Intern Chick: music

Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Overtime

0 comments Posted by Intern Chick at 1:35 PM

So I've been busy playing the game for the past few weeks. A couple clutch plays here and there, an ankle-breaker every so often, maybe a few timeouts. But when Thanksgiving was fast approaching, I realized this game had been over for quite some time. Now I was in overtime. Sudden death. I needed to get off the court and back in the locker room, this game was starting to mess with my skills.

I thought and thought about this for quite some time. I had to get out of this job, because I was picturing myself just floating along, waiting for something to fall in my lap. That's not how I play. Do I take that leap into the sea of the unemployed, or do I stay, quietly collecting my $100/week stipend that doesn't even cover groceries? I was starting to realize that I was setting my worth at that $100--if I believe that's how much I'm worth, that's what everyone else will believe, too.

I'm worth more. So I quit.

I quit the day before Thanksgiving and I was at peace with my decision. I believe that everything you do in your life should not only teach you something, but it should serve some type of purpose. Even this job served a purpose. It made me remember how much I truly love music and the industry. Most of the times I've been working have been in the music industry, and sometimes, you just don't know what you have until it's gone. My love has been reinstated. I guess you could call that the game winning play at the buzzer.

Down For Me

0 comments Posted by Intern Chick at 9:45 PM

So I stole this from The Life of Sass. I figured it'd be fun to do since I've never done something like this before and it involved music so you know I'm down for it. The rules are to put your iPod on shuffle and then put whatever song comes up as the answer for each question and you can't skip around til you find one that makes sense.

Here we go!

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
That's All I Ask Of You - Tony! Toni! Tone! (not exactly...)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Bad Girl - Jon B. (Sorry, Mom!)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
I'm So Into You - Aaliyah (When I decide I like a guy, I really like 'em)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Everyday Struggles - Notorious B.I.G.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Get You Right - Pretty Rick (I aim to please)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
What More Can I Say - Jay-Z (The first lines of this song are, "Are you not entertained?" and ends with "We'll see what happens when I no longer exist")

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Invisible Man - 98 Degrees (not true)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Time Machine - T-Pain (I am a big fan of reminiscing, I must say)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Feelin' It - Sammie (what?)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
On Bended Knee - Boyz II Men (I HATE begging)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
I'm Grindin - (this song is by an artist I c0-manage...and it's probably true)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Only Human - Bobby Valentino (Can't I be super woman or something instead?)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Unbelievable - Notorious B.I.G. feat. R. Kelly

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Baby Don't Go - Fabolous feat. T-Pain

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Comfortable - Lil Wayne feat. Babyface (I suppose I'm fairly comfortable)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
True Love - Faith Evans

WHAT IS 2+2?
Listen - Talib Kweli (I've always had a hard time with math)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Director - Avant (she does know what she wants ha)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Sweet - Jay-Z (very true, sweetest guy you'll ever meet)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
I Got A Story to Tell - Notorious B.I.G. (hilariously untrue)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I Tried - Bone Thugs n Harmony feat. Akon (it better be more like "i came i saw i conquered" not i tried!)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Can't You See - Styles P feat. Lemar

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
I Said I Really Love You - Boyz II Men (also very true, I have a slight fear of commitment)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Jezzebel - Boyz II Men (oh boy...)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Thugz Mansion (Acoustic) - Tupac feat. Nas (one of my favorite songs, a classic)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Down For Me - Loon

Faith Restored

0 comments Posted by Intern Chick at 9:38 PM

There's a certain feeling you get when you find what you're meant to do in life. I can't explain it, I can only say that it came to me the first time I heard Boyz II Men sing "Thank You" and it's been with me ever since. I went through a lot of bumps chasing what I'm supposed to do with my life, but I never forgot that feeling and it always, only made me stronger. Until recently.

You could say I became jaded, you could even say I lost my focus. Call it whatever you want to call it; the fact of the matter is, I lost it. I've been looking for it, and wherever I did lose it, I was starting to believe with my whole heart that it was lost forever. It's not that I wasn't trying to find it either, because I looked everywhere. I looked for it at live performances, in books about legendary musicians and executives...even in the lyrics to all my favorite records.

