You Can't Spell Lallie Without LA

As my time draws to an end in LA I am not really looking forward to going back to Georgia. I do not want to get off that plane and then instantly be hit by the 100-degree weather and 98% humidity.... You can't beat this Cali weather! This past week in LA was very busy. I'll just go over some of my fave events. I went to Santa Monica with some peeps and we went to a place for lunch that serves a rainbow-grilled cheese. Of course I had to try this and it was delicious!  We then walked around the promenade for a bit. Also, I really enjoyed going to the Grammy Museum. This was my third time going but I had not seen The Beatles exhibit yet. My favorite part in the Grammy Museum is Michael Jackson’s Thriller jacket. That is just unreal to me. I also really appreciate the Otis Redding exhibit. It's just really hits home for me. Also we went to The Broad. This was one of my favorite events... art and music… very cool. I really liked the vibe and the crowd at the event. I really do love LA. I am so sad to leave but I will be back and I am so thankful to have this incredible summer experience.

Intern Life

This past week I helped with highlights, pitching videos, and doing opens. The new thing I did this week was actually submitting shows to publications for coverage and to be added to their calendar. I found this to be interesting because I never thought about how the publicist has to contact publications for them to post when a show is happening. Also, that it has to be planned in advance… There were several websites I could not submit to because we did not reach the deadline. 

This internship has been very hands on and I really do enjoy the office and the people in there. It has been very cool that I’ve been doing the same things as people who work in the office. My favorite thing I have done is pitching. I think this is because I really enjoy promoting bands so this has been very fun to learn. I am really starting to feel a part of the office team now… too bad it is the last week! Although, I do not like sitting at a computer all day. I want to be in the action, on the scene – planning, promoting, managing, booking, and hanging at the shows. So let's up my next adventure involves something more along those lines.

Lallie Mae in LA 6

Last week one of my childhood dreams came true…. Seeing the world’s greatest band - Smash Mouth! Catherine and I went to the Grove for this free show expecting to be the only people there. Turns out Smash Mouth has a decent size fan base and more songs than “Allstar” and “I’m a Believer.” Honestly, it was one of the saddest shows I have been to. People were there to hear only those two songs and the band knew it. Also the lead singer kinda creeped me out… But hey I’ve now heard “Allstar” live!

Friday night we went to No Vacancy. I thought the line wouldn’t be worth it but wow it was so cool! They had a live band burlesque show that then turned into a DJ… Very cool place…  While we were there 3 Saudi Arabian ladies visiting America came up to us and offered us some of their punch because they couldn’t finish it… We happily said yes but then one of the ladies felt the need to say “Don’t worry we aren’t terrorists, we are nice people.” This blew me away. I thought it was horrible that she felt the need to say that to us when none of us were even thinking it. Hearing that at a bar just really hit me hard and made me think a lot about how twisted our world is and how other countries look at America.

Saturday, I went to the Grove and then ended back up at Bootie. :) 

Intern Lyfe

Well one of my jobs did change last week… On Friday they made me use Google Sheets and transfer over all these email addresses, contact info, and genre of the site to MailChimp… It was SUPER tedious and I did not finish them…. My head was aching after doing that all day. However, I do think it was smart for them to update their email system considering several of the emails are invalid. Friday afternoon right before I left one the guys in the office invited me to a party that they were having Saturday night! I was really excited to get the invite because I did not even know if they liked me and they did not invite the other intern… So I guess they must like me! I decided to stop by the party and well it was awkward. I didn’t realize it was going to be a party of them sitting in their backyard with their most intimate friends. I stayed for about 30minutes and got outta there. Oh well… still cool they invited me!

Lallie Mae In LA 5

      It was another great week exploring around LA. Monday night I went to the Bardot to see an Athens band, New Madrid, perform. I  found it very funny when they said “We are from Athens, GA” and we all screamed because they looked so confused and were not expecting that at all. It was really cool to see them play outside of Athens. The head of UGA’s MBUS department was there so it was great to visit with him too. I am very glad I went and talked to him. Some friends and I also discovered the Melrose Umbrella Club this week. I kinda felt like I was in Dirty Dancing at this bar. It was playing all kinds of oldies but goldies and people were dancing all around... It was a smaller bar with an older crowd. I liked it.

