Hello Everyone!

These last few weeks have been quite exciting! I took a trip back home to Maine to surprise my mom for her birthday over the weekend, and got to see some amazing scenic views that I haven’t seen before. The views were beautiful, with mountains and the colorful trees. The whole time we were hiking and exploring though, it was snowing! not enough to settle, but enough to notice.

It’s not easy going home for a weekend while you’re in grad school and your whole life and work depends on your studio setup! But thankfully I’ve found a way to travel with all of my necessary gear so that I can keep working. I recently bought a lovely bag that can either act as a backpack or a roller board, which is great when you’re flying and already have a roller board. I fit my mini travel keyboard, laptop, East West hardrive, and chords all into this, and I’m quite capable of using it all in small spaces too. Here’s a photo of me on the bus from Boston airport to Portland, Maine using my travel studio! It’s always good to have something small like this that you can travel with. You never know when you might need it!

It has come to the end of Gerard Marino’s residency (God of War composer). He took so much time with everyone in the graduate and undergraduate program while he was here and met with many of us to get drinks and talk about anything and everything. Not only did he explain the business side of the film scoring world, but he also let us into his personal life. On the night of Kari Betton’s birthday (2nd year student), Gerard was kind enough to go out and celebrate with us all. We went to a karaoke bar and sang the night away while sharing stories with Gerard. Our industry may be about potential and our work, but never forget that the memories and personal connections you have with someone can be as impressionable. Thanks Gerard, we will miss you dearly, and hope to see you again soon.

On another note! If you’re going to grad school, or even undergrad, try to find a job within your major. Even if it might not be something specific to what you want to do, have it be similar in some sort of way. I work at a theatre called North Shore Performing Arts Center in Skokie, which is about an hour and a half away from the Loop of Chicago. It’s a bit of a task getting there, but I am so very happy to be a House Manager for them. For those of you who might not know, House Management is when you make sure that a performance or show is on time, ushers are doing there jobs, and patrons are happy. The great thing about working here is that I get free tickets to any show that I’d like to go to. This past weekend I got to see Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, the amazing banjo duo. Their performance was intimate, captivating, and best of all, educational. They taught the audience about the different types of banjos, the different ways you might play a banjo, and they performed a piece where they used the banjo as a percussive instrument. It was an absolutely amazing performance.

And one last thing! North Shore is also a great place to work because the people who perform and come see the shows could be someone from LA. For instance, Danny Devito has attended North Shore performances multiple times, although I have not had the chance to see him myself. This past show, Funnyman, however, did have Norm from Cheers performing in it. And because “Norm” (George Wendt) was performing, Jeff Garlin attended the show! Luckily, I was the house manager during this performance, and since George didn’t know that Jeff was attending, I was able to help Jeff surprise George after the show. Jeff was a great pleasure to communicate with throughout the day. He was interested in my life, as well as my work, and gave me a huge hug and said “Hopefully this will bring you luck.” Without asking for his email either, he ended up giving me it, and said to contact him anytime with any questions, especially when I move to LA so that he can help me find a place to live and a job. I am truly happy that I decided to work at this theatre, especially to work at a place similar to my life work.