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country music

CMA Fest 2017

CMA Fest 2017

Nashville, TN

I was very torn this year on attending CMA Fest due to a medical issue I was dealing with but, after speaking to my doctor he said I could go as long as I took it slow and returned on Monday to have surgery.

Wednesday: Pre-CMA Fest day. The last few years we have gone in a day early to attend the CMT awards. Last year we did the pink carpet. This year they didn’t have one, due to the hockey playoffs the awards location was moved. Last minute we got a pass to attend and I was thinking we wouldn’t have a good spot based on this huge line that was already there. Next thing we know a security guard tells the people about 20 up from us to start a new line and we were brought in and sure enough ended up 2^nd row from the cat walk. A girl in front of me was asked by a TV producer to move back and she had me move forward so there I was front row on the cat walk. When the event started all the biggest country stars were seated right across from the catwalk. I love experiences like this, seeing who hangs out with who on the commercial breaks etc. It was a really fun experience seeing Keith Urban rule the night in awards, he is just so genuine, kind and so deserving. Jada Pinkett Smith, Hoda Kotb, Kathy Lee, Katherine Heigl all said hello and shook hands as they came out to present awards and all were very nice. The night ended with Dierks Bentley bringing over this huge pretzel to share with all of us which was so sweet because we were starving.

CMA Fest:

Good: I did continue to love the Fan Fair X experience. It does continue to be frustrating that it is so difficult to win a pass to meet the one you really would like to meet. We did get to meet Hunter Hayes, Craig Wayne Boyd, Sarah Evans and Trent Harmon were the more known of the singers we met. The softball game is always a ton of fun and we had an opportunity to meet a few fun people after the game including Savannah & Todd Chrisley, Kellie Pickler, The Swon Brothers, Lee Greenwood, Eddie from the Bobby Bones show etc. I had really wanted to meet Bobby Bones (3 years and several attempts but, he doesn’t stop and do the line), Katelyn & Shawn from the Bachelorette unfortunately didn’t do the full line either and missed them as well. The performances at the stadium every night are always so good, it was a big surprise to have Garth there this year! I was glad it wasn’t as brutally hot as it has been in years past but, I was definitely exhausted by the end of each day.

I went to Chris Jansen’s fan club party this year and he really is a great, humble guy. His party was a good experience, they had some breakfast snacks, mountain dew of course and he played several songs, told stories and then did a photo op. The one challenging thing with CMA fest is picking the FC parties you want to do each year. I really enjoyed Cole’s last year but, many of them overlap or conflict and I like to get new experiences each year to share with you all.

The one person I have met each year I have been to CMA Fest and she always impresses me is Lauren Alania. That girl is just so kind, so down to earth, she stops everywhere for her fans and takes her time and I really wish more in the business would be like Lauren especially at an event for the fans like this event.

Could have been improved: I usually love and rave about the Big Machine Group pop up and the experiences they offer. I don’t know what happened this year but, I did not have a good experience with them. We got up early one morning, lined up, sat in the roasting sun and at no point in time were we told that the line for Brett Young was cut off, would be cut off etc. and we asked SEVERAL Big Machine staffers that came out to video our excitement etc. After waiting for nearly 2.5 hours and just before we entered the door we were told sorry no more. I was so disappointed and so upset. We should have been told at some point way sooner than that like they had in years past. You don’t make people wait in the heat that many hours thinking they would get in and do that. Very uncool this year Big Machine. To make matters worse they told us he was going on to an event at another location so we went over there and the people at Fan Fair had no idea what we were talking about. I finally had enough and found a place to sit down outside the hotel because I wasn’t feeling well and at one point I look up and here comes Brett Young. Mind you there were 3 people and we asked him for a picture and he just kept walking acting like he didn’t hear us. That entire experience soured me on Brett truthfully. It would have taken maybe 15 seconds to say hi and do 3 photos. Same thing happened about a half hour later with Bobby Bones, again just acted like he didn’t hear the 2 people next to me that yelled his name. I get they are asked for a ton of pics and that they have places to be. I just wish they would remember this is what the Fest is all about and without the support of fans nobody gets to be big and famous.

The only other thing I wasn’t a big fan of that I had not done before was the photo line. Now on one hand it’s very cool that they have that option. It just get so crazy congested and I wish the staff that worked the photo line would be a bit nicer. I understand not everyone listens but, don’t lump everyone together. Nobody wants to spend a lot of money for an experience and be constantly spoken to in a negative/nasty way or man-handled. If you are going to offer the experience then find a way to keep the lines moving without being nasty to everyone. Deal with the few bad apples and you will see the rest will follow the rules.

Helpful Tips discovered: I have been attending this festival now for 3 years and I have always done that long walk over the bridge back and forth to the stadium. This year my friend that attended with me discovered the buses that ran back and forth. That really was a godsend this year because I wasn’t feeling that awesome and I think that walk each night would have been tough. So cheers to CMA Fest on the buses, I wish I had discovered them sooner.

Overall, it was a nice event. I really wish I had been feeling better as it’s something I do look forward to every year but, you can’t win them all. Hopefully next year I will be feeling amazing and I can do a very detailed day by day blog like I have done in past years!

Fun concert wear!

Bebe: http://www.bebe.com/

Nordstrom: http://shop.nordstrom.com/

White House Black Market: https://www.whitehouseblackmarket.com/store/

Coach: http://www.coach.com/shop/women-wristlets

Until Next Time,

Xoxo

Heather

June 15, 2017

Entertainment Blog

Ideal Meet & Greet/Photo Op

If I could sit down with celebrity VIP teams…

This is a topic I have been thinking about for the last few years. It’s part of the reason for starting this blog. I never want this page to be a negative place but, rather somewhere to share information, experiences, value etc. If I could sit down with artist’s and their management teams to give them insight into what fans feel are best VIP practices this is what I would say:

Artists should keep their commitments. It’s one of the things that I think a pop star and his team did wrong earlier this year. If they didn’t want to do meet and greets anymore that’s fine but, finish the ones that you had committed to, implement rules to meet your needs in the interim and have your team enforce them but, respect that a good portion of your VIP attendees often are paying to travel for the experience.

Don’t do photo assembly lines. I truly wish all artists that did meet and greets would commit to an hour or so of their time depending on the #’s and do it right, treat each person like a human being, say hello, ask their name, ask where they are from (stars may be shocked how far some will travel to see them), have a genuine interaction, then take the photo. Let’s face it these meet and greets, photo ops, fan trips cost a large sum of money, show the fans you value and respect their time and money by giving them an interaction. When an artist’s team brags that they did 300 pictures in 16 minutes that truly is disappointing vs a recent event I was at they had about 200 people and they devoted a solid hour or more, it wasn’t rushed and everyone that walked out after was so happy, felt so special and most of all valued.

Make the interactions private. What I have been seeing quite a bit lately is a curtain box created and have thought that is such a great idea. You can step in, have your interaction and not have 200-300 people watching it. It helps with your nerves too, nobody wants to feel like they are in a fishbowl it also solves the issue of people taking photos of the entertainer/star as they approach. It will also help the genuine interaction because then they are not still speaking to the person ahead of you etc.

Make the rules clear, stick to them and let them know what will happen if they violate the rules. If you say don’t take your cell phones out and ask for a selfie and someone does don’t post the photo, if you say don’t hug, kiss and rub all over an artist and people do don’t post the photo. I would guarantee you would only have to enforce it once and word would travel. Too many fans will just take liberties, ignore the rules just to achieve their own objective and it truly does spoil the process for others in many cases and it’s disrespectful to the artist.

Post photos in a timely manner. The companies that have them posted same day or in 24 hours always get a WOW for service from me. VIP Nation events have been crushing it with this service the last year. All events I have gone to hosted by them they have been up during the show or the next day. It’s been nice to see many are getting them done quickly lately, people are always so excited to receive them so the faster the better.

Give organic genuine experiences. A few tours recently I have seen many people asking for kisses, hugs etc. You are putting the stars in an awkward position because if they say no then they can be looked at like they are being a jerk but, people have to realize in most cases you are a stranger or a familiar face in the crowd to the artist. Would you want a stranger walking up and asking you to kiss them, hug them etc.? It’s such a better experience when it happens organically and it’s something the artist initiates because it’s genuine and something they truly wanted to do. On the flip side though as the artist make an effort to say hello, ask someone’s name and go from there.

Please no gum or food in your mouth. I have a few photos with different entertainers with a wad of gum clearly seen in the pic and then recently had an experience where someone was eating a marshmallow. Again people pay a lot for these experiences, travel long distances and it’s just respectful not to have food/gum in your mouth and seen in the photos.

Respect the time of individuals paying for the VIP experience. Don’t make them arrive 2 hours ahead to just stand in line and don’t leave them in the various elements like extreme heat & cold. Be organized. Nobody likes to stand around waiting for hours.

For random interactions with stars I always like to see who puts in the extra effort with their fans. I can say after seeing it many times that Keith Urban is one of the best at this. Keith will stop and literally do selfies with 40 people and it takes maybe 10 minutes. Now in these random cases I think it’s fine to do a quick hello, photo and move on you are not paying for it.

I think the stars also need to be careful the way their team is representing them. At the softball game at CMA fest one of the entertainer’s boyfriend’s came out where fans were lined up after the game and was telling a guy to hurry up and have her car pulled around because she didn’t want to stop for fans. Another country star I saw three times at CMA fest once on the pink carpet, at Fan Fair X and then out and about and he could not be bothered to take a photo or have an interaction but as soon as a TV camera was on him he changed right away. I personally will not spend my money, pay to travel, attend a concert of anyone that shows such disregard for fans. It’s all in how the situation is handled. Like I said in my CMA Fest blog from Day 3 instead of responding “NAH” to someone, say sorry not today. Treat people like human beings and they will in turn reward you by devoting their time and spending their hard earned money to support your career.

One star recently said it best you always have to treat each person special because that may be your 1 time ever to meet that person that has supported you and you don’t know what they had to do to be at that show, if they saved for 6 months, flew across the country etc. Whether it’s a 30 second selfie interaction or a paid meet and greet it’s your chance to make and leave an impression both on the fan and star’s end. I will always support the ones that care and truly get it because that adds value to the experience. I also feel we all have to treat them respectfully.

I would love to hear more thoughts on this from those that read the blog…

Until next time,

Xoxoxo

Heather

August 30, 2016

Entertainment Blog

CMA 2016 Fest Day 2 (Friday):

#cmafest

#bigmachinebooth

Cole Swindell

I was very excited to wake up for Day 2 at CMA Fest. I started my morning at the Cole Swindell Down Home Fan Club party. This is one thing I didn’t do the first year at CMA Fest was plan ahead to go the fan club parties. The party was a lot of fun, small, intimate, acoustic and was great to see Cole in that setting. Last year at CMA fest Cole gave me goosebumps during his performance and truly made me into a fan that day. He has that special something and is truly one of the artists that gets it, he has stayed humble and is great to his fans. He played for about an hour or so, then took photos with everyone. We received a signed poster, shirt, and koozie as well.

13428583_10153829551608978_8590708588669971237_n After this we headed over to Fan Fair X to get into the hopeful line for one of my favorites Mr. Steven Tyler. Yesterday when we were there we were told they would not allow anyone to start in the hopeful line until 2 hours ahead of the signing so we were not happy to get over there to find out they actually started the hopeful line right when the doors opened for a 3:00 signing. Communication with your customers should always be important to the staff representing you and honest communication should be paramount. I had won the overflow contest for Jamie Lyn Spears meet and greet passes so we headed over to do that.

After we walked over to the area where Steven was signing and were fortunate enough to be given two tickets. Steven Tyler is one of the absolute best at meet and greets. He is a legend, he’s been in the business for well over 30 years and many of the newcomers could learn a lot by watching him engage with his fans. Steven took time with every single person he met, he spoke to you and looked you directly in the eye, asked your name, you could have a short conversation, his photographer took the photo, gave you an autograph and a hug and kiss. It’s nearly impossible to walk away from an interaction with Steven and not feel special and appreciated. He stayed for well over the allotted time of 2 hours which was not at all surprising. 13445558_10153828811143978_4172109016094299840_n

The best part of CMA Fest is you truly never know who you will run into. We were walking back to our hotel and look up and there is Charles Esten! He was so sweet and took a photo with us and we congratulated him on Nashville being picked up by the CMT network!

The line up at the stadium Friday was:

National Anthem: Frankie Ballard

Clint Black

Chris Stapleton

Sam Hunt

Eric Church

Hank Williams Jr

Carrie Underwood

The performances again were all really good. Frankie did a great rendition on the electric guitar of the National Anthem and Clint Black played a handful of his hits. Chris Janson also made a surprise appearance to sing his hit Buy Me a Boat. Chris is another one of those special performers that is absolutely loving and is appreciative of the opportunity to live his dream. Chris Stapleton is one amazing songwriter and singer. Sam Hunt, I had never seen perform live before but, will definitely be looking for tour to come to my city in the near future. Eric Church just commands the stage, he’s an amazing performer and I always look forward to his performances. Carrie Underwood was absolutely fantastic. She took the stage with a different presence than last year, it was great to see her dressed down and full of sassy attitude. I have always liked her since American Idol but, walked away being truly impressed after her performance to close out Day 2.

For day two attire I went with clothes from: https://factory.jcrew.com/

For carrying just the necessities around CMA Fest I always go to my Coach Cross body or wristlets: http://coach.com

Additional videos can be found on my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLzUFhYU32shIwac71Fd81w

For additional photos from CMA Fest check out my IG and Facebook pages @lightscmemories.

Until next time,

Xoxoxo

Heather

July 11, 2016

Entertainment Blog

CMA 2016 Fest Day 1 (Thursday):

#cmafest

#bigmachinebooth

CMA Fest is one of the events I truly look forward to all year. I truly feel you get a lot of value for what you pay overall. I had already been in Nashville for two days at this point but, we transferred over to our hotel that we purchased with the package early in the morning. We buy our packages each year through www.cmafest4less.com. Usually I feel you get a good value but, have to say right out of the gate this year when we picked up our package for two I was disappointed with the fact we only received 1 bag even though we paid for 2 packages. Considering those clear bags probably have a real cost of $2.00 or so to them I thought that was incredibly cheap of the tour company not to provide one per person paid because you need the clear bags to get in the stadium and in past years they did give one per person.

We stayed at Hyatt Place again this year mostly for the convenience. The hotel is ok, the beds were definitely not very comfortable which I didn’t remember from last year so maybe they changed mattresses but, they did have a fridge which was good that we could stay stocked up on cold water etc.

First thing we did was head over to the Fan Fair X and were really shocked to see this massive line of people waiting to get in. We ended up being the last ones allowed in for the Thomas Rhett hopeful line. We waited nearly 2 hours and none of the hopefuls were able to get pictures because he only allocated an hour and didn’t stay over which is the artist’s discretion. This is one thing that I truly think CMA fest should change. I think anyone that buys a 4 day package should be given one meet and greet or entry into the HGTV lodge performances of their choice or even of their top 3 choices. Their lottery system is all well and good but, after two years I haven’t won other than an overflow drawing for Jamie Lyn Spears. The hopeful lines to me is where you see truly how much an artist truly cares about meeting the fans. For example in 2015 I saw Cassadee Pope do all of her winners, her entire hopeful line of over 200 people and then additional people that came up and wanted to meet her, she was there over 3 hours and that was impressive to see. There is another twosome that I have seen two years in a row not act in a way that values their fans and what their fans truly want. Last year they would only sign autographs, no photos. I wasn’t in their line but sitting in the line for Little Big Town I watched all this happen. A special needs child went up to them and when they were doing the autograph her Mom who was behind the area where you line up tried to snap a few cell phone pictures of her daughter speaking to them and getting her autographs and they saw the mother and stepped out of frame. This year fans said they had their cell phones taken away until after the autographs were done. Yes they did say no photos but, in that circumstance was it really hurting anything? At an event like Fan Fair X why not do photos, in many ways that goes a lot faster than doing autographs and in today’s culture you know that is what most people want that selfie or the photo to share.

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We were a little bummed after the first experience of the day but, we headed over to one of my favorite places at CMA Fest the Big Machine Label store. Big Machine does it right, they are all so kind, they are all about the fan experience and Scott Borchetta and his team just totally rock in my opinion. We got in line to meet Jennifer Nettles. We baked in the heat for a good hour as the line in front of us in the store was already pretty long but we had faith it would be well worth it. Right on time Jennifer pulled up and they brought her into the store and started the process. Jennifer is an example of a star that does it right. She actually gave you an autograph if you wanted one and they took a photo on a professional camera and also a Big Machine employee took one on your cell or camera too. It went quickly and efficiently and she was able to have a genuine interaction without it feeling like a photo assembly line. Jennifer is truly so incredibly sweet and extremely talented.

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After this we were starving so we headed back up to my favorite restaurant (again) in Nashville: http://www.demosrestaurants.com/ because one can never have too much of their amazing Brown Butter Garlic Spaghetti! You know it’s good when you have someone like me who rarely eats pasta much less an entire plate of it devours it all.

By the time we finished eating we went back to the hotel, freshened up a bit and then it was time to head over to the stadium. The line-up Thursday night was:

National Anthem: The Oak Ridge Boys

The Charlie Daniels Band

Kelsea Ballerini

Dierks Bentley with special guest Elle King

Miranda Lambert

Rascal Flatts

Jason Aldean

All the performers were great. The Charlie Daniels Band had their good friend Randy Travis make a surprise appearance on stage and received a standing ovation. Kelsea Ballerini is such a powerhouse and her career will continue to soar in my opinion. Dierks was absolutely fantastic as always, he’s really made a fan out of me the last two years. I love his new song with Elle King “Different for Girls” and who doesn’t love Drunk on a Plane! This was my first time seeing Miranda live and she literally brought the house down with some serious sass. She’s a fantastic performer and absolutely will have to catch her in full concert soon! Rascal Flatts were also excellent and timeless really, they are true professionals and amazing artists.

Our seats were also better this year. Still would like to get into the first 5 rows of the Golden Circle one of these years but, we had a great spot on the lower bowl and were sitting around nice people this year which always make this fun!

For day one attire I went with clothes from: https://factory.jcrew.com/

For carrying just the necessities around CMA Fest I always go to my Coach Cross body or wristlets: http://coach.com

Until next time,

Xoxoxo

Heather

July 10, 2016