The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: Verve

Media Credit: Photo by Brandon Iwamoto, Designed by Jamie Waugh

For most, the day's work starts out something like this: hear the alarm clock, hit the snooze button, hear the alarm clock again, take an early morning shower, drink coffee and head off to work or school.

The crew of Colorado Music Lounge, however, might be on a slightly differently schedule.

For Josh Middleton, Nic Tapia and Trent Milligan, days when they're shooting might look like: meet in the afternoon, pack up equipment, set up equipment, do interviews, shoot the show, wrap up equipment, ship out, edit and cut video and audio and press send.

"Long nights, late nights. But it's cool," said Tapia, a senior communications major.

Five cameras, 10 batteries, eight tapes, some tripods and nearly a year later, Campus Television's live music program CML has made a dent into the nebulous local music scene.

A rough start to things

During spring semester of 2008, Middleton and then-music director Steve Hendrickson of KCSU, CSU's student-run radio station, brainstormed the idea for Colorado Music Lounge.

"CTV had done some programs in the past here and there, but they've never have had a good consistent local live music show," said Middleton, a senior journalism major.

After pitching the show to newly-elected Station Manager Ben Brune, Middleton and Hendrickson set out to present the first program in late August.

The two intended on taping a friend's band, the Black Apples, somewhere in Fort Collins, but needed to reach out to local talent-buyer Greta Cornett for help.

Aside from her time as a local musician with the band 12 Cents for Marvin, Cornett, whom Tapia and Middleton call their "guardian angel," connected them with ownership at the Aggie Theatre.

Black Apples were set to go on three days later, during the middle of the week, for a free show. How much money it would take to produce such a show, however, would remain undetermined.

"The first show was a circus," Middleton said. "Come to find out, we were apparently supposed to pay the doorman and all the bartenders and cover a whole bunch of other costs. We don't have a budget, you know?"

Things worked out for the best, but much video and audio editing remained.

"We had a week to cut everything, and we did it," Middleton said. "We got it on the air … barely."

Pre-production: before the real deal

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools