Now when most people think of fairytales they picture a princess, prince, fairy godmother, evil witch, and maybe throw in a dragon and some other talking animals in there. And of course at the end of the story, it always ends with a “and they lived happily ever after”. Well growing up I was never really into the whole princess/prince thing… I was more into remote control cars and Thomas The Choo Choo Train. (I blame my dad for this.) So fairytales for me are a little different. Although I didn’t meet any fairies or talking squirrels this summer, the last three months have been MY own personal fairytale. And last night was my “happily ever after” and the perfect ending to an unforgettable summer.

Since I was little and started really getting into music, the artists I’ve considered as my favorite bands have always changed. However, for the past two years this has not been the case…

(CAUTION: The following lines are about to come across very corny, but the writer would like you to know she means every word with the utmost sincerity.)

The moment I heard Mumford & Sons I knew I had found a band different from any other artist I had heard before. Yes, there are songs by other bands that will always be favorites of mine, but I hadn’t come across a band where I have connected with every. single. song. until I heard Mumford. I play them on repeat constantly and I have yet to get tired of one of their songs. The mixture of their lyrics, stage commanding instruments, and the rough, but comforting sound of all their voices combined have made them my number one band for the last two years.

But along with this has come the constant frustration of not being able to see them live because of a little thing called distance. But this is no longer the case. Last night this incredibly rude spell was broken and my fairytale ending came true.

Sr. MarComm Manager, Lena Juncaj, and I arrived to the Chicago Theater around 7:30 p.m. and quickly found our seats next to Cory Lorentz which were third row center left. I about died. (Little did I know I would die at least 4 other times that night.) Dawes started the show playing “If I Wanted Someone” and I knew immediately that it was going to be one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. They continued to play all my favorite songs and then it happened…. Taylor Goldsmith, lead singer of Dawes, stopped to announce that Marcus Mumford would join them on stage to sing “When My Time Comes”. At that moment, Marcus strolled on stage smiling and waving to the crowd and simultaneously my heart dropped fifty stories. My immediate reaction was reaching my arm out and grabbing Lena’s knee. A million things were running through my mind, but the one thought that kept popping up the most was, “THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE.” But ohh it was.

After a few minutes of watching him sing on stage with Dawes, my heart slowly started beating again and I snapped out of my frozen state. From that moment on, I literally could not stop smiling. And I’m not talking about a small smile here… I’m talking a big, wide, gaping, embarrassing thing where people stop and wonder is that her mouth or a pit into the deep abyss?? But I couldn’t have cared less.

As soon as Mumford & Sons walked on stage everyone stood up and stayed standing the entire night. They kicked things off with “Lover’s Eyes” followed by “Roll Away Your Stone” and the crowd went CRAZY. The amount of energy the guys brought to the stage reflected off of every person in the theater. You could see the simple love for music that each one of them had in their eyes as they played and this brought everyone in the crowd to be on the same page.

Half way through the show they stopped playing and Marcus told everyone they would turn off their technology if the crowd did the same. The four of them walked up to the front of the stage, stood close together, Marcus adjusted his guitar, and after a few “shhhh’s” from the audience the entire theater was silent and they began playing “After The Storm”. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The sound of their voices and Marcus’ guitar without any microphones traveled softly throughout the crowd. It was something I will never forget.

A couple of songs later they played “Awake My Soul”… one of my FAVORITE songs of theirs. Dawes came back on stage for this and so did two other unexpected guests. Marcus and Winston Marshall invited two children around the age of seven or eight years old on stage to dance with them because they had noticed that the two kids had been singing along and dancing to every song so far. They were absolutely adorable and again, sang every word right along with them.

For the grand finale, Dawes once again joined them and out of nowhere Mumford & Sons and Dawes started playing “With A Little Help From My Friends”. Within the first second of the song, a THUNDEROUS roar emerged from the audience and everyone had the same expression of shock and joy on their face. It was THEE BEST FINALE I HAVE EVERRRR SEEN. EVER. All the guys on stage were just jumping around singing, laughing, dancing, and having a grand ol’ time playing together.

After the show Cory, Lena, and I went backstage. We went downstairs and when we walked into the room the Dawes band was hanging out mingling with the other people there. It was a great atmosphere for everyone to be in after such an incredible show. A little while later a few members of Mumford & Sons walked in and Marcus immediately walked over to the ping pong table. The three of us were already standing in that area so we watched as Griffin Goldsmith, drummer of Dawes, and Marcus played an intense game of ping pong.

