Since I last wrote I feel like I survived a tornado or something. I signed myself up to work at the CMA festival all week, during the radio remotes (which start at 5:00am), the CMT Awards show last Wednesday, and Celebrity Auction for YWCA on Sunday. I slept about 4-5 hours a night and worked my hiney off all day, but I saw things and met people I would have never guessed I would have met this early in the game. The radio remotes were very interesting. It is a room outlined with tables where radio channels have set up impromptu radio stations and the artists will go around to each table and interview with the station live. So, Toby Keith can be on live radio in Nashville and five minutes later is live in Portland. It was VERY fast paced and my job was to make sure the talent had the next radio interview set up, so that they could go from one interview to the next with no delay. I did this several days and I only truly enjoyed one group of talent I got to work with- Eli Young Band. They were the coolest, most down-to-earth guys I met in the whole industry this past week. I would love to have a family BBQ with them.
The CMT Awards show was NUTS. CRAZY! I was a talent escort, so I took around Erin Andrews and Maksim Chmerkovskiy from Dancing With the Stars, but we all had head-sets on and were frantically making sure everyone's talents is where they need to be. So, I am backstage working with John Mayer, Carrie Underwood, Lady A, Kara Dioguardi, Keith Urban, Reba, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift....man, everyone!!! Some of them were ridiculously nice (especially the last three ladies I mentioned), some of them I had on pedestals and they definitely became human that night. It was a unique experience, but by the end of the week, I was kind of depressed to be honest. There were some amazing people, but there are SO many people who are in this industry who are....selfish. Straight-up bratty. It just made me start thinking about fame and what an oddity it is. They are people JUST LIKE US (with wrinkles and bad breath and sweat stains on their shirts), but people go totally ga-ga over them; I admit to having been guilty of this as well, but somewhere in the accolades it is as if they begin to think they are worthy of so much more than the rest of us, which then makes me wonder if this world of music entertainment is for me- I would go bonkers if I had to listen to people complain about and demand such silly things all the time. I started going bonkers within only a week!
This brings me to Sunday. Kelly, my God-send of a roommate, found an opportunity for us to volunteer for this YWCA Celebrity Auction. At this point I was beginning to get sick with a cold and was utterly exhausted, but this organization supports battered children and women survivors and I felt like I needed to see some good be done, so I went! And, I am so thankful I did. Martina McBride helped host it. Kelly and I were the Vanna's for the items being auctioned off (Clothes Artists have worn in music videos, CDs and Instruments signed by artists, etc.) and it was incredible and SO inspiring to work with Martina. It was very encouraging to see someone use their fame for good. Within 4 hours-FOUR HOURS!- we raised $100,000 for YWCA!!!!! I had chills for about four hours straight, because people were so generous with their money and their time and they used these gifts God has given them- FOR GOOD. What a crazy concept right? Haha, it was fresh air to my soul.
Just think of all the good YOU could do given the ridiculous amount of resources those famous folk have got! You'd have that much more to give...and there's nothing selfish about that! I pray that God gives you confidence to do what is good and what is honorable and lovely whether you're a struggling artist or a well-known musician. :)
ReplyDeletePS - You pretty much ROCK.