By Lisa Occhino
So, word on the street is the world was supposed to end yesterday. Not gonna lie, it got a little rainy there for a second in Boston, but that’s about as close to apocalypse weather as we got – what a bummer. Now that everyone has emerged from their bomb shelters and stopped their blabbering about misconstrued conclusions that the Mayans never actually came to, I think it’s safe for us to hit rewind on this semester and count down the Top 7 “grooviest” moments. (We sincerely apologize for all of the “Groove” puns we try to make that just come across as a poor attempt at bringing back ‘60s slang… we’re workin’ on it.)
THE TOP 7 “GROOVIEST” MOMENTS OF FALL 2012:
7. We selected Melanie Lynx, Betty Who, and Red Oblivion to be featured as our Artists/Bands of the Month, in which we carefully handpick Berklee students who are doing remarkable things with their music careers.
6. In a special edition of October’s Artist/Band of the Month, we featured four sharp Berklee students who won our first-ever scavenger hunt by finding the pairs of CollegeFest tickets that we hid around campus in the late hours of a random Wednesday night.
5. Turns out Berklee kids really love a good scavenger hunt, so we decided to team up with our friends at Guitar Center who generously gave us over $1,000 in amazing prizes (including an Ibanez F-Style Mandolin and a 2012 Big Baby Taylor Acoustic Guitar!) to hide around campus. What started out as a cute little idea of ours ended up exploding into an epic night of college kids running around like maniacs in search of the coveted prizes. In the words of one of the participants: “I have never seen this college so alive!”
4. We started a monthly email newsletter, in which we hook our Groovers up with exclusive opportunities, concert tickets, prize giveaways, and more! They’re also the first to know about super secret Groove stuff, like cool upcoming articles that haven’t been published yet and our events/giveaways that haven’t been announced to the public yet. Shh!
3. We interviewed Berklee alumni Karmin, YouTube sensation Walk Off The Earth, and a legendary electric-rock harpist who toured with Steve Vai – not to mention Sara Bareilles, The Fray, Joshua Radin, and Grace Potter over the summer, who just so happen to be some of our biggest idols. (Have we mentioned how much we love our jobs?!)
2. Hannah Christianson won our third “In The Groove” Songwriting Competition, which proved to be our biggest and best yet. After probably causing a fire hazard with the number of people who crammed into the Student Activities Lounge for the competition last semester, we decided it was time to upgrade to a bigger space. So this semester, the top three finalists (including runners-up Maddie Rice and Myloe) battled it out live for the audience’s vote at Guitar Center in Fenway. The stakes were higher than ever before, with the first place prize including a $250 Guitar Center gift card, a live performance and interview on the BIRN, a featured set at King’s, the headlining performance at our spring 2013 end-of-semester party, and of course, a featured interview right here on berkleegroove.com. We received the most submissions that we’ve ever gotten for this competition, so narrowing it down to the top three was really tough. But after giving away 15+ raffle prizes, honorable mention prizes, free Red Bull all night generously provided by the Wiiings Team, and $20 Guitar Center BonusCards for every attendee, we finally revealed the results of the audience’s vote and crowned Hannah as the winner.
1. Oh, and it was about time that we got memed. We’re actually quite flattered and, for some strange reason, consider this to be a milestone. (Mostly because three years ago, people barely even knew The Groove existed!)
So, there you have it. We’ve come a long way, my friends. And hey, even if you didn’t do anything else this year, you survived a non-existent apocalypse. Now that’s one for the books.
Seriously though – from all of us at The Groove, we wish you the most amazing holiday season! We love our readers and contributors so much; we would be absolutely nothing without you guys, and we can’t thank you enough for continuing to help The Groove grow and thrive. Have a very relaxing break – you deserve it! We can’t wait to see you again in spring 2013!
All the best,
Lisa & The Groove staff