This is a true story.
I spent the week in LA with an artist from Florida that I recently signed. On Tuesday night we were driving back to our hotel in West Hollywood after a very interesting, and entertaining meeting in Santa Monica with the chairman of my company. As we were getting close to our destination, I casually looked out my car window and noticed none other then Paris Hilton in the passenger’s seat of the car next to mine. I told my artist and her manager, who was also with us, to look just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating, and they confirmed it was indeed her. As we were casually gawking, trying not to be noticed, she nonchalantly turned on her interior light (this was at night) and pulled down the vanity mirror and proceeded to stick her finger way into her nose so she could dig out whatever was in there. I mean she was knuckle deep, just chatting away with her friend in the driver’s seat, not having a clue that the three of us were watching. She then wiped whatever she got out onto the car seat, and when the light turned green they sped away and pulled into a club not too far from where we were. Of course everyone is guilty of digging and driving, but I was really hoping my first Paris Hilton sighting would be a little cooler than that…actually, that was pretty damn cool.
Anyway, I didn’t get to see any good bands play while I was out there, but I spent a lot of time working with the artist I mentioned in the above paragraph. Basically, I was taking her around to various movie and TV studios where she performed songs from her band’s new album for music supervisors; they’re the people in charge of placing music forthcoming movies and TV shows. It was really great watching this young pop/rock artist wow these studio executives with her amazing voice and personality, some good things will definitely come of it…I hope.
Later on that night I found myself in my hotel room listening to Atlanta-bands Manchester Orchestra and O’ Brother’s collaborative cover of the No Doubt hit "Don’t Speak". It may have been the wine I consumed earlier that night, but this version of that song made my head spin. I never paid much attention to the lyrics before, but wow, they’re pretty amazing. Couple that with the heavy, droning guitars of the two bands, plus Andy Hull’s passion-soaked vocals, and you have yourself a weeper for sure. Not sure when you’ll get to hear it, but definitely be on the look out for it.
So there you have it. My time in LA was time well spent. In a matter of a couple of days I saw Paris Hilton doing what she does best, I saw my artist impress some hard-to-impress people, and I heard a song that pretty much blew my mind. I love my job.
Current listening: Hey Monday, The Ting Tings, Jay-Z (old school)