Nowhere. To. Be. Found.

I became numb to everything. I didn't care when a Hip-Hop icon called my job and I just so happened to answer the phone. Wasn't impressed when a producer I've been following for years came into work. Meeting the CEO of a music empire? None of it mattered anymore. But on Friday, that feeling came back to me and I'm holding on to it tighter than ever.

Let me explain. When a new act gets signed to a label, they come in at some point before their album drops for a meet and greet with the label staff. So on Friday at internship #3 when I was told we'd be having a meet and greet with a new group that I actually do like, I still wasn't really impressed. It's all the same to me. This group has been signed to the label for a while and is about to drop their album, so I was kind of confused why they were doing this so late in the game. I reluctantly went into the conference room with the other intern whose giddiness and overall excitement was irritating at best and we took a seat at the big long table. Someone started playing the group's video on the big projector and turned the volume up all the way and all I could think was, "Great, this is so incredibly corny."

Finally the group came in and we all clapped for them and they went around the room and gave everyone hugs and kisses. I watched one of them hold back tears as they made their way to the front of the room. When it quieted down, they thanked the staff for believing in them and working hard on their project and that their dreams were coming true. Then they said that in order to express their appreciation, they would really show us and started singing "Thank You" by Boyz II Men, acapella. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a sucker for two things and they are Boyz II Men and acapella renditions of songs. It touched me in a place that had been empty ever since I lost that feeling I mentioned before. Then they sang another Boyz II Men song, acapella again, and I was utterly impressed by their talent and in awe at how easy they made it look. The group sounded incredible and really showed that they do this because they love it.

And then I remembered why, since I was a little girl, I want to work in the music industry. Since that first time I heard Boyz II Men, I couldn't figure out why there weren't more artists that sounded as good as they did. The whole reason I knew I was meant to do this was because I wanted to help create more music like that; the kind with talent, meaning, and soul. This group I saw on Friday was just that and restored my faith in the music industry, reminding me just how I got to be sitting in that conference room, listening to these guys sing.

My faith in the belief that I'm doing what I was meant to do with my life was restored on Friday and I walked out of that conference room simply elated.

What a Picture is Worth

1 comments Posted by Intern Chick at 1:40 AM

My mom and my sister came to visit New York today so we could visit a cousin of ours at "the home." Its been quite some time since we've seen her so we sat around a table and looked at old family pictures and I got to hear some stories I've never heard before about my family. I sat there and stared at this old, second cousin of mine who I never knew much about. Of course I'd heard stories...she worked for the UN for over 30 years and traveled the world; I heard about the beehive hairdo she sported, her fabulous life as a bachelorette in her cozy Manhattan apartment. My mother told me about the chic parties she'd hosted in that apartment of hers years ago and always mentioned her extensive record collection. I remember hearing the story about the gold sequin gown she'd had handmade somewhere in Asia during her travels; it proudly hangs in the hall closet at the house I grew up in and if I ever have an event that is good enough for such a dress, I intend to wear it proudly. Maybe even with a beehive!

When I was in high school I got to see this infamous, rent controlled apartment of hers. It was quite small, but how much space did someone who was always traveling the world really need? The apartment, to me, was a museum of her entire life, with stories told through miscellaneous chachkas and pictures, with her records working as the soundtrack. She let me take home some of the records and I always imagine the fabulous parties that must've gone on while her old record player spun those classics.

Even as a child, she always amazed me. She would bring my sister and I all kinds of things, her bag always chock full of goodies. She was our Cousin Mary and she was the most exciting visitor at our family parties. And now, deep into her old age, we sat with her around this table in the TV lounge and in her private room overlooking the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine musing over these pictures of our family. These old, tattered snapshots brought back memories for her and she would digress and tell stories from her past that were just as gripping as they were the first time I'd heard them.

