Sorry for not posting the second part yesterday. I literally spent the entire day captioning all of my pictures that I uploaded to Flickr. So if you had seen something before and wondered what or where it was, check it out again as it will have a caption:
http://flickr.com/photos/joshmcconnell/collections/72157600126982731/

Now on to the highlights…

Favorite Events of GMA Week 2007
Though there were a lot of events to attend throughout the week, there are were a couple that stick out as I think back to GMA. The first of which was definitely my favorite, but the second was a ton of fun as well…

- Monday night dinner
On the Monday night, a publicist took Brent, Chris and I out to dinner. I don’t want to say his name in case he doesn’t want it up here, but we all had a great time. Though there was a bit of shop talk, we mostly talked about everything else on the planet. Favorite mediums of entertainment (movies, tv shows, music, etc.), our backgrounds, and more. It was just a very relaxed and fun time. Brent and Chris also got him to crack some Canadian jokes, the second of which was actually really good. Ha. I hope he had as much fun as the three of us did.

- Opry Mills
Though it wasn’t technically part of GMA, this is the other “event” that sticks out in my mind when thinking back over the week. Brent, Chris, and I went to the Opry Mills mall next to the Opry House to just hang and chill out. Another friend, Katy, also met up with us and hung out for a bit. It was just an all around relaxing time, filled with the weeklong running jokes and their attempts at Canadian zingers. Then we went to the Doves immediately afterwards to begin our fun-filled coverage.

Favorite Interviews of GMA
I interviewed fifteen artists/bands over the course of two days at GMA. Pretty much all of them were fun and had their own moments, but I’d say a few definitely stuck out from the rest in this category. I’ll list the top five since it’s an easy number (ha) and I’ll list them in alphabetical order to be fair.

Those that didn’t make the list certainly weren’t bad by any means. I enjoyed them all. It’s just that these ones are probably the best of the best…

It should be noted that one of the things I hope artists/bands realize after they meet me is that I’m not just doing this for a “story.” I’m not even sure if journalism is what I want to do when push comes to shove. I want to help them out, make friends, and just have some fun with it too. When that recorder stops taping I consider everything else said to me off the record, so they don’t have to worry about whether or not I’ll print something they don’t want printed. I’m not one of those guys who will quickly scribble something down after talking to them in the hall, so I can go home and publish it for the world to see. They can relax before or after the interview, or even if we run into each other elsewhere. I’m not out to share secrets and can be trusted. ha. I think most of these artists caught on to that, which helped make them more memorable.

- The Afters
These guys were really down to earth and fun… We seemed to get along great and joked around a bit during the interview, which is always way better than those by-the-book interviews. They also stayed at the same hotel as us, so we ran into them a few times and continued a few conversations.

I have a feeling they’re going to do quite well with their next release as it sounds like it’s going to be getting a solid mainstream push. I look forward to meeting them again and wish them the best.

- Chris Rice
Here is another artist that was very down to earth. We had a great conversation about the mainstream industry vs the Christian industry and the purposes that the latter serve (if any). He seems to be quite knowledgeable on the industry and I wish him great success in the general market too.

We also talked about different online networking tools and ways that bands can interact with their fans more. The internet has made it very easy for bands to do so now. Chris is a very nice and easily approachable guy who knows what he’s doing…

- Jessie Daniels
This interview took place in the middle of the second day of interviews after I had already completed a ton of them. So far most of them were pretty straight forward and my questions were answered, but that’s about it. But Jessie and I talked a bit before and after the interview about random things, she ordered her lunch while I was there, and there were just a number of other factors that made it feel like a very relaxed interview. It seemed more like we were just hanging out and having a conversation than a formal interview. It was a nice break from the routine since things didn’t feel scripted. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to talk again, in an interview or not.

Plus it was held on the top floor of The Hilton. That was such a cool hotel… I only had two interviews there, but I loved going inside every time for other things.

- Kevin Max
It was great to finally meet Kevin in person. He’s always very opinionated which makes for a great interview. Last time we spoke, I tried my best to stay away from any dc Talk questions… But this time I asked if I could drill him a bit on one or two. He said yes and gave a bit more insight into the dismemberment of the group. It should also be noted that he did a fun showcase at BB King’s on the Monday night.

