Ashlyne Huff - Camplified tour

In the beginning of August I got to spend the day with Ashlyne Huff (whom I've mentioned previously) for a concert she did at Rolling River Day Camp on Long Island for the Camplified Tour. Ashlyne and her entire team were awesome. Everyone from Camplified and Rolling River were awesome. It was a good time.

I took some footage while I was there and was given the opportunity to edit the video for Ashlyne's Official YouTube page. It's finally up and I'm pretty stoked, so check it out:

Ashlyne Huff Camplified Tour 2010

Ashlyne & I after the show.

xoxo

Gina

Open Till Midnight.

This may go down as the post I have the most passion towards to date.

Open Till Midnight is a rock band from New York City.

Normally, I would sit here and rattle off bands their sound compares to in an attempt to entice people. I don't even want to do that here.

Open Till Midnight has a badass sound, all their own.

I've seen them a couple of times already and I assure you any future concerts they have in the New York area, you'll most likely find me there.

Their stage presence is undeniable. They vibe off each other and the crowd so well. I felt so connected and in the moment with this band. Watching them perform, you can immediately see how much they're enjoying what they're doing. And as I've stated in a previous post, that is pretty much the most important thing to me in an artist.

I don't want to make this long winded and drawn out.. I just want this band to speak for themselves. So go check out some of their tunes (by clicking right here) and take it all in. I dare you to not find yourself nodding to the beat and smiling as you listen to the awesomeness that is "Simply Don't". And if you ever get the chance, go see these guys live. You'll thank me later.

xoxo

Gina

Kate Voegele and an amazing discovery: Ashlyne Huff.

This blog is coming in almost a month late.. but it was such a good experience I couldn't ignore the urge to post about it. June 10th I went to the Nokia Theatre in NYC to see Kate Voegele (who was opening up for Jordin Sparks).

The first opening act who came on was Ashlyne Huff. I heard she would be one of the openers so I did listen to one of her songs on the internet but that was all I knew about her. Well let me tell you.. she instantly made a fan out of me. Her songs were great, her voice was awesome, and she was so personable it was impossible not to like her. If you've never heard of Ashlyne please do yourself a favor and visit her website www.ashlynehuff.com. I promise you won't regret it.

Next up was Days Difference. I hadn't heard any of their stuff before. Their music was good, and the guys were without a doubt adorable. I wish I could say I enjoyed their set more but I was too busy focusing on keeping my balance while the crowd of girls around me attempted to trample me in order to get closer to the guys (not saying I don't understand.. during my teenage years to say I dabbled in the boy band scene would be an understatement). At least these guys play their own instruments.

Next was KATE, finally! She was everything I love seeing when I go to a concert. The music was great, her stage presence was great. She genuinely looked humbled and excited to be there.. and there's nothing that I love more in a musician than that. She sang a bunch of songs from her more recent album, "Don't Look Away". But my favorite moment was when she closed out with a cover of "Hallelujah". The song is covered by more artists than I can count, but Kate's version definitely made it to my favorite. She sang it so beautifully and it had the crowd softly singing along with her.. I live for moments like that.

After Kate's performance we got on line for her meet and greet (which is when Jordin was performing so I'm sorry I will have nothing to write about her set). You may know Kate from One Tree Hill playing Mia, which is how I first heard of her. I've been a hardcore addict of that show for years and have been down to North Carolina where they film a couple of times. I'm due for another trip this summer so when Jenny and I got up to meet her we asked if she'd be there when we got down there. We got in some small talk and got our autographs, it was nice not to be rushed like most autograph signings. Here's the pictures from the meet and greet:

Ever seen an opening act that totally made your concert experience better? Share it!

Peace&Love,

Gina

High (Maroon) 5!

Ahhh, the first official blog. While I have a couple of other events to blog about, being the excitement that occurred today I'll start here and work my way backwards in the next few posts. Today, I saw without a shadow of a doubt one of the most beautiful creatures on Gods earth; Adam Levine.

First, let me start off by saying that this adventure started off at 12am when me and Jenny hopped the Babylon line from Long Island to Penn Station and headed towards the NBC buildings to sit for countless hours waiting to see Maroon 5. Upon arriving at 2am after walking around the city for a bit we found that there was already a decent line formed of people waiting it out (sleeping bags and all). Luckily for us, I had sent in an email to the Today Show and gotten us "Fan Passes" so we got on a line that only had maybe 6 people infront of us. The first hour sitting there was rough, I'm not going to lie to you. But as time passed Jenny and myself found ways to amuse ourselves.. most derived from complete delirium. By 4 o'clock both lines were getting ridiculously long and me and Jenny acknowledge to eachother that we knew we'd done good by getting there more than way too early on zero sleep.

Now let me tell you, this whole "Fan Pass" thing was bogus to me.. and I had one. Our entire line (including people that showed up at 5:30am when people started getting let into the pen at 6am) got let in before all those poor souls on the other line who had sat out there even before we had gotten there. Then there was the "V.I.P" line who got let in before us.. which is a whole other story, but I digress. Once we finally were led in me and Jenny had a pretty decent view of the stage. And to my surprise it wasn't a claustrophobic nightmare. Everyone was very respectful of eachothers "personal space". Had a prime view of the band when they came out and got to sound checking. Two "This Love"'s and "Sunday Morning"'s later we were looking to get out of the pen due to a what we're going to refer to as "wardrobe malfunction". A nice man who worked there let us out and after asking him to go to the bathroom we were headed to the downstairs of the NBC building. Totally oblivious to my surroundings the man at the bottom of the stairs was frantic and was telling me to keep walking. I'm thinking "rude" but I ask him where the bathroom is. All of a sudden I look to the right and realize the reason he has his boxers in a twist is because maybe 10 feet to our right Maroon 5 is standing there taking press pictures. And man did they look beautiful. After what we affectionately refer to as the "most awesome use of a bathroom trip ever" we felt fulfilled and headed back to Penn. It was a lot of excitement for us before 8 o'clock in the morning.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the man of the hour himself and the object of my affection; Adam Levine:

This one was a test on a effect with my new camera:

Have a Maroon 5 story of your own? Ever had a surprise close encounter with a celebrity that got you as excited as my lame self is on this lovely Friday evening? Share it in the comments, I'm all ears (Well, eyes.. this is the internet)!

Peace&Love,

Gina

First blogging adventure..

Okay, so I guess a good place to start in this blogging business would be to introduce myself. I'm Gina. As of May 2010 I am officially a college graduate with a degree in Media and Communications. I couldn't be more excited, or terrified. I'm assuming this is customary for anyone in this stage of life. My dream is to work in television and movie production. I've interned with MTV Networks' Documentary Department and it was an amazing experience. But until I can get paid for the thing I love I figure starting a blog (a suggestion from a very wise and lovely friend; Jenny) can incorporate two of my passions in life; entertainment and writing. The last time I had a blog I was 14 years old blogging about my adventures in teenage-hood. Now in my early 20's I can blog about my adventures in (hardly) adulthood. So, here we are.

Peace&Love,

Gina