My life is overrun by boxes and bins and bags and random STUFF. Moving sucks. As I mentioned last week, I just moved to a new place after spending like a decade in my old building. Do you know how much stuff a person amasses over 10 years in the same spot? Even when you periodically throw things out/ donate/ etc? So I’m now in the unpacking and settling in process and I feel like it’ll never end. At this point in the week I’ve gotten to a stage of some semblance of normalcy; the boxes have been reduced and the space is actually livable. But earlier this week? Oh, honey it was bad. So much stuff to search through and step over and ease around. Convo’s with myself like “Which box did I put those jeans in?” “Wait, where are my gold bangles?” “OMG, there’s another box of books? Where the hell did those even come from?” Needless to say I was feeling very unsettled.
Fortunately (blessedly) this was a very “normal” week at work – no fires to put out, not too tight/crazy a schedule, no super big meetings – which is actually an abnormal occurrence. The office has been semi-quiet. Folks are getting spring fever and taking some vaca days, a good bit of our staff is at SXSW (a huge four day music festival in Austin, TX). And I’m so thankful, because honestly, had a curveball been thrown early in the week, it would have hit me dead in my head. But still, there’s always work to be done, and this has been a week for laying foundations and doing groundwork. I figured this would be a good time to give you all kind of a day-by-day look at the fundamentals minus the insanity.
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Monday: I have to literally pull myself out of the bed because I was up crazy late Sunday trying to unpack all the dishes and get the kitchen in functioning order. Oh, and also because I was on Facebook and twitter. I manage to get in the office just a few minutes late, grab breakfast, and settle in. First order of business is to settle on an approved single cover and approved press images for the Pop Princess. She’s going to WMC (Winter Music Conference) next week, so we need to have imaging ready to go. The first public look for any artist is so crucial. The ‘never get a second chance to make a first impression’ is multiplied exponentially in entertainment. Fans are extremely fickle and extra critical. When you’re introducing a new artist any and everything you present to the public has to be just right. We pow wow with publicity and management and come up with some options, then kick them back up to the art director for revisions.
Next up: reviewing the SXSW schedule for the Rapper. (I know I haven’t really talked about him yet, but I will.) He’s got three shows, some great looks, and a ton of requests coming in, and we want to make sure he covers all the things that make sense. We find out one of our most senior execs is going, so we need to make sure he has VIP credentials for every event where the Rapper’s performing. There are still a couple of things left to be firmed up. Conference call later? Sure why not. (Let me add here that I hate conference calls, but they’re a necessary evil. But really, I loathe them.) An email comes in from video promotions; VH1 is looking for music to use for Shaunie O’Neal’s new show “Basketball Wives”. Side note that has nothing to do about anything else: I love that Shaunie O’Neal, her Essence spread looks incredible, her shoe game is next level, and I want to see more of her. Ok, moving on. Other varia of the day includes fielding interview requests for the R&B Superstar (not to be confused with the R&B singer…), which is touchy because the R&B Superstar’s folks are very selective (one issue is whether we can do one interview by phone instead of on camera); and checking to see if finance app