      I have always loved meerkats. The Animal Planet show Meerkat Manor fascinated me. A few years ago I discovered that in Palm Springs, CA there is a meerkat sanctuary. This has been on top of my Christmas list for years to adopt a meerkat and be able to come play with them. This past Christmas my wish finally came true. One of my presents was an adoption certificate for a meerkat. This last weekend we had our visit to Fellow Earthling’s Wildlife Center. They had very specific instructions like: you must wear jeans, (Yes it was 105 degrees and we still had to wear them), mid calf socks, closed toed shoes, you could not sneeze or cough, and you could bring only three guests. Apparently meerkats have more restrictive care instructions than rhinos or elephants! I chose my mom, brother, and sister-in-law to come with me. We arrived and had an overview of the sanctuary. They are all volunteers and their meerkats come from zoos that can no longer care for them or from places where they are found…. They had one little guy all the way from Kuwait! We got to interact with two of them... Basically we fed, played, and watched them. They were very cute and curious little animals and were not afraid of us at all. Our tour guide was awesome she said we were “meerkat whisperers” and liked our auras which led her to inviting my family to come to Africa with her! I said heck yeah see you there even though I highly doubt the Maddox family will ever venture off to Africa… It was a very cool experience and I’m glad I finally got to go. If you have any interest in meerkats you should totally go check it out.

It was a great weekend having my whole family together. Considering my brother lives in Northern California, my sister in LA, and me and my parents in Georgia it is rare for us to all be together. This probably won't happen again until Christmas! 

Intern Life

      Well I’ve pretty much been doing the same thing every week… This seems pretty common among the other blogs I’ve been reading… 

      Just highlights, researching, pitching, and inputting information into File Maker… 

     The thing that was exciting this week was I got to sit in on the Press meeting. This was the first time they asked me and I was really glad they did because it made me feel like part of the team. They talked about their goals for the fall.  One of their main goals is they want to really start being more personal with their clients. I think this will be good and help them develop stronger relationships. They plan to have fewer clients so that they will be able to push them harder and focus directly on them. Also, they want to get more things published in print, which is harder because you have to plan it out months in advance but it can really help reach a difference audience. Finally, they want to try to be more on site with clients at interviews. I thought these were all wonderful ideas and that Planetary is moving in the right direction. I’m excited to see their fall clients and what they do with them! 

Work, Work, Work, Work, Work - Week 4

      This week one of the main employees was out so I got to sit at his desk. I thought this was fun because rather than being isolated and staring at a wall I was surrounded by other people! I spent the week becoming more familiar with File Maker. I still do not think it is the best software to use but I am getting the hang of it. Kerry was showing me more of how things all come together in the office. For example, when I do highlights I’ve now learned how to put them into File Maker. Then on Friday’s they send out reports to the clients. A report consists of: highlights, pitches, follow-ups, and publications. I now understand why File Maker is so detailed and I thought it was cool to see it all come in a full circle, and that all the work I do actually reaches the client. When I wasn’t working on File Maker, I was researching for music blogs/newspapers in specific cities where we have clients going on tour. I’ve had to do this multiple times and I actually enjoy looking at the different blogs and learning about the music scene in other cities. Also, on Friday I spent the majority of my time pitching a music video, “Morris & Estelle.” The video is performed by one of our clients, The Novelists, and is their debut music video. The band brings light into an elderly couple that has been together for many years and is then faced with the struggle of terminal illness, which they handle in an extraordinary way. The video leaves you hoping that one day you will have a love as strong as Morris & Estelle’s.

Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lGUI55g7nQ

      Researching, pitching, and categorizing things into File Maker, that was how my week was spent. This internship has been a very hands-on experience… I am doing a lot of the same work that the employees actually do! With that being said, it has also taught me that I do not want to be a music publicist right out of college. I have decided I would much rather look more into promotion or booking and be more involved on the live side of things.