- Manic Drive
What can I say? Whenever Manic Drive and I get together, all rules are thrown out the window. We just have a ton of fun and get sidetracked very easily, yet we still pull out an interesting interview. It’s always great to run into these guys. We go way, way back.

So there you have it, my highlights of GMA Week 2007. Lots of fun was had, new friends were made, and there were just so many memorable moments that I could probably keep listing them off for pages. But these are the ones that I think back to instantly when reliving GMA Week 2007.

Thanks for following me during my trip to Nashville. The thousands of you have easily surpassed my previous monthly averages and helped prove the work wasn’t in vein. Ha. I look forward to attending again next year when we’ll do it all again. And no, that wasn’t supposed to rhyme…

Keep an eye out for some final Nashville tidbits, such as videos, trickling onto the blog in the next few days. I didn’t get the chance to take many, but I did take a few as I walked the streets and buildings.

I also have my commentary from the Dove Awards up on Renown Magazine soon. I’ll let you guys know over here when it goes up.

So GMA Week 2007 has come to a close. It was a busy week to be sure with very little sleep, but it was still a ton of fun. I’m really glad I went down. I flew for the first time since I was three, I lived in downtown Nashville for a few days, I met up with some old friends and made some new ones, I had both fun and interesting interviews, I could put faces to those I have been working with for years, and the list could go on. It truly was a great experience.

Here is a list of my thoughts on the place, the week itself, and the Dove Awards. Tomorrow I will post my favorites of the week, so look out for that.

Nashville
First of all, there’s the city. From what I had experienced in Nashville, I really loved what I saw. The city was quite beautiful and the people were all genuinely nice, with the exception of one of the McDonalds employees who was sort of emotionless. I was honestly expecting cowboy city, but I only saw a massive amount of them on Sunday night. Ha. During the week it was mostly suits and (I’m assuming) tourists walking around aside from those attending GMA.

The few venues I attended for showcases and what not were pretty cool too. I really liked BB Kings, even if the sound was pretty rough…

The architecture on some of the buildings was quite impressive. Then with all of the trees and landscapes, it helped add to the overall homey nature. It really felt like a small town.

Honestly, if I good job came up and I was able to work out the whole working in the States thing, I think I’d actually consider the relocation. But who knows what the future has in store.

GMA Week 2007
As previously mentioned, the week itself was crazy. I was constantly running around, consuming lots of water, and sweating due to the warmer temperatures. My back got a little sore from carrying the heavy backpack everywhere, but it was worth it. It was fun to walk around the Renaissance and Hilton Hotels, both of which are quite amazing to look at inside and out. I was especially impressed with the Hilton and its lobby.

It was also fun to run into people I knew from the Ontario music scene. It helped make the event a little more familiar…

Another cool aspect of the week was seeing how many people were familiar with me and the site. I was expecting to do a fair bit of self promotion down there, but pretty much every one at labels, management, companies, and even the artists themselves knew myself and the site. I really appreciate everyone’s support.

Of course, I have to mention that the best part of all was finally seeing my longtime friends Brenten Gilbert and Chris Unthank in person. I also got the chance to meet and hangout with Robin Parish, someone who I’ve communicated with a few times online over the years.

The Dove Awards
One of the places that a lot of people asked if I was going to see is the Grand Ole Opry House. Well, I did end up seeing it… Sort of. We had to walk way around the back of the building into the media room which was situated backstage. I never actually saw the inside of the auditorium or main lobby. But that’s okay, it was still fun.

The night was long though. We got there are 4 pm and left at midnight… Eight hours! Chris, Brent and I all sat at a table together though and kept things interesting with our amusing commentary and quick-witted comments. They made it a lot of fun and the time passed by rather quickly. Though I don’t agree with a number of winners as there are some artists who should have taken home a trophy or two, there’s not much you can do about it other than have some fun with it.

I also got to say hi to some of the people I met that week one last time before flying back home the next day. It’s too bad I can’t seem them more often.

I was trying to get this finished for posting much earlier, but I’ve been distracted off and on with installing Windows Vista onto my laptop. Part two is almost finished, but I am really tired so I’m finishing it tomorrow.

So check back here tomorrow for a list of my favorite events and interviews of GMA Week 2007 to wrap up my coverage.

