Volunteer and fun? Extra post- September

Above is a picture of Touche Amore playing at Bridgetown DIY for their secret record release show.

-It's pretty neat working at a venue. For fun and what not, I go to a lot of shows. Sometimes in Pomona, or even in Anehiem. The cool thing is that the venue I'm doing my mentorship hours at, is right down the street from my house. How convenient right? Anyways, I get to get hours by coming in early, setting up to sell entrance to the show, stamp peoples hands and clean the venue up before the show. When there's a big show, we usually have a tap of people, that being 100. So once I finish getting in that many people, I count the money, store it in a private place and get to join in with the crowd. I've been able to see some really great bands, and meet most of them and help them out with setting up and getting situated before the show. In the picture above, we have a band named Touche Amore playing. This was a really secret show that wasn't announced until two hours before the actual show! We had tons of people come to the venue, unfortunately we had a tap and had to turn down many, MANY, people. All in all, it was a fun show, and the experience of working in a venue has been fun so far. I cant imagine it getting boring.

Second Interview Questions

The purpose of the second interview is justify your mentor as an expert in the field.  Thus, you will be asking at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?
-My mentor is Kevin Lopez. He works at Bridgetown DIY, the venue that I'm going to be doing my senior project at.

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?-What things made you want to work at a venue?
-Would or have you considered opening a DIY(Do it yourself) venue on your own?
-How long have you been working with venues?
-What or who influenced you to work with music?
-Have you always been interested in the music business? If not, when did you become interested and why?

Blog 5 Project Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon: 
(1) Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you have completed so far?
- Some positive things that I have gotten from the project so far are some new friendships and a lot of knowledge and understanding of what my project deals with. Since I'm doing my mentorship hours at a venue, I get the inside scope of what happens behind the scenes. Example, what needs to be done to book a show. I've also met a lot of people who like all of the things that I like. Example, music and venues.

(2) EQ Content:  Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic? An article I read a few weeks ago for a research check, named "How to Start a Coffeehouse". It gave me a lot of information about picking PA systems for the venue, tips on tickets and marketing/advertisement ideas.

(3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?
- The trip to the library has opened a lot of "doors" for me. I now know where to go to find research for business plans, and research for anything that has to do with marketing and owning any type of business. 
- Spending time at the venue and going to meetings there have helped me a lot. I've gained a lot of knowledge by just being there for a few hours. 

(4) What hasn't worked so far?
- I don't think there's anything that has led me down a wrong path so far. Everything that we've done in the senior project has someone helped me.
(5) Finding Value:  

•  What is a potential question you would like to study this year?  (working EQ)

         - What does a person need to do in order to successfully open and manage a live music venue?

•  What do you plan to do for mentorship?  If you haven't found a mentor yet, then discuss where you are currently looking and who you are talking to to find it.  

         -For my mentorship, I'll be working at a venue. My duties will include running the door, selling tickets,    attending collective meetings, booking and running 4 shows on my own.