Businesses are continuously looking for alternative marketing tactics to bring about brand awareness and promote their product or service to their consumers. With a growing trend of using guerrilla marketing tactics across several industries, it is important for any company to look at all options of product placement in field. The Backstage Artist Lounge is a company that will help your brand be affiliated with world famous musicians and get your brand on stage where the public can awe in it’s glory. According to their company’s website, The Backstage Artist Lounge is a private lounge installed backstage at major music festivals where sponsors connect with talented bands for product sampling and relationship building opportunities. For more information please visit BackstageArtistLounge.com

The photos above show just a few of the sponsors associated with promoting their brand with the Backstage Artist Lounge. These photos were taken at the most recent NAMM music convention, held in Anaheim, California. NAMM is an event only open to those participating in the music industry or invited guests. It’s a highly respected trade show that musicians and industry leaders can come together and conduct business strategy.

Photos include; Katie Wade and Sarah Paget both co-producers for the Backstage Artist Lounge, as well as Christina Martin who founded the company. Jonathan Montoya, guitarist from well-known metal band Saliva, is also featured, aka the official rock star of the Back Stage Artist Lounge.

As you can see, they prove to bring out the meaning in the slogan, work hard play hard. It’s important to balance your lifestyle with work. Why not go out and celebrate your accomplishments. Balance in life is important.

Manipulation is a powerful tool that people use to drive someone else’s belief into another direction. It’s interesting how people feel the urge to tell one another the right way, or the way that they should live their life. I believe a healthy person will naturally know what is right for themselves in order to survive and feel good about themselves, yet everyone is told that they should think and act a certain way in the presence of certain people.

What is it that we can do, in order to do what is right, with out being manipulated by other people? Follow your heart? I want to say yes, but I think it is also possible to have too much heart and it can control you into a direction of discomfort and anxiety. Maybe a balance of mind and heart…maybe this is the true way of having the freedom of the need to be free. There’s only one way to find out.

This inspirational thought is something that most people already know, however not many can conquer. The Life of Balance; Balance between work and play, the balance between love and hate, the balance of stress and fun. Both opposites, one may be good and the other one bad, however both are apart of this universe and here to stay. Might as well except the truths of life and move one doing the right thing. Which is listening to our hearts and balancing enough time to do what we want to do, and do what need to do.

The Corona del Mar Christmas Walk was a huge success this year. Stores were packed with guests hungry to shop, eat and drink all kinds of different culture in the spirit of the holidays just around the corner. Art displays were storefront on the sidewalks and many of the proceeds were donated to charities. For example, the Newport Beach Arts Foundation was selling Guatemalan Hand-Made Beaded Jewelry. 100 percent of the proceeds went to worthy organizations in Guatemala, such as; schools, medical and dental programs, and water purification systems.  Another charity was organized by Texture hair saloon, which was donating $30 per cut to the invisible children fund.

The storefront displays in the so-called American Riviera gave a sense of a European essence, or maybe it was just the cheese, crackers and wine from Phoenician Stone. Either way this weekend was a unique experience.

Along with the art exhibits, were food displays outside of the local restaurants, as well as live performances from local musicians. Surf Rock was blasting outside of the of The Place, a village tavern to Corona del Mar locals, and The Newport Beach Blues Band played outside of Haagen-Dazs ice cream. All the bars were packed with Christmas cheer! Santa Clause was there too! Check out the pictures to get an idea of what it’s like to experience the Corona del Mar Christmas Walk.

The Colourist’s Pac Sun collaboration shirt is now available!

Brighten up your rainy day with the new collaborative  designer shirt from the Colourist. From Orange County, California, the band has been able to visually express their music on the form of a shirt, available at all Pac Sun locations. This series of shirts is unique in the way that they combine the visual expressions of music from the band into the form of a tangle object. It’s like your wear a song on your chest. Intangible into tangle…wave energy into mass. Keep it beautiful with the Colourist.

Check out the pictures for a up close experience with Kollin J. (bassist for the colourist) showing off the shirt at one of the Pac Sun’s locations at Fashion Island, Newport Beach.

I took this photo in the beginning of spring 2009 in Washington DC. The day before the cherry blosoms. It has great balance between the darkness of the landscape and the light of the sunset behind the church. Please let me know if you would like to submit a photo of a sunset and promote your photography.

Steel Pulse, living legends among the rasta community and those who appricaite the positive vibrations created through the soul of reggea. They played at the House of Blue Anaheim to a packed crowd of all ages. After seeing this show, it makes me want to yell “Rasta man vibrations are positive!”

The Newport Beach Sandcastle Contest took place on Sunday October 4^th at Big Corona State Beach. The sponsor for the event was Fidelity Investment’s in support for their California’s Scholarshare College Savings Plan. The event was hosted by the Commodores club, whose mission is to “encourage business investment and involvement in the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce while providing leadership and support for special events that benefit the Chamber membership and the community.”

The event attracted all ages and the sandcastles raged from all shapes and sizes. Anyone could have competed; the event had both experts, building 6 foot plus tall detailed castles, all the way down to beginners shaping mermaids in the sand with seaweed hair.  Personally, my favorite work of art was the “ice cream sanday.”

photos: C Wade

Mike Vallely has contributed towards both to the skateboarding Industry and most recently in the arts of performing heavy metal with his band Revolution Mother. A supporter of community awareness and helping kids get off the streets and onto a skateboard, his band is a new way for him to reach out towards his audience and supporters. With four band members playing on a stage, that fits comfortable a DJ, the band filled the small dance room at La Cav with heavy vibrations of distortion, that were shaking and wobbling the guitar amps that were stacked to the roof. Tables were thrown across the mash pit half way into Mike V’s set. The crowds also asked for more songs when the band ended their set by having the lead guitarist tell the audience he’s going to have a beer. It was a free show, Monday night with no football, what better way to spend a usually non-eventful night.

Revolution Mother

La Cav in Costa Mesa, CA

Photos: Chris Wade

2009