GMA Highlights - Day 2

Hey y'all!

Well I had planned to blog at least at the end of every day -- little did I know how BUSY I would be. If any of you have not yet had the pleasure of coming down for GMA Week I would highly encourage you to do it soon. It's an amazing experience - so many different walks of life all brought together by one common thread - glorifying the Lord. That being said, let me let you all in on what might have been my favorite day of GMA Week so far - Day 2, Sunday.

Let me start off by saying that I am Catholic (all you Bill Ballinger's out there, please reserve judgment for the Lord) ;) . Not only am I Catholic, but I was raised as a Catholic, living in a small town outside of Chicago. All of that is to say that the way that religion was represented to me growing up is very different than the way I've come to experience it since living in Nashville. Back home religion isn't talked about as much, or in such depth. You are what you are and really it rarely comes up in conversation. And when you go to church its much like study hall in junior high - you arrive, you sit down quietly, you don't talk, you sing the same organ-based melody 4 times (calling it 4 different songs), and you don't raise your hand unless you have to go to the bathroom. Thus, you may be able to understand that I was a bit apprehensive, and - yes, I'll say it - even dreading attending the 1.5 hour long non-denominational church service, just a tiny bit. I figured I would be in a room with hundreds of people I don't know who would be trying to get me to raise my hands and sing out loud and jump up and down which is something I am not comfortable doing in my time of worship. Not to mention I couldn't imagine what could be talked about for a full hour and a half (our services are usually a solid hour, and half the church - myself NOT included - leaves right after taking communion cutting it down an extra 15 minutes).

Well anyway, I decided to get over myself and put on my non-judgmental cap and headed out the door. I arrived a few minutes early and found my spot. Matt Redmen lead the worship and it was enjoyable - he had great music, lyrics I could connect with, and while a few people threw their hands up in praise, no one was glaring at me or pressuring me to do the same. I swayed a bit to the music, but that was about it. Following Matt's set, founder & director of Passion Conferences,Louie Giglio, got up to speak. He read from a girl's journal and showed a real life example of how her life was turned around by becoming a Christian after many events - one of which was hearing the song "Mighty To Save" for the first time (you can find the whole story at http://sue-n-flower.blogspot.com/2008/08/passion-ashleys-journal.html). After Louie concluded this incredibly inspiring, heartbreaking story Matt came back out to close the service. At this point I was getting that big lump in my throat like you do when you would cry, but don't want a room full of strangers to look at you. Anyway, I was just WAITING for Matt to come on and play "Mighty To Save", a song which I myself love to pieces, and which would have been the perfect ending to the service. He didn't. He played some other song, which I don't remember the name of. It was still nice, still a great song, but not exactly the release and relief I had been expecting. THEN just as the song was coming to an end they did a seamless transition into "Mighty To Save" and this Catholic, uptight, mid-western girl started belting it out as loud as she could as a tear or two rolled down her face. It was incredible. I only wish you all could have been there to share in the experience as well. Unbelievable.

The service was followed by a lunch and performance at 3rd and Lindsley (a popular venue in Nashville) where I saw Jars of Clay perform live for the first time. I was blown away by them as well. They were funny, honest, and their performance was flawless. In short, the whole day was an incredible event that I was blessed to get to participate in.

~Rachel

GMA Week - Day 1 highlights

Well y'all. Today was my very first day of my very first GMA Music Week here in lovely downtown Nashville. The weather was kind and we had a gorgeous sunny day. The day kicked off bright and early for me with a welcome seminar at 8:45am. I pretty much went from 8:45am - 4:15pm in seminar after seminar with a few short breaks in between to eat some food and such. The seminars flew by and were jam packed with so many great pointers on what I can do to continue to grow as a Christian and promoter.

It's been a blast so far, I've met some really neat people - a lot of people who are in charge of setting up Christian music festivals in their home towns. It's pretty amazing how dedicated these people are to their communities and churches. I was also able to meet up for a brief moment with one of my favorite AristoMedia connected artists - Kevin LeVar who will be playing a few showcases later this week. Kevin and his manager Shondale are just SO sweet and they have a new project on the verge that sounds ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. I don't want to spill the beans, but I'll just tell you it has to do with one of my favorite Kevin LeVar songs - A Heart That Forgives. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, trust me...I'll let you know :)

I did also catch up with a few wonderful TV programmers. Alan with Control Track in Florida and Kat & Jorge from The Revolution TV. And i'll be chatting them up even more later on this week. There are a lot of amazing showcases lined up for the next few days...I'll keep you updated and let you know what rocked and what fizzled.

