greetings from nashville! i am currently here until thursday and very much enjoying my time - it's been 2 years since i was last here! i attended a friends wedding on friday night and it was amazing and last night i was lucky enough to score a ticket to see taylor swift perform in her hometown!

the show was pretty amazing, i was very impressed..girl knows how to entertain! faith hill even showed up and they performed one of her songs together. after the show i met up with one of my oldest friends..JADE..i'm sure you all know who that is. i saw her lovely band since forever play on the sidewalk outside the sommet center..cool guys.

i went to nashville's famous pancake pantry for lunch today and it was delicious, i'm workin on a list of what to do next while i'm here...

until next time...later kids!

-heather

I will be in Nashville from Sept 10-17! Sooo excited. I will be attending the wedding of my friends Cali and Will and hopefully some other fun things will pop up! Hopefully I will get the chance to catch up with my TOL friends too.. :)

I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged! I haven't been TOO busy, but I have been pretty consumed in the world of summer camp. I started working on June 1st and moved in the last week of June so I've been kind of out of the loop on everything in the world!

First..welcome to all of the new bloggers! I'm sure there are a few since May.

Second..where has the summer gone? I can't believe we are in the middle of it, it's almost AUGUST! I have been working mostly, but I have had a little time off to do some things off camp. I took a day off and went into Boston to see an old friend and check out Ryan Cabrera and The Kin at Cafe 939. I toured with The Kin a few years ago, so it was cool to see them again!

I went to a place called THE LOST RIVER. I used to go there when I was younger, it's in northern New Hampshire not far from the Kancamangus River. BEAUTIFUL place! It's a gorge full of caves - they basically built a boardwalk through it so you can see it all, it's pretty amazing. I got some pretty awesome peanut butter soft serve ice cream later on...and since I work at a peanut FREE camp it just tasted SOOOO much better than usual!

Yesterday I ventured out to Warped tour...can't say I was into anyone playing this year but I visited my friend Andria who is the tour manager for the rock band tent and my friend Tess who works for East Coast Independent. I have to say even though Jeffree Star is AWFUL and just not talented at all, I couldn't take my eyes off of his show! Def interesting. Down with webster was pretty cool..Monty Are I..Meg & Dia..The Gallows etc

I ended up leaving early because it was rainy and cold and I was just SUPER TIRED!

Anyways, my summer has been pretty great so far and I am very much looking forward to the fall. I am currently LOOKING for something to do as far as work goes..hopefully there will be something new and exciting for me then! I will leave you with a few photos. :)

It's been raining for the last 2 days, and will continue throughout the weekend. At my house we even had a fire going in the stove..not the best way to kick off the summer. Brrr!

I'll be back at the summer camp again, I love it there. Starting on monday..

Hope to check out some shows this summer when I can, looking forward to seeing The Kin again!

I had my first Bamboozle experience last weekend. It was pretty intense. Rain, SUN, Rain, Rain Rain. Despite the weather I still had a great time. I ran into so many old friends... Laura, Jade, Kat, Matt Hogan (An MIA blogger), Kevin Jonas...oh wait he's not really my friend.

I had signed up to work for WONKA, since they were the main sponsor it was a pretty big deal. I headed to New Jersey on Tuesday, I had a training session that night. I was booked for Hoodwinked on Friday night, which had about 1/3 of the people that attended bamboozle.

For sat & sun my friend managed to score me an all access pass AKA the GOD PASS. (there was a pic of a beat up god on it, strange) With the pass you can get anywhere, but only if you also had a wristband..with both I had access to backstage, which wasnt too exciting...and ON stage which was awesome. I got to watch Demi Lovato and Honor Society (in which i was standing next to demi and kevin jonas).

One of my fave bands that was new to ME was My Favorite Highway, I absolutely LOVE their album! There were also a lot of bands there promoting themselves...TVTV and Phone Calls from Home were my fave. No Doubt KILLED it on sunday...great way to end the boozle.

Did anyone get the chance to try a KAZOOZLE?? If not, they'll be in stores in JUNE!

Welp...here's a pic to sum up my weekend:

Anyone heading to Bamboozle this weekend? I know JADE will be there!!

I will be working for WONKA, so I will be somewhere passing out a brand new candy called Kazoozle. I'll also be at Hoodwinked!

I'll be sure to post a bloggy after this weekends events. :)

Everyone NEEDS to check out this band called The Kin. They're brothers from Australia, and they are AMAZING. Most definitely one of my fave bands, and one of the best I have ever worked with.

www.myspace.com/thekin

check them out on tour..theyve got quite a few dates coming up with ryan cabrera.

It's been awhile since my last blog and I have surprisingly been doing a few different things.

I went to FL (Orlando & New Port Richey) which was a TON of fun! I did some work, I was helping out a new group called Girls Nite Out..they performed at an event called Chasco Fiesta. I went to Universal 2 days in a row and even got to see my grandparents in Cocoa Beach and stay a couple of days there. The weather was great, I really miss it esp since New England has been getting rain every day since I've been back!

Just before FL I worked a promotion at the Britney Spears concert in Boston. Boring promo but I did get to see some of the show..FOR FREE! Always a plus. :)

Yesterday I worked another promotion at Stars on Ice in Boston, it was actually pretty cool and got to see a lot of the skaters (Sasha Cohen said hello to me!) and also saw a bit of the show. Its pretty crazy what they can do in skates!

Oh my friend also had a BABY over the weekend! She was a week late, but finally her baby girl came...7 pounds 8oz. She is the cutest too, I cannot wait to meet her! It's pretty crazy to think we are all growing up and are somewhat at the point to begin families! It's pretty exciting...but I will definitely be getting a dog before even thinking about children!

Anyways, enough rambling..

xx heather

Hello One Lovers! It's been awhile. I have been letting things build up before I blog, so then I have something to blog about!

The last few weeks have been busy/fun. I ended up going to the taste of chaos tour in Worcester, MA..met some cool new friends and bumped into a very old one! It really made me wish I was workin a club tour right now..or a tour period. Last night I hit up the BRAND NEW  (!!!!) show which was actually in New Hampshire at one of the colleges. I had never seen BN before, and they're one of my fave bands so I was excited..and they did put on a great show for sure. I wasn't really feelin mewithoutyou though, they were the opener.

I have slowly been working on my new room for almost a year now, my little bro moved out last summer so I have been trying to get into his room..it's much bigger than mine. This weekend I finally made some real progress and cleaned it out, took up the rug and primed the walls...tomorrow I'll be getting this blue color paint that I chose. I am pretty excited to finish it and move in!!

Katelyn Tarver finally hit 1 Million myspace plays - I have been working for her for so many years now, so I am pretty stoked she's getting noticed and making moves out there in LA! :)

It also looks like I'll be in FL sometime next week..business/pleasure trip. Gotta love those!

Until then,

xx HEATHER

Last week I attended a panel discussion at my old college (Bay State in Boston). It was for starting your own business, something to that effect anyways. Andria was set to be on the panel, and I was only going to support her (public speaking is not something either of us love to do) but when I arrived there I was asked to be a part of it as well. (we dont have our own business but we count because we ARE our own business).

Since it was last minute for me I wasn''t prepared, Andria was so each time she went to talk I just added to whatever she had to say IF I had anything to say. I felt kinda bad for not having more input..but Andria really said it all! haha.

It was fun though, and  people were actually interested in what we were saying so that was very cool.

It was kinda crazy being back at the school, It has only been 4 years since we graduated and thats not too long of a time but being back in a classroom I used to have a class in talking to kids about what I had only dreamed about 4 years ago just felt so surreal.

If anyone ever has any questions about touring, or anything similar feel free to send me a message: myspace.com/livefreeortour

:)

For the first time this year I had a long & busy weekend. Thursday was my cousins 21st birthday and since 21 is a big, important and FUN birthday I headed to Boston to celebrate with her and her friends. We ended up going to a place called Joshua Tree in Allston, it was pretty cool but too big and pricey for me.

I had fun, but the night ended too soon because my cousin was definitley having TOO much fun and after walking a bit and taking a couple of cabs we made it back to her dorm and I managed to get to bed around 3am when she finally was able to sleep. Definitely an eventful night!

Yesterday I ventured off to Lowell, MA to the tsongas arena..they were having a free event called Winterfest and I went to support a group called Girls Nite Out (I have recently started working with them). They had 2 shows that day and both went over really well..it's so exciting to see a group start from the beginning and watching them grow & improve. (myspace.com/girlsniteoutmusic)

Today was my moms birthday, but it was also a good friends baby shower. I went into Boston (again!!) with Andria to the Globe Cafe (yummy food btw). We both didn't really know anyone, so it was kind of weird..but it was great to see our friend and I am so excited to have a baby to spoil soon! She is due at the end of next month.

(Andria hand crafted this quilt!)

Needless to say, fun weekend. (And finally something to blog about!)

OH and I am also watching the grammys - blink 182 is back! exciting.

So today is January 27.

Eight years ago I interviewed a local band (Pawn Unction), in a local bar, which became the start of what is now Hot Vibes Magazine. I have since done over 100 interviews and met so many people in the music industry, and i am very grateful for the experience I got and chances I was given.

Today will also mark the end of Hot Vibes. It's been a good long run, but it's time to move on. I will be posting a more formal letter on the website later today so make sure to check that out.

Thanks to anyone who has supported us!! I know I cannot thank you enough.

http://www.hotvibes.com

Here are few old and emarassing photos from HV past:

So excited & Happy that Katelyn got to be in this video, and as the main girl!!

I have done nothing exciting since this new year has started. Therefore lack of blogging, but I have invested into Netflix which is probably the best thing ever..I don't know why I didn't catch onto this sooner. I can now get a bunch of movies each month..online AND off which is great because I always spend too much money buying movies and renting them.

Anyways, I'm going to see Ryan Cabrera in a week..should be interesting since he is playing in a tiny venue!

Have a nice weekend everyone! :)

A couple of months ago I blogged about my mom's best friend Liz who was battling skin cancer (melanoma). The cancer was spreading and things were not looking good. Sometime before Christmas she entered hospice care and passed away not too many days later. :(

I was not at home when my mom got the news, I feel like I should have been there.but at the same time I'm glad I wasn't because it would have been harder to cope. I can't even imagine what she is going through, to lose your best friend is one of the worst things that could ever happen.

