Tag Archives: BLOG

Jan29

Flashback Journal: My First Big Backstage Experience

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Flashback Journal: My First Big Backstage Experience

Sandy Lo with Aaron Carter backstage in 2002.

On January 29, 2002, exactly 10 years ago, I received my first press pass to a concert for StarShine Magazine.  It was to an Aaron Carter concert in Albany, New York and I will never forget that experience.  Everyone told me I would never be able to get a press pass, but I did.  I was extremely excited, nervous and green about it all.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I was a teenager, but I was driven and wanted to prove myself as a journalist…eventually I got the hang of it.  This is still one of my favorite journal entries I wrote though, in spite of my overzealous fandom!  Enjoy!

 

Let me just say that this was a dream come true for me—to hang around and talk to people in the industry and be taken as a serious journalist…Wow.  I was so amped up and nervous that I got to the Pepsi Arena at around 2. The opening act I was interviewing, Lindsay Pagano, wasn’t arriving till 4. So the tour production people sat me outside her dressing room where they guaranteed me “plenty of action”…and oh were they right!

The first person I see is Jane Carter. She walks out and asks me, “Do you know where the production room is?” Oddly enough I had just come from there so I gave her directions and she thanked me. Moments later Lindsay Pagano’s dancers arrived. They let me sit in the dressing room with them and we were just gabbing away!! They were cracking me up. I asked them if any of Aaron Carter’s sisters were with him and they said there is this one girl with long dark brown hair who’s tall and skinny…so of course I assume Angel, and I was right. She walked by and just smiled at me. I think she knew I was an Aaron fan because I guess my face showed it all every time her or Jane walked by. I saw Bob (Aaron’s father) a few times too.

Anyway so finally I get the nerve to go up to Angel and ask for a picture. She was nice about it. A little while later Lindsay’s dad and little sister got there and they are so nice! We were all talking in the dressing room when this little puppy peeks it’s head in! I of course “awww” and when my eyes follow the leash up to its owner, I realize it’s Aaron with Angel next to him! He walked away too quickly so I didn’t get to even make eye contact. Later on I got to pet the puppy, who is mostly wolf!

Pretty soon Lindsay arrived and we began our interview, which went extremely well! Before hand, her little sister says to Lindsay, “Did you know she’s a big Aaron fan?” I blushed and Lindsay was like “Really? Aww! You want me to introduce you?” I nodded insanely and she giggled. She then says, “I think he’s doing sound check. I want to see it. Do you want to come?” Of course I wanted to see Aaron’s sound check!

So Lindsay, her sister, her dancers and I walk over to the stage area where Jane is watching Aaron from one of the seats. We all sat in the front row and sang along. Aaron kept looking over at me like he was trying to figure out who I was. Throughout sound check he was goofing around, making weird noises and doing his Donald Duck impersonations.

After that, we went back to Lindsay’s dressing room. Aaron was walking down the hall and I tapped Lindsay “Aaron Aaron…”. Haha! So Lindsay yells out to him, “Hi Aaron Carter!” in a goofy voice. He replied, “Hi Lindsay Pagano” in the same goofy voice as he waved and went into the dressing room.

Next was Lindsay’s turn for sound check. I sat and watched with her sister. Of course who comes and sits a few chairs away? AARON! For some odd reason he was holding a hub cab…I assumed he didn’t steal it, haha.

After Lindsay’s sound check we headed to catering. I ate lunch with her and her family and Jane Carter was also eating. She kept staring at me. (Author’s Note: I’m sure she wasn’t too keen on a fan/journalist hanging around backstage at her son’s concert all day, but I didn’t know proper etiquette back then and this was a chance of a lifetime for me!)

Soon it was time for Lindsay to get ready to go onstage. I’m waiting outside her dressing room with her father when I see Aaron coming down the hall! Her father was like “Go, go!” So I start walking down the hall, trying to be casual, knowing this was my chance to meet him.
When I got up to him, I said, “Hi Aaron, my name is Sandy from StarShine Magazine.” He replied with, “Hey what’s up?” He kind of looked at me like “Oh so that’s who this girl is!” lol. Then I asked him to take a picture and for a few autographs for the magazine. I told him that I’d really like to do a feature on him in my magazine and he said “Cool” and wrote down an email address to contact. “You can talk to my manager,” he says just as I respond with, “Your mother?” He laughed and said, “Oh yeah that too!”

After leaving Aaron, I see Jane and I give her all my contact info on a sheet of paper. (Author’s Note: Real professional of me, huh? Luckily I got real business cards after this event!)

I finally started seeing Dream Street members walking around. They had a signing at a mall so they didn’t have sound check. We all made our way over to the stage area next. Aaron and his dancer were playing basketball and the ball rolled over to me so I passed it back. I was talking to Lindsay before she went onstage and she told me she was nervous. Aaron must have overheard and walks over to us and says, “You’re nervous? Aww, I feel ya!”

He starts telling us this story about when he was six and he was doing a “confort”…lol. He looks at me and says, “I can’t talk”. “You mean concert?” I asked, and he laughs and says “Yeah, that’s it!” So the story was that he was so nervous that he fell and chipped his tooth. Lindsay didn’t feel like his story made her feel less nervous and we all laughed and she said, “Thanks, I’ll be sure not to do that.”

I asked Aaron if he’d be willing to do an interview tonight and he said “That’s the man you got to speak to.” pointing to his road manager. So I thanked him and walked away. I asked the manager about an interview and he said there was no time for tonight but we can try to schedule a phone interview. I talked about it to Jane too, so it’s all good.

(Author’s Note: Wrong!! It wasn’t all good by any means. Following this concert, a history of me getting turned down for interviews while Jane was managing Aaron ensued! It took me over 2 years to get an interview and that was after Jane stopped managing Aaron! It makes for a funny story though and funny enough, I still work with Aaron and keep in touch with the Pagano family and members of Dream Street! Anyway, back to the story…)

I watched the whole show from the side of the stage. Everyone was great! Aaron posed for pictures for me during the concert!

After the show, I was standing by the wall and Aaron was walking by and I told him “great show”. He thanked me and hugged me while Jane gave me a dirty look. I just didn’t understand why she didn’t like me. (Author’s Note: Apparently she thought I was some stalker from Tampa, Florida named Monica??? She didn’t take me seriously as a journalist. In hind sight, I can understand why. Still, I was no threat to her son.)

After that, I got to interview Chris Trousdale from Dream Street who is super nice! (Author’s Note: Who would have thought I would end up being his publicist at some point? Lol.)

I said goodbye to Lindsay, the Pagano family & the dancers, before saying goodbye to Angel and the puppy, Akia. I didn’t get to say goodbye to Aaron but the hug was kind of that, so it’s all good. I so had the best night of my life! Spending 8 hours backstage was incredible!

Oct17

"Burning Up" with Nick Carter!

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"Burning Up" with Nick Carter!

I really wrestled with the idea of trying to get an interview with Nick Carter when I found out he was shooting his video right here in Nashville.  I literally just ended StarShine and if I made allowances for the Backstreet Boys, where would it end?  I’m not saying I’ll never do an interview again…but I want to do it more in a bloggie manner than be editor of a magazine.  Anyway, back to Nick Carter, who by the way I’ve loved for half my life…Needless to say when I realized 107.5 The River were picking people to be extras in his video, I found myself tweeting Intern Adam, not thinking much into it.  Apparently, my tweet was creative enough to grab his attention because before I knew it, I got a message from him saying I would get a wristband for the shoot.

I was told to pick up the wristband by 9:45, well, that tipped me off to more of a first come, first serve basis.  So I arrived right before nine and sure enough, there were a group of girls who were already there!  I expected to wait a while, but hours passed and the line was building while we all stood outside like groupies more than the “chosen” ones. I figured there would be more order to the shoot. Talk flew throughout the crowd that Nick was writing the treatment as he went, but I never know what’s true and what’s not in a group of fans. Like Intern Adam said to us, “Y’all like to talk and give out wrong information”. Ain’t that the truth?

It was a sure thing by the end of the day that I’d see at least one fan crying out of disappointment. Every event I’ve been to, whether as a fan or a journalist, I’ve witnessed a fan crying or angry. I’m usually pretty understanding, knowing there’s a lot of chaos and a lot of people involved in an event, and it’s not easy on anyone, I’m sure.

However, things could have been done a little better. The radio station gave out mixed information, for one. Two, the crowd scene should have been filmed first, not last. Everyone’s feet were killing them by that point! Most people hadn’t eaten either, afraid to lose their spot in line.

After spending the morning outside and part of the afternoon, things paid off for me—Nick Carter came out to quickly shake hands and talk to the crowd to show his appreciation. He posted a video on Twitter of us outside and asked what he should tweet it as. I randomly called out, “Hardcore” and he laughed and said, “Hardcore…”. Little did I know he wound up tweeting the video as “Hardcore. Not Porn.” Gotta love him. (Watch the video here: http://www.twitvid.com/IW2YI.  You can see me peeking out, I have “Lost In You” in my hands and I’m waving.)

When Nick walked over to me, I shook his hand and slid my first novel, “Lost In You” into his hands. I told him I published a book and that the Backstreet Boys inspired it. “Oh, wow, thank you,” was his response. Then I added, “I autographed it for you.” Haha! I love autographing things for my idols! I doubt Nick will read it, but I hope he does appreciate it. So now, two Backstreet Boys own an autographed copy of “Lost In You”. AJ McLean’s mom, my good friend, Denise Solis, sent him a copy for me when it was first released in 2009.

After Nick went down the line, he walked back into Play Dance Bar to finish filming the video. More hours went by and fans were complaining more and more of hunger and sore feet. Finally, someone comes out and tells us they’re going to select about twenty girls to go in first. There goes my “first come, first serve” theory. They picked the most dressed up girls and also, the skinniest and skimpiest.

That’s all fine and good…It’s a sexy video, but in the e-mail from the station, we were told to wear sexy, but casual with creative vibes and not your typical club scene. I took that too literal, I think. I wore my favorite outfit (which I also wore to my “Dream Catchers” book release party). It was a little sexy punk look with a petticoat, halter top, black vest, boots and fingerless pleather gloves. I thought I looked pretty fierce, so I wasn’t going to sit there and put myself down on why those girls got picked and I didn’t. Their outfits were the better fit. The rest of the crowd ranged from plain old t-shirt and jeans to formal wear! Obviously, everyone’s opinion of sexy and casual are different.

Another hour or so passes and we’re finally allowed in, but kept in the foyer of Play for another freaking hour! It was so crammed before the crowd started thinning, feeling the day was bogus. I could have left after giving Nick “Lost In You” and been happy, but I would like to say I was in the music video. What can I say, I’m a fame seeker!

We were finally allowed into the video shoot and Nick is supposed to be a DJ while the crowd is going crazy with glow sticks. (Check out a video posted by 107.5 of this scene here.)  It felt like I was at a Nick Carter concert a little bit, except “Burning Up” was the only song he sung, haha! It was quite an arm workout waving my hands in the air repeatedly with full force. This machine kept blowing gusts of air into my face, which actually felt good considering we were all packed into the room like sardines. Nick was keeping the crowd pumped by making us laugh and asking us to repeat lyrics with him. They started sending people out of the shoot after a little while for the paint scene. I was one of them, but I was fine with it. I love my outfit too much to risk ruining it! Of course, on my way out, I witnessed two very upset girls whining to Intern Adam about the day. He told them to calm down in a nice way. Gotta love Adam!

I headed home, physically exhausted. I felt like I did a full body workout between all the standing, jumping and arm pumping. By the way, people in Nashville looked at me like I’m a prostitute dressed the way I was in daylight, glitter and all! In New York, not many people would flinch.

So I doubt I’ll be seen in the actual “Burning Up” video, but at least my hands will stand out if they’re shown. I think I was the only one wearing fingerless pleather gloves. :)

Something off my checklist today…Now if I can just get Jared Leto a copy of “Dream Catchers”, I’d be thrilled. I hope “The Watch Dog” doesn’t wind up having any celebrity inspiration. I will make it a life mission to get that person a copy. Why do I like to drive myself crazy? ;-)

Enjoy the Nick Carter pictures.  Comments are welcome and appreciated!

Oct12

My "Almost Famous" Kinda Night

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My "Almost Famous" Kinda Night

Flashback Blog Time!!  This is an uber excited e-mail I sent to a bunch of my friends after my first in person interview experience at a Lucky Boys Confusion concert. Oddly enough, I still keep in touch with the lead singer.  I was eighteen when I wrote this and away from home for the first time, so I learned to be more careful very quickly after this night.

Hope you enjoy reading my little journalism entries:) I’m excited to share them all with you!

October 20, 2002
Albany, New York
First In Person Interview

Well, so here’s the whole story…I cannot believe it…well I can, but I felt like I was in “Almost Famous” or something lol! So anyway, there were these flyers posted all around campus that Lucky Boys Confusion were performing at this club called Valentine’s along with these two other bands…so Jeane convinced me that I wouldn’t like it and it was all hardcore scary stuff…so I’m like oh…yeah, I guess it’s not for me…but I still kinda wanted to go.

Well, I go to work last night and this kid Jared sitting next to me puts on a CD. So I’m like wow this band is cool and I ask him who it is and he says, “Lucky Boys Confusion” so I’m like “No way!” He tells me he’s going to Valentine’s and it should be cool…so I’m like I am so there!

I emailed their manager asking to set up an interview…I got a call while I was out shopping from him saying that it was really last minute and just show up and see what happens. I get dressed and head out by myself since my friends here suck…but I was like ‘hey this is my job’!

I get there and it’s this dinky little bar. They didn’t even proof me but I was broke anyway so I didn’t drink.  I sit at the bar and ask the bartender when the show starts while this cute short punk kid with tattoos and piercings sits down next to me…so I ask “Are you a fan?” and he’s like “No, I’m a road manager tonight.” I’m like “Oh” and I tell him what I’m all about and he says he has his own band so I tell him a little about StarShine…His name is Dave by the way, and he gave me his band’s press kit, so I’m like COOL!

Afterwards I walk over to this blonde chick and ask her for a quote. She gives me one and we start chatting music and hang out a little. Then we walk outside and the tour bus is out there. I start interviewing a bunch of fans waiting to get in the downstairs section where the guys were playing. Then I see one of the guys from my other job. He’s a cute little guy named Lari, who’s an important person at the SA (Student Association).

I’m like “Hi, Lari what are you doing here?” and he’s like “I put this thing together.  What are you doing here?”  He saw my notepad and freaked! “You’re here from the ASP (Albany Student Press)??? Great!! I was going to kick myself for not getting someone to write about it.” I told him I just took it upon myself to come down and try to get the scoop, lol! I didn’t say it like that, though. Lari asks, “Do you want an interview?” and I’m like “Uh yeah!” so he pulls me inside, talks to some people and sends me in this little lounging area in the back.

The people I’m with back there are River City High. Now mind you I am TOTALLY unprepared for this interview! I know NOTHING about this band and I have not 1 question written down…on top of that I was nervous as hell!!! This was my first in person interview! So they introduce themselves. I start asking lame questions and I completely forget their names throughout the whole interview.  Most of the guys were pretty cool about it, but I felt like a dummy!

After that interview, Lari says he’s going to try to get the other 2 bands out…oh by the way, James from River City High is adorable:) Anyway, I start talking to that guy Dave again. His band is called “Count The Stars”. Then I see that kid Jared from work and he’s flattered that I came cause he feels like it was his doing lol!

Lari taps me and says the other band is ready, so I walk over to the little bar area and two of the guys from the Riddlin’ Kids are standing there. I jotted down some questions while I was waiting…I still knew nothing about them though. The two guys standing there were Mark (soooo HOTTTT) and Dave. We’re making small talk and they’re nice then the other two guys come over and introduce themselves…one is Clint and I called him Clinton and he was like “Ahh, would you call Clint Eastwood Clinton?” lol. They’re from Texas and the other one is Dustin. We go to the back room area again and River City High is in there chillin’. We start the interview and Lari takes a pic of me interviewing them. This interview went a lot smoother! They are so cool! And they noticed I was left-handed and so were Mark and Dave so we were like “Yeah left handed people rock!” lol. Then they started making fun of River City High and Mark (from River City High\) said “hey she’s bad with names!” and I was like “Only with you guys!” lol…After the interview, Mark (from Riddlin’ Kids) said I did great ;)

Lari told me that I wouldn’t get to interview LBC until after the show.  I was cool with that. So first the Riddlin’ Kids come out and play and they so kick ass!! Mark smiled at me a couple of times and so did Clint…it was cool. I’m gonna download their songs later. Next up came River City High and they rocked too! Mark kept smiling at me and he tried to throw his guitar pick to me but it fell straight down lol!

