First off, this summer I interned at a live music venue near my house.  I'm interested in eventually having a career related to the business/marketing side of the music industry so this internship allowed me to learn all about the live/show side of the industry.

It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of cool people.  I worked for the person in charge of marketing, so I worked in that "department."  

My boss was nice and very "chill," making the work environment not very stressful.  She would text me my assignments using Julian-like vocabulary like "rad," "totes," and once said, "You're in like McFlin."  Everyone else had the same personality, very relaxed, cracking jokes all the time, and cursing just as much.  One of my favorite parts of the job was that I could stroll into the venue's office wearing a Strokes t-shirt, shorts, and Converse, and no one would think twice about it.  I hate getting dressed up in "business attire"...ew.

I was able to go to whatever shows I wanted there to take pictures and video of the bands that performed.  I got to live out my little dream of being a concert photographer, so that was totally awesome.  At most shows, people in the crowd would see me with my camera hanging around the stage and ask if I was "with the band."  Even though I had to say no and that I worked for the venue every time, it was still a really cool feeling.

Many small-name bands and tribute bands are booked there, it's a nice but small venue (that's always better for the show experience) but some really great acts come through.  I got in to some new bands because of the job.  There was also a fair share of rough and weird crowds.

I would post the photos on the venue's Facebook and the venue would use my pictures for their promotional material.  I used the video to make promo reels which would play on loop on TVs throughout the venue, showing which shows were coming and when.

I had access to their Twitter account, so I would sometimes send out tweets for any promotional type stuff the venue was doing, like giving out free tickets or other cool things.

I also re-set up the venue's Instagram account and connected it to their Twitter account, and used it as a platform to post pictures from the shows and promotional events.

I usually went with my boss on the trips taken to give out free tickets at a location announced on the Twitter account.  On one particular outing, we took the band that was playing the venue that night with us to give out the tickets.  It was Cisco Adler and his band and there wasn't enough room for everyone in the car so I had to sit in the very back without a seat.  Everyone was cracking intern jokes at that point.  It was just a really odd, funny situation, being in a car full of bands members and being pushed to the back because you're the intern.

A few times I also filmed and edited the "60 Second Lineup Review" videos that starred my boss talking about upcoming shows that was sent out with the venue's weekly email newsletter.  This was actually what got me assigned to making the promo reels and having the owner of the venue ask me to make a promo video for the Salsa dancing lessons the venue hosts; I guess the staff was pretty impressed with the way I put the initial video together.

At the beginning, I had to do some street teaming by talking to local businesses to ask if I could hang up posters for shows in their windows and going down by the beach to hand out flyers for shows.  That was my least favorite part of the job as it held a lot of rejection.  The beginning of the month is a really busy time for the venue because that's when it tries to get the word out about all the upcoming shows for that month.

I had to be on phone duty a few times in the office, but thankfully I didn't have to deal with any nasty people and it was mainly just answering people's ticketing/show questions.

In August, I worked the summer concerts on the beach, which the venue produced.  It was each Sunday in August, a large stage was set up on the sand and there would be a free show.  For a few hours before, we would set up a tent in the pier plaza to promote the venue and its shows, let people know about the beach concert, and let people enter a raffle to win free tickets to any of the venue's shows.  The whole time I had to be on picture/Instagram/Twitter duty.  I got to go onstage during the shows to take photos and look out onto the large crowd.  I imagine that's what it's like to play a big music festival.  I also got to go backstage to indulge in the free VIP food.

Although I didn't get paid for this job, I was paid by a band one night for selling the band's merch.

It was a great learning experience, especially since it's definitely related to my interests.  Now I think it would be cool to own my own venue.  There are definitely a lot of components to keep track of though, but in the end it's really rewarding to see how shows come together and people have a good time.

The hours were basically a dream because I never had to do anything too early then I'd have a bit of time off in the middle of the day until I had to come back around 9PM for the night's show.

When I wasn't working, I would be watching superhero films.  In theaters, I saw The Avengers three times, The Amazing Spider-Man twice and The Dark Knight Rises twice.  I also lazed around and watched Marvel films numerous times at home too.  Yes, I basically became re-infatuated with comic book superhero films this summer and this has carried over to this here blog.

I really enjoyed all the new films, but The Dark Rises blew me away.  That was the greatest rap up to an amazing trilogy that Nolan created.  Bravo.  Christopher Nolan is basically a cinematic genius.

There are ton more Marvel films I can't wait to see in the coming years...I'm getting antsy about Thor: The Dark World...(the return of Loki!).

Speaking of Thor, I saw it for the first time a few days after I got home for the summer and that's what started my Tom Hiddleston obsession.  Then after that started my Avengers extrvaganza.  I apologize for all the Tom/Loki I post now, but honestly he is a beautiful person inside and out, as cheesy as that sounds, ok moving on...

I didn't get around to getting my driver's license even thought I thought I would.  I have my permit again, so hopefully winter break I will be able to legally drive. 

So I'm almost done with the first week of junior year at college and I'm in the process of applying to study abroad in London next semester.  More on that in the weeks to come...