Life isn't fair. Blah.

RIP Liz.

Starting the saturday after Christmas I have been pretty busy. My friend Joey had a show in Boston at the new Hard Rock Cafe in Fanueil Hall..I went with my friend Eileen and we reunited with a lot of old friends. It was sooo much fun, and for the first time Joey was performing with a band and it was actually really good, I didn't expect it to be that good with the amount of rehearsal time they actual had to get the show together. Our friends Paul and Damon were there with their girl group called Girls Nite Out - who opened. It was only their 3rd show and it was pretty impressive for a new girl group..props to them!

Here are some pix from the show:

Eileen and I helped sell merch too which was a lot of fun (check out the sweet new sweat pants and sweatshirt!!).

Monday I met up with Eileen at the bus station and we went to pick up Brittany (fellow blogger!) at her house in VT and then drve to New York. There was a beautiful sunset on our way, and of course we all pulled out our phones to snap a pic.

We dropped brit off in Astoria and headed to LI to crash for the night. The next day we drove to Philly, Joey had another show that day and of course we went. We picked up our friend Katie there, we haven't seen her in a year! We met up with everyone once we got there, but it was a little difficult to find. The show was at a venue called World Cafe Live, which I have always wanted to go to..but it's def in a weird spot of Philly. Anyways, we set the merch up as soon as we got there and just hung out and watched the worst opening act ever (Sorry but it just hurt to watch!). I guess I gotta give props to her for getting up there though. Joey's show was great again, and I sold a lot of the new merch..gotta hustle those fans!! haha.

We were going to go to some cheese steak place on south st. but it was so packed that we just ended up going home. Oh well, next time.

Of course the next day was New Year's Eve and we weren't sure of what we were going to do, so since it was pretty cool a bunch of us just stayed at Eileen's apartment..watched the reel *nsync and had some champagne! We managed to catch some of the Jonas bros performance and  srtay awake until midnight. It was pretty fun actually, the most fun I have had in a long time for New Years!

Friday I decided it was time to head back to NH. It turned out to be a very long traveling day, I took a train from Long Island into New York City and got a little lost looking for Port Authority (with too much luggage of course, I was dying!). I eventually found it and caught the 3pm bus to Boston..which was late by about 20 mins. When I got to Boston I got lucky and caught the bus to NH and made it home by 10 or so that night. It was quite the day and I am still feeling it in my bones as if I went to the gym and lifted weights!

Aside from that, it was a fun week! :)

I have never made a new years resolution and actually go through with it. I never really cared that much about it before, but now that I am older and have complete control over my life I feel like I need to make resolutions and goal for this year and follow them as much as I can. Here's my list.

excersize more / eat healthier

work & tour steadily throughout the year

stay in contact with friends more

keep a clean/organized living space

finally buy a new camera and practice my photog skills

curve my spending!!

& i would love to go bungee jumping this year. finally, i have always wanted to do it..so hopefully when it gets warmer i can experience that!

have a happy & healthy 2009 everyone! :)

2008 was a crazy year, and not one of my most productive but definitely still a great and fun year for me.

the start of the year andria and i worked a 9 day promo in boston for the boat show. (i worked promos from january to april)

NKOTB reuinted ..and we got a pic with the least popular one. But the important thing is they reunited!

I met Robyn! Remember she was real popular in the US back in the late 90s? she's awesome.

My cat had 5 baby kitties. They were the cutest little things to have running around our house for a few months. It was sad to let them go when they were old enough - but luckily we still have one of them.

from June - August I worked at a summer camp in New Hampshire and LOVED it! It was an amazing experience, and I met so many great people...it was a big change from touring though and it will always be hard to choose between the two when it comes to summer time.

From the end of August to October I was on tour for Microsoft, it was the hardest I have ever worked on a tour physically but it was a great learning experience and I got to travel which was the best part!

I saw old friends, made new ones ..

I am really excited about 2009 and what the year will bring!

It seems as if half of the one love bloggers are all in NY right now! haha. I decided to come yesterday with my friend Eileen, were going to visit a friend tomorrow for his show in Philly..I am so excited for that. I am not sure what the New Years plans will be, there seems to be a million different things going on so hopefully I'll be doing something fun no matter what..and maybe run into the other TOL'ers!

Happy New Year everyone! :)

My heart dropped when I read about this yesterday, Disney has decided to pull the plug on the 3rd Narnia movie - Voyage of the Dawn Treader (MY FAVE BOOK!!) which just sucks. Here's one article...

It has been snowing since 8am this morning and it is almost 8pm and it is STILL snowing! It's crazy, though I should be used to it by now after living in New Hampshire my whole life!

Just over an hour ago we lost power, I'm not sure what happened but thousands of people all over the new england area lost power over a week ago and some still haven't gotten it back..so luckily that didn't happen to me so I kinda freaked when we lost power tonight.  It seemed to last a lot longer, we had the candles lit and cooked dinner on the wood stove. About 10 mins ago the power came back on! I just decided to shut my light off and keep the candle burning because sometimes it's just a nice and relaxing experience.

We must have about 2 feet of snow now..I hope everyone in the same conditions is staying warm!!

TODAY!! So exciting...please vote PICK IT!! It would be great to get the song in rotation! 

