by Tish Ciravolo.

When last I checked in, I was entrenched in Winter NAMM, and now Summer NAMM just flew past. It’s always worth the excitement (especially this year since my band played!) but there wasn’t much time to stop and take a break. After NAMM, there seemed to be a flood of concerts, festivals, and general summertime fun. No rest for me or for Daisy Rock, but what can I say? I love it!

With back-to-school time just around the corner, that means many things for me. Of course there’s getting my girls off to school on time, more artwork for my fridge, and I get to ask the timeless question 4,000 times, “Have you done your homework yet?” Don’t worry, most of the time they have. Back-to-school is also an exciting time here at Daisy Rock. It’s the period in which we hustle to get all our guitars ready for Santa to deliver to all those gals (and guys) who put Daisy Rock on their wish list. I will update you soon while there’s still room left on your own list; for now, I want to take a quick look back at the summer before the sun starts to set in the middle of the afternoon and I have to trade in my flip flops for… Oh, who am I kidding? I live in Southern California. The flip flops stay.

South by Southwest

Daisy Rock kicked off a busy season with our annual visit to the South by Southwest festival in late spring–an absolutely enormous gathering of almost anyone you can imagine in the music industry. Not only is it exciting to see the typical who’s who show up from the music and media sectors, but it’s a thrill to see how much more recognition Daisy Rock receives each year. It’s a great way to network, and honestly, a fun time to catch up with old friends who I cross paths with but rarely get a chance to see in person.

We were fortunate enough to see Pete Townsend from The Who kick off the event. I went to the Blackheart Records party where I saw Joan Jett rock the house - we said “hi” and she loves the Heartbreaker black guitar we gave her! The Dollyrots played, and the girl bass player is so cool; she did a fabulous rendition of Melanie’s “I got a brand new key.” David Byrne of The Talking Heads gave a fascinating presentation, and we caught a performance by Three Kisses, the band featured on Extreme Makeover last year.

Another one of this year’s highlights was watching one of Daisy Rock’s own endorsed artists, Tiffany Petrossi, shine. Tiffany is a bit of an entrepreneur like myself. She started Rockin’ Moms back in 2004 when she saw there was a niche of musicians that wasn’t readily reached – those of us who want it all! For women who have children and still remain dedicated to playing music, Tiffany is both a fantastic role model and a dear friend. You can learn more about her at www.rockinmoms.com. Always a fantastic adventurous, we are looking forward to next year’s festival already!

Summer NAMM

I know. I know. We just talked about Winter NAMM, but I’ve got to say there is something unique and fun about Summer NAMM too. This summer it was held in Austin - what a great city that is! Rich with culture and history, and whoever called Austin the “live music capital” of the world wasn’t kidding! On the rare occasion when we had a chance to go out to dinner, we would walk around the city and literally be bombarded by some stellar band playing a gig in virtually every restaurant and club we passed. That city is alive! Summer NAMM was quite a bit smaller than winter NAMM, which in my experience is nice as it makes it more intimate. Due to fewer people, we really got a chance to network and get to know the people who did attend.

Two exciting points: I know I said I’d get into detail later, but Daisy Rock is launching a completely new line of guitars designed to be affordable to everyone. The Debutante Series, as they are formally known, come in both electric and acoustic. They’ll be available this fall (check out www.daisyrock.com for more info!) but NAMM is the time to try them out. We got great feedback and took many orders from dealers looking to sell them. Looks like Santa may have to load up on these this year! Also, as I mentioned briefly, I was able to perform with my band for the first time in quite a while. And as I said earlier, my band sA$$afrA$$ kicked major butt at the local Jen Lowe showcase. So much fun, so little time… but isn’t that always the case!

X Games

Just back from NAMM and my focus was at once pulled in 9 million different directions! With little time to settle back into the office, I headed out into the heat for a weekend filled with adventure. That’s right, the X Games. This is year 13 of the X Games, but the first year Daisy Rock has ever had a booth, so I was absolutely thrilled! I’m sure most of you have seen the clips on the internet or on TV. The X Games are a weekend filled with extreme sports for teenagers, held at both the Staples Center and the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles. Our booth was at the Home Depot Center location in Carson, under a giant music tent where live bands played all weekend long. It was a great opportunity to spend the day talking to people, watching some phenomenal bands, and checking out the daring kids on the skate ramp next to us.

