate and get from the CBD to the west side of the city. I loved working and touring there, I would do it all over again if I could.

entertainment, Music, Travel, Uncategorized

Back to the Land Down Under

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Jaimee T

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been back down under. To say the least, I was excited to be back.

One of the reasons why I was excited to be back, is because Australia changed my life. I learned a lot about myself and I learned a lot about life and what it meant to me. I learned that if I wanted something, I had to get it, if I wanted something to change I had to do it, if I had a challenge ahead of me I had to work through it.

I’m sure this would be the same thing if I had an internship in Europe, but my friend group and the people I have met over there changed my life for the better. It was truly one of the most remarkable and greatest experiences of my life. I truly cherished every second of it and I’ll never for

Just a couple of things you need to know about Australia:

Yes, there are the most dangerous animals down there but don’t worry if you are hanging out in the city, you’ll be fine. If you hang out in the bush, you’re going to have some problems… maybe.
Australia is America flipped upside down with a twist of Eastern influence run by the British monarchy. It’s a very unique and unexplainable in a way. Between the architecture, food, art, music, there’s a lot of mixes of each of the different cultures.
People are genuinely nice, I haven’t met “mean” Aussies, crazy yes, mean not so much. I think when your background comes from criminal descent, you just want to be treated like you’re not a criminal.
Overall, Australia tends to be very liberal believe in universal health care, “freeish” education, and of course clean drinking water.
As of a google search of today, there are only 25.69 million Australians, to put that into perspective, there are 39 million people who live in California.
Yes, Australia is expensive, but what do you expect living on a big island so close to Antartica.
Australia is the size of the United States, so Perth is LA and Atlanta is to Sydney. It’s very wide and very large.
The seasons are “backwards”, so for example, are fall is starting as their spring approaches.
Australians love their music and they love their country music. I was astonished how many people knew my bosses songs.

This was the first time I went to Brisbane, was when I went to the Gold Coast about 11 years ago. Most people that go to Brissy go to the Gold Coast. It’s where the waterparks, night clubs, and all the tourists/family stuff is. Brissy is a cool city, but I think there’s more around the city like the wildlife sanctuaries and the beaches. Brisbane was a great place to start tour, the weather was nice, it’s in the middle of the country on the coast, and it was easy to go north or south. I think if I go back to Brisbane, I’ll spend more time by the beaches.

Brisbane, Australia

career, entertainment, Life, Music, Travel, Uncategorized

Europe Tour Part 1- The UK

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Jaimee T

To say I wasn’t nervous about going over to Europe, would be a big lie. I’ve been working in events for about 11 years now. It’s always growing and changing, so you have to keep up with the times. Since I haven’t been to Europe on tour, I didn’t know what to expect. I was worried that accents would get in the way, culture/work habits would be a problem, or even just being American working over in Europe would get in the way. I’m extremely hypersensitive to what is going on in the world and how the world views the states. It’s not an appearance thing or vanity for that matter, I just don’t want people to take me as a joke. I’m here to work, I’m open-minded and I want to adapt to the situation I’m in as best as I can.

There are always problems in the events world, and our job is always to have a solution to those problems. Of course, the first thing that happens when we get over there, KLM lost 14 bags including my own. 14, that’s a pretty big number, and I knew we weren’t alone in that! Of course, there was/is a shortage of workers, and I’m sure there was a strike going on, but what I tell everyone, if you can’t handle the workload, just don’t take it on, and that includes airlines. So it wasn’t a good start but the very next day, our luggage finally made it to the UK.

We are very lucky and found an awesome work crew to travel with us, SoundForce Crew, if you ever need extra hands on your tour, these are your guys. Urban was the leader and a true leader at that. It’s great working with people that have the same type of work ethic as you do. The last thing he said to me was, “you are truly good at your job.” What he doesn’t know is I feel the same exact way, and I think he’s amazing at his job. Hiring those guys if you can while you are working in Europe. They made our first day go by very smoothly and let me handle other things like finding luggage.

Glasgow was the first start to the tour, and man what a day it was. From trying to understand accents to try to get everyone’s luggage, it was a very interesting start. I learned very early on, Europeans are a little bit more relaxed (I should have known that from my travels over there before), maybe it’s just the midwestern in me that’s always “Go Go GO” but it made me take a step back with my runners, and think “OK this is how they work over here.” It’s not a bad thing, just a different pace of work.

The biggest issue I had in Glasgow was the accents. Man, did I have a hard time understanding all the venue workers. Literally, my biggest fear on my first day on tour was not being able to communicate with them. They speak English for crying out loud, and I still had to ask them to repeat themselves 100x over. However, they all made me laugh so hard, that I cried. I needed that on my first day on the road in Europe. I even made a dog friend over there! I can’t wait to go back… but this time with my luggage.

With all the hiccups and such we made it through the day. However, we had to take a ferry overnight. I stupidly slept through the ferry which you are not supposed to do, but needless to say, the rest of my guys got up and they were very tired going over to Ireland.

Dublin is everything you imagined and dreamed of. It’s the place of music, art, and culture. It was fantastic and I can’t wait to go back. We had great burgers for after-show food and gathered lots of great information about Dublin and the history behind it. And of course, people were thrilled to see the boss man on stage. I couldn’t have asked for a better second show in Europe.

The thing that stuck out the most to me in Dublin, was the number of tourists. Where I’m from in Milwaukee, we have a huge Irish community, a lot of people migrated over to that area from Ireland. When I was able to sneak away, my runner was great and answered all my questions. I’m always curious and will always take the opportunity to escape when I can. With all the different things you can do in Dublin, I was able to go to Stephen’s Green. It was packed and full of people. People were everywhere drinking coffee on the grass, sitting in rounds playing music, and just enjoying the little sun that Ireland normally gets. With much history involved in the park, it’s no wonder why it’s one of the main places to go in Dublin.

Image result for big park in dublin ireland — Stephen’s Green

My runner was great and showed me all the buildings, the bridges, and all the neighborhoods in between. I had to ask him, “people are so proud of the Irish heritage, even in the states. Why is that?” He just said, “We are proud people, with a lot of history, but we are about a culture of who you know as well. That’s why we spread far and wide, we just know people!” Which in the end, totally makes sense, if you know anyone who is Irish in the states, they proudly say, “I’m Irish”.

Overall, I hope to make it back to the UK sooner rather than later.

All the luggage shoved in the back of the car

entertainment, Music, Uncategorized

Not feeling 22

Posted on January 10, 2022 by Jaimee T

It’s after the holidays, we are currently seeing music venues and Broadway getting canceled, put on hold, or postponed. Which is not a good sign since most of us in entertainment have PTSD from losing our jobs. What is scarier is I know many of my friends and colleagues can’t afford to go through 2020 all over again.

While the world is getting back to normal, it’s also taken its’ setbacks. For example, we have a show coming up, and you need a negative PCR test in order to get back into the United States. However, we are scheduled to go out of the country, so I guess you can say catch 22.

I’m trying to be hopeful about the future when it comes to my job, the entertainment industry, and the world in general. I know people just want to go to a show and not have to worry about getting sick. I know this can’t just “go away”, but I want people to understand, if we don’t take this seriously, we will be in this for a long time.

Life, Music, Uncategorized

“Times Like These”

Posted on April 28, 2020 by Jaimee T

It is day… I can’t even remember at this point. I feel like Tom Hanks in Cast Away. Time is just going and going… and going and going and going.

I think we are all going nuts. Believe me, I’m going stir crazy, but just know, that you are safe and you are going to get through this. Let me repeat that, you are safe and you will get through this.

I have to tell myself that every day, it’s hard to be positive during this time but you need to do it. It’s hard to keep people positive and uplifted as well. But I get it, sometimes it’s just really, really, hard.

I have several friends who have posted about their struggles and it’s difficult to know that so many people are having a strenuous time. And there isn’t much I can do about it. It’s a crappy feeling to know that people are hurting.

So now what? It’s getting close to most states to reopening. So what does that mean for entertainment? Unfortunately, we really don’t know. I don’t know and I’m not going to try to guess what is going to happen for sports and entertainment. I may not tour for the rest of the year, or maybe I could be back to work by summer. I highly doubt it, but who knows.

But for those of you, who are in the same position as me. I hope you are working around your house, hanging with your family, and working to keep moving forward with your life.

career, entertainment, Life, Love, Music, Uncategorized

Stay Strong My Friends

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Jaimee T

Friends,

I say from the bottom of my heart. I am so sorry.

For everyone. And what everyone is going through.

In entertainment, hospitality and anything and everything having to do with people or customer service. It really does hit us the hardest. But let’s not forget about the medical field and everyone else trying to do their normal everyday jobs. And to those who are saving lives, thank you. Everyone everywhere is just wondering what just happened to the world. We need to respect everyone’s’ life.

This is a difficult time for a lot of us. Some of us will not get unemployment. Some of us will really struggle to pay the bills. Some of us will just be extremely lost because we’ve never felt this ever before in our lives.

Take it from someone who has hit rock bottom several times, you will be OK. This is very hard to hear for a lot of people, but you will. I promise. You’ll understand why when you recover.

How do I know? Once you’ve hit rock bottom, a couple or so times, you learn how to get back up. It seems impossible. But the people who fight will know exactly what I’m talking about.

I believe in our industry and the people who work in it. There’s a reason why we got into it in the first place. There’s a reason why we stick around. We are a community of outsider thinkers and big believers.

Do I know exactly what to do during this difficult time? Absolutely not. Everyone grieves differently. Everyone has a little slightly different way of thinking about life and living life.

What do I think you should do with your abnormal, large amount of time? Reflect on what means the most to you. Your career, family, friends, hobbies. What makes you get up in the morning? What makes you continue to grow and learn from your previous experiences? What gives you some sort of purpose?

I’ve known for a while but one purpose of mine is saving animals. I always have, but now I will make it more of a priority to volunteer with animals. Because animals have saved my life in the past, now it’s my time to help them and save them.

During this time, I hope you find purpose. Peace. Closure. I hope you spend more time with your close family and friends or at least give them a call. I hope you get a better understanding of our world and the world we are living in.

During this time, I hope you find new excitement in the world, something else to look forward to besides work. I hope you forgive those that have hurt you in the past. I hope you find new excitement in your partner or find a new partner. A new hobby perhaps. Something that drives you and a new passion to help you grow into the person you should be and can be. That I know you can be.

But I hope this rattles your world, to the point where you change for the better. Not just for you, but everyone around you. We can do this, I know we can. Just believe in yourself and the community that surrounds you. We can fight this.

Life, Music, Uncategorized

That Time Of Year

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Jaimee T

It’s that time of year. Christmas music flowing, my bank account is not glowing. It’s extremely dead unless you work Christmas parties/events/parades.

So it’s the time of year, where you reflect on what you want for next year and what you can improve on from the previous year.

But I hope that no matter where you are in life or what you are doing in life, that you have goals and ambitions for next year. To the be best the version of yourself.

This next year, I hope to write a lot more. I hope to travel a lot more. I hope to be a better person for my communities and I hope I can help more people this next year.

Nobody is perfect in this world, but at least we can work to be the best person we can be.

This is not a post about “counting your blessings”, I hope you get your butt to work and do the things you want to do next year!

Something Christmasy!