Have a great weekend!
~Rachel@aristomedia

B.Reith & Missi Hale in concert

Hey all, I just wanted to tell you all about the awesome B.Reith concert I saw the other night. It was a pretty neat setting - he played at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville which a few of you might be familiar with. It's a pretty intimate little club, so everyone can see the singers every move which is neat, but also allows very little room for error.

B. however has this talent (which I admire) of being completely human on stage, but not making it awkward. It's strange for some people it works and they can come off as being quirky or funny while other people (like your truly) tend to have it come off as being clumsy or unprepared. For example there were a few times when he would get nervous playing his guitar in front of such a large group of people (he usually writes his music to his guitar, but has someone else play in concert) and he'd have to stop and shake off the nerves, make a quick joke and start again. Each time something like that happened he was able to tell a personal story about why it was happening that really allowed the audience to connect with him.

There were a few really neat parts of the show altogether - my favorite being whenever he would start a song off with the words "I haven't finished this song yet, so we'll see how it goes" which would ultimately lead to a hilarious freestyle that you were sure he had to have planned before hand. Only the details were so specific to what was going on right then and there that you knew he had to be making them up on the spot.

The best part by far though was the very end where they did an extended version of Rain Down (you can hear the original track on his myspace page). It was incredible. The sound both instrumentally and vocally was so crisp and intense, the lyrics touched my heart, everyone had their hands up in the air in praise. At the end of it I felt that release and inspiration that I used to feel after a really great church service. It's been a long time since I've had something have that effect on me. Oh and towards the end of the number the follow up act, Missi Hale, came on to lend some vocals as well and she was INCREDIBLE. Check her out when you get the chance. I am sad that you all weren't there because neither of those myspace tracks do any justice to the performance that was given on Tuesday. Just awesome.

~rachel@aristomedia

Hey all, check this out and be sure to VOTE!!!

Amid the grieving, a rare act of sportsmanship

Hey guys, I found another story today that touched my heart and thus wanted to share with you.

This story comes out of Dekalb, IL - not too far from where I grew up. It's times like these that make me proud to be a human being (proud to be from the midwest!), and proud to be a Christian. It also gives me hope for our future. I think we could all stand to learn a lesson from these folks:

Amid the grieving, a rare act of sportsmanship

Check out this great new site

Hey guys,

I found something neat today that I wanted to share with you all.

I've been hearing about the controversy of text and picture messaging come up a lot, both on the radio and through co-workers with young children. It seems that with all of this new technology arising, childhood seems to be ending prematurely for a lot of kids. They start using their cell phones to text and picture message friends and boyfriends/girlfriends - a method of communication which is hard for parents to keep tabs on.

Well, while doing some updating and researching artists today on Myspace, I stumbled across a website that I thought was really really cool. Funnily enough it is called www.thatsnotcool.com.


Sponsored by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, with the tagline "Your cell phone, IM, and social networks are all a digital extension of who you are. When someone you're with pressures you or disrespects you in those places, that's not cool", this website is dedicated to helping young kids and teens find a way out of pressured situations created by this new technology. The best part about it I think is the way that they go about it, using "Call out cards" which are comical, honest, effective, and dare i say "hip".

I think you should all check it out - especially those of you who program children's shows, or have children yourself. I am trying to figure out a way that AristoMedia will be able to work with this campaign. I'll let you know as things progress, but in the mean time let me know what you think!

~Rachel@aristomedia

Cleaning Out My Closet

Hey all!

Rachel here in a slightly frustrated state because I am going on the 15th week of promotion for these reel 64 clips and am STILL having trouble tracking down a few people. Thus, with a new year coming around I figure now is as good a time as any to start cleaning out my closet (aka my call book of outlets).

Over the next month or so I will be going through my call book and weeding out any outlets who have failed to keep up with constant communication. This is a bittersweet event for me. Bitter in the fact that I love talking with all of you guys and you produce great shows so i'd hate to lose you. Sweet in the fact that it will make my job a lot easier and a lot less stressful. You see no matter how great the shows are, if they don't give me information as to which videos they are playing, they don't do me any good because my clients won't know that their video is being played. So even if they are airing it 15 times a week, if I don't know it doesn't help. That's why we put this 2 week communication clause in the contract every outlet signs when they fill out the Outlet Application. Sorry if I seem to be unloading on you all, its been a stressful week both professionally and personally.

In conclusion, 80% of my outlets are completely wonderful and chances are if you are reading this you are in that 80% :) And it is my hope that the other 20% will come around before I have to stop servicing them. Thanks for listening, y'all :)

~rachel@aristomedia