I was originally inspired to get involved in the X Games because they named one of the days “Girls Day,” but I can tell you now from the experience every single day was a thrill. We showed up decked out in our bright pink gear to raffle off guitars, promote our Daisy Rock endorsed bands, and we even gave guitar lessons up on the stage. Girls Day was officially Friday, and bands like The Donnas, Hell’s Belles, and Goodbye Gadget drew a fantastic crowd to the music stage and the Daisy Rock booth.

The rest of the weekend was just flooded with people. With the kids out of school, families flocked to the music tent to get out of the sun and check out our Daisy Rock gear. Death by Stereo wowed audiences and the guitarist surprised us at Daisy Rock when he decided to play our Pink Star guitar onstage! He totally rocked, and even made it on the news with our guitar after the show. The huge Jumbo-tron also displayed pictures of all our gear throughout the weekend. And a big HUGE thank you to my crew who totally rock! Daniel, Karissa, and Amber – couldn’t do it without you all! Back at the office, we’re already coming up with ideas for next year. I can’t wait to get back there. X games is awesome!

DayJams

Daisy Rock supports DayJams every year because it’s such a wonderful cause, and it was better than ever this year! DayJams is a summer camp program that runs nationwide to help teens and tweens learn the joy and process of making music. Our local camp is run in Pasadena for two weeks in August. During these two weeks, the kids form bands and learn everything from songwriting to making a cover for their CD to the art of performance. The culmination of the event is a live performance featuring all the camp attendees. What a fantastic opportunity for these youngsters to get up onstage and become rockstars!

At the end of the performance, the camp chose a young lady named Britta to receive a Daisy Rock guitar for all her hard work. It was so rewarding to see the grin on her face when she found out she won. It’s moments like that that I can sigh with relief and feel like I’ve really accomplished the dream of getting guitars into the hands of girl guitarists everywhere. After all, that is what Daisy Rock is all about.

Females on Fire

Being a female and the founder of a female guitar company, I find participating in local female events absolutely irresistible. This summer, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a local music festival known as “Females on Fire: The Los Angeles Women’s Music Festival.” A day filled with fun, food, and live music across four stages, the event drew families and musicians from across LA County to a local park on Saturday, August 25.

Daisy Rock was there the entire day (and it was a hot one!) hanging out with local musicians and aspiring guitarists. We even shared our booth with Annette Conlon, host of the online radio show “Nette Radio.” If you get a chance, you can listen in on Wednesday nights, just log on to www.netteradio.com. It’s always fun to have people stop by the booth and admire our guitars; it gives us a chance to tell our story and reach even more females with our message: start playing!

I left the booth in the hands of my loyal Daisy Rock team for a while as I had two key duties to perform at the festival. Mid-afternoon I sat on a panel of women speakers from the music industry and discussed “Women in Music.” Sounds broad, I know, but it was a great opportunity to be able to share my own experiences with others in the industry who are working their own booties off to really get through that door. There’s no one recipe for success, but I emphasize this: it takes hard work, dedication, and most importantly faith in yourself.

I then turned from professional business woman to professional band member, picked up my bass, and headed over to the stage to play once again with sA$$afrA$$. We had a blast up there. There’s no better way to beat the heat than just to stand onstage and sing and play your heart out to try and make the crowd forget their discomfort for just a few moments. What a day! Long and rewarding, which I suppose is what being a woman in the music industry is all about after all.

What's Next?

What’s next for Daisy Rock? Our calendar is jam-packed for the fall! We are psyched about the release of our new line of guitars; we are already planning our annual Pretty ‘n Punk showcase at the Key Club on Sunset Boulevard; we’re getting our pink gear ready to set up at more events like the local Eagle Rock Music Festival and the exciting Girl Frenzy concert featuring artists like Sheryl Crow and Fiona Apple.

As for me, I’ll be living life to the fullest. Being a wife, mother, businesswoman, musician… need I continue? Sure it’s a lot, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I follow my heart, and that is what matters. I’ll check back in soon, and in the meantime, I encourage everyone to do the same, because ladies, you rock!