I’m back home. I actually got back at about 6:45 PM but I relaxed, ate, and didn’t do much computer stuff. Now I just finished uploading pictures from yesterday and today in Nashville, including backstage at the Dove Awards. Here they are…

Yesterday’s events (day four):
http://flickr.com/photos/joshmcconnell/sets/72157600136000760/

The Dove Awards:
http://flickr.com/photos/joshmcconnell/sets/72157600136284602/

Today’s trip home:
http://flickr.com/photos/joshmcconnell/sets/72157600136347103/

I’m going to post one more final post about my trip to Nashville tomorrow to finish up the coverage. It’ll just be me giving my final thoughts on the week, the city, and the events. But first, I’ll give you a journal of my traveling journeys today…

Read the rest…

NOTE: Sorry about Twitter not updating this afternoon and evening. I guess their text messaging went down or something. How annoying… Also pictures from today and tomorrow (the trip home) will probably be uploaded tomorrow night or something when I get back to Ontario. I need to get to bed asap tonight.

So let’s see, what did we do today? Brent and I went to have breakfast first of all. It was good. I ate four cinnamon buns and a yogurt. We bumped into a couple of the members of The Afters since they are staying in our hotel, so Brent and I chatted with them briefly as we both have met them before multiple times.

After Breakfast, we went back to the hotel room and picked up some things, we headed back over to the Renaissance since Brent had a few interviews left to do this morning. So we went to the press room for a second and Chris was there finishing up some publicity work with one of his clients. Brent shortly ran to his interviews, so Chris and I sat and talked in the lunch room for about an hour. A couple of friends and acquaintances came into the room including Neal Morse as well, but we mostly just chatted with each other. We then decided to walk around the Convention Center for half an hour. I then walked back to the hotel to finish packing a few things, then I crossed the street and mailed my guitar that I won back home.

After that, I went back to the hotel room where Brent and Chris were now waiting so we could all head over to the mall. We grabbed some food at T.G.I. Fridays where a friend from years ago, Katy, came and hung out with us for a bit. She is going to a school in Nashville and it was great to see her after knowing her for so long.

Brent, Chris, and I met with Chris’ sister and her two friends in the parking lot, then headed across the street to the Opry House for the Dove Awards pre-show. We got there at 4pm, an hour and a half before the pre-show started. The six of us got good seats with power plugs for our laptops. Chris, Brent, and I are sitting at one table each with our own laptops plugged in, then sitting directly behind us are Chris’ sister and friends. We were easily the two loudest tables backstage. Ha. We were just having a blast with our own commentary, inside jokes, and just all around fun conversations… We had a great time… I did a running commentary of the entire night and that will go up sometime later on.

There wasn’t a break for us backstage in between the pre-show and the actual awards show. It was brutal… We got there at 4 pm and it went until 12:15 am. And let me tell you, that eight hours is a very long time for me to stay still. Mind you, I got up to the washroom a couple of times and stood for twenty minutes or so just for a break. But even then, it was brutal. It was good to have Chris and Brent with me to keep things interesting and fun. We actually had the guy in front of us shake our heads afterwards saying we made the night for him and that we said everything he was thinking. Ha.

We ended up not going to Rocketown for the after show because it was so late already, it was raining, and we’d have to walk ten blocks. Plus we need to get up early, so that’s just too much to take in. ha. So I didn’t get to go to Rocketown, which I really wanted to check out. But oh well, next time. I definitely plan on going to Nashville again, if not for GMA Week next year than just some other time to hang out. I really enjoyed the city. More on that later.

Now we’re back at the hotel, pretty much packed everything and are ready to sleep for the early rise and trip tomorrow. We’ll get up early to grab some breakfast, make sure we have everything, then take a cab to the airport. We’ll say our goodbyes, shed a tear (ha), and hop on our own planes. It stinks Brent, Chris (who I already said goodbye to tonight since I won’t see him tomorrow), and I can’t see each other more often. But we talk all of the time online and act the same way with each other online as we do offline, so it’s like we hang out all of the time. I thought that was really cool when we met each other in person…

Anyway, I’m out. It’s bed time. Tomorrow it is the final day of my trip/coverage: the trip home. Stay tuned.

So I slept in a little bit this morning, which was nice. I got up at about 7:45 am, I think. Brent really slept in though, but maybe that’s just because Americans have less energy than Canadians. I don’t know. I’m just waiting for him to get ready so we can go downstairs and have some breakfast. I hope it’s still running… I think we have another forty minutes, but I’m not sure. If not, then he better order pizza this time or something.

He has some sort of interview at 9:30 I think. Or maybe it’s 10:30. I don’t know. Either way, he has a bit more work to do this morning, whereas I don’t. I’m going to do my final rounds around the convention center and Renaissance Hotel today since I probably won’t get to again. Then I’m going to check out the mail place to make sure I can mail the guitar, as I said last night. You know, I can never spell “Renaissance” right… Thank goodness for spell check.

The main reason I’m posting is to let you know I sorted the pictures by day now for GMA Week. If you want, you can go to its collection page (click here) and it’ll list the different days. Or here are the direct links:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Now all of the pictures are showing properly in the preview page, so that’s good…

It’s 9:04 am now… I think we may be going soon. So I’ll talk with you later. I’ll try to get one more entry in before we take off to the mall at about 1:00pm, because otherwise you might not hear from me until tonight or tomorrow since we are going directly to the Dove pre-show and Dove Awards from there.

Pictures from today are now up in the Flickr gallery. In case you were wondering, captions ARE coming… But I think I’ll do that after the week is over, as I barely have enough time as it is. So if you are wondering about one in particular, ask in a comment/e-mail or keep checking back to see when the captions go up. I’ll mention it here. For now, here’s the photo gallery with the new pics:
http://flickr.com/photos/joshmcconnell/sets/72157600127080374/

By the way, that preview page doesn’t show all of the pics though. If you want to see them all, I’d start at the latest one and work your way back or something… I think I may just create separate folders for each of the days so you can see them all in the preview page, but maybe that’s a tomorrow job.

So my final batch of interviews all went well. I had a lot of fun doing them. The final interview for me at GMA Week (at least as of right now) was, of course, Manic Drive. Just as you would expect, we had a very civilized and thought provoking discussion… Or maybe not. We get sidetracked very easily. ha. But we still talked about some new things as well, so it had its element of seriousness…

After the interview, the three of us went up to some special VIP suite on the top floor of the Renaissance Hotel. It was awesome.. A little food buffet, free drinks, a member of staff to get you the drinks and keep the food coming, a big screen tv, and (most importantly) a wall made of glass for an amazing view of the city. I posted pictures of the view in the Flickr gallery. It was great to hang out with the guys again, but then we had to go on our own ways…

I decided to head back to the hotel and relax. So I came back at about 6:50 pm and began doing some work on the computer. I was really hungry though, so I ordered pizza for delivery. It took almost forty-five minutes! Yikes. It was really good though… I ate three quarters of it. ha. Then Brent finally came back from his nighttime festivities at about 7:50 pm, just after the pizza arrived. We hung out here and talked, watched some TV, etc. until about 10 pm when we went to a late night Centricity Records showcase. It went until about 11:45 where Downhere closed the show. They did an awesome job… Such a great band…

Now we’re once again finishing the night by updating our various websites and pages. But man, am I feeling the lack of sleep now… It hit me during the second last band at the showcase. I can’t wait to sleep in a bit tomorrow since we don’t have anything planned early. Except I think the breakfast is served until 9:30, so I guess we’ll have to make it for that. ha. Other than that, I’m not sure what I’m doing tomorrow morning. I’ll probably wander a bit one last time. Then I think I’m going to try to figure out shipping the little guitar I won back home. I think I should be able to fit everything else in my bags, which is excellent.

Hmm.. I think I’ve figured out where some of the GMA Week pictures went. It seems it isn’t uploading them all at once, which is odd. So now I know what to look for to tell me if it uploaded all pictures or not from now on. That was really weird though…

Anyway, once again I am off to bed. I’m really tired. Goodnight all.

It’s funny, for a guy who is running on about four hours of sleep right now, I’m really not that tired. My legs are a little sore though. I’m sure I’ll be feeling the tiredness tonight, especially since we are probably going to a late night showcase (starts at 9:30 pm). We’ll see.

Man, Brent has three bottles of Coke sitting by the window all in a row. I wonder if he’s even going to drink them… I just drink much needed (and appreciated when given to me) water everywhere.

