blog.JacobBurke.com

Let’s have a bluegrass festival in winter…um, ok?

Posted on: February 1, 2011 at 10:25 pm | Posted under: Design, Life, Work
Tags: bluegrass, festival, winter, Work | Comments: 1 Comment »

In July of 2010 I was approached by my boss at the resort telling me he has a friend that wants to put on a winter bluegrass festival.  I was hesitant at first, because bluegrass festivals are normally held in the summer on farms with camping and all of that fun stuff.  We decided to put it out there and see if anything would come of it.  I was tasked with building a website that would offer information on the festival and the bands playing.  A slew of site updates and the creation of an email list followed, I didn’t know what I was in for.

Once I saw the flyer that Rick had put together, I sprung into action.  I found a more “comfortable” shade of blue, replaced the dreaded Papyrus font and turned the poster into an 11×17 format.  Well that was the start of many more projects and many more poster revisions.

As the months went on, we decided on a 4×6 informational postcard, then we needed CD samplers to send to radio stations, oh and the postcard and poster underwent about five revisions each.  We added sponsors, more bands, things needed to be tweaked here and there until we were happy with it – well until Rick was :)  Interesting thing, the posters that we had printed at State Theatre were not the final design – that design was not printed until the afternoon of the festival, in which we wanted a poster for the musicians to sign (more on that later).  Gift certificates were also added into the mix in mid-December, that was one of the easier tasks – only two revisions to that design.

A few weeks out, I found out that the resort was nearing capacity for the weekend.  I thought to myself, “wow, we did it, we are going to sell out and this is going to be huge.”  I was right about that, but the work wasn’t over – not nearly over.

Roughly one week before the festival, I sent out for banners (we had a conversation about that back in December, but decided to table it – wish we hadn’t).  I had the design done, but it needed to be tweaked to fit the measurements of the wall – thankfully we had those – I ordered two, it was a BOGO with the printer, glad we did.  Then we needed a shirt design, just modeled it off of the banner design and called that done.  Finally, I was home free – nope!

I arrived at the resort on Thursday, one day before the festival started.  I was there to work – bar, security, whatever was needed of me – when you have the word “marketing” in your title, you do it all.  I was still creating signage for this event, even the morning it was supposed to start, oh the fun.  The final poster design saw the light of day after three different attempts to get the PDF file to Staples for printing.  Finally I exported the design as a JPEG and they were able to get the art printed so that we could have posters to get signed by the musicians – and you all wonder why I don’t get much sleep anymore :)

Overall the event was a resounding success – we sold out the resort both nights, the concerts were very well attended and I finally got to meet my favorite female bluegrass artist – the beautiful and talented Claire Lynch (her band was pretty awesome too).

So, would I do it all again – oh yeah!  I love the music of the bluegrass community and how supporting the community is of one another.  I have been a fan for a long time and have been listening to Claire Lynch for a while (more about that in a later post).  I can’t wait to start planning for next year and hope we can find some ways to make the event bigger.

Rick and Scott, thanks for putting this project on my desk, it is some of the best fun I have had – even with all of the work involved :)

June Already?!?!

Posted on: June 14, 2010 at 9:29 am | Posted under: Life
Tags: update, Work | Comments: No Comments »

Holy crap, it’s already June!  I can’t believe how quickly 2010 is flying by.  It also means that I have been neglecting my blog.  I was hoping for this to not happen, but it has.

A lot of things have happened since February, most of them good :)

• I am single again and happy about it.  Relationships are a pain in the ass and I just wasn’t committed to making it work.  Besides, girls are crazy.
• Aron and I have started recording regularly with Falling Flat.  Last week we had our second guest on the show and things are picking up.  I am glad that we got our asses in gear on this, I am having fun with the show.
• The restaurant is doing very well.  My involvement has primarily cut back to marketing, but with all that we do, that is plenty to keep me busy.
• Business is good, I am keeping very busy with the resort and more projects just keep coming my way.

Wow, a bulleted list…how tacky, heh.

I am very excited about the new iPhone 4 and plan on getting mine on the 24th.  I may just pre-order it tomorrow, need to see how that whole thing works and if I can avoid an Apple Store visit (I rather just deal with AT&T).

Ok, back to work.  More soon, I promise!

Cheers!

Now working with ContentRobot!

Posted on: January 14, 2009 at 12:38 pm | Posted under: Life
Tags: Work | Comments: 2 Comments »

That’s right!  After an introduction to the ContentRobot team last week from the lovely Stephanie Agresta (whom I have been working with for a few months now) and a conference call this morning, I will be working with ContentRobot!  I am very excited about this new opportunity and the chance to work with Dana & Karen.

I have enjoyed working with the WordPress platform since the early days, and am glad that I will be working with a company that has established themselves as experts on the platform.

This is another great oportunity to expand my skillset and challenge myself even more.  I enjoy what I do, and can’t wait to get started!

As for my current clients, don’t worry, I am still here for you ;)

Cheers!