Before LBC came on that blonde chick comes back over to me and says she talked to them and told them to look for her. I’m like awesome. Finally Lucky Boys Confusion comes out and everyone is like whoo hoo! The whole time the blonde chick is freaking out! During my fave song “Bossman”, she jumps on stage in her bra! Security pulled her down and I felt like it was all so cliché.  I literally was JUST talking to her and there she was on stage toples…Crazy lol.

LBC were really awesome though!! Afterwards they kept passing me as the crowd was clearing out…oh and I talked to Dave, ya know cute little guy? And he asked me to come see his band play tomorrow night…so I said I’ll be there and he said to come early if I want an interview…and while I was talking to him Bob from River City High comes over and puts his arm around me and was a lot sweeter to me than when I interviewed him…lol.

I didn’t think I’d get to interview LBC cause they were all scattering but their manager got the bass player, Jason to come over. He’s kinda cute and so nice! He was really easy to talk to. After the interview, I was ready to leave, but I had to get a cab. I was standing outside in front of the tour bus and I saw LBC’s manager so I thanked him and asked where should I send a copy of the article? So he calls Joey, the guitar player, over and asks him to give me their email so now I have their manager’s and Stubhy’s screenname (the lead singer).

I wind up talking to Joey for like 10 mins.  Stubhy comes over to me and we basically just get into a conversation. He tried to make up a rap with my name and his but he realized they don’t rhyme lol!

I finally go call a cab. (Author’s Note: This was right before I decided to get a cell phone!  You’ll know why I felt I needed one by the end of this story) I come back over to the front of Valentine’s. The door to the bus was opened and I see the blonde bra chick on it and she gets off followed by Adam, another guitar player. How doubly cliché!

Adam starts talking to me, and asks the blonde chick if she knows me and she’s like “yeah, this is Sandy.  She has my number!” She was so drunk. They all were pretty much except for Stubhy. Adam and blonde chick go into the bar and I’m still waiting for this cab. I’m talking to these girls and Ryan, the drummer. This guy comes up to me and makes this whole story up how he needs to go to the gas station because his car is out and his family is stranded down the road. He asks if I can lend him some money. All I had was a ten and I’m like my cab should be coming but he promised he’d bring me back the change. So like a naive and gullible freshman I say okay. The guy never comes back!

This bum on the street then says to me “You just gave your money to a crackhead!” Now, I wind up talking to the bum, the drummer and a bunch of groupies. One of the groupies took a picture of us all together, bum and all! Lol. It was just plain weird lol!

After all this, my cab still hasn’t come! Not that I can even afford to pay the driver! At this point, I’m kinda freaking out since I’m broke, stranded and my feet are ready to break off! I go into the pizzeria next door to Valentine’s to see if I can use their phone since I have no money to use the payphone.

Stubhy’s in the pizzeria and I whine to him for a little and he told me to hail a cab up the block but I didn’t wanna walk cause me feet hurt so bad. I ask the guy behind the counter to use the phone to call the cab. Just then, Stubhy walks out of the pizzeria and now I’m alone in there with just the one worker. He lets me behind the counter to use the phone and gets touchy feely with me! Alfredo was his name, I think…no, Alberto? Ah who cares what his name was! He’s trying to hug me and putting his arm around me. I was scared so after I called the cab, I pushed away from him and got the hell out of there!

I said goodbye to everyone and finally got into the cab. I explained my night to the driver and thankfully, he was nice enough to take me back to campus. I am so tired now! But I had an amazingly crazy night!

Oct11

The Struggle

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The Struggle

I think it’s important to reevaluate your options and choices in life.  What works for you when you’re twenty might not work for you when you’re twenty-five.  What worked for you last year might not work for you this year.

A few years ago, I would have never thought I’d be living in Nashville.  I would have never thought I would have published three novels.  Ten years ago, I would have never thought I would have founded my own magazine and interviewed some of my favorite celebrities.  My point is you never know where life will lead you and not every decision has to lead to forever.