Anyway, so the day began with Brent and I heading over to the Nashville Convention Center for the Provident Media Blitz after grabbing a couple of things from our hotel’s breakfast buffet. It was in the lowest level in a large room with concrete flooring. In one corner were chairs and tables set up with a mini buffet of some breakfast goodies. I only grabbed a bottle of water. I’ve been living off of bottled water this week.

Aside from the public corner that you walk into after signing in for the media blitz, there is a huge section curtained off. Inside that big section are a ton of little mini sections with a table and chairs. That is where the artists/bands were. It was actually kind of cool… You would look around and just see all of these black curtains with names of bands on them. Behind each of those curtains were the members. It was pretty massive. Of course, when they weren’t doing any interviews the bands would come out and join us in the public area too and mingle.

So originally I was supposed to do an interview at 8:30 am with Brian Littrell (Backstreet Boys). I guess he couldn’t make it though because he had to prepare for the Dove Awards tomorrow night… That’s too bad. Apparently they sent me an e-mail, but I never received it. That’s okay though, it happens. We’re going to try to do something at the Doves tomorrow night…

That being said, I did three interviews back to back from 9 to 10:30 am. They all seemed to go well, in my opinion. In between interviews, Brent and I would let each other know how our interviews went, joke a bit (his usually being Canadian jokes, of course), and then went on and did our thing. He then went off to do some more interview while I had a bit of a break before my next inteview over at The Hilton. So I wandered the streets of Nashville a bit, took some pictures, and mingled in the buildings while killing time. I then went to the press room to charge my camera’s batteries and do some work on he laptop as I waited for my interview with Jessie Daniels over at the Hilton. The batteries charged fairly quickly, then I had to run quickly to the other building a few blocks a way. Boy, while it’s overcast today, it’s still really humid. I keep sweating. ha.

The Jessie Daniels interview went well… Very laidback and fun. Hopefully she enjoyed it too… At all of my interviews I have been handing out pencils that say Canada on them. They seem to be a hit. My Xbox 360 has been a topic of discussion multiple times too… ha.

So then I went for a walk and got some McDonalds for lunch again and brought it back to the hotel, where I am situated right now. I was really hot and sweating, but now I am kind of cold from the air conditioning. ha.

I think Brent is finishing up lunch somewhere with someone. No, wait, he’s at a Word media blitz thing… Then Chris is doing work for his publicity company for the afternoon. I’ll probably go see him in between my interviews. I have a bunch from 2:30 to 5:30 now, with one or two breaks in between.

I’m going to catch up on reading some web stuff and relax a bit before I leave soon… So I’ll post again tonight. Looks like we may be going to a late night showcase too…

Wow, there are a lot of you guys reading the content… Especially the photo gallery. Thanks for the interest. Just to let you know, I added a ton of pictures from today (day two) in the GMA Folder. Check them out:
http://flickr.com/photos/joshmcconnell/sets/72157600127070342/

It’s 1:10 am. Brent and I are back in the hotel room on our laptops, barely saying a word to each other unless we have some sort of witty commentary to late night talk shows and sports. We’re busy updating our sites as fast as possible so we can have a lovely thing called sleep… Something we need more so tonight since we’re getting up an hour earlier than today. But somehow I doubt we’ll get any extra.

Tonight was an interesting evening. We went off to the EMI showcase originally and even got to ride in a fancy bus shuttle, but when we got there the lineup was huge and since it was a 21+ you needed photo ID. Something most of the people on the bus left at their hotel room… That was just a silly setup altogether. It should have been at a different venue, especially since it wasn’t advertised anywhere about the age limit. So Brent, Chris, and I all decided to hop back on the comfy bus and continue our conversation (and their Canadian jokes. sheesh). Once we got back to the Renaissance Hotel, Chris decided to go to another showcase to see if he won an iPhone. They figure if a Canadian can win a prize pack, surely Chris could win something. ha.

