A special HITS CMJ report by Erica Ramon

Night one at CMJ and I find myself in the middle of the debacle for a band I have never heard of, at a venue that even the native New Yorkers aren’t sure of.

It’s a party for The Syndicate and apparently, on the first night, it’s the only place to be. UFO’s Noah Dinkin is my trusty N.Y.C. tour guide, and we’ve picked up some friends along the way.

We run into former HITS A&R guru and noted bon vivant Rodel Delfin and pick up Primary Wave’s Seth Faber. When we finally make it in, we’re greeted by swarms of people and our favorite, top-of-the-line beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon. Maximum capacity was 350, yes I read the signs, but there were at least 500 people packed in like sardines. We lasted all of an hour, had the pleasure of running into Coheed and Cambria manager Blaze James on our way out and could just make out a bit of the Rival Schools set before we bolted.

If you’ve been to CMJ, SXSW or any other music festival of this sort, you know that it is rare that one actually sticks to the carefully plotted schedule you’ve put together beforehand.

Our schedule yesterday kicked off with the “Avenues for Music Placement” panel moderated by LoveCat Music’s Randy Frisch. I chose this particular panel because Randy and I are friends on Facebook, and, oh yeah, I swim in the realm of music licensing, so the more I can soak up, the better. Representing were the Searchparty bookends, Stephanie Diaz-Matos and Jim Dunbar, J. Walter Thompson’s Dan Burt and GreyNYC’s Amy Rosen. Discussing the importance of having your music placed in film and on television and touching on the idea of good vs. bad placements kept the panelists in a smooth, informative groove.

From there, we moved on to “Thank God We Got Dropped,” appropriately titled, with Q Prime/mom and pop music’s Michael Goldstone, Lake Trout guitarist Ed Harris, Elite Artist Services’ Jeffrey Epstein and The Bogart Trip’s Patti Rothberg. The panel, moderated by Razor & Tie’s Michael Caplan, touched on the advantages and disadvantages of being signed to a major vs. an indie, highlighting the idea that being dropped from a label really isn’t the end of the world anymore. At the conclusion of the panel, I walked over to Goldie for a quick hello.We met a couple years ago when he was still with Sire Records, and I have followed his career since I was a kid, so it was only fitting that I stay behind like the rest of the post-panel rushers.

In his new post at Q Prime, Goldie has moved into the world of management and suggested I come see his new band later that evening, Cage the Elephant. What a way to kick off the night! Lead singer Matt Shultz is an animal on stage, and his energy is contagious, so much so, that even the wallflowers in the place were bouncing around. As a native Los Angeleno, I had never been to the Mercury Lounge, but I think it can best be described as having the ambience of the Hotel Café.

After almost losing my computer to the band as they made their way through the audience during the final song, I decided it was time to grab a cab back to the Upper East Side, drop off the crap I 'd been lugging around and see where the night took me. That’s the beauty of New York…. You just never know where you might land.

Be a part of my New York adventure and drop me a line at epramon@gmail.com