As everyone knows, StarShine Magazine has been my identity for so long that I feel like I can’t let it go completely.  However, I realize in order to fully take the next step in my writing career, I have to say goodbye to it.  Maybe for a year.  Maybe for five years.  Who knows?

“The Watch Dog” is my focus right now and I want to make it my best book yet.  I want to see it in bookstores.  I want to see my name on the New Times Bestsellers’ list one day.  By hiding behind StarShine’s dying brand, my writing is wavering along with it.

I tend to take on too much and therefore can’t fully bring any of my projects to their full capacity.  2012 will be the year my writing career breaks from the shadows and into the spotlight.  I spent years trying to help spread the word of so many celebrities—both new and old—and yet, I barely spent any time promoting my own name in comparison.

I’m taking down the StarShine Magazine section of the site as of November 1st.  I’m also deleting the sandy@starshinemag.com e-mail account as of then as well.  My interviews/articles can still be found in the archives.

I hope fans of StarShine Magazine understand.  I know I’ve been bipolar with this decision, but you can understand why.  It’s not something I can easily let go.  I actually have a journalism journal I kept and I would love to share with you some entries from it on occasion.  These entries are what I don’t get to tell you about in StarShine.  You’ll read the excitement I had, the accomplishments I achieved and the bad experiences I had as well.

Running a magazine practically alone for 10 years has been a constant struggle.  Allowing myself to be free of it will give me new focus and room for creativity in my writing projects.  I hope you guys will stick with me and check back at the site often.

Hugs, Kisses & Stars,

Sandy Lo

*I want to give a special thank you to my best friend Natalie Hoskins for being my sounding board, my positivity and assistant when I needed her the past 10 years! Love you.

May11

A Night to Forget or Remember?

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A Night to Forget or Remember?

Originally I was going to write this long, detailed blog about how  bad my night sucked… Then I thought, “Why waste my energy?”  At this point–sitting at home finally–feeling relaxed…Why rehash the day’s unfortunate events?

Yes, I spent almost 4 hours traveling just to stand outside the Museum of Sex only to be allowed inside the overcrowded place and not get any real interview, photo or even a “hi” out of my favorite band…  That’s the way it goes in this industry.  Promises made and broken…and then you’re lied to on top of it.  At least  I let the publicist know I was onto his lies unlike all of the other press members who just complained and did nothing about it.

Anyway, to sum it all up: I felt robbed of an opportunity, robbed of transportation money I need to be saving for my move, and robbed of time I could have spent writing or promoting or interviewing someone else!

Then on the $20 cab ride home, I felt frustrated tears come to my eyes.  That’s how I release–I don’t really get too angry, I just need a good cry.  The cab driver, seeing I’m upset, tells me how he was homeless four years ago.  He lost everything, and now, he’s building himself back up.

All I could think was how insignificant my one wasted  disappointment of a night really would be by tomorrow.  How I could let an event that I was fortunate enough just to attend get me so down… And then I thought about my move and how it will be amazing because I need this time away from New York and all its forms of claustrophobia… It made me smile.

Oddly enough, the song on the radio at the time in the cab was “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins.  It seemed so fitting — well, just these two lines:

I can feel it comin’ in the air tonight, oh Lord
I’ve been waitin’ for this moment for all my life, oh Lord

I believe in messages and things happening for a reason.  I learned a lot tonight that I had forgotten.  I needed to be reminded.  I think my mother was trying to send me a message earlier…I couldn’t find my tape recorder before I left the house today, though I know exactly where I left it last.  Thanks Mom, I got the message–I expect to see my tape recorder in the morning.

I no longer feel angry or disappointed.  I feel grateful and humbled by the experience.  There are far worse things in life and I’ve been very fortunate.  And I’m also optimistic that one day I will meet Jared Leto, haha.

Today was just not meant to be.

Oct20

BLOG: Goodbye StarShine, You'll Always Be A Part of Me

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BLOG: Goodbye StarShine, You'll Always Be A Part of Me

Me with the Backstreet Boys in 2008. My first book "Lost In You" was inspired by my love for them and 98 Degrees.

On July 26, 2001, I was a girl fearing my future.  Unsure of who I was and where I was going.  All I knew then was I loved writing and entertainment.  I began StarShine to overcome my fear of interviewing people.  On January 29, 2002, I found myself backstage at an Aaron Carter concert, terrified and beyond excited to be given such an opportunity so early on in my journalistic career.  The day was surreal.  I was hanging out with Aaron and his crew and yet that was only the beginning of my 9 year journey running StarShine Magazine.  From there, it was a whirlwind of Nick Lachey sneaking me into a premiere, smoking a cigar with a Backstreet Boy, having a drink spilled on me by Jesse Bradford, almost being groped by Pretty Ricky and meeting Taylor Swift before anyone knew her.  The question is why would I give up all those fun, sometimes crazy experiences?

Well, in a sense, I’m not giving anything up.  I will still interview and review entertainers right here on sandy-lo.com.  On top of that, I will be writing for www.starrymag.com, a wonderful entertainment website run by the talented Lisa Steinberg.  Follow them at: @StarryMag.  In doing things this way, I free up time for me to focus on my writing career.  Running an entire magazine by yourself is no easy task.

As of January 2, 2011, StarShineMag.com will be nonexistent.  It pains me a little to say that, but it also feels like a relief at the same time.  I’m having one last round of StarShine Music Awards before January.  Also, one of the first people I told about this decision was in fact Aaron Carter.  He and I did our last StarShine interview together last week.  He fully understood my decision and thinks it was a wise move.  We both thought liked the idea of things coming full-circle with him being one of my first big features in StarShine and now he will be one of my last interviews for it.

One day, I’d love to write a book about all of my experiences with StarShine–whether it be fiction or non.  I love you guys!  I want to thank you all for your support throughout the years, and hope it will continue on.

Hugs, Kisses & Stars,

Sandy

Jul24

BLOG: Change is the only thing that's Constant.

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BLOG: Change is the only thing that's Constant.

Hey guys!  I figured you don’t always get an insight inside of my life aside from my status posts on Facebook and Twitter.  I want to start blogging more regularly, this way I can update you on my progress with my novels and you have something to read from me in between.  Here it goes…

With every year that passes, I find myself evoking change.  As a child, I had no say in anything.  I was the youngest of four.  My parents were both close-minded.  I was taught to think everything was “weird” or “crazy”.  I wanted to change it all.  I wanted to change who my father was.  I wanted to change how my mother felt about him.  I wanted to change the fact that my siblings were older and moving on from childhood, because I thought they were moving on from me as well.  I suppose this need and want for change is why I’m so accepting of it now.  In fact, I welcome change while my siblings fear it.

Change is inevitable, though.  Why not embrace it?

The things I have strived for in life are things that were somewhat frowned upon in my family.  My parents wanted me to be practical.  I was never practical.  I always dreamed big.  My mother, God love her, used to call me a modern day hippie.  I’ve always been a free spirit who loved the differences in people and kept an open-mind.

When I began my own magazine at eighteen, it was something no one took seriously.  It was only when I took my dad with me to interview Jessica Simpson, that he realized I was actually doing something productive.  My mother didn’t need me to take her on any interviews to realize how big of a deal it was when I presented the Backstreet Boys an award.  And all I had to say to my brother was, a million people read StarShine Magazine.  Still, one thing mattered to everyone and still matters to them this day…money.

I realize money is a necessity.  So is happiness, though.  Writing and meeting interesting creative talent makes me happy, with or without compensation for it.  One day, I hope to make a living off my books.  I also want to keep working in the entertainment industry.  Maybe not as the editor of StarShine Magazine, but maybe as a publicist or working in some other realm of the industry.

To invoke change, you have to make change.

In 2011, I am making the biggest change of my life.  I’m moving to Nashville, Tennessee.  Why?  There’s not one particularly grand reason, like I have relatives there or friends.  There’s little small, possibly insignificant-sounding reasons.  Like when I was 10-years-old, I saw a movie called “The Thing Called Love” that was about a songwriter from New York who moved to Nashville to make it big.  Or how about the fact that Nasville IS “Music City”?  Maybe because my next novel takes place in Tennessee and I want to see what it’s like to live in the south.  Maybe I want to move out there because I’m tired of New York.  Or maybe because I want to live in a completely new, unknown place and make a life for myself all on my own.  All of these reasons are why I want to move to Nashville.  I could probably find a bunch more, too.

With that change set in motion, I’ve decided I need to re-evaluate my time management.  Juggling a full-time job, a magazine, and writing novels is tough.  Not to mention, trying to get an agent, promoting those novels and finding time for family, friends and sleep–I’m wiped out.  Something has to give.  So, not being able to part with any of those things–I’m condensing them.  I’ve been running StarShine Magazine for 9 years.  That’s a long time.  Without much of a staff, I’m doing just about everything, and it’s exhausting.  Especially when every once in a while, your website gets hacked into or the webmaster decides to stop doing it.  I’ve been through a lot with it.  Plus, I manage 3 Twitter accounts, 3 Facebook pages and 2 MySpace pages.

So, gradually, StarShine will be a section on this website: www.sandy-lo.com.  I will still interview celebrities when I can and post about new music, movies, etc.  But it can no longer be the chunk of my life it once was.  Writing novels has been part of me for longer and has been dying to make its way into the forefront of my life.

I just hope the StarShine readers and artists will understand and support me in my writing career.  I hope you guys will still check out the site and see what I’m up to–I’m sure in Nashville I’ll be interviewing some awesome country stars!

Change is difficult, I know.  Believe me, it took a lot to make this decision.  However, with the decision made, I’m excited for the future and all the doors this will open.

Hugs, Kisses & Stars,

Sandy Lo

Dec17

Blog: "Dream Catchers", Tortured MySpace, Party @ Cargo Cafe & Me Rambling

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Blog: "Dream Catchers", Tortured MySpace, Party @ Cargo Cafe & Me Rambling

Anna Sundstrand and me in the summer of 2009.It’s been a very long time since I blogged, huh? Well, part of that reason is my head is a scramble of book releases, interviews, work, internships, friends/family and sleep deprivation! LOL! I may be turning into Haley Foster (from “Dream Catchers” available now!!!)…if you read the first 2 chapters, you’ll know she has trouble sleeping.

See, I prefer NOT to sleep, lol. That’s 8 hours I could be writing! But sleep is needed and I do enjoy dreaming. I keep dreaming about my mother coming back to life…I wonder if that means she’s visiting me in my sleep, or my memories of her are so fresh that it feels like she’s still with me.

Anyway, I’m on Madison Avenue today. Anna Sundstrand and her mom went back to Sweden for the holidays and offered up their apartment to me for the week. Of course any opportunity to get off Staten Island is taken for me! I would love to live in Manhattan one day…

So many exciting things happening–besides the holidays, which I love–“Dream Catchers” is on sale today!! I know the release date is officially January 26th, BUTTTT I’ve decided to make it available earlier for the holidays!

Also, I’m working on a Sandy-lo.com store where you can find both “Lost In You”, “Dream Catchers”, and cool merchandise like t-shirts, totes, etc. Also, “Haley’s Letter” – the song I wrote with James Manzello will be available for purchase through there as well. The Cafe Press store for “Dream Catchers” is now available: http://www.cafepress.com/DreamCatchers10.

Okay, so that’s all I have to say for now…I’m waiting to hear back in regards to an interview with Thirty Seconds To Mars…say a prayer for me! I LOVE them! In fact, they were the inspiration to many things Tortured in “Dream Catchers”. Oh, in case you’re wondering–Tortured is the band that Jordan is in. Man, I can’t wait for you to read this book already!!! There’s so much to discuss! lol.

For now, check out Tortured’s MySpace page and become their friend! (I run this page for fun, lol. Tortured is NOT real, but based off real people!). Go to: http://www.myspace.com/torturedmusic.

Oh! And reminder: if you’re in the NYC area on January 23, 2010 – come to Cargo Cafe in Staten Island @ 7pm for the “Dream Catchers” release party where you can celebrate the book, my birthday and see awesome performers like James Manzello (performing “Haley’s Letter” for the first time!), Anna Sundstrand (my dear friend and awesome singer/actress), and Harlem Witness (my rapping friend Shawn).

Until next time…

Hugs, Kisses & Stars,
Sandy Lo