Hey Guys!

Had a great weekend! On Friday I watched the baseball game and had a cookout with some girlfriends which was really delicious :) Then yesterday me and two of my friends went to work at the Country Music Marathon, which was at LP Field in Downtown Nashville which was awesome because we got to work at the finish line handing out medals to everyone who ran in the half marathon, and even though everyone was exhausted so many of them kept saying "Wow, that felt great," or "I'm so glad I did that!" So it was great to experience that and see basically the whole city of Nashville out for the event! On another note, a man tragically died after the race, which is so so terrible and sad.  I am so sorry for his family and their loss.  You can go to: http://www.wztv.com/newsroom/top_stories/wztv_vid_5635.shtml to read more details. 

After the event ended we walked across the Pedestrian bridge which is a BEAUTIFUL walk whether its day or night and got some ice cream downtown and walked around some of the shops.  Even though we were exhausted after this, we still had a very full day ahead of us when we got back to campus.  That night we had the best of the best showcase at Belmont, which is a concert that highlights some of the BEST Belmont talent.  Although of course there is an incredible amount of talent at Belmont, and there is no way everyone could be showcased in one event, this contained a few of some of the greats.  Some of the performers include: Future, Hollywood Ten, Stephen Whitfield, Jenna Basso, Chase Foster, Cheryl Luquire, John Flannagan, Brooke Annibale, LeeAnn Womack, Tom Douglas, Leslie Satcher...to name a few! Everyone was amazing and I was again reminded how incredibly lucky I am to have such amazing opportunities and be a part of such a wonderful school!! After the showcase, me and my friend Emily participated in The Rescue, which was an event that supported Invisible Children, an organization that protests the use of child soldiers in Northern Uganda.  This event happened last night in multiple cities, and in each of them, the group of kids marched through the city with t-shirts and signs that said things like "Rescue Me" to raise awareness about what is going on in Northern Uganda. To read more about this go to: http://nightof.therescue.invisiblechildren.com/

In the next part of the event, we all camped out in a parking lot behind a church on Broadway and most kids stayed there all night.  Me and emily could not stay all night, but it was so amazing while we were there and we met and hung out with some really cool kids and spent our time making crafts, playing guitar, and playing Apples to Apples! (a really fun game for all of you who have never played it :)

ALL IN ALL AN AWESOME WEEKEND! I hope you all had a really great weekend!

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."
    --James Dean

HI EVERYONE!

I hope everyone is having a beautiful day! The weather here in Nashville is FINALLY starting to get nice...although knowing Nashville weather, there's definitely a chance of a snowstorm tomorrow J But I'm enjoying it while I can! Last night I went to my first IndieConnect meeting which was awesome because not only did I get to bring along some fellow Belmont friends/and musicians, we were able to connect with some other professionals in the industry! In addition to that, Lori Bumgarner, owner of PaNASH and Image Consultant, gave us some good advice about ways to develop and maintain a great image that corresponds with your goals as an artist.  I also met some other great people, and I really hope to expose more Belmont students to these types of events, so they can work on integrating themselves into the heart of the music industry during their time at Belmont, as well as build up some strong connections.  Today I’m in for some quality time with the library since I have a lot of homework to do and papers to write before the school is over in two weeks!! Time flies! Have a wonderful day…smile at a stranger today J

Just got back from The Listening Room, yet another awesome music venue in Nashville.  This one is probably one of my favorites because it has a homey and cozy vibe and the food is amazing.  As much as I love the music there, I'm not going to lie, the brownie snickers sundae is a huge incentive for going.  It is possibly one of the most DELICIOUS deserts ever! Saw Jacklyn North play she was so great, and she's only 18! Also saw another writers round earlier this evening at Belmont in Massey Performing Arts Center...with James House, Gretchen Peters, Bob DiPiero, and the Warren Brothers! Who were all amazing, though I especially loved the Warren Brothers who cracked me up with their jokes with were not exactly 'Belmont Appropriate' which was hilarious..added a little spice to the night :) A great day, but hopefully the weather gets nice soon...its officially gone back to winter weather, so I'm crossing my fingers spring will finallllyyy come some time very soon!

Have a great night! 

