THE LIVE CONCERT EXPERIENCE WILL NEVER DIE
Taken from my blog A PROMOTERS LIFE.
Sometimes when I am on Facebook I will turn on the chat feature so that I can just talk to random people and get to know the people that have friended me on Facebook a little better. When I do this, I pretty much answer as many questions as I can handle and talk to people about whatever is on their mind or whatever they feel like talking about. The other day while doing this, someone messaged me and asked me “Is getting overly emotional about a show normal?”
At first when I was asked this question, I was unsure how to respond. I knew the answer, just not how to best put it into words. I took a second and thought back to being 15, 16, 17 at the old Door Dallas and screaming my lungs out to Brand New, Fall Out Boy, Senses Fail, Every Time I Die, and so many more bands that would come through and pack out the venue. There was nothing that could stop me from pushing to the front of that over crowded venue and screaming my lungs out even though I couldn’t sing or scream worth a shit. There were times that I would have literally no voice and be so physically and emotionally exhausted that I would hate life the next day when I had to go to school. I would definitely call this getting overly emotional at a show.
So why would anyone think that this is something that is wrong? Looking at people that go to shows these days, it’s sort of easy to figure it out. It seems like the wall to wall, front to back, packed shows of people just going insane, screaming their lungs out, and getting lost in the music have somewhat faded. Blame it on Facebook. Blame it on Twitter. Blame it on Texting. Blame it on Instagram. Whatever could possibly be distracting people from what is going on on that stage, just don’t blame the musicians (for the most part). I still see bands go just as hard as Taking Back Sunday and The Used did the first time I saw them cause chaos at Trees or Travis Bryant and Letter Twelve when they used to pack Red Blood Club and The Door. It still exists, but do we pay attention to it? Has the next generation become so “cool” that it’s more important to Instagram how close you are to the stage than to leave your phone in the car and go H.A.M.? I remember leaving everything in the car and giving 100% to shows, and maybe that’s why I am so emotionally attached to what I do. I will still be front row when certain bands like Blink 182, The Wonder Years, Every Time I Die, and others come through. Nothing can change the emotional attachment I have to those bands and nothing can take away the feeling of experiencing that live and being a part of it.
I may be older, I may even be the oldest guy at the show sometimes, but you put me in front of one of my favorite bands, I’m getting in that crowd, and I’m going nuts. I urge all of you to let yourselves go and fully emerse yourself in the experience of seeing your favorite bands live, because you can download a song, you can download a CD, you can order a shirt online, and you can watch a live DVD, but nothing beats a good old fashioned trip to your local venue to catch your favorite band, I promise you that.
8 Hours and Counting.
In 8 hours I will be loading my stuff into a trailer, hopping in a 15 passenger van, and going on a 5 week tour with the guys in Crown The Empire. I can honestly say that I’ve never been so excited for anything in my life and I’ve never needed to explore new places and meet new people more than I do right now. This is going to be amazing. Check out the dates below, come out if any of these shows are near you!
June 05 - Kingdom - Richmond, VA
June 06 - Empire - West Springfield, VA
June 07 - Greene St. Canal - Greensboro, NC
June 08 - The Pit - Jacksonville, FL
June 09 - Bombshell’s Tavern - Orlando, FL
June 10 - The 7 Venue - Douglasville, GA
June 12 - FUBAR - St Louis, MO
June 13 - Emerson Theater - Indianapolis, IN
June 14 - Mojoes - Joilet, IL
June 15 - 1 Lounge - Pontiac, MI
June 17 - The Outpost Concert Center - Kent, OH
June 18 - Mote - Piqua, OH
June 19 - The Hideout - Pittsburgh, PA
June 20 - Crocodile Rock - Allentown, PA
June 21 - Peabody’s - Cleveland, OH
June 24- Colorado Springs, CO @ Black Sheep
June 25 - Lawrence, KS @ Granada
June 26 - Iowa City, IA @ Blue Moose
June 27 - Milwaukee, WI @ Summer Fest
June 28 - Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
June 29- Bixby, OK @ The Compound
June 30 - Odessa, TX @ Dos Amigos
July 1 - El Paso, TX @ Tricky Falls
July 2 - Lubbock, TX @ Cactus Jack’s
July 3 - Amarillo, TX @ 12052 Event Center
July 4 - Fayetteville, AR @ The Stone Pony
July 5 - Nashville, TN @ Rocketown
July 6 - Columbus, OH @ Northland Performing Arts Center
July 7 - Pittsburgh, PA @ The Ironworks
tourlife.
I am going on tour with…
OUR LAST NIGHT / CROWN THE EMPIRE / SET IT OFF / PALISADES / LIONS LIONS
Come hangout.
June 05 - Kingdom - Richmond, VA
June 06 - Empire - West Springfield, VA
June 07 - Greene St. Canal - Greensboro, NC
June 08 - The Pit - Jacksonville, FL
June 09 - Bombshell’s Tavern - Orlando, FL
June 10 - The 7 Venue - Douglasville, GA
June 12 - FUBAR - St Louis, MO
June 13 - Emerson Theater - Indianapolis, IN
June 14 - Mojoes - Joilet, IL
June 15 - 1 Lounge - Pontiac, MI
June 17 - The Outpost Concert Center - Kent, OH
June 18 - Mote - Pigua, OH
June 19 - The Hideout - Pittsburgh, PA
June 20 - Crocodile Rock - Allentown, PA
USN2K12 UP & COMING ARTISTS!
One of the coolest things about doing Unsilent Night has always been reuniting acts that I love to play one last show. Terminal and As Cities Burn reunions were literally priceless to me. The other cool thing about Unsilent Night though, is and always will be, introducing brand new bands to the music scene. In the past we have brought bands to Texas for the first time like Breathe Carolina, The Medic Droid, The Word Alive, and tons more. That being said, we are starting our 2012 promotion for Unsilent Night a little backwards. We want to put a heavy focus on up and coming artists that deserve some extra love. These are not necessarily brand new artists, but they are definitely “Up & Coming” artists that deserve more attention. Today at 5pm we announced the first few artists for Unsilent Night 2012. Below is a list and a little bit of information about them. Please check out these artists, get familiar, and hold yourself over with some new music before we get to the headliners :)
CRIZZLY (San Antonio, TX - DJ)
• FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/iamcrizzly
• Video Link: http://youtu.be/iiaHuLYYmX0
BIG CHOCOLATE (Huntington Beach, California / Minden, NV - DJ)
• FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/bigchocolateofficial
• Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o10k-fd8v2Y
GOLDHOUSE (Chicago, IL - Electronic / Dance)
• FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/IAMGOLDHOUSE
• Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2YhjsgumnY
TOMMY NOBLE (Central Coast, CA - DJ)
• FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/tommynoblemusic
• Video Link: http://youtu.be/erjCqmzMrQc
ADESTRIA (San Diego, CA - Post Hardcore / Electronica / Metal)
• FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/adestriamusic
• Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdw3ZTk7E00
THROUGH ARTERIES (San Antonio, TX - Post Hardcore / Electronica / Rock)
• FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/througharteries
• Video Link: http://youtu.be/-rY533Yzj0E
MOD SUN (Bloomington, MN - Hippy Hop)
• FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/friendbase
• Video Link: http://youtu.be/1RTt5Xs8DOc
**A LIMITED AMOUNT OF EARLY BIRD TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW. YOU MUST USE THE CODE USN40 TO SEE PRICING****
BUY TICKETS: http://bit.ly/Iw6mBI (Code USN40)
nostalgia.
Between 2004 and 2006 I had the closest, most awesome, group of friends in the world. My best girl friends came over to my apartment every day, I lived with my best friend, and we couldn’t get our other best friends to leave. We did everything together. It was seriously the best time of my life.
In 2007 and 2008 I had a girlfriend that I lived with and saw my friends less and less. I still had a close group of friends that was always around but it definitely wasn’t the same.
In 2009 my world came crashing down when that girl left me and all of my friends were there for me. It wasn’t necessarily the same friends I had in 2004-2006, but it definitely started to feel like that again. I was piecing my life back together. I had friends around me 24/7 and life was great, the only thing missing for me was a girlfriend.
In 2010, I got a girlfriend. We hit it off so well that within a few days, without even realizing it, we were already living together. The harder that relationship got, the further I drifted from my friends and eventually, when things got really bad, I felt completely alone.
We broke up in 2011 and I started, once again, trying to piece my life together. It has taken a lot more this time to win some of my friends back. I’ve also shut myself off a lot from developing close relationships.
At this time, I would say I have a very solid group of dudes that I work with and hangout with that has been consistent. Some of them have been in my life as long as 10 years and some as recently as a few months. However, I’m still finding it hard to find those good and reliable and consistent girl best friends in my life. I’m also finding it hard to let any female in general truly get close to me.
There is no point to this except to type it out and get it off my mind so I can sleep.
Thanks for reading.
Feel free to leave me feedback in my ask, I would really appreciate it. I am going crazy.
I need new people in my life.
Hello 2012
So it’s a new year and I really want to start it off right. I have been working so much today and preparing for an extremely busy year. I really want to try to keep up with my Tumblr for once and keep everyone in the loop with what’s going on.
Most of my day today was spent setting up www.evolvemm.com. I had a great meeting with Mouth Of The South today. Best dudes.
Anyway… keep up with me.
twitter.com/mikeziemer
facebook.com/mikeziemer
You met me at a very strange time in my life.
Hi, my name is Mike. I am 26 years old, and if half of what I am finding out lately is true, I might finally be growing up. This world is full of deception and distraction. These things always pull our focus off of what truly matters in life and try to put it on things that just waste our time. If this is something I can learn now, before I reach any level of real success, I could be saving my own life.
You hear rappers talking about money and drugs and all the alcohol they could want and all this flashy stuff. I guess they never grew up learning that all of that fades quicker than you can imagine. Sure money is a great thing, if it’s serving a greater purpose. It’s not wrong to have things, but these things can’t have you. It’s fine to have a girl, have money, have some expensive things, but the second all of those run your life, you are just a hollow man chasing more emptiness.
True comfort comes in the form of family, friends, God, achieving success, doing good for others, and leaving your positive impact. If you make all the money in the world and never use it for a purpose, you’ve wasted all your success. If you’ve been alive for 70 years but never made a difference, you never once lived.
I could go on for hours expressing everything going on in my mind, this is only about 1% of my thought process, I’d love to talk to any of you about everything I am going through and have been through.
I will tell you one thing, if I ever achieve the success I am chasing, I will make the biggest difference possible in the lives of as many people as possible. This wont be a wasted life.
One day we will look back and say this is where it all began.
SEX, DRUGS, and HUMANS
We’ve all done it. We’ve all been judgmental. We’ve all made the jokes. We’ve all felt “better” than other people because of their misfortunes and their failures. But the truth is that everyone struggles. No one is perfect. It makes me sad that our society feels it necessary to make jokes about the struggles people go through. Some of them have a true sickness. Sex, Drugs, Rock N Roll… it’s been around for years and years and some people can handle the ride, and others wreck. They wreck their lives, they wreck their family’s lives, they hurt their family, they hurt their friends, and they hurt their fans.
That being said… the jokes about Jonny Craig were funny the first time around, but after meeting the guy at Warped and talking to him about things like this, it bums me out to see him going that route again. Some people have serious struggles and rather than making jokes, these people need our support. Everyone is someone’s brother, son, cousin, whatever. You wouldn’t want people talking about your family like that.
Think about making a difference in someone’s life, not making someone’s life the punchline of your jokes. We all fail. We all fall. We are all human.
Tell me what’s sexier than a man with a beard that loves his puppy? COME ON!