When I fell asleep last night I was still in complete awe of everything that had happened. Instead of flying off into the sunset on a magic carpet, I witnessed my favorite band put on one of the most brilliant performances I have ever seen (which if you ask me was one hundred times better than riding on any carpet). I could not have imagined a more fitting ending to my Shure summer story.

But before I end this blog post, I’d just like to thank a few people who have helped make the last three months here so incredible…

When I received the call from Cory Lorentz back in April that I had won the 2012 Shure Artist Relations Intern Competition, I instantly checked into Hotel Cloud 9. I didn’t think things could possibly get any better. But boy, was I wrong.

My experience at Shure this summer has fully exceeded my expectations. It may be hard to believe, but each day I woke up excited to go to work. Every morning on my drive to Niles, I knew that the day would present a new learning experience because there is not one day in Artist Relations that repeats itself. I have gained more knowledge about the different aspects of this business than I ever thought I would just within a matter of three months.

Don’t get me wrong… the exciting demands and perks of this internship definitely added to my love for this job, but what really made this summer so unforgettable were the people who I worked with. Everyone here welcomed me in a way that I never saw coming. Yes, they were my work colleagues and superiors, but… and I knowww this is going to sound incredibly cheesy… within the second week I considered them friends. And now after this summer I can say I have established a small Shure family. So I would just like to say thank you to Cory, Nelson Arreguin, Rich Sandrok, Ryan Smith, Paul Natkin, Terri Hartman, Mike Lohman, Lena Juncaj, Davida Rochman, Paula Molaro, Todd Pretty, Marianela Silva, Gabe Benitez, Chris Salay, and Bryan Bogardus for making my time at Shure better than I could have ever imagined.

Okay well I’m all out of cheesiness and words… I’m pretty sure this post was longer than the Harry Potter books so if you stuck around until the very end major props to you and if not, I completely understand. It has been amazing writing for the Shure Mic Check Blog so thank you and in the words of Ron Burgundy, “Keep it classy (insert your city here).”

We got to New York in the early afternoon and as soon as we walked outside I was instantly blinded by a sea of yellow. Immediately I whipped out my phone and started taking pictures of the all the taxi cabs scrambling to pick up their next victim. Now usually I’ll do anything to avoid looking like a tourist, but I had already come to terms that for the next few days I would set aside my pride and document every minute of this trip… even if it meant being “that guy” who stops in the middle of a crowded street to take a picture of some building.

We arrived to The New Yorker Hotel in what seemed like a minute, quickly dropped our bags off in our rooms, and met back downstairs to begin setting up the Shure display for the conference. About three hours later the Shure step & repeat, rug, and Super 55 were up and ready to go.

The next day I met Nelson for lunch, but unfortunately we both suffer from indecisive minds and therefore couldn’t decide on where to eat. Our solution… walking around until we saw something that looked good. Brilliant? Ehh not so much. We walked around for a good forty-five minutes only to return to a restaurant that was right next to the hotel to begin with. But I wasn’t complaining because we ended up walking through Times Square where my eyes pulled a Roger Rabbit and popped right out of my head. I have never seen SO many advertisements and SO many people in one place before! I honestly did not know what to do or where to look… my brain was yelling, “WARNING: System overload! System overload!” But it was something I will never forget and now I can proudly say I’ve been to Times Square even if it was only for a few minutes.

After lunch, we went to check on the Shure display and said hello to our friends at Gibson who were to be our neighbors for the next few days. The combination of Shure’s video recording station with the classic Super 55 next to Gibson’s DJ booth made it a pretty awesome area to be in. We soon hurried off though because it was time to head over to The Mercury Lounge where the LAMC Indie Showcase took place. It was a five hour long show, but it went by in a flash. There were a number of amazing artists that I had never heard of before. I’m not a huge rap/hip-hop fan, but the band ArtOfficial captivated my attention from the moment they opened their mouths. I’m not much of a head bopper, but trust me, I was head boppin’. Alex Anwandter from Chile also performed that night and he was one of the most interesting and entertaining musicians I’ve ever seen live. Half way through his first song I found myself trying to dance like him. I mean his moves were on a whole other level! (I’d also like to take this moment to apologize to anyone who witnessed my attempt at trying to be a good dancer that night.) The last band to go on was La Santa Cecilia and they ended the night with a bang.

The next two days were busy busy busy. On both Thursday and Friday afternoon, there were several artists who came to Shure’s area to record a quick video explaining who they were, where they were from, and what the LAMC meant to them. All of these videos can be found on Shure’s YouTube channel. Also, during the first official day of the conference we attended a Q&A session with Calle 13 and Gabriel Abaroa President/CEO of the Latin Recording Company. Although I could only catch half of what was being said, it was interesting to hear Calle 13 talk about their music.

On Friday after Nelson and I finished tearing everything down we met up with Alex Anwandter for dinner and all of us headed over to Prospect Park to see Calle 13 and Ana Tijoux. We got there around 9 p.m. after surviving a taxi ride that was actually in fact a brand new rollercoaster ride called Yellow Automobile of DOOM. The driver forgot to have us sign a death waiver, which we were unaware of as we strapped on our seatbelts. After fifteen minutes of hanging on for dear life, I had never been so happy to step foot on solid ground. But as we walked up to the entrance of the show, there were policemen announcing that it was filled to capacity and for everyone to go home. Major bummer. We were not going to let that get us down though. Instead it gave us a chance to explore Brooklyn and we even ended up running into René Pérez Joglar of Calle 13 at a restaurant later that night.

Saturday was the last day of the LAMC. The only event that day was the LAMC Central Park Summerstage Show in the afternoon so I was able to sleep in a bit which was marrrrvelous! I met Nelson around noon and we grabbed a slice of some authentic New York pizza before heading to the show. Once we arrived we received our backstage passes and 3BallMTY kicked off an afternoon of entertainment. Los Autenticos Decadentes was the next band to perform and the crowd instantly switched from dancing to electronic beats with 3BallMTY to Latin Rock. Nelson and I stood on the side of the stage for this band. It was unreal to be so close to the guys as they were playing and then to look out into a sea of people mouthing the words to every song while throwing their hands in the air along with their water bottles. After they finished, Nelson and I walked onto the stage where we gave audience members a few products for providing the correct answers to Shure trivia questions. It was a pretty awesome feeling being in front of so many people.

The last band to play that day was Kinky and they were the perfect band to end the LAMC. Nelson and I were on the side of the stage again and I could not keep my eyes off the drummer who… 1. stood the entire show and 2. moved his arms at the speed of light. The whole show was amazing and the crowd went nuts. The show ended around 7 p.m. and the LAMC was officially over.

When I got home I had to double check that I had really been in New York for five days because it felt like I had only been gone two, maybe three days. Time in New York is definitely on an adrenaline rush 24/7. Not to mention all the excitement of the days’ events only added to the speediness of the trip. But what a trip it was! I learned so many things that there was never time for a dull moment. My first trip to New York is one I will always remember.

Oh….. and I never once saw an oversized gorilla.

 
I broke in my first night at the Congress by dancing along to songs of the band Chino Y Nacho. I joined Nelson Arreguin and famous photographer Paul Natkin for the night as we prepared to interview the band. Between the two of them I couldn’t have asked for better company. We arrived to the front doors at about 9 p.m. after stuffing our faces with some authentic Mexican food from a nearby restaurant. It was the perfect choice especially since it wouldn’t have felt right to eat anything other than Mexican food before going to see Chino Y Nacho. We waited for a few minutes before we were given black and white checkered wristbands and “the nod” confirming it was okay for us to head backstage.

But just like a normal day at work, nothing goes as planned. Chino Y Nacho were a bit behind and did not arrive until around 11 p.m. This was not a problem though for the three of us as we continued to have a good time hanging out backstage. Not to mention, during this time I got something done that I never pictured myself doing… thanks to the professional expertise of Marie Vetter, I got custom made earplugs! Talk about a strange experience. The first step was putting string in my ear and then squirting a type of goo in there. After the goo hardened, Marie pulled it out and walla! I could hear again!

A few minutes later things started to pick up and we got word that Chino Y Nacho had arrived. Nelson, Paul, and I met them in their dressing room and they greeted us with big hugs and a kiss on the cheek. After everyone said their hellos, Nelson explained we would be taping the interview after the show. Then the three of us walked onto the side of the stage and watched as Chino Y Nacho ran past us singing and dancing for their fans. They certainly know how to start a show! The rest of the concert was more than entertaining. The energy the two of them brought to the stage was contagious! There was not a single person standing still that night.