:)

UPDATE: Joey received a 99% PICK, the highest EVER in Radio Disney history!!! (and yes beating the jonas brothers!) WOOOO! WAY TO GO JOEY!

Winter is in full effect...and I would say EVERYWHERE rather than just New England. I heard CA and Nevada both got snow! Pretty crazy. It's currently snowing, NH is expected to get about 5 inches to a foot tonight and there is another bigger storm coming on sunday. As beautiful as the winter is I also wish I was somewhere warm and snow-less at the same time!

I went to visit my dad a couple of days ago, he lives 2 hours north of me up at the top of New Hampshire. I ended up staying longer because it snowed quite a bit up there and  it wasn't great driving weather. I love going up there because I am pretty much disconnected from everywhere which is always nice once in awhile. I am very attached to the internet and my cell phone so it was nice to just hang out and read and play outside in the snow.

here's some pics from up there..

Happy Holidays everyone!! :)

Have any of you been to Summer Camp? I went when I was younger, and I hated it..at first..and I was only there for a week. At the end I realized how much I loved it but never went back.

There are two types of people that go to camp.

1. Those who are forced by their parents and HATE it.

2. Those who are "lifers" and start at camp at a young age and are there every year until they become a staff member.

I can't really put myself into those categories, but I have been told I am a "lifer" anyways even though I didn't actually grow up at camp.

My number ONE love in life is touring, and touring introduced me to another great love...camp! In 2005 I went on a tour called Camplified..I traveled to different summer camps all along the east coast putting on a concert event. I did that for three summers because along with being on the road, I loved being at the camps so much I stuck it out that long just to be there.

This past summer I was searching late at night on craigslist and saw an ad to work at a summer camp in my home state of New Hampshire..since I was not successful in finding a touring gig I applied. I got a call a couple of days later about it, and ended up working it out (since it was an overnight camp and i lived so close it was decided i would commute in everyday).

I ended up loving working there, and thought it was so cool to meet people from other countries and everyone was friendly and it was always so fun. My last day at camp I was asked to come back for next summer, of course I said I would love to but it was a year away...

I ended up getting my official e-mail invite back and now even though I very much want to do it and it's great having that garunteed job it;s a little scary because I want to be on the road too. :/

guess i will have to make that decision soon.

I have. In a sense, I wasn't the sole object of the scam but I was involved and had no idea and no control over anything.

It was early 2007, I remember I was at home and not on a tour..but looking for one. I heard about this mall tour on the internet, and I looked into it and was really interested. It was featuring a bunch of up and coming acts and playing different FYE stores all over the the US. It was supposed to be over the course of 2 months and it sounded great but I couldn't find any direct contact information other than a myspace page (my first mistake) so I sent them a message. I got one back in no time, but they said I needed to "add them" first or else I would not be considered..I thought that was kind of weird but did it anyways and then they got back to me they asked for my resume and after just a few messages of chatting about what I could do on the tour and what they needed I was hired. (and when I say THEY, it is actually just one person running the show)

I couldnt believe it, I had gotten a job..I was to be the "Assistant Tour Manager" for this amazing mall tour. It was honestly too good to be true and I wish I had looked into it more when I had the chance. The tour started in eary March so the plan was for me to take a train to Albany where this person lived, and the first tour date was in Newark, NJ.

When I met this person for the first time there were no alarms that went off, they seemed to be perfectly normal, nice and very involved in the business. Going into a tour alone without knowing anyone else is always kinda scary so I never asked questions and just felt I was there for the ride..there wouldnt be much for me to do until the shows had started up.

When we arrived at the first hotel to meet up with the artists it was already mayhem, one band brought more merchandise than necessary (and all of these groups were unknown, so it was kind of funny to think they could actually sell it all). One thing that was supposed to happen that night was a rehearsal, only one act was missing and we  couldn't get ahold of them so we went off to the sketchiest area of New Jersey to this rehearsal space before the first day of the tour. Everyone did a little rehearsal and to be honest, no one was that talented and everyone was very different. This is besides the point, I haven't even gotten to the dirty stuff yet.

Everyone was getting along, things were great and it seemed nothing could go wrong. The NEXT day is when it all went down hill. We were supposed to have TWO tour buses arrive at the hotel. One was going to be for ONE act and the other for everyone else. Yeah kind of weird right? Each act DID sign a contract and paid in full for these buses. So why didn't they show up?

When this happened, everything started to get weird. We had parents and kids involved in this tour and what it SEEMED like was that the person we were getting the buses from...ran off with everyones money. This is the story everyone had to believe. Because what else could have happened right? Red flags started to go up - the person running the tour had said they BOUGHT the tour buses..you don't just buy a tour bus and not for the amount of money everyone was putting up. I know enough to know that that was wrong. The same time that this was all happening, we were doing shows..first we rented one of those coach buses for the first couple of days and then everyone shelled out even MORE money to rent cars so we could all get around.

The buses were not the only issue at this point, people were not showing up to these shows..where was the promotion? This person in charge was supposedly a publicist but had hired someone else to do the PR work for the tour, and it again seems that they too ran off with everyones money therefore there was no promotion for the tour. We used to have rented equipment (lights, backdrop) and we couldn't have it after a few shows..it was "sold back" for more money to go towards the tour.

