As I mentioned in a previous post, the week of the CMJ Festival is quite the experience if you truly love music and you’re involved in music in some way. Countless venues are hosting both new and familiar acts and as a blogger, I spend the majority of my time bouncing back and forth to venues across the Lower East Side and Brooklyn catching what could well be the next new thing. On Saturday, the penultimate day of the festival, I was invited to five different showcases – three in Brooklyn, two in the Lower East Side – and a happy hour, and although you may have some things carefully planned out, you’re always aware of the fact that your schedule and plans frequently change.
At one point Saturday, my dear friend and colleague Kate Spalla texted me and told me that she was stopping by the Fader Fort for free alcohol. She then told me that there was a rumor about who that night’s special guest would be – and from what she had heard, the word on the street was that the special guest was Mary J. Blige.
I’ve been a Mary J. Blige fan since the release of What’s the 411? and wanted to catch up with my friend so I rush over to Fader Fort to see that there’s a small group of people milling about outside, hoping to somehow get in. But unfortunately as it turned out, the venue was packed to the rafters and they weren’t letting anyone in, so I missed out on catching Mary J. Blige do a CMJ set. Such is life sometimes.
However, folks at Fader shot footage of their CMJ showcases including this unfortunately edited footage of Mary J. Blige performing “Real Love” life. Check it out.
Still the week of CMJ is quite the experience if you cover and love music. Bands, industry insiders, bloggers and journalists spent that period running around between venues Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. As a blogger, it’s a thrilling, exciting and ultimately exhausting week of going between several different venues to catch and interview new and familiar bands, networking and meeting people, and catching up with old friends and colleagues. Just to give you a sense of one day at CMJ on the Saturday of CMJ I had been invited to five different showcases — three in Brooklyn, two in the Lower East Side — and a happy hour. And naturally, i couldn’t — and didn’t make all of that. It turned out to be impossible logistically but on to more important matters, right?