Peace&Love

Katy Perry Soundcheck!!

Just got back from the Katy Perry soundcheck...yet another amazing event organized by GrammyU! She was playing at the Cannery Ballroom, a popular music venue in Nashville which is actually really awesome on the inside.  We got to hear a few of her songs as she sound checked including Hot N' Cold, and she played a couple songs on the guitar which was cool because I didn't know that she played an instrument, and she was really good! After that she sat down and talked with us for about 2o minutes which was great because we learned a little about her life/career and she gave us some inspiring advice for working towards our goals (most kids in GrammyU want to have some type of career in the music biz).  She was seriously one of the nicest, coolest, genuine people I have ever met and she completely inspired me to continue pursuing my dreams.  Tonight I'm going to watch one of my friends from Belmont play at the Curb Cafe, which is an on campus eating/performing place, and then we are going to try and see if we can get into the Katy Perry concert after that! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day :) 

"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right."

Henry Ford

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

It's a beautiful day in Cali and I can't wait to go outside and enjoy Easter with  my family before I leave in a couple of hours to go back to Nashville!! It's been fun visiting, last night I went to sing at a restaurant with Terry Lupton, a singer/songwriter, and I got to sign an autograph for one of my first real fans!! It was so exciting :) I hope everyone has a blessed and wonderful day! 

GOOOD MORNING!!

I just got back to California last night and I'm so excited to be home even though I'm only here for three days! Had a pretty exciting time these past few weeks...last week I worked at Tin Pan South on Wednesday and Friday at 12th and Porter and saw some amazing performers like Mallory Hope, Natalie Hemby, Pat McLaughlin, Harley Allen, Trent Tomlinson, Josh Kear, Karyn Rochelle, Sarah Siskind, Mindy Smith, Marcus Hummon, Jane Deere and others! It was such a great experience to get to work at the shows and then watch the performances for free! Then on Thursday night I went to the Mercy Lounge with a friend to check out Jeffery Steele who was beyond INCREDIBLE...i was blown away by everything about him.  The show started at 9 and when we left at 12, he was still going strong.  He has written an unbelievable amount of country hits, most of which he played, and I can't give him enough praise on his show.  This week I found out that I have a stress fracture in my foot which means I have to wear a boot on my left foot for the next three weeks...now doing that on a college campus...talk about some good fun right there! haha but its actually not too bad because at least I don't have crutches! Also this week (with my new foot accessory), I went to the Ben Fold's soundcheck with GrammyU which was AMAZING!!! He is such a cool guy and so orignial...though we didn't get to hear him sing, he talked to us for about 30 min about his career and music.  I filmed it on my flip video camera because I'm trying to start a video portion for my school's blog website (Belmont Blog).  Anyways...I'm in Cali now for Easter Break with the fam...I hope you all have a great Easter! 

Tin Pan South

Hey There!

Last night I worked at 12th & Porter, a popular local music venue in Nashville, with a music business group at my school called Service Corps.  I was working with three other girls and our main task was checking people in at the door and collecting money (always a fun job :)), but we were inside the venue the whole time so we got to see both the shows that night which was so awesome! There were some really great musicians, in the first show we saw Mallary Hope, Natalie Hemby, Pat McLaughlin, and Angeleena Presley.  There were all really great songwriters and performers.  The next show, at 9:00 had more amazing songwriters like Harley Allen, Dave Pahanish, Anothony L. Smith, and Trent Tomlinson! I have to say that for the second show, although I loved them all and Harley Allen played some of his great hits (Awful Beautiful World, The Little Girl), my favorite of the bunch was Trent Tomlinson.  I hadn't heard too much about him before but he played some great songs of his including "That's How It Still Ought to Be," and one he had written THAT DAY about a girlfriend who was crazy, but who he couldn't get enough of.  It was a really fun time and I'm working there again on Friday so I'll keep y'all updated! Today, I'm meeting with Vinny Ribas who I met on LinkedIn, who is the Founder and President of IndieConnect, which is a company that gives artists advice on ways to improve their careers and profit financially as well as provides them with opportunities for great networking experiences! So, we are going to discuss how I can help get more Belmont Students involved with his company! It should be great :)

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!!