After the first few days of this mayhem the person in charge took the 20 something crew of the tour (performers, sound, parents) out to dinner at the CHEESECAKE FACTORY..that is NOT cheap, so where did the money come from to pay for dinner if we were having so many money issues? Big red flag.

I was pretty much in between here, I had a relationship with both the bands and the person in charge so people started to wonder behind their back about what was really going on. The person in charge made it look like they were the victim here, he got taken advantage of too.

I remember being at one hotel, and having managed to get a few local news crews to show up and do a story on our situation..they made it seem like the tour was all about the kids, and that we were all going to do what it takes to keep going depsite the events that had unfolded. People started calling in to these stations..saying things about this person in charge, they owed child support or money to some other people. This is when everyone really started looking at this person as if they were the problem.

Needless to say, in time everyone realized they were in on a scam. Thousands of dollars were lost and no one could do anything about it. I felt really helpless, because even though I wasn't the one losing money but I never got paid for my time, my "company phone" was taken away and I was let go from the tour..though it didn't last much longer after I was gone.

It was honestly the most bizarre and unreal experience, it almost feels like a dream now because usually you see that stuff happen in movies but not real life. I am however still friends with some of the people that were on the tour, so I don't feel like it was a total loss and you know they say everything happens for a reason so I guess whatever it was..it was at least a lesson learned.

(the reason I wanted to write about this was because I was just watching an episode on oprah about scamming)

I have never actually really fully talked about this because it was such a weird time for me, and I know it might not really make sense to anyone unless you were there..but writing is always a good version of therapy.

I FINALLY saw Twilight tonight! I was so excited, I am a huge fan of the books so I could not wait to get out and see it...it took me a week because no one would go with me! Pshh. It was weird watching it because I was analyzing it the whole time, and comparing it to the book. I did think it was GOOD though, I loved it..seeing any book come to life is always fun. I definitely think it was true to the book too, they didn't miss much except for small details that weren't too important. It will be very interesting to see how they put the other movies together.

I also went to see Australia with some of my family, I couldn't pass up a free ticket! It was actually a lot better than I expected, a very interesting movie. WORTH seeing!!

I love the holidays because everyone is home, I got to see a lot of family that I don't see often, AND friends...tomorrow I'm going to hang out with one of them and hopefully see 'Rachel Getting Married' at this new indie theatre we've got in the next town over. Should be fun!

How was everyone's thanksgiving? I had TWO dinners, I am stil full!

As if we all needed something else to become obsessed with on the internet! Has anyone else here gotten into Twitter? I heard about it from my friend Eileen, she was writing a paper on it..and had a class basically dedicated to it. There isn't much to it, you basically just update your status and can reply to other people's statuses. You follow people, and they follow you. It's kinda neat, I am definitely addicted and even downloaded a twitter application called twitterberry to my blackberry. You can update via web and text so if you like mindless internet things you should all check it out!

Here's mine: http://twitter.com/livefreeortour

Follow me if you sign up! :)

Oh and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all have am awesome day and eat tons of food!!! :)

Yeahhhhh! Katelyn just had her 2nd LIVE Chat (That justin.tv is a pretty nifty site) and we were trying to hype it with a "special announcement"..there was a great turnout and well the video above is what's new. It's an unofficial music video she did at a rehearsal a few months back for her new song called "My Mistakes".so check it out!

& You can also hear the song on her official myspace: www.myspace.com/katelyntarveronline

A new EP will be released soon, and this song will be included. So exciting! :)

How can I even begin to describe these last couple of days? Memorable, amazing, fun..did I mention AMAZING?

SUNDAY Andria and I traveled to New Haven, CT to see Jack's Mannequin play at Toads Place. It was a pretty last minute decision, and New Haven isn't very close but what else were we doing? Nothing. So we went! Andria knows Capser, the bands tour manager, so we met up with him when we got there...and he's a cool guy too, real sweet.  To get to see your favorite band is one thing, but to be up close and personal with them makes the experience completely different AND better!

I had not seen Jacks in a couple of years, so it was really really great to see them live again..I have never seen a band THAT GOOD live. It was awesome. We got to watch from side stage which was amazing because we were just so close AND the venue had OVERSOLD the show so the place was packed! Their set was about an hour and a half long..they did a lot of new songs and of course some older and even a soco track! One thing I thought was really cool was when Andrew (musical GENIUS) got up on his piano and threw a few paper airplanes in the audience.

During the show THE AUDITION showed up, it was so weird seeing them there just hanging out, I had forgotten they had a show nearby that same night.

It was a great night, to say the least, and so of course last night (monday) we ventured into Boston which is a lot closer for us to visit with everyone again.

We made it there just in time to watch the band FUN (Nate from the Format's side project)..they were definitely interesting but I love their cover of "Come on Eileen"! Once again it was an exciting night..one of the band members from Boys Like Girls showed up..lots of familiar faces were there. As I was watching the show from the backstage/sidestage area all I could think about was how much I loved this bands music and how these two days made up for every crappy day this year.

I haven't been "in the business" for very long, but this is just another reason that really makes me appreciate it. :)

I won't go into extreme detail, but the night did end with a dance party on the bus and some free merch. I would definitely say a fun time was had by all! ;)

Can you believe it? JUST ONE MORE WEEK!

I only started reading the books before summer, before BREAKING DAWN mania started, it's pretty crazy how much the fandom has evolved esp now with the movie coming out. I CAN'T WAIT t see what the movie will be like!!

I always do this, I set my alarm for sometime in the MORNING, thinking that I am going to get up and do something productive with my day like clean, or run errands and cook something. Everyday I set my alarm, and it goes off at said time...I completely ignore it, I actually hit the IGNORE button. I end up not getting up until it's the afternoon. There is definitely something wrong with that picture. Anyone else do this?

It's almost 1pm now, It feels like most of the day is already gone and I suddenly can't think of what I am going to do with the rest of my day. Hmm..

So I am back in New Hampshire from my trip to Orlando. I had a nonstop flight at 6:30am this morning which was not fun getting up for at all, luckily I slept through my flight and woke up in 37 degree weather. Ouch! Big change from 70-80 degree days. Well the rest of the trip went great! It felt so short, but the three shows that Katelyn did with Push Play were so fun and so good for her, I really think their fans loved her which is great so hopefully that will mean more shows with them in the future! (And her new band is amazing, so that helps her a LOT!)

Yesterday was my "day off" down there so I had time to play! A friend of mine who I cannot thank enough got me into Universal for FREE! So I spent most of the day there with some friends and just had a blast meeting the characters and going on rides. Then I went to downtown disney for dinner which was really cool because I had never been there before.

Now that I am back home I will be continuing to do work for Katelyn and hopefully some other cool projects! (and hopefully a lot more traveling in the future!) The next thing I am looking forward to is seeing JACK'S MANNEQUIN this upcoming weekend, well I guess it's next monday but I am SOOOOO excited!

Here's a few more pics from my trip..

Oh, and I have a Flickr Photo Account so I have some pretty cool pics up there...you can check those out too! Heres the link: http://flickr.com/photos/livefreeortour/

:)

I flew down on Thursday, and everything went smoothly..no delays or anything. Of course by the time I got to Orlando and picked up my luggage something had to go wrong. I rented a car through budget, but because I'm under 25 and didn't have a major credit card they wouldn't let me rent with them so they sent me down to a maller place that wanted to charge me more..so I didn't really have much of a choice so I am now paying an arm and a leg to have a car here! Not cool!

After I had finally managed to get my car I headed over to the UCF Arena for the rock band tour, I did get lost but eventually found it (I forgot to mention I have NO GPS!!). I met up with Andria and just hung out until it was time to load out and then hung out until 12ish and ventured off to the place I'm staying which I actually managed to find.

Yesterday was the first Katelyn/Push Play/Phil Bensen show in FL and it was in a town called Stuart which is pretty darn close to Miami! That was a nice long drive. The show was a little different because it was a private middle school benefit concert so there wasn't a too large crowd but it was a great first show and Katelyn performed "Are You Kidding Me?" with her band for the first time! Everyone sounded great and it was a good show, and now I am off to Tampa for the next show!

Here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure!

Tomorrow I am flying to ORLANDO!! I am so excited! This is the first time I have really been able to afford to take a trip like this, only it isn't really for vacation. I'm heading down to help out my friend Katelyn, she's got a few shows down there this weekend opening for a band called Push Play. It should be a ton of fun! It's been so long since I have really been around pop music too, so I can't wait.

I get in tomorrow night around 6, pick up my rental car and then I'm going to head over to UCF for the Rock Band Tour to visit my friend again, I can't wait to see her, that will be fun! Hopefully I won't have much trouble navigating around Orlando all by myself!

I'll be sure to try and blog while I am there and get some fun pics as well.

Oh yeah... 16 DAYS UNTIL TWILIGHT HITS THEATRES! WOOOO!!!!

(P.S.- I want to welcome my friends & new bloggers...Brittany & Eileen! YAY!)

Does anyone else love going to thrift stores? I always hit up the local goodwill or salvation army stores in NH or MA  and I always find great bargains. I am a big fan of old t-shirts from different sports teams or cities/states. It's pretty rare to find any that actually fit so when I actually have some time and patience I bust out the sewing machine and re-construct the shirt as best as I can so it fits and looks a little cooler. (Though I am not the best with a sewing machine so they don't look too great).

I went to my fave thrift store in Salem, NH today. I always find something there and today I left dissapointed! I did not find ONE thing that I actually wanted. It was pretty sad, and although there was a sewing machine there that I thought about it just wasn't worth it.

Bummer.

On the up side, I will be voting for the first time tomorrow! We will soon have a new president, it's so exciting!

Yesterday the Rockband Tour was in Lowell, MA at the Tsongas Arena - the closest venue to me out of the whole tour (about an hour and a half away). For those that may not know the bands on the tour are: Panic At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Plain White T's and The Cab (Lannen Fall, a local Boston band was also at the show..they won a battle of the bands to open).

My best friend Andria (fellow blogger) is working the tour as a Pepsi Rep so I of course went to visit her for the day, well I actually got there around 4pm and met up with her at the bus. I also saw my friend Catherine who works as a Rock Band rep on the tour, and I had not seen her in YEARS so it was nice to see her as well. After meeting up on the bus (which is beautifully decorated for halloween) we headed into the venue so Andria could meet up with her Brand Ambassador and train her for the event. I finally got to see Andria's Pepsi set up which might look simple but after seeing her break down you could tell it's a pain to work with everyday!

