Rockie Lynne with GAC host Suzanne Alexander on the Orange Carpet at the 2006 ACM Awards Show.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong. Today, Elvis fans in Las Vegas, together with music fans from all over the world, came together at the MGM Grand and crowned country music King. The pageantry and spectacle that is the Academy Of Country Music Awards actually begins many months before on the planning table of ACM president Bob Romeo and his surprisingly small team of incredibly talented people.
Thousands of hours of hard work, hundreds of false starts and millions of headaches will air live in front of the whole world as a seemingly effortless three hours of music, conversation and fun. It is not! If I had a hat, it would be off to the folks at the Academy for taking an impossible task and pulling it off like the true champions they are. Yay for them!
My alarm went off at five a.m. this morning. As much as I want you to believe that I can operate at my highest level with only two hours of sleep, I cannot. My best laid plans to work out were completely trashed for one more hour of sleep. Sooo........
My alarm went off at six a.m. Thirty-five radio stations were set up and ready to interview all of us at 8:00 a.m. As much as I needed to get up and shower and prepare to be brilliant on the air, something possessed my right arm, unplugged the alarm and threw it across the room!
... Who knew those things had batteries? I reluctantly got up at 7:00 a.m.. The evil alarm clock sat uninjured on the sofa in my suite having a cup of tea and mocking my every move toward the shower (o.k. a little melodramatic, but he was having a cup of tea.)
I'm early for life, so I was in the lobby waiting for my friend, amazing singer and labelmate Joe Nichols (late for life) at 7:45. Shortly after 8:00 we went to the radio round robin. We saw a bunch of our radio friends and spent some time visiting on the air with you. It was wonderful. The radio guys were in much worse shape than me. I don't drink. Deejays occasionally have a cocktail or two.
After the radio seminar and lunch, time for the orange carpet. I always thought it was called a red carpet, but that must be an old school thing because the "Walk the Line" premiere was black (probably for 'man in black') and the ACM carpet is orange. (probably for 'man in orange'?) All of us newcomers go first. It is very exciting.
The really big difference for me between the CMAs (for which I also blogged) and the ACMs is that I now know the participants. Last time I was so caught up in the spectacle of it all. It was so overwhelming to just be present, I hardly noticed little other than the peripheri. This time I got much more of the sense of camaraderie.
The schedules that folks with record deals keep is so demanding that we seldom have the opportunity to see each other with any time to visit at all. The award shows are kind of like a family reunion. Even though this was my first ACMs and I have only been at the table for a year or so, I knew most of the nominees, presenters and participants. I was really happy to see their success and watch my friends' dreams come true .
Thanks to GAC for allowing me to write this blog. I am so proud to be a part of this amazing network.
See you soon.
Love, Rockie
