It was an ‘eventful’ Summer for me this year to say the least, even if it meant having to work and produce them. Back in July, I was asked by LTD to direct and project manage the third installment of the Green Label Art program for their client, Mountain Dew.

For those that don’t know about the initiative, Mountain Dew launched the Green Label platform to foster creative culture by offering support to various creative communities through partnerships as well as offering new channels of distribution and exposure.

Green Label Art gives selected artists (upcoming and established) the opportunity to design their own Mountain Dew bottles that are only available for a limited duration. Past artists have included: Haze, Jeffstaple, Chuck Anderson and Chris Pastras.  Vol. 3′s participating artists consisted of Pushead, Nathan Cabrera, Jeff McMillan, Claw Money, Stephen Bliss and Dustin “UPSO” Hostetler.

One of the tasks at hand was to produce a show for the participating artists at the etnies Showroom on Greene Street, which also houses the office of LTD.  It was a big undertaking, but I was psyched at the opportunity to get to do an ‘Extreme Makeover’ of the space. Okay, it wasn’t that ‘Extreme’, but with the help of Samantha @ The Giftd, Wes @ Confid3ntial and Garrett Construction we were able take the raw space, create a concept and theme, and transform it to have a ‘gallery-like’ feel.

Slowly, but surely it came along and then finally:

Then came the challenging task of producing 5 separate ‘opening reception’ events for the participating artists, giving each artist their own ‘three-day show. It was hectic, with all the trafficking, coordinating and rotating of art, but in the end it was so much fun to be a part of.

There’s some great recaps here, here, here and here.

I got to meet and work with a lot of great and talented people, which always inspires me.

A big thank you to everyone who was a part of this project and helped me to make this all possible.

Thinking back, it was last New Year’s Eve when I bumped into Jon Shapiro, random considering I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years and here he is in the madness that ensues on the streets of Manhattan just after midnight.  Shipes said he’d been on his grind making moves such as bringing Sean Kingston to Epic Records and in the process leveraging an imprint deal for his label, Cinematic Music Group.  He also mentioned that he was signing Devin The Dude to an indie label, Razor and Tie, which baffled me since (I thought to myself, “Wait, didn’t you just say you signed to Epic? and) I knew Devin had been on Rap-A-Lot for his entire career. We laughed about some buffoonery that took place the last time we saw each other, exchanged numbers and that was how 2008 began…

After that chance meeting he offered me the opportunity to consult and project manage the marketing and album packaging for Devin The Dude, which I was psyched about because for one, I’m a fan of Devin’s and second, throughout my career I’ve (sort of) been on the peripheral of the music industry, but never had the opportunity to work directly in it, so here I am with my first hands-on gig and it’s an ideal one at that. Ideal because not only is Devin one of nicest, most down to earth artists I’ve met, but I also got the chance to meet, and work with a bunch of talented and creative people on this project, which I’m absolutely grateful for.

I’ll elaborate more on the project and the people in a later post, but for now, it’s a brand new year and although I didn’t have chance meetings this New Year’s Eve, I’m looking forward to what the future brings…