Anyways, about an hour after I showed up Andria's mom arrived with Baked Goods, Pizza and Jello Shots (and yes, she made them!) so we met up with her back at the bus and had some pizza and cupcakes before heading back into the venue since the doors were opening at 6pm and Andria had to be back in to work. We were actually in a spot where we could see the show really well, and while Andria hears/sees the show almost everyday, I was interested in seeing the show - which was decent enough, I always  love see PWT's!

Andria and I actually went on stage after Dashboard was done to throw some pepsi shirts out, it was pretty funny and as cool as it was I didn't really know what to do so I threw my shirts out pretty fast and then walked off the stage! I also met  De'Mar from the PWT's while we were waiting to get on stage, he's a cool dude.

After the show was over I helped load out, which was kinda fun and definitely made me miss being out on the road. There was a LOT of stuff to get out to the truck, and of course it was absolutely FREEZING by 11pm so that was a lot of fun. Everything was done at 11:30, some people went off and showered and not too long after midnight hit the bus was pretty popular! De'Mar came on, Ryan from Panic (he took a birthday shot with me) and some crew people who I didn't exactly catch the names of everyone but they were all very cool.

It was a fun day for me hanging out, and I didn't get home until 2:30am so that was a bit rough but totally worth the trip - I will actually be visiting the tour again next week when I head to FL for some work down there. Can't wait! Here's a few pics I snapped..

Andria's Pepsi Set up

There's about 2 weeks left of the tour so I encourage you all to check out a show! www.rockbandlivetour.com has all the dates.

Ok so I get asked this question almost everyday, and everytime I go to answer the question..I wonder about it myself. Yes I am in the touring industry now, but a few years back I had no idea what I was doing or how to get where I am now.

I know to a lot of you out there touring may seem like a glamorous job, and while it is cool and can definitely be fun it is not what it seems. There is a LOT of work getting to the point of being able to tour, and then there is the work ON the tour. Of course it is different for each one, and varies on whether you are going at it from the marketing aspect or the music part of it. I've done both, and none of them have ever been easy.

So for all of you out there, I am going to give you my advice, from my point of view, for anyone legitimitely interested in going  into the touring field.

You can't get anywhere until you have a resume. And starting out you can put anything on there. If you've volunteered for things like the school paper, online street teaming, worked at some concerts in your area..anything like that. Continue to look for things like that to add to your resume, volunteering to do merchandise for local bands is always a good thing because that can always lead to other things. For all of you 18+ kids, checking websites like craigslist can help you in the marketing area..they always have different events posted on there for different promotions. By working those different events you will connect with a bunch of different marketing companies..and GET PAID which is never a bad thing.

Connect with as many people as you can, this is something I always had an issue with because I'm a pretty shy person in general, but it gets easier the more you get the chance to do it. Whether you are working an event, talking to all of your co-workers and the person in charge...put it out there that you are interested in more work. If you are at a concert (big or small) find the tour managers, managers, merchies etc and talk them up too! It's all about the connections.

Sometimes you just have to go the extra mile to show that you are serious about something, whether it be working some extra event hours, traveling further to work an event/concert etc

You can really do anything if you put your mind to it, and work towards whatever your goal may be. I hope this helps in some way for some people! I'll get to the pros and cons of touring in my next blog... :)

(anyone that wants to ask me specific questions can contact me here: myspace.com/livefreeortour)

Have a nice day everyone! Tomorrow is my 23rd birthday, yikes!

When I was 5 years old I picked out a grey kitten hiding behind an old door at the home of a family that was giving away a litter. I remember saying "I got him!", because it had to be ME that picked out our cat and not one of my annoying brothers. My mom named him Fizban after a wizard in one of her books. He was the BEST cat, so cool...and my mom always said a cat takes after their owner meaning all he did was sleep, eat and lounge around the house like I did. (Which pretty much every cat does, but when my mom told me that when I was younger I thought it was actually cool)

Fizban was my buddy, he always slept with me and always followed me around.

I was recently away on a tour for 2 months, came home and realized a difference in him..he was slower and didn't move as much and didn't eat which wasn't like him at all. Just these last couple of days I could see him dying. He had that shallow breathing and vacant look in his eyes. M

18 years of a long and happy life, Fizban passed on to cat heaven this morning. My mom thinks that he was waiting for me to get home. I'm glad he went in his sleep, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I've never had an animal for so long, so I feel like a part of me will always be missing now that he's gone. Maybe that sounds crazy but it's true.

:(

I know I've already made a few posts, but realized I haven't really introduced myself at all..so that's what this post is dedicated to.

My name is Heather (well duh, you all knew that) and I am 22 (23 in a few days!) and I have lived in New Hampshire my whole life. I still live at home with my mom and stepdad, and I will probably still be living at home even when I am 30! Hah. I've always loved music, my mom pretty much forced Classic Rock tunes into my life at an early age but nothing ever connected with me until I became obsessed with Hanson when I was 12. Boybands in general became an obsession and I am still in love with them to this day.

Loving pop music is what got me interested in the Music Business. In January of 2001, myself and 6 others created Hot Vibes Magazine (these 6 others being all girls that were also from NH, that I had met through No Authority). An online magazine 'For The Fans, By The Fans'. We honestly had no idea what we were doing when we started it, but somehow we did really well...scored interviews with people like Dream, Simple Plan, Aaron Carter, Jesse McCartney, Something Corporate, Jonas Brothers & More. We were even published in Dream Street Magazine twice! The most exciting times of my life happened when I was doing stuff for HV.

Doing Hot Vibes definitely opened my eyes to what was out there BUT it wasn't until I met an old Tour Manager of Simple Plan's that I knew what exactly I wanted to do. After talking with him after a show I realized I wanted his job. I wanted to be a Tour Manager (and while that's my ultimate goal, all i really want to do is tour period -- doing whatever i can).

I enrolled in Bay State College in Boston in the fall of 2003, majored in Entertainment Management, graduated in 2005 with my Associates Degree and got my first tour in the Summer of 2005. I've been touring ever since and not just on music tours, I also do marketing tours now.

When I'm not on the road I do local promotions for various companies, and do online promotion as well for different artists I've met through the touring curcuit.

Hot Vibes is still online, and will be celebrating 8 years this coming January.

I am addicted to Starbucks, I love Tattoos and I buy DVDs like nobodys business.

This was long, so thanks for reading if you did. :)

(oh and i forgot to mention - andria goodrow, 1st blogger on the top.. my best friend and co worker so read her blogs too!)

Last year my moms best friend Liz was diagnosed with skin cancer, my moms healthy and beautiful best friend. I honestly couldn't believe that it was true, and that it was serious..I figured she'd get better in no time because she was a strong person and wouldn't let this cancer beat her.

Liz called today to speak with my mom, they talk as often as they can..Liz lives in Colorado right now but is from NH. She told my mom she had gotten her PET Scan results, and it wasn't good..her brain is fine but the rest of her body isn't. It makes me emotional just writing this out, I mean what to do you when something like this happens?

I don't know the full deal, but it seems like if she doesn't get accepted into one of those experimental studies then we all have to hope and pray really hard for a miracle. I can't believe it's come to that, but I am going to believe for as long as I can that Liz will be at this.

Please pray for Liz.

Remember my last blog..where I just couldn't contain my excitement? Well, i can finally let the BIG NEWS out!

My very good friend Katelyn Tarver landed a role on a new Nickelodeon pilot!!!!!!! She found out last Wednesday..I was out shopping when I got  a call from her dad, and it was so exciting I was freaking out for her! And then she called me to tell me too, it's just been a long time coming and I AM SO HAPPY for her!!

Now this may seem way more exciting to me since I know Katelyn, but I have also been working with her and supporting her for the last few years. I am so proud of her, and so happy that I am a part of the Katelyn Tarver project.

Some of you might be thinking...Katelyn WHO??? Well she was a top 10 finalist on a show called American Juniors about 5 years ago. Ever since then she's been trying to make it in the music business, which is not easy as a lot of you know. She joined my very first music tour 3 years ago and thats how I met her..anyways she's been going strong ever since. I thought her first real break was when she signed a management deal with Wright Entertainment (aka Johnny Wright) but THIS IS IT! Nickelodeon is huge, and a show like this could really launch her...so please cross your fingers for my friend and hope that this show gets picked up!!

(oh and if you wanna check her out, www.myspace.com/katelyntarveronline)

:) :) :) :) :)

Have you ever been informed of something so exciting, so amazing..but you couldn't tell anyone because it wasn't your news to tell? This has happened to me, something GREAT has happened to one of my friends..and she totally deserves this. This is something we've all been waiting for..and it finally happened!!!

I just want tell everyone right now! But soon everyone will know, because that's just how good the news is. As soon as I'm allowed I'll post here and hopefully some of you will be able to share the excitement with me.

---

I'm about to go take photos on this lovely fall day, I shall blog again soon! :)

Hi. I'm Heather. This is my first blog and I'm very excited about it!

Now if I were you, I would be wondering how I came to be a blogger. How do I know Jade and Cassie?

I think there is a very good chance that I've know Jade for a lot longer than most of you out there, and sometimes I forget how long it's been since we first met. I actually know all of my best friends the same exact way I know Jade.

A BOYBAND. Hey music brings people together right? This particular boyband (because there were many at the time) was called NO AUTHORITY. I know a lot of people have no idea who they are, but they were my favorite group for a long time and. I met Jade because of NA, there was actually a pretty tight knit online community of other No Authority fans...we were all part of their official message board (.NET that is, not .com). We often met up at concerts that were in our area, and Jade was always that one fan that came the farthest. She loved Eric and everyone knew her as SBTBchicka (something like that), meaning Saved By The Bell Chicka..haha. Anyways, I know Cassie through Jade. And Cassie loves Howie Day with me so how could we not be friends?

I am sure people think I'm crazy when I talk about my love for a boyband, but there is no way I would be where I am right now if it weren't for them. I managed to meet so many great people that I still know today, and am able to look back and reminisce on our younger days as obsessed fans. I met my best friends and I'm doing what I love now. So... THANKS NO AUTHORITY!

I'm not really sure what else I can say about this, but I will leave you all with this vintage photo...(sorry its backwards)