So Brent and I walked a number of blocks in Downtown Nashville to BB Kings… What a cool venue/club. Downstairs was a showcase brought to you by the great group of publicity gals, The Media Collective. Or at least it was their artists so I’m assuming they were helping put it on. It mostly consisted of modern/pop/alternative acts, so there were a number of teens around. There were two tweens in particular who were a pain in the butt as they felt like running around and playing tag. They seemed a little old for that. Anyway, we pretty much just saw The Afters, who did a great job…

Upstairs, the Nashville Publicity Group hosted their own show with their artists (albeit, not as well known groups). We went upstairs at 10pm for the main attraction. For those that don’t know, usually showcases consist of multiple artists playing no more than 30 minutes each… But the promoter talked Kevin Max into headlining the upstairs festivities by playing a full one hour set. I wasn’t complaining. Brent and I watched the first chunk with a good friend of mine from Ontario (Michael from Manic Drive) and a radio DJ from the area, then the group split and Brent and I sat down for the rest of the show. It was fun, but didn’t end until 11:40 pm.

After the event, we walked back to the hotel. First we walked an extra couple of blocks to a gas station to hopefully pick up a bulk package of water and soda, only to find the 24 hour gas station closed. Yeah, we didn’t think it made sense either. So we walked back to the hotel and got drinks once again from the vending machine… Except Brent got two Cokes when he pressed the button, plus it spit his money back out. That’s his prize winnings for the week. ha.

It was certainly a long day, but I had a great time… Again, familiar faces are everywhere and you can’t help but bump into them. I am running into friends like Manic Drive, Carried Away, and Francois from Hello Kelly (all of which are from Ontario and we go way back). Then there are a number of people from the Ontario music scene down here as well that I recognize and chat with a bit…

Artists/bands are everywhere too. Today I bumped into and/or talked with artists like Pillar, Jeff Deyo, Michael W. Smith, Phil Joel, Rebecca St. James, Casting Crowns, Group 1 Crew, and the list could keep going… It’s especially fun running into those artists whom I have interviewed in the past and can catch up to see how they are doing.

Chris saw Little Richard at the Hilton Hotel earlier today. That’s his claim to fame. ha. Whereas I rode up the elevator with the President. Well, okay, so it was John Morgan, a popular President Bush impersonator who likes wandering the buildings. He was making fun of my shirt. Yeah, it was a pretty awkward conversation. To be fair, he looks pretty much identical to Bush…

Okay, well, I should head to bed. The largest, jam-packed schedule is tomorrow, so I should get to bed. I have to get up really early… And it’s 1:45 am. I only have to get up at, what, 6? 6:30? Eek.

Talk with you tomorrow.

Well, Brent and I are here at the hotel and we missed the first shuttle to the EMI showcase. So we’re leaving in a couple of minutes to make the next shuttle a 8:15pm. Chris is at a World Vision showcase until we arrive…

We just got back from having dinner with a fairly new publicist (though the company he works for has been around for some time)… The four of us had a great time. We just talked about any thing and everything… Music, movies, tv shows, technology, sports, our history… Great time. Brent and Chris even got him to finally make a Canadian joke at me, since they do it continually. Thanks guys. I feel loved.

I hope the publicist had a good time too. I think he did. We’ll probably run into him at the showcase tonight…

I’ve been running into Robin Parrish from Infuze continually. It seems like you run into the same people numerous times over the course of the week, but I think I saw him three or four times today in passing. He’s working hard on content over at Infuze Magazine. We’ve talked occasionally over e-mail in the past, but it’s been good to formally meet.

The shuttle leaves in fifteen minutes and it’s probably a ten minute walk to the pick up point. Time to run… Keep the feedback coming. I’ve been getting a good response. You are allowed to comment though.

So it’s 1:50 pm CDT here in Nashville… Today was the first of my interviews. They went well… I spoke with four different artists. Up and coming act Family Force 5 were hilarious and a ton of fun… American Idol’s Mandisa was really sweet… Eb+Flo’s Chris Rice was just a great conversation that I enjoyed a lot. I don’t want to give too much away on any of them yet, so stay tuned for the interviews.

The day started with Brent and I having breakfast at about 8 AM… We then went off to do our own interviews. Which, by the way, you can follow his live coverage at his website. Here’s a link:
http://www.trudatmusic.com/raw/

Anyway, I realized I forgot something for the Family Force 5 interview, so I had to run back to the hotel first. I was sweating buckets as it was still sunny out. It’s raining now, of course…

After Family Force 5, I wandered back to the other location for my next two interviews. Again, they went well, despite me getting lost on a floor… Seriously, why do they all have to look the same? ha.

I went to the exhibits next and they were all pretty boring, so that was pretty short lived. I grabbed some McDonalds, went back to the hotel room, and now I’m updating this.

I’ve been running into a lot of familiar faces down here. Either some people from back home, people I sort of know online, or just various artists that I recognize. They are everywhere. It’s pretty fun. It seems a lot of people have heard of Renown Magazine too, which is awesome to see. I’ve had a number of people want to meet me or when they hear the name of the magazine they’ll know what I’m talking about. Both industry people and artists alike. It’s pretty cool…

I have to run for now… I was going to upload some pics, but there isn’t any time. I’ll update more later tonight with how the rest of the day goes and with a big batch of pictures.

And no, I’m not proof reading these entries. Excuse any spelling mistakes. ha. Maybe I’ll quickly proof the current ones tonight too, it depends on how late the showcases go until.

Well, off into the heart of the week again… Lunch is officially over. Keep following Twitter!

Well, we’re heading off to start out day two of GMA Week. It’s really Day One of full time work though… I’m not really looking forward to talking a lot… ha.

Don’t forget to keep watching Twitter! Also check out the GMA Week 2007 Photo gallery.

Rock on.

Well, today was an interesting day. It was a lot more laid back and getting familiar with my surroundings and the locations of buildings so I know where I am going for my two busy days (Monday and Tuesday). I think I’ll be okay. ha.

As I am typing this, I am sitting in our hotel room in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It is 12:30 AM CST now, so technically I guess it is Monday. We won’t get into specifics…

The road here was an interesting one. First of all, I hope you were following Twitter today. If not, you can read my commentary at my profile. I’ve been updating all day, even from the airports… But I’m getting sidetracked as I was talking about my journey. I left the house at 7:30 AM and got to the airport at about 9:00 AM… After a super quick check in, I was off to customs. I cleared customs easily, then had to kill time until it was time to board…

The first flight was fun. It was weird at first since I wasn’t used to flying. It felt a lot like a roller coaster, especially at the first initial thrust as you begin to take speed down the runway for take off. On the first flight from Toronto to Chicago I had a nice, fifty-something year old lady with some sort of accent headed to Memphis. The plane was a little tight, but not too bad… We actually landed early, which was awesome because that meant I could make my connecting flight. It ends up it was delayed fifteen minutes, which was even better.

Finding the gate in Chicago was super easy. No problems. Once we boarded (late), I realized this flight wouldn’t be as comfortable. The plane was smaller all around, so you were that much closer to the person next to you. For me, I had a nice enough gentlemen beside me who was going back home to Miami from a flooring and tile tradeshow. He was probably in his forties and had an accent too, but he had a gas problem. Eek.

So I landed fine and found my luggage. I then went to use the bathroom and bumped into KJ-52. I guess he was on the same flight as Brent (from TRu.dAT-music and my roommate), who I met coming out. We then waited for Chris (WorldofCM) to pick us up, but he was half an hour late. ha. That’s okay though, because we had a blast just hanging out for the whole afternoon and evening…

First we checked into the hotel and got our room. It wasn’t quite ready yet, smelt a bit like smoke and beer, but that’s okay. The lady quickly finished it and we dumped our stuff off. Then we went to White Castle for some food, a place I had never been before since we don’t have them in Canada. After that, we checked in for GMA Week and got our badges and bags full of swag. I got TONS of swag for my first day, which is crazy. I haven’t even gone to the convention center yet…

During the short time we were in the building getting our passes, we ran into Robin Parrish from Infuze Magazine plus various band members… Sanctus Real, Phil Joel (a former Newsboy), etc. But we were in a hurry to an event…

Next we wandered over to the GlobalCafe for a New Media networking event, hosted by Word Records. It was not too bad. We mostly used the time to talk with the label though and not other members of the press. ha. Robin Parrish ended up going there too, so he sat with us at our table. We had a fun time… They showed music videos on television and projector screens. They also put up famous YouTube videos, which were terrible on the projector. ha. I ended up winning a big grand prize pack which includes a number of autographed CDs, a fold up Word lawn chair, autographed guitar, iPod Shuffle, t-shirt, etc. Weird. Now I need to figure out how to bring them home…

After that we (Brent, Chris, and I) went to the Hard Rock Cafe and had supper. Great atmosphere, but the food was super small. I got more at White Castle for half the price… I also noticed from walking in downtown Nashville that people love their cowboy hats and Elvis. I wonder if I should break it to them that he’s dead?

We dropped my prizes off at the Hotel, then went off to a couple of showcases. I got a call from a friend/publicist, so instead of going to a showcase I joined him and a new artist he’s working on at his hotel room and chatted for a bit. Then we went to the songwriters showcase where I bumped into a few people, such as a contestant from this year’s American Idol (again, glad you could make it, man. You know who you are).

And that brings us to now… In the hotel room at 12:50 am. I’m heading to bed as it is an early morning tomorrow (though not as early as Tuesday). Again, today was more of a laidback day as I am getting situated. Tomorrow will start with me updating the blog more often in the day in terms of coverage, plus I have interviews starting at 9am until 5 pm. Yikes. So keep watching Twitter to see my updates!

Head over to my Flickr account too. I uploaded a TON of pictures from today… 90 of them to be exact.

Talk with you tomorrow.

Pictures (I’ll add captions later, I’m too tired right now. ha):
http://flickr.com/photos/joshmcconnell/sets/72157600126958927/

Twitter (real time blog):
http://www.twitter.com/mcconnell

Sample Snapshot:

Well, this is it folks… The night before the big week. I’m all packed and am ready to go, so I’m heading to bed shortly as I have to get up super early tomorrow.

I’ll try adding entries to my Twitter account throughout the travel itinerary tomorrow (ie: from airports in between flights). Once I get access to the internet I’ll add a blog entry and maybe some pictures (though they may not get added until tomorrow night). After that, Monday and Tuesday are just going to be a blur. But you’ll be hearing about that very soon…

So strap in and enjoy the ride. Between this blog, my Twitter account (which the last five entries will always be integrated into the sidebar to the right), and my Flickr account, there should be enough GMA coverage for all to enjoy. Hopefully you’ll all dig it…

And don’t forget to comment or e-mail me to give your feedback throughout the week. It’s appreciated.

In about sixty hours from the time I am posting this, I will be on my plane headed to the States. Gosh, time sure flies. It seems like it was just the other day when I was saying it was a month away…

I think I have everything pretty much ready though. My interviews are prepped and proof read, the itinerary is filled with contact info and exact locations, contacts are inputed into my Treo phone, and all the little details seemed to be finalized. All that is left is to print out everything so I have a hard copy of them too, find something to hold them in, and get all of the little odds and ends together before I pack Saturday evening.

I’m trying to decide what to bring on the plane though… I think I’ll bring my iPod for sure. But then should I bring my Nintendo DS? Or maybe just bring The Office: Season 2 and watch them on my laptop? I have about two hours and forty-five minutes of flying plus a forty-five minute layover to kill, and I have a short attention span. ha.

Tomorrow morning I think I’ll send an e-mail blast out to the Renown mailing list about the upcoming coverage, then I work almost all day. Saturday I work from 8am to 4:30 pm, then it’s time for supper and packing… These next two days will fly by.

Rock on.

It is late into Tuesday evening… I have tomorrow and Thursday off, then I work Friday and Saturday before the big trip to Nashville Sunday morning. These next two days are going to be crucial for me get all the loose ends tied up before I hop onto the plane and cross the border.

The good news? I’m almost finished preparing everything. I have one or two more interviews to prep as of the time I’m writing this (I’m actually procrastinating prepping one. ha), then I need to get things in place for the “live” coverage, make a graphic or two, and get all of my contact / location info in place and on my Treo. It’s the final crunch, but I think I’ll make it.

The bad news? This blog has been a little neglected as I prepare for the trip. Sorry about that. But with the ease of Twitter and Tumblr, I’ve been able to quickly throw brief entries online to let you know what I’m up to without slowing my progress down too much. That’s why it’s a good thing to keep an eye on them. Just think though, in a matter of days this blog will be getting multiple entries per day from Music City USA. Now would be a good time to subscribe to the feed to make sure you don’t miss any of the coverage!

So stay tuned. We’re almost there…

Rock on.

My Nashville Map (click for location details):