Movie Review: This Is Us

 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you heard that the mega famous boyband One Direction has come out with a documentary-style movie called This Is Us. I went to a private pre-screening of the movie last week and wow…I was blown away!

Even if you are not a fan of One Direction, this movie is still fascinating and entertaining enough to keep you interested. I’m sure many people are curious about what it’s like to be a celebrity, or to tour around the globe, to have millions of people know your name and want to be near you. But this movie goes deeper…it shows both the upsides and the downsides to fame.

Liam worries that a girl may not love him for who he is and is afraid that he’ll never really know if the person who likes him only likes him for being famous. The boys’ parents miss them so much that one even purchases a cardboard cut-out photo of her son and puts it in his bedroom so she can say goodnight. One of their Dad’s worries that he’s missed out on his son growing up…and I think the most heart-wrenching was when Harry’s mum said that he left for an audition at 16 years old and never came back…and she wasn’t prepared for that. 

On the upside, Zayn earned enough money to finally buy his mum and sisters a house. It was a really sweet moment when the realtor handed her the keys…but sad that Zayn couldn’t be there to celebrate with them. 

There are a few concert performance scenes which are perfect, especially if you’ve never been to a One Direction concert. You will feel like you’re right there in the front row. 

And of course there are a lot of silly/goofy moments between all the boys, they are all very funny and don’t take themselves too seriously which I adore.

In all, I would give this movie 5 out of 5 stars! Go see it!!

Congrats Zayn & Perrie!

Oh how I love a happy romance between two pop stars!! Zayn Malik of the super amazingly talented boyband, One Direction and Perrie Edward of the funky powerhouse girlband, Little Mix are set to tie the knot!!

These two are wicked cute together, and thankfully they didn’t end up like Justin Timberlake & Britney Spears! For some reason they just make me smile. Congrats to Zayn & Perrie who got engaged on Sunday. In my head I have already concocted numerous engagement scenarios, but I’m sure the real-life version is even better than what I can imagine.

Can’t wait for the wedding…I wonder if all the other 1D boys will be groomsmen…they would look hot in their tuxes I’m sure! 🙂

Band to Watch – Hollywood Ending

Hey guys! I have a new “Band to Watch” for ya! It’s….Hollywood Ending! I’ve been seeing their name pop up all over Twitter lately and had to check them out for myself. I loved what I heard! Check out their bio, video and web links below and let me know if you like them too!

Hollywood Ending is a pop-rock band formed in summer 2011. The band consists of Tyler Wilson, Cameron Byrd, and Dan Geraghty, all 18 years old. Hailing from all different parts of the east coast, these boys came together with a shared dream of becoming big in the music industry. They got their start on season 4 of Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing competition making it in 3rd place. They have appeared on plenty of tours since the formation of the band, opening for artists like Allstar Weekend, Austin Mahone, The Janoskians, R5 and even headlining their own tour playing many sold-out shows across the entire United States, Canada, and Europe.

 

Here’s a video of Hollywood Ending covering Mirrors by Justin Timberlake:

 

Want more Hollywood Ending? Check them out here:

http://www.facebook.com/hollywoodendingband
http://www.twitter.com/HWoodEnding
http://www.youtube.com/hollywoodendingband

Self Publishing – Lessons Learned Part 2

So, it’s been a little over 2 months since I self-published my debut Young Adult novel, Merch Girl on Amazon using their Kindle Direct Program. Here are some things I’ve learned along the way. To read Part 1 of my lessons learned about self publishing, click here. 

Categories Matter

Amazon gives you the option to choose two categories for your book. I chose Teen Romance and Coming of Age when I launched my book. I believe that I chose the correct categories, because Merch Girl cracked the Top 100 in the best sellers list, and even the Top 30 in the Hot New Releases lists in both categories. This helped with the visibility of the book tremendously. 

Sales May Drop After 1 Month

Because of the visibility on the Hot New Releases list, Merch Girl was purchased much more than I ever imagined it would be. However, after about a month, the purchases did drop slightly. I played with the categories a bit, and it seemed that the book was doing better in Teen Romance than in Coming of Age. So, I removed it from the latter and categorized it instead under Music since the book is about rockstars and concerts. The book actually placed in the Top 10 best sellers in the Popular Music and Pop Culture Categories immediately. Exciting, right? Yes, it was cool to be a best seller again, but I kept it in the category for about two weeks and realized that it wasn’t helping sales at all. In fact, i think they were slipping because of it (less visibility to the type of readers I was trying to attract). 

I decided today to add it back into the Coming of Age category and see how it goes. I’m also planning on using my “free days” that Kindle Select gives you for being exclusive with them for 90 days. I’ll report more on that experience after the free days are used!

Happy categorizing!

Bands to Watch – Before You Exit

I haven’t done one of these in a while, and it’s mainly because I haven’t found a band to blog about for quite some time! However, through the magic of Twitter, I stumbled upon a pretty cool up and coming band from Orlando called Before You Exit, or as their faithful fans refer to them, BYE.

They’re totally adorbz and their sound is poppy mixed with a little electro punk in the vein of Hot Chelle Rae and early Jonas Brothers. The band is made up of three brothers (similar to my fave band in the universe, Hanson) consisting of: Connor McDonough, 19, (Vocals/Guitar), Riley McDonough, 17, (Vocals), and Toby McDonough, 15, (Vocals/Synth/Guitar).

They are currently on tour with Cody Simpson and you can find more info on their website here: http://beforeyouexit.com/ 

Check out their video for the single I Like It Like That and let me know what you think!

 

And, if you’re a music lover and like to read, make sure to check out my Young Adult novel, Merch Girl, available on amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CN0HNQO

Concert Review – One Direction – Miami, FL

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a pop concert, especially a large one in an arena. I think the last one I went to was Jonas Brothers in 2009. So when I was offered the opportunity to see One Direction at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, FL, there was no way I was passing it up. Especially because I’ve recently fallen in love with the 5-piece boy group from the UK. All of their songs are instantly catchy and you could hear a song one time and sing along the next. It doesn’t hurt that the fellas are insanely cute. I honestly couldn’t pick a fave…they’re all adorbz, but I will admit, Harry’s got “swag.”

This boyband is different than any other boyband I’ve ever seen in concert. For one – they don’t dance. Seriously, no real choreography at all! They walk back and forth, jump around, horse around with each other, etc. I think this is GREAT…it gives them more time to interact with the crowd and really pay attention to what’s happening all around them.

I sat a few rows away from the side of the stage, which was fun, because when the boys were tired or needed a sip of water, then they’d come over to the side and sometimes they’d lean over and talk to us.

The concert was amazing, very fun, fast-paced, they had some funny videos in between some of the songs. They also did a little “Twitter Q&A” with audience members who tweeted in questions. At the show I was at, someone asked them to show us how to twerk….and they did! It was too cute…not sure those boys pulled it off, but they looked funny doing it and it made us all laugh.

One of the best parts was at the end…they came out wearing custom Miami Heat jerseys!

If One Direction is coming to a city near you, try to get tickets if you can — you’ll have a blast!

Here’s some of my videos & photos from the show:

P.S. If you enjoy boybands and like reading books, check out my YA novel, Merch Girl! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CN0HNQO/

Merch Girl Memories

So, with the debut of my new Young Adult novel, Merch Girl almost coming up on a full week of being available for purchase, I thought I’d reminisce with some true-life, non-fiction stories from MY time being friends with and selling merch for local bands, and maybe some famous celebrity stories too.

Thankfully, I kept a handy dandy online journal so that I would remember everything that happened to me and my friends. Seriously, if I did not have this journal, I honestly wouldn’t remember 75% of the stuff that I went through! No, I wasn’t drunk or on drugs, I just have a really bad memory.

Anyway, one memory that I DO remember is the first time I saw and met the band that I would eventually become really great friends with and be their merch girl from 2003 – 2005. It was such an amazing time. I was 20, turning 21. I even spent my 21st Birthday at a bar on Lansdowne Street watching their band play while the Red Sox were in the World Series. Lets just say they were a huge inspiration for my book 🙂

Ok, so in the summer of 2003, I moved to NYC to intern for Interscope Records. While I was in NYC, I was also getting involved with a new media/new music venture called Paved Earth. They hired me as a Boston rep, and one other guy. They sent us each other’s email addresses so we started chatting online on AIM. Keep in mind, this is before Facebook even existed, I don’t think Myspace did either. So, I had no clue what he looked like or what the band sounded like. All I knew was that he was in a band and went to college for music in Boston and that they were playing a show at the amazing CBGB club in NYC.

Here’s the first thing I wrote in my online journal about it:
This dude that wants to be Boston A&R for PEM is in a band and having a show at cbgbs next tues.. i felt way cool cos he just said this:
“Tues….you should come, i will put you on the list…youre an A+R person now…hehe.” me=dying cos i cant believe someone just said that to me haha 😀

So, yes, I was excited, but not anticipating anything amazing. Well, when I got there with my friend, I remember seeing a guy soundchecking on stage and praying to myself, and to my friend, “please be him, please be him, please be him!” hahaha. Well, it turned out that it was him! And I ended up loving their music and all the guys in the band were amazingly cool. I loved my internship at Interscope, but I was so ready to go back to Boston so I could see them more often!

Here’s a little more from my journal…I was such a fan girl from the start:
okay i was not expecting anything great or for him to be hot or anything… and yeah well the band was AMAZING and he was HOT and i have such a crush hahah. i’m so gonna go to all their shows when i get back to school! mm before i left he says, “i wanna give you a sweaty hug, is that alright?” im like uhh yeahhhh hahahahah. so hot omg.

I guess I had a thing for band guys, what can I say? Until next time…. 😉

It’s Alive!!!

Merch Girl is finally available for purchase!!

If you love bands, concerts, music, hot rockstars, teen romance, and an all around sweet romance, be sure to pick up a copy!

It is available in both ebook format and paperback at the following links:

ebook: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CN0HNQO
paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Merch-Girl-Rebecca-Lewis/dp/1484005511

Merch Girl by Rebecca Lewis

Thanks for the support!!

Merch Girl Teasers!!!

I picked out some fun lines from Merch Girl and paired them up with some rockin photos to bring you a few teasers before the book is published this weekend! Hope you enjoy! Which one is your favorite?

 

 

Bands to Watch – The Royal Knockout

If you’ve been wondering why there hasn’t been a “bands to watch” post in a while, it’s because out of the hundreds of bands who follow me each week on Twitter, it’s been pretty slim pickings on the ones that I would recommend for you to “watch!” But then these guys came along and broke the streak! Thank goodness because I was starting to get a little worried…

Introducing…The Royal Knockout!

Three guys who play, write and sing. (Sounds just like my fictional band in my upcoming book, Merch Girl!) Anyway…if I were to describe what they sound like, I’d say a combination of The Fray and Something Corporate, if that makes any sense. The sound is still very original though, and the lead singer has the ability to convey a lot of emotion in his voice, which is not something every singer in a band can do. I’m also a sucker for guys who play keyboard 🙂

Check them out for yourself and tell me what you think!

Website: http://www.theroyalknockout.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRoyalKnockout
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoyalKnockout