Hanson Music Video Shoot

L-R: Zac, Director Adam Neustadter?, Alex Beh, Nikki Reed, Drew Seeley, Amy Paffrath who faints in video, Taylor, Kat Dennings, Paul McDonald, Isaac

Today was so amazing, I don't even know where to begin!

Short version: Hanson put out a casting call for Los Angeles area fans to be in their new music video, I submitted, didn't get picked, but my friend did, so I knew when and where to show up, which I did, and ended up getting in anyway! The song is great (Sounds like it could be on Shout It Out), and Taylor told me that it should be released in "Uhhh...A couple months".

Long version:

On Friday, Hanson posted on Facebook that they were looking for fans in the LA area to be in their new music video, which was scheduled to shoot on Sunday. Thankfully a friend pointed it out to me and we both immediately applied, as it was a casted event. Saturday night rolled around and still no confirmation email saying I got picked. I was so anxious waiting for that email that I sat in front of my computer refreshing my inbox every few minutes. It made me feel better though that no one else on Facebook or Twitter was saying they received anything, so there was still hope.

I ended up falling asleep, but woke up that morning to a text from my friend saying she was selected. Yet, still nothing in my inbox. I couldn't bear the thought knowing Hanson was filming 10 minutes from me and not being there, so I decided to go and try my luck, hoping to get in due to no shows. And that's exactly what happened! There were only about 5 or 6 girls who showed up not having been invited, and we all got in!

Me getting my number assigned and picture taken

The shoot was at The Satellite, a small music venue in Silverlake. Call time was 11am, but my group ended up not going inside until around 2:45. There was a small group of people who were asked to get there at 8am for other shots. Then the 11am group got split up into 6 groups. I was in group 5. Once we got inside, the guys were already on the stage, messing around on their various instruments. They were all in black and white suits, and just looked amazing. I mean, I've never seen them look anything but amazing, but they looked exceptional today.

Credit: @stacepowe

The next 3 and a half hours was basically just getting filmed enjoying watching the guys, so you know, a hard days work. I was so excited to see Kat Dennings when I got inside, then found out she was in the video. Also in the video was Nikki Reed, Drew Seeley and Drake Bell. Also there, although not in the video (at least I didn't see her filmed at all), Meiko! If you saw them on their last tour, she opened for them. I became a big fan of hers after that and have seen her a few times since then. I ran into her outside and told her I was a big fan, which she seemed to enjoy, and thanked me.

Nikki played a bartender, who ends up leaving with Drew at the end of the night. Kat was with an unknown actor (former boyfriend of Jennifer Love Hewitt) named  Alex Beh. I unfortunately didn't see Drake, I believe he left before I got inside, so i'm not sure what his part in all of it was.

In between one of the takes, I was standing next to Nikki and a fan asked how she got involved with the shoot. She explained that a few years ago, the guys found out she was a fan (from a blog post of hers), and invited her out to a show. They had been friends ever since, and later found out that her very good friend Kat Dennings was also friends with the guys. The guys proceeded to ask both girls to be in the video, and both being huge Hanson fans, they were instantly on board. Just watching her talk about the guys, you could tell she was a true, genuine fan and was excited to be there. Finding out she was such a huge Hanson fan made me hate her a little less, only because I'm jealous of who she's married to (Paul McDonald... *Sigh*).

Kat was clearly very excited to be in it as well:

The song is called 'Get the Girl Back', so the story revolves around the guys in video trying to get their girls back. One of which (Alex Beh), spills a drink on his girl (Kat Dennings) and she takes off. The video even has a dance battle scene with Josh (JMac) Hanson! The song is super catchy and fun. It's along the same style as Shout It Out. They had a horn section on stage with them who call themselves the Brass Knuckles. They posted a video talking to Zac here:

 Taylor was very, very involved, and vocal throughout the shoot. He was calling out continuity issues and working on things with the director to get everything just right. Zac and Isaac didn't say much, and just left it to Taylor. Taylor took a special interest in the crowd and directed us multiple times to just go as crazy as possible, but as he said "We want you to go crazy! Well maybe not foaming at the mouth crazy, but crazy!". He was also big on making sure we had all the hand claps and rhythms down perfectly.

The highlight of the night for me was when I got selected to actually have a part! There was a scene where a fan in the crowd was to faint, and I got picked to be the girl that catches her, so I definitely will be getting some face time from that! Yay! The other highlight was when the guys came up to the front rows and shook everyone's hands, which was being filmed, and I'm hoping my shake with Taylor makes the cut! After the final shot inside, they said goodbye to all of us, and shook all our hands again. I even managed to form a sentence (which is a rare occurrence with me and Hanson), and asked Taylor when the song would be released and he responded with "Uhhh...a couple months", and kind of laughed. So basically, TBD.

Once we were done inside, we all had to lineup outside the venue for one more quick shot of all of us, as if we were going into the show. We also saw Kat, Nikki, Alex and Drew walking hand in hand as if they were leaving the venue. Taylor, Zac and Isaac even came outside to watch the final shot, even though they weren't in it. Once that was over, they invited us all to huddle around them and they graciously thanked us and said the new album would be out "soon". They gave hugs, shook hands and said goodbye to everyone. I didn't see anyone get a picture with them, since it looked like they took off pretty quickly, so I left too.

All in all, it was an amazing day! I'm so excited for the new album and of course for this video to premiere!

P.S. To all the other fans who were there, I just wanted to say, you were all so sweet as usual. I've never had a bad experience with Hanson fans, so thanks for keeping that streak going!

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at The Greek Theater

Show: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Venue: Greek Theater- Los Angeles, CA

Date: 5/4/12

Show #29

It was opening night at The Greek Theater in LA, and I was so excited to be seeing Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. You couldn't have asked for better weather on that Friday night either. To top off the pre-show excitement, I scored the coveted front of the line parking spot for stacked parking, meaning I wasn't going to have to wait an hour for cars around me to leave after the show in order to pull out. High fives all around!

I had seen Edward Sharpe once before, on the Railroad Revival Tour with Mumford and Sons last year and they were so great, I had to see them again. In case you're not familiar with them, you may know their hit song "Home".

They look like a bunch of vagabonds who fell off a train somewhere in another era, and I love them for that. Edward Sharpe is a messianic figure of the imagination of lead singer Alex Ebert who according to Alex, "was sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind...but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love." That pretty much sums up the persona of the band right there.

Opening the show was actually a former member of the 10+ piece band of Edward Sharpe, Aaron Embry. Given he was part of the band, I thought "He must be good!". Right? Wrong. As you may have noticed, I can usually find a bright side of just about any artist and find a way to enjoy myself, but I really really struggled with Aaron. The purpose of an opening act is to get the crowd warmed up and ready to go for the headliner, and Aaron more just put them to sleep, and just made them feel sorry for him. You needed a chainsaw to cut through the awkwardness in the air when he was on stage.

(Photo credit: Rozette Diaz of Restless Cities)

He seemed visibly nervous and unsure of himself. It was also just him, and no backup band. Just him and a guitar. There are few even well established artists that can pull off the solo, acoustic, singer/songwriter act at such a big, historic venue such as The Greek, so for a new act like Aaron, I think it was just a poor choice to throw him up there. Once that train wreck was over, it was time for the main event!

As I mentioned before, the one other time I saw these guys was on The Railroad Revival Tour, which if you're not familiar with that tour, it was one giant party on stage at all times, and SO much fun. So going into this show, that's what I had expected. This show was unfortunately a little slower paced than that one. Still good, I guess I just had some high expectations of the show that were not met.

(Photo Credit: Black Vinyl Magazine)

I think it was a the cadence of the show that made it weird. Alex at one point said that they had no set list for that night, they were winging it. Which if I were to be told that beforehand I would have thought "That's awesome!". But instead it just made for long drawn out moments of silence to give time for discussion after each song to figure out what they wanted to play, which then took setup in order to get the appropriate instruments in place. If they had written out a set list, I think they could have gotten at least 5 or 6 more songs in, that's how big the gaps were. It really interrupts the flow of the show when that happens. A great song will finish and you just wanted it to keep going, but instead it was talking, random banter, and stagehands running around.

One of the best moments was when Alex jumped off the stage to dance with his mother:

Wow this is getting long. Ok so in summary, I'd still suggest you see them live if you've never had the chance. Here are a few videos from the show that I recorded:

Fiya Wata

That's What's Up

Mayla

(Written about Aaron Embry's Daughter, Mayla)

Their latest album Here, is out now!

The All American Rejects at The Troubadour

Show: The All American Rejects
Venue: The Troubadour- Los Angeles, CA
Date: 3/30/12
Show #19

Friday marked my 3rd, and sadly final All American Rejects adventure for that week. This was the one I had been looking forward to the most. The Troubadour is one of my favorite venues in LA, so to see one of your favorite bands there, in such a small intimate setting is just the best.

I won't say too much about this show and let the pictures speak for themselves, but if you've seen All American Rejects live before, you know just how amazing they are live. One of the best live acts around. They put on the type of show where you feel like you can't sing loud enough, jump high enough, or scream loud enough. You're a crazy sweaty mess after an AAR show, and it's fantastic.

Videos recorded:
Heartbeat Slowing Down
Fast & Slow (Feat. Audra Mae)
Beekeepers Daughter
I For You

 W/ Audra Mae (As heard on Fast and Slow)

And of course, I got a set list!

All American Rejects on Jimmy Kimmel

Show: The All American Rejects on Jimmy Kimmel
Venue: Hollywood, CA
Date: 3/27/12
Show #18

One of the many perks of living in Los Angeles, is that it's where artists come for album release festivities, and appearances. Which is why I got to see All American Rejects 3 times in one week. Excessive? Or awesome? I vote awesome.

Photo from my phone:

If you've never gotten to go to a taping a Jimmy Kimmel, here are a few tips:

- For tickets, go to 1iota.com
- Check that site often, as Jimmy Kimmel has a large outdoor stage and gets pretty big musical guests to perform there, and tickets are free! Given, it's not a whole show. Guests typically do about 5 songs (only 1 or 2 make it on air). But hey, it's free!
- Cameras are not allowed, and they mean it. Don't even try. Phones are ok.
- Purses are not allowed. Yes, purses. Keep everything on your person.
- Get there early. Try to get there at least an hour before the suggested time. That is, if you care about how close to the stage you are. For bigger acts, people have been known to camp out to be up front, or get there at all hours of the morning. Not that I've done it before *cough cough* This is what the line looked like when I showed up around the suggested time on the ticket for AAR:

- When you get there, look at your ticket and check to see if you're "Priority" or not. Priority ticket holders (these are luck of the draw when you're requesting tickets) get in before the general line. Look for a 1iota team member or ask people in line, to make sure you're in the correct line.
- Be prepared to stand. Once let in, you have to watch the whole taping of the show on a screen they project for all the outdoor audience members. Musical guests always come last.
- Have fun! Keep an eye out for cameras on you, especially if you're against the barricade, don't be caught picking your nose!

The guys sang 2 songs to air on TV (Beekeepers Daughter and Kids in the Street) and stayed after to do a few more for the fans, including Move Along and Gives You Hell. Before they hit the stage, they all did a walk by the barricade giving fans high fives and shaking hands. Nick even gave me a head nod and a point like "hey I remember you" haha I've been to a ton of tapings at Jimmy Kimmel and i've never seen an act come down and do that before the show. So that was very cool of them.

After the show, fans had the option to buy a CD and meet the band. I didn't stay to do it since I had met them all the night before, but it looked like a pretty big line of people!

Here's the recording of Beekeepers Daughter as it aired on the show:

Kids in the Street:

Here is a video a fan recorded on their phone of Move Along: