Friday, January 26, 2007

Hey! Just a reminder that we have our last major audition this Sunday in Toronto. Here is the link to our website where you can find all the info (www.garymusick.com). All you performers from Canada should come out and show us your stuff! We've hired a lot of talented singers and dancers from past Toronto auditions...hope we can do the same this year. See you on Sunday!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Sorry I have not updated the blog these last few days. It isn't because we've been slackers! Our production team is getting ready for two major shows this week...NAPA AUTOPARTS in Dallas, and Religious Conference Managers Association (RCMA) in Louisville. We also helped our event planning client DAVID HOLLOWAY & ASSOCIATES with an event for Hospital Corporation of America today here in Nashville, and we had a great planning call with CONNIE WASHBURN, the meeting planner for First Tennessee's upcoming incentive trip in Cancun. Man, I love my job!

Here are a couple of shots taken last week at GMC producer Bert Hensley's show for "O'Charley's" restaurants. Hats off to the GMC team and O'Charley's staff who made it happen!

Monday, January 21, 2007

Boston is cold! The GMC audition team spent the weekend there auditioning for our cruise ship shows. It was about 15 degrees, with an unforgiving wind that made it incredibly chilly! We had a disappointingly small turnout, but we did see some good talent - and met some nice folks at the Jeanette Neill Dance Studio. Thanks, Allen, for your help with everything! here is a shot on Mindy, Dave and Bruce auditioning one of the singers.

We have about 10 major projects underway this week, which is the way we like it! Several of us are headed to Dallas this weekend to produce a major meeting for NAPA AUTOPARTS, and others will be in Toronto to complete our spring cruise ship auditions (Toronto in January...YIKES!). We've hired a lot of talent from Toronto in the past...hopefully, this will be another productive year of auditions. David Patton, Mindy Johnson, Jennifer Pippin and Bruce Stegmann will be heading up our audition team.

On a personal note, this was a tough week at our house. One of my youngest daughter's best friends was killed in a car accident. Ginny was only 16 and had just had her license for a week. It was a devastating loss to my daughter and all of Ginny's friends and family. My wife and daughter sang at the funeral on Saturday, which is much more than I could have done, for sure. This has reminded me how precious our kids are, and how hard it is to let them go out into the world. We all lift our prayers for Ginny's family during this time of such deep sorrow.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Its been a busy week at the Gary Musick Company! Bert Hensley, one of our producers, spent the week producing a sales and management conference for Nashville-based restaurant group "O'Charley's". GMC staffers Carmen Primrose and Jonathan Yeaworth were on Bert's GMC production team, along with Chris Lyle and Jacob Driver. Looks like we might be doing another conference for them in February in the Boston area.

Meanwhile, GMC production manager Jim Sheridan and I spent the week in Las Vegas producing a regional meeting for the National Association of Electrical Distributors. The keynote speaker at the meeting was Aron Ralston, the mountain climber who was forced to perform a self-amputation on his arm after an 800-pound boulder fell on his hand during a hiking expedition. His story was incredibly shocking and inspiring - and not for the faint of heart. Jim and I had lunch with him yesterday after the show. What a great guy! His book is entitled "Between a Rock and Hard Spot".

Today, I met with Angela Price of the Middle Tennessee YMCA to begin planning their annual meeting and celebration. Looks like we'll be producing one of Nashville's top artist/songwriters for the Y's entertainment. I'd tell you who, but I'm sworn to secrecy for now!

Tomorrow night we go to Boston for auditions on Sunday. Here's the info...

BOSTON, MA USA
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Jeannette Neill Dance Studio
261 Friend Street
5th FloorBoston, MA 02114

Open call times apply to all audition dates:
9:30 am – Dancers
1:30 – 4:30 pm – Singers
Specific callback times will be assigned the day of the audition only. We will not be pre-booking.

Next week, we're in Toronto. Go to our website for details! http://www.garymusick.com/

That's it for now - have a great weekend!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Today we held auditions in Chicago at the Hubbard Street / Lou Conte Studios. What a great facility! They have 6 large studios - today, 5 of them were booked for auditions, including a major audition for the Houston Ballet. We had a fair turnout, but the overall quality was very good. I was really surprised to see how many auditionees came in from out of state...Iowa, Ohio, Ohlahoma, Indiana, Minnesota, and 2 who even came up from Nashville! We were very impressed with the professionalism of the college seniors who came to audition. Hats off to the universities who are training these talented young performers! Bruce Stegmann, our choreographer, is a former Chi-town dancer/choreographer, so he was really happy to be back on home turf. And his day was made even better by the Bears winning. It was a good day for all of us.

Happy MLK Day, everyone!

Friday, January 12, 2007

I want to thank our entire GMC staff for sharing their ideas, their dreams and their concerns today during our annual bginning-of-the-year company kick off meeting. We have GREAT team members at GMC, and I am so impressed with how they constantly come up with awesome ideas to make things better for our clients and our company. Today, we took the first steps in the journey toward becoming a true "best in the world" operation. We left our meeting with renewed respect for each other, our clients, our vendors, and our industry associates. Finding our "hedgehog concept" is going to be a challenge (read "Good to Great"), but we are up to it! Thanks, everyone! Your contributions are incredibly appreciated! - Gary

Thursday, January 11, 2007

We installed the first elements of the new Tennessee State University television studio set today. We still have to add the furniture, graphics panels, and background draping, but the scenic crew is well on the way to completing the install. Congrats to producer Bert Hensley, designer and ATD Julia Meador, scenic painter Erica Edmondson, and carpenters Phil Barnes and Blair Binkley for outstanding work! Here's a shot of "work in progress".

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Today was a good day. Lots of meetings and creative sessions filled most of my time. After starting the morning with a workout at the YMCA, I had a meeting with my friends at "l'Ete du Vin", the Nashville based wine auction that raises big money for cancer research. I love those folks - they are so dedicated to the cause, and are always looking for creative ways to make their events better and more profitable. Hats off to Mike, Torrey, Whitney, Debbie, and Colin - keep up the awesome work!

This afternoon, Curt Wallen and I met with our clients from Healthcare Management Systems to review plans for their trade show booth. It is a very cool "diner" design that features interactive actors and touch screen technology set in a 50's era roadside diner setting. High tech meets "Flo!" Thanks Curt and Rick Stetson for their creative design work!

I ended the day by helping Eric Wyse celebrate the release of his new major project "The Christian Life Hymnal" (see photo above). Eric was the editor on this new collection of hymns designed to appeal to most major denominations - it includes standards from the Methodist, Church of Christ, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic traditions, plus some new songs selected because of their enduring quality. Eric and his team spent more than 3 years compiling, arranging and editing this collection. Congratulations on the completion of project! This book will be a great legacy for Eric and his talented team!

Tomorrow we head to Miami to meet with the new entertainment director for NCL. Be back tomorrow night!

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Today was a great day! It was our last day in London, so we decided to see a couple of shows. I saw "Wicked" this afternoon - it was a "peak" entertainment experience! The sets were amazing, and the cast was outstanding in every respect. The role of Elphaba is incredibly demanding vocally, and Kerry Ellis was stunning in its execution. It was one of the few times I've actually been "moved" by a musical, especially during the duet "For Good". The song is a powerful statement about the friendship between the Elphaba and Glenda. Here is an excerpt:

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true

But I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you

Like a comet pulled from orbit

As it passes a sun

Like a stream that meets a boulder

Halfway through the wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good

We should all be so fortunate to have friendships like this! I just saw an article saying that "Wicked" set the all-time box office record this week for a London production. It is easy to see why.

While I was seeing "Wicked", David Patton, Bruce Stegmann, and Jennifer Pippin saw "Evita". They were equally impressed with the show. Jennifer said it was probably her favorite production she's seen. Meanwhile, Mindy Johnson set her own record for most stores visited in a single shopping spree!

The other show we all saw tonight was "Dancing in the Street". This is a Motown revue that features a cast of 15 in a non-stop musical tribute to the top music and artists from the Motown era. The cast was good - especially the women - and the show moved along without any lulls. The last 15 minutes of the show featured a an audience sing-along-dancing-in-the-aisles segment that was very well received by the crowd. After all, you can't miss with Motown!

We're out of here early in the morning. Looking forward to that 8-hour flight back! (NOT!) It will be nice to be back home to see the family tomorrow night. So long to London...until next time!

Today was another good day for auditions. Here are some pictures of the dancers call. Not quite as many people as yesterday, but we did see some more great talent. The time change is killing me, though. Last night I planned on going to sleep early, but somehow got caught up in emails back to the office and to clients. With the 6 hour time change, I eventually got to sleep around 1:00am. It seemed that the the jet lag started hitting all of us today!

Just a note of congratulations to Sarah Smyth on her wedding tomorrow. Sarah worked with my buddy David Holloway last year as his assistant on several major events. She was our contact on several projects done with David's company. But alas, the love of her life won out over the love of the special events industry, so she moved back to Arkansas to marry the beau of her dreams. Blessings to Sarah on a wonderful new life! Sorry Dave!

While we're passing along best wishes, here's a big Happy Birthday to Ella Thomas. Four years old is a BIG DEAL!

Tomorrow I'm going to see "Wicked" for the first time. Really looking forward to that! We are trying to get tickets to "Dancin in the Street" for tomorrow night. Mindy Johnson is planning a major shopping spree tomorrow, and Jennifer Pippin is off to check out the British Museum. Bruce Stegmann has been getting up at 5am each day and going for walks...how does he do it?! David Patton is in charge of show tickets tomorrow. Looking forward to exploring the city in the morning! I hope it stays dry...

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Today's auditions in London were great! We had a reasonably good turnout of singers and dancers, but the overall quality of our call back talent was surprisingly good! Bruce Stegmann (Choreographer) put the dancers through an aggressive jazz routine that proved challenging to many our prospects. David Patton (musical director) and Mindy Johnson (cruise ship operations manager) listened to about 60 vocalists, culling out 10 singers for call backs. Hats off to Jennifer Pippen, Karen (our local production assistant), and Tatiana (one of London's top talent agents) for running a very smooth registration process. Here are some shots from today's London auditions. We're back tomorrow for another day of auditions at Pineapple Studios beginning bright and early at 9:30am for dancers!

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007

We arrived in London this morning after a 7 hour plane trip from Chicago. It was around 10:30am here when we landed. After checking in to our hotel in the Covent Garden area, we had lunch at a great little pasta restaurant around the corner. Which one? Who knows...there are a million great Italian restaurants around here. We crashed for a few hours, then went to "Daddy Cool", a relatively new musical at a theater just down the street from the hotel. It was an interesting update of "West Side Story's" basic premise (sort of) with some "Mama Mia" audience participation thrown in at the end. I thought it was entertaining, and the audience seemed to love the sing-along segment at the end of the show. It had some interesting scenic elements that were amazingly simple in their design and construction. Here is a shot of the theater.

Auditions start tomorrow morning at 9:30am at Pineapple Studios. Hope we have a great turnout!

Happy New Year everyone! Tonight I'm packing for our trip to London tomorrow. We have auditions on Thursday and Friday at London's Pineapple Studios. We will probably have 300-400 dancers and 200-300 singers between the two days of auditions. We always look forward to London auditions because the talent there is really strong. I'm hoping to catch some West End shows while we're there, especially "Wicked". Here are a couple of pictures from the auditions last year. I will post some new pictures this week as we go through the audition process. We're excited about seeing some great talent this week!