Once the concert ended we made our way back to their dressing room and set up the equipment. Nelson began asking Chino Y Nacho questions and I was amazed at the enthusiasm the two of them still had after just putting on such an incredible show! They didn’t rush the interview and even joked around with us a bit. I was thoroughly impressed and so grateful I got to meet such great guys. I will forever remember my first time at the Congress.

-Alexandria

So far this week has been the perfect mixture of crazy, interesting, and exciting. One thing I’ve come to notice in the first few days of being in Artist Relations is that no day goes exactly as planned. There is always something that comes up and what you may have planned to do might end up not getting done. Even though I’m still learning the ropes of this job, the days go by in a flash. I sit down at my desk at 8:30 a.m. then before I know it the clock reads 5:00 p.m. and it’s time for me to go home. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I look forward to waking up the next morning, walking through the glass doors of Shure, and starting a new day because each one is different.

I’ll just give a quick overview of the past three days here to paint a clearer picture. My first day on Monday started off with orientation, which is pretty self-explanatory. Then I made the long awaited journey to the sixth floor with Cory Lorentz, the Artist Relations Manager (aka my new boss), where I found my desk waiting for me. It was one of those moments where everything suddenly becomes illuminated and you hear a faint “AHHHH” sound coming from an imaginary choir. Things got even better when I saw my desk was right next to Rich Sandrok and Nelson Arreguin, who also work with Cory in Artist Relations. So in other words, I’ll be working with the three coolest guys you’ll ever meet this summer. The rest of the day consisted of going over what I’ll be doing during my time here, setting up accounts and passwords, and learning my way around the building. Pretty standard stuff for a first day, except for one thing… I sat in on a call with Ben Sollee! Now who gets to do that on their first day?! And if you haven’t heard of the name Ben Sollee, I HIGHLY suggest you get on that. Your ears will be very appreciative that you did. Since then I’ve been learning numerous things about this industry. Even though I’m simply an intern, I’m definitely not treated as one. I’ve been to a few meetings, but the cool thing is that I’m actually included in the discussions instead of sitting there in silence. I’ve also been working on my new Twitter account so follow me this summer @Intern_ShureAR!

Well I gotta run! It’s time to be trained on how to use the camera and microphone for artist interviews… whoa.

-Alexandria

The SM58 Give It Voice Tour departed Chicago and headed northeast to Toronto, Ontario Canada for the Regional Final at the famous Mod Club. It was a cold winter night but @VanessAlegacy and @MarcCowie warmed up the house as they went head to head with 40 minutes sets each.

Vaness aLegacy hit the stage first and got things started. They had a pretty good crowd on hand and their fans sang along with songs on their set which consisted of Urban inspired Pop-Rock. The highlight of their performance was when they performed “I’d Rather Be Lonely” which is the song that got them voted into the Toronto Regional Finals.

After his 6+ hour driver Marc Cowie made it in halfway through Vaness aLegacy’s performance and had to set up backstage. Despite just getting in and not having a sound check, he sounded pretty good. I would describe his sound as Surfer Rock. Unfortunately for him he didn’t have as big of a crowd but that was to be expected since he wasn’t local. Needles to say he came out and played his heart out.

After both sets the judges voted and the winner of the night’s showdown was Veness aLegacy. Congratulations to them and we wish them the best of luck in the next round.

Vaness aLegacy’s performance, along with the other regional final winners can be watched at the following link:

http://giveitvoice.shure.com/

The SM58 Give It Voice Tour departed Chicago and headed northeast to Toronto, Ontario Canada for the Regional Final at the famous Mod Club. It was a cold winter night but @VanessAlegacy and @MarcCowie warmed up the house as they went head to head with 40 minutes sets each.

Vaness aLegacy hit the stage first and got things started. They had a pretty good crowd on hand and their fans sang along with songs on their set which consisted of Urban inspired Pop-Rock. The highlight of their performance was when they performed “I’d Rather Be Lonely” which is the song that got them voted into the Toronto Regional Finals.

After his 6+ hour driver Marc Cowie made it in halfway through Vaness aLegacy’s performance and had to set up backstage. Despite just getting in and not having a sound check, he sounded pretty good. I would describe his sound as Surfer Rock. Unfortunately for him he didn’t have as big of a crowd but that was to be expected since he wasn’t local. Needles to say he came out and played his heart out.

After both sets the judges voted and the winner of the night’s showdown was Veness aLegacy. Congratulations to them and we wish them the best of luck in the next round.