Tuesday was AWESOME! It was a really long day, but it was great. I left for Jillian’s in Albany at 10:30 AM and arrived pretty much without incident at 12:30 (which for me on my first trip to Albany was pretty amazing).
I parked on Pearl Street and asked the bartender in Jillian’s if there was a better place to park for the entire day. Unfortunately there wasn’t unless I wanted to walk four blocks and possibly get mugged, so I had to keep putting change in the meter every two hours (can you believe I spent five bucks just to make sure my car wouldn’t leave the street).
Jason wasn’t supposed to arrive until 1 so I watched a soccer match at the bar for half an hour….Portugal won against Japan folks, if you didn’t know. Jason arrived right on time and we got to work unloading all the equipment for going live from his truck and setting up the promotions table. The other intern arrived at 1:30 and helped me put up EQX banners all around the bar and outside.
Jillian’s is an amazing place. It’s huge and really nice. Everyone was super friendly and helpful and all big fans of EQX. We got all of the on air equipment set up and Jason explained a little of how it all works. We had trouble with our internet connection and there was a lag between the home studio and the portable one we had, which lasted for most of the day unfortunately. Once we were all set up, Jason got to work figuring out what he was going to say while John and I checked out the rest of the building and made sure everything was set for the band to arrive.
While we waited we got to meet Mark, the lead guitarist of Ten Year Vamp who was picking up a CD at Jillian’s! It was really cool because today felt like I was really meeting celebrities. Jason got us some food on the EQX tab, which was nice since my pockets have been getting low with all the gas money I am shelling out. The food and atmosphere was great. The band arrived at around 4:30 with their manager and began setting and tuning up. I met Pat and the manager briefly before hand and then Jeff, his girlfriend, and a few other of their buddies arrived and made an appearance on the air, which was fun to see!
At around 5:20 we had Rogue Wave come to our table and go on the air for a live interview. It was fun to see an interview live, not coming from a speaker and it was interesting because both of the band members were incredibly shy, even though they get up on stage and perform in front of crowds all the time!
Next, Jason presented them onstage and the band got underway. It was an awesome performance and definitely too short! I took a ton of pictures before helping Jason pack everything back up and put it in his pickup. The band wrapped up and I got my picture taken with them before they left. Jason saw how much I loved the band and gave me their newest CD – he also knows I love Melissa Etheridge so he is going to try to get me tickets to see her on the seventh in Albany! I took a few more pictures and was asked by the general manager if I could send him some of the pictures to put on their website, so maybe you’ll see some of my photos there as well.
I said my goodbyes and headed home. All in all, a productive but long day. I wouldn’t change any of it – I am so happy to have had this opportunity! I can’t wait for work on Thursday and then the Pearl Palooza is this Saturday. It’s going to be a busy rest of the week and more gas money, but it’s a great experience before I take off for a month and head to the New Jersey shore to visit family. This week, I love my life 🙂