And so, before we left, we added another picture to our family history, one of my mom, my sister, my Cousin Mary, and myself, in the garden on a beautiful Manhattan Indian Summer day.

5 Songs That Changed My Life

0 comments Posted by Intern Chick at 9:40 PM

If you haven't figured this out by now, music has been my life for as long as I can remember, and it always will be (hopefully). Here's my list of the 5 songs that made the whole music thing something I couldn't walk away from.

1. The Hallelujah Chorus - from Handel's "Messiah" (performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra*) Listen to the Hallelujah Chorus

I couldn't have been more than 4 years old. I heard this song one year around Christmas on the radio and there was just something about it. I had to have it. My mom went to every store our small little city had, asking for a version, ANY version, of this song. It was the impossible quest, but she found it eventually. I can still remember what the cover of the cassette looked like, and I played it relentlessly. I can't say exactly what the reason was, maybe it was all those instruments being played so loudly all at once, maybe it was the passion the choir sang with. This was my first favorite song, and began the never ending quest for the next song that gave me that feeling.

2. "The Christmas Song" - Nat "King" Cole (album: tons) Listen to The Christmas Song

I don't know what it was about Christmas when I was little that got me into music more than the rest of the year (ha), but my parents had this song on vinyl, and I can remember what the cover looked like. I loved his voice. Nat's voice instilled a very early love for classic crooners in me, and made me become very aware of the fact that music of the past was not to be overlooked. I still have a deep appreciation for singers like him, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, Tony Bennett, and countless others.

3. "I Remember" -Boyz II Men (album: The Remix Collection) Listen to "I Remember"

This was one of the first CDs I got. Boyz II Men was also the first artist that I fell madly in love with. I still remember the first time I heard Boyz II Men, my sister had their CD "II" playing on her stereo and the song "Thank You" was playing, I was an instant fan. As soon as Shawn Stockman's voice comes in on this song, I felt everything I ever wanted to say but didn't know how. The song is on some Mike Jones "back then they didn't want me, now I'm hot they all on me," sh*t. I was young and knew nothing about this, but it spoke to me. I knew I had never heard people sing harmony like that, I didn't even know it was called harmony then! This song is why I want to do the A&R thing, and why I've wanted to do it since the time I was 6 or 7. I wanted to hear more artists like Boyz II Men, I wanted to be apart of the making of that music; I wasn't going to let it go. Even now, when I start to get discouraged, I throw this song on and instantly remember why I'm here.

4. "Big Poppa" - The Notorious B.I.G. (album: Ready to Die) Watch "Big Poppa"

I wanted to list Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Player's Anthem" here, but my first introduction to Biggie was his video for this song. I can still remember that brown hat and jacket he wore, and seeing him sitting in that booth in the club, exuding cool. This wasn't my first introduction to Hip-Hop, but it might've been the first rap video I saw, definitely the first one I remember seeing. I couldn't get that beat out of my head, and his whole look in the video stayed imprinted on my brain. I wanted more of this coolness he so easily carried with him.

5. "Changes" - Tupac (album: Greatest Hits) Watch "Changes"

I think I saw the video for this before I heard the song. I remember when Tupac (and Biggie, for that matter) died, and I remember being kind of shocked that one day he was here and the next he wasn't. This song came out a few years later, and this was probably the first time I realized how talented he was; I couldn't ignore this song, as soon as the the sample from Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is" dropped, I was all ears. I became aware of 'Pac's lyrical ability and the way he rapped about how bad things were but was able to uplift his listeners by urging them to do something about it. That spoke to me, loudly, and made me appreciate Hip-Hop for what it was meant to be in its purest form: a positive outlet for social commentary and change.

There you have it, my list of songs that left me with something I still carry today. There are more, but I wanted to keep it short, because I could talk about music forever. Two others that I won't get into...."I Used to Love H.E.R." by Common, and "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (two songs every Hip-Hop fan should know and love)

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Faith Restored

What a Picture is Worth

5 Songs That Changed My Life

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