From Wednesday, October 13th through Saturday the 16th 2004, Cityzen staffer Shawna Adams rocked her CMJ press pass with total abandon. The following account is Shawna's reflection on the chaos that is the College Music Journal's Music Marathon, the countries' largest gathering of college radio representatives, bands and industry elite. 2004's version of the marathon took place in the Jacob Javitz Center, The Westin Times Square, and at the over 60 clubs, venues, hotels and wattering holes that make up the Manhattan music scene.

During the day, panels ranging from "Who Killed The Dance Party" to "The Upside of Downsize: Overcoming Attrition in the Music Industry" featured the likes of Moby, Eli Parser, Brian Wilson, The Rev. Moose, Ariel Hyatt, Matt Pinfield, Saul Williams, Ted Leo, Reid Hunter, and keynote Al Franken. At night, the streets of NY were over-run by thousands of CMJ badgewearers running from club to club trying to take in hundreds of live performances offered free to badgeholders all night long (that is, while they were not taking advantage of industry sponsored open bars in every corner of the city).

Wednesday, October 13. Day 1 of the CMJ craziness:
I picked up my badge from the Jacob Javits Center at 10AM. I was the first person on the Press line waiting to pick a badge up. I feel like I should be somewhat proud of this. I then proceeded to wear the DKNY strap with the badge dangling ever so snootily from it around my neck for the rest of the day, just because I could. I noticed others doing so as well, and it made me feel like the city was coming together in a way.

I walked many streets alone that night, but I never felt alone. Everywhere I went I saw hipsters, scenesters, punkers, rockers, rockstar-wannabes, posers, industry ‘peeps’, hotshots, head honchos, you-name-it, with the same strap hanging from their necks, attached to which was the coveted and at-the-moment trendy CMJ badge. Everyone who looked as if they should have a badge… had one. I felt apart of something. On every subway ride to and from destinations, I would see at least two people sporting the badge. It was comforting to constantly be reminded that I wasn’t the only one in this anonymous city partaking in CMJ.

The most fascinating aspect of CMJ by far is the fact that only the people who are directly involved in the festival even realize what’s going on during those four jam-packed days, while the city outside of the industry lies unsuspecting to the absolute insanity. I imagine what us CMJers must have looked like to “outsiders” – perhaps they were under the impression that we were part of some invasion crew of tourists, on a constant tour spanning the most random parts of the city, the badges around our necks our only way of identifying one another. I would be approached by friends asking what “that thing around your neck” was for, and I definitely noticed some inquiring stares throughout the weekend. At the same time, I liked that there seemed to be that separation; as well known as CMJ is to the industry, it’s obvious that it still remains, in a way, a secret underground phenomenon, even in a city as in vogue as NYC.

On this first night of CMJ, my badge was still fresh and new to me. I had yet to discover the access it gave me, the sense of importance it led me to believe in myself, and the community I would be absorbed in for four days straight.

You could tell it was CMJ time in NYC.

The big show of the night was the Drive-Thru records showcase at Avalon. I’m used to going to Avalon for clubbing, not rocking out, so it was a new experience for me. Sure enough, the chic club was filled to the brink with urban outfitters-clad girls with trendy razor-angled locks and painfully skinny boys with jet-black emo hair smothering their entire face. It was quite a stray from the older and less sober crowd I’m used to seeing at Avalon.

I arrived at the end of Halifax’s set. I squeezed my way to the very back of the club and watched what I could of their set: the upper torso of each band member moving around the stage and rocking out. At 9:00 PM, Steel Train came on the stage and launched into a tight 30-minute jam session. Hardcore dancing ensued in the audience to match lead singer Jack Antonoff’s sha-shaying across the stage. Antonoff announced that the next song was “supposed to be on our last record but for some reason didn’t make the cut…” while the band launched into a groovy version of “I Want You Back ” by The Jackson 5.

Steel Train's Scott Irby Rainniar Croons @ Avalon

Hellogoodbye's Forrest (above) and Chris (Right) mingle in moog.

Synth-pop band Hellogoodbye was next on the bill, arriving on stage at exactly 9:45PM. The most satisfying aspect of this showcase was the variety of music presented. Halifax brought the punk in while Steel Train got the crowd mellowed out in a jam session stoners everywhere would die for, and now electro-pop-ers Hellogoodbye got heads in the crowd bopping up and down with their happy mooging.

After Hellogoodbye’s set, I dragged myself away to head uptown to Downtime to catch Murder By Death’s headlining slot at 10:30PM. This was the highlight of my night. (see CMJ: Murder By Death) My failed attempt of catching their set on The Weakerthan’s tour (I missed their entire set except for the last song) made me determined to soak them up this time around. Afterwards I ended up back at Avalon for the hyped up “CMJ afterparty”, but left quite abruptly and disappointedly.

Rock Star Cellist Sarah Balliet of Murder By Death

Thursday, October 14. Day 2 of the CMJ craziness:
I headed straight from work to S.O.B.’s to see Say Anything and Northstar. Probably the most random encounter at CMJ was running into Chris Carraba, lead singer of Dashboard Confessional, completely dressed up in a suit and watching the show. I don’t know why he was dressed in a suit.

I wasn’t impressed with Say Anything. In my mind, nothing set them apart from any other pop-punk band floating around. On the other side of the coin, Northstar followed up and put on a great show. They had a very cool rock sound that was noticeably country-influenced – not surprising, since the band hails from Alabama. I was completely mesmerized by the guitarist’s painfully accurate playing technique. In fact, I don’t think I paid much attention to anyone else in the band during the entire set. I can’t decide if that’s because I was so impressed by his playing, or if it was a result of his stage presence (he had the habit of periodically shoving his guitar in my face, since I was standing directly in front of him). Jake of Northstar and Casper Adams << of Say Anything on the SoB Stage

Afterwards, I headed over to The Continental to see Fueled by Ramen’s showcase, which included Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is…, Punchline, and a few others. The tiny club was completely over packed. I caught the end of Gym Class Heroes and hung around for The Academy Is…The Academy Is…was completely self-indulgent, since the young Chicago band has a striking resemblance in both sound and stage performance to one of my favorite bands, Taking Back Sunday. As a result, they have a noticeably appealing live show and I would recommend checking them out to anyone.

Friday, October 15. Day 3 of the CMJ craziness:
Today was the first chance I got to check out the panels at Javits Center and The Westin Hotel uptown. “Press Play: Rediscovering Music Journalism Online” featured Will Hermes Spin of Tracks as moderator and panelists Scott Plagenhoef, Managing Editor of Pitchforkmedia.com; Matthew Perpetua Fluxblog; Mark Willett, Contributor of Music For Robots; Steve Manning, Director of Publicity at Sub Pop Records; and Felice Ecker, Founder and Co-Owner of Girlie Action Media. The panel was mainly concerned with the rise of online music journalism, and its current status over print journalism. The overall consensus was that music journalism online has the means of reaching out to a wider audience, with more access to that audience than print journalism could ever achieve. As a result of the Internet and music blogs popping up everywhere, the music world is more widespread and cohesive. Music journalism online also provides the outlet of innovation, being more flexible with regards to ideas and creativity due to a low cost budget. The panel also raised some interesting issues such as the responsibility of a journalist in choosing which artists they cover: drawing the line between what they want to cover, and what needs to be covered.

In the evening, I headed over to Brooklyn for the highly anticipated Jimmy Eat World show at Warsaw. I am sad to say that the opening bands Robbers on High Street and The Oranges Band were disappointing. Robbers…quite honestly put me to sleep. I would describe them as mundane rock. Their set would have been better received if the band members made some attempt to move around the stage. What bothered me about The Oranges Band was how the guitarist seemed to be in his own little musical realm. He looked to be in his thirties, yet was attempting to display the attitude of a reckless teenager. His guitar playing didn’t seem to go with the music “his band” was playing. In an attempt to steal the show away from the band, he instead distracted me, and probably everyone else in the audience, from enjoying their performance at all.

After what seemed like the longest break between sets ever, Jimmy Eat World stormed the stage and launched into a rocking set. I was front row center and felt the effects of a good show as beads of sweat flew at me off lead singer Jim while he jumped to the beat of the music. The mature band played quite a few songs off their new record. Everyone in the audience seemed to have the CD in advance, because they sang along as confidently as they did with the older songs the band performed. Among the songs off Futures that the band played were “Work” and “Kill,” both of which were received enthusiastically by the crowd. The band played close to 20 songs and ended with an encore of their 2002 smash hit “The Middle.”

Jim Adkins (above and below left) and Tom Linton of Jimmy Eat World Play a Marathon Set @ Warsaw

Saturday, October 16. Last day of the CMJ craziness.
By today I was completely exhausted from the previous three days packed with events. I think I spent more time running between venues than I did at any one show. I went to two interesting panels at the Westin Hotel. The first panel was a DIY panel called “Music Marketing, Publicity, Promotion.” The panel featured moderator Anne Leighton, owner of Media*Marketing*Motivation, with panelists Ariel Hyatt, President of Ariel Publicity/MusicSUBMIT; The Rev. Moose The Management Syndicate; Maryelizabeth Carter, Director of National Promotion at Razor & Tie; Maria Ferrero, President/Owner of Adrenaline PR; and Chris Dewolfe of Myspace.com. The panel seemed to be the most popular panel of the day, as seats filled up quickly and many people were forced to stand, a few dozen or so CMJers unable to even go into the conference room because it was so packed. The panel discussed different hands-on management and promotion methods that bands and individuals could employ to get the word out on new music.

The second panel I attended was a workshop called “The State of Punk,” featuring moderator Anita Rivals, General Counsel/Partner of Intravenous Records, along with panelists Louis Posen, President of Hopeless Records; Bob McLynn of Crush Management; Jason Hall from Radio & Retail at Fat Wreck Chords; Matt Pinfield, VP of A&R at Columbia Records; and Ben Herson, Founder of Nomadic Wax LLC. Moderator Anita Rivals led the discussion in the direction of the relationship between labels and their artists.

In the evening, I headed over to the Knitting Factory, where I caught the set of Mewithoutyou. It was my first time seeing Mewithoutyou, and they put on a show that was exceptional, to say the least. In the middle of their set, the lead singer brought out a trash bag filled with what I thought was…trash. However I soon discovered this was not the case when he began taking out handfuls of dead flowers from the bag and smothering them on his body, throwing them on the stage and trampling them as he sang. It was quite a surprise and seemed to work well with the band’s performance.

By the time their set was over, the venue had filled to the brink and it became increasingly harder to enjoy the show in the massive crowd and rising temperature. I opted to leave the show early and spend the rest of the night resting. CMJ may only be four days long…but they pack enough events in those four days to last a month.

To See More Stellar CMJ Photography,
Visit Shawna's Site: out-of-focus.inamind.net