TAXI Road Rally

5:30pm - 'til close Road Rally Registration - Near the Grand Ballroom on the hotel’s first floor. You must have a photo ID to get your Road Rally badge! 5:30pm - 'til close One-to-One Mentor Registration - Grand Ballroom Foyer – After you register for the Rally, proceed to One-to-One Mentor Registration in the Ballroom Foyer. Refer to the Mentor Bios sheet to make your selection. Members only, please. One Mentor per member. First-come, first-served basis. Must already be registered and have your Rally badge with you. 6:00pm - 8:30pm Dinner – Eat at the hotel’s Daily Grill (the food is really good) with all the new friends you’ve made during Road Rally Registration! 8:30pm - 11:30pm Jam Room and Open Mic - The Jam Room is in the Concourse Ballroom (2nd floor) and the Open Mic is in the Mezzanine Theater (top of escalator). The Open Mic is on a first-come, first-served basis. Members and guests are welcome to jam and perform!

Friday, November 8th

8:00am - All Day Registration - Continues at the Rally Registration desk near the hotel’s Grand Ballroom on the first floor. 9:00am - 9:05am Opening Remarks - Grand Ballroom – Legendary Record Producer Michael Lloyd. 9:05am - 9:15am Welcome to the Road Rally - TAXI Founder and CEO Michael Laskow welcomes attendees to the 23rd Road Rally. Michael will draw a ticket stub (between 9:00 and 11:00) and one lucky person will win $500 cash to help pay for their travel expenses. You must be in the ballroom and have your ticket stub with you to win! 9:15am - 11:00am Lifetime Achievement Award – Jonathan Cain is a Multi-Platinum songwriter, artist, keyboardist, guitarist, and vocalist who has been in three huge bands: The Babys, Bad English, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Journey. He’s also the writer or co-writer of classic hits like, “Who’s Crying Now,” “Open Arms,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Faithfully,” and the mega-hit, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” 45 years later, Jonathan is still playing sold out concerts with Journey, while pursuing a new career writing, producing, and performing Contemporary Christian songs which he plays all over America. Join us as we honor Jonathan for his phenomenal, multi-decade career. 11:15am - 11:45am The John Braheny Songwriting Award – Clark Van Norris embodies everything the John Braheny Songwriting Award celebrates: a relentless dedication to song craft, humility, and generosity. In Clark’s own words, “My goal each day is to write amazing and captivating songs, regardless of fame and fortune.” John Braheny’s legacy lives on because of songwriters like Clark! 12:45pm - 2:45pm Eat & Greet Luncheon #1 – Concourse Ballroom (2nd Floor) – You need to have purchased your Eat & Greet ticket in advance, and have your Rally badge with the Eat & Greet Luncheon credential on it to attend. Bring CDs if you’d like to give some music out! 3:00pm - 4:00pm How to Get More Forwards, Deals, and Placements – Join TAXI members Matt Vander Boegh, Sherry-Lynn Lee, and Bob Mete, to get some career-changing advice that will raise your forward/deal ratio and probably lower your frustration level as well. 4:15pm - 5:45pm Film & TV Song Pitch and Feedback Panel – Songs (from TAXI members only) will be played for Music Supervisors and Music Licensing executives Frank Palazzolo (Music Supervisor), Bob Mair (CEO, Black Toast Music), Mason Cooper (Music Supervisor), Jeff Freundlich (COO, Wild Whirled), and Shannon Quisenberry (Director of Creative, Think Music). Songs only! Music played during this panel will be chosen randomly from a playlist generated from a panel-specific TAXI Listing that ran prior to the Rally. Submissions not played during the panel will be screened on a yes/no basis after the Rally, and Forwards will be sent to all the panelists. 6:00pm - 7:00pm Making Money with Your Old Recordings – If you’ve got original recordings from the1930s to the early 1990s, do not miss this panel! Jeff Freundlich’s company gets more Vintage Music placements than any other indie Publisher/Label in the world. Hear examples, learn why Music Supervisors love authentic Vintage Music, and what works best. 6:30pm - 8:30pm Dinner Break – Try the Daily Grill in the hotel. Great food! Stop by the sponsors’ booths and give them the attention they deserve for paying for your Road Rally tickets! 8:30pm - 11:30pm Jam Room and Open Mic – The Jam Room is in the Concourse Ballroom (2nd floor) and the Open Mic is in the Mezzanine Theater (top of escalator). The Open Mic is on a first-come, first-served basis. Members and guests are welcome to jam and perform!

Saturday, November 9th

9:15am - 10:30am Instrumental Pitch and Feedback Panel – Panelists Joy Basu (CEO, Lab Hits Music), Jonathan Weiss (Music Supervisor), Chuck Henry (CEO, 10 West Music), Pedro Costa (CEO, InStyle Music), and Elyse Schiller (Executive Producer, Masterphonic) will listen, give feedback, and possibly take some music home! Music played during this panel will be chosen randomly from a playlist generated from a panel-specific TAXI Listing that ran prior to the Rally. Submissions not played during this panel will be screened on a yes/no basis after the Rally, and Forwards will be sent to all the panelists. 10:45am - 11:45am Analyze Songs Like a Pro – Robin Frederick’s Jedi-like ability to figure out what makes nearly any great song work is a skill that can help you write better songs. Want to learn how to do it yourself? Robin will teach you how! Bonus: Robin will critique some audience members’ songs, live, on stage at the end this power-packed presentation! 12:15pm - 2:15pm Eat & Greet Luncheon #2 – Concourse Ballroom (2nd Floor) – You need to have purchased your Eat & Greet ticket in advance, and have your Rally badge with the Eat & Greet Luncheon credential on it to attend. Bring CDs if you’d like to give some music out! 2:30pm - 3:30pm How Daytime Dramas Choose and Use Music – Daytime Dramas use a lot of music, and bunch of that music comes from TAXI’s members! Join us as we take a deep dive into the minds and work flow of Music Supervisor, R.C. Cates, and Music Library CEO, Beth Wernick, so you can learn how “soaps” choose and use music. 3:45pm - 5:15pm Music Supervisor Pitch Panel – Songs and Instrumentals, Members only pitch – Music Supervisors Mason Cooper (Film/TV), Frank Palazzolo (Scripted TV), Jonathan Weiss (Unscripted TV), Joe Brandt (Unscripted TV/Documentary/Film), and Mandi Collier (Indie Film/TV) will listen, give feedback, and maybe even take some music with them! Music played during this panel will be chosen randomly from a playlist generated from a panel-specific TAXI Listing that ran prior to the Rally. Submissions not played will be screened on a yes/no basis after the Rally, and Forwards will be sent to all the panelists. 5:30pm - 7:00pm Producing Fleetwood Mac With Ken Caillat – Grammy-winning Rumours sold more than 40 million copies. Tusk is often compared to the Beatles’ White Album for its experimental approach. Ken will give us a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the engineering and production as we listen to select songs from each album. Sit back and get the inside scoop on some real Rock ’n’ Roll history. Popcorn will be served! 6:30pm - 8:30pm Dinner Break -You should have tons of new friends to dine with! 8:30pm - 11:30pm Jam Room and Open Mic – The Jam Room is in the Concourse Ballroom (2nd floor) and the Open Mic is in the Mezzanine Theater (top of escalator). The Open Mic is on a first-come, first-served basis. Members and guests are welcome to jam and perform!

Sunday, November 10th

9:30am - 10:45am Creating Trailer Instrumentals– Almost every composer on the planet would love to land a big movie trailer. There’s much more to it than laying down string pads or Taiko drum hits. Trailer mavens Randon Purcell and Kyle Kniceley will share their techniques for structuring, layering, and sound design, plus tips on the best tools for the job! 11:00am - 12:00pm 60 Tips in 60 Minutes: Marketing for DIY Musicians – Join Disc Makers’ CEO, Tony van Veen as he queries this panel of experts on the latest and greatest DIY Musician marketing tools and techniques that deliver real results. 60 great tips in 60 short minutes from Dave Cool (Bandzoogle), Cristina Cano (CDBaby), Bobby Borg (Best-Selling Author), and Sydney Alston (Artist Manager). 12:00pm - 2:00pm Lunch – No Eat & Greet Luncheon today. You’re on your own. Enjoy the Daily Grill, which we anticipate will be very busy. Plan accordingly. 2:15pm - 3:30pm Writing and Producing Music for Advertising – Creating songs that work in the highly lucrative field of Music for Advertising is different than what’s generally needed for Film and TV. Join Nate and Kaelie Highfield and Rob Chiarelli of The Usual Suspects as they explain how they create the music that has been licensed in a ton of TV commercials! 3:45pm - 5:00pm Understanding Music Library and Publishing Contracts – Countless members have signed contracts with nearly 100 different Music Libraries through connections made through TAXI. Some members fully understand the contracts they sign, but many don’t! Join Erin Jacobson (Music Attorney), Bob Mair (Music Library CEO), Pedro Costa (Music Library CEO), and Michael Eames (Publisher) as we delve into the concepts and clauses you really, really need to understand before you sign on the dotted line. 5:15pm - 6:30pm The Happy Ending Pitch Panel – Members and Guests can pitch for this! This panel of experts from varied backgrounds will listen to randomly selected songs during this Rally-ending Pitch Panel. Film, TV, Song, and Artist pitches are all fair game during this panel with; Michael Lloyd (100x Platinum Producer, Music Supervisor), Bob Mair (Music Licensing Executive), Rob Chiarelli (100x Platinum, Grammy-Winning Producer, Mixer), Ron Harris (A&R/Multi-Platinum Producer), Craig Pilo (TAXI A&R, TV Music Specialist), and Pedro Costa (Music Library CEO). CDs (Songs and Instrumentals) need to go in the drop boxes found between the 2nd and 3rd Grand Ballroom doors between 3:30pm – 5:00pm.

See Photos From Last Year!

Music Library Executives Bob Mair, Chas Ferry, Garry Smith, Dave Trotter, and Ron Mendelsohn listen to TAXI members' music during their panel at Road Rally 2013. Bob Mair raises his hand and says, "I'd like to get a copy of that song!"

"This was my first Rally and absolutely the best weekend I've had... ever. Don't tell my wife, she thinks it was our wedding!" -Russell Landwehr, TAXI member

Fox Films Music Executive/Music Supervisor, Patrick Houlihan does some meeting and greeting with TAXI members right after his panel finished up.

"Everyone I spoke to really raved about the Road Rally." -Jeff Brabec V.P. BMG/Chrysalis Music

Jake Belnick from Extreme Music Library gives some advice to a TAXI member during the One-to-One Mentor session.

"This weekend was absolutely transformational for me." -Pedro Costa, TAXI member

Hollywood Music Supervisor John Houlihan raises his hands and shouts, "That's what I'm looking for!" during his presentation at the Road Rally.

"I gotta say, it lived up to the hype and then some. That was one of the greatest experiences of my life." -Mike Baressi, TAXI Member

TAXI members silhouetted against a screen during one of several breakout classes about music recording at the Rally.

"TAXI and the Road Rally have been the best investment in my musical career that I ever made. Nobody delivers like TAXI!" -Kurt Kreimier, TAXI member

A-List Hollywood Performance Coach, Steven Memel (foreground, with hand raised) gives some advice during the Mentor Lunch at TAXI's Road Rally.

"The experience not only lived up to my expectations, it surpassed them!" -Russ Reiter, TAXI member

World-Class Experts Kavin Hoo, Barry French, and Jeff Steinman giving some great music production tips on how to best use Virtual Instruments and Sample Libraries at the TAXI Road Rally.

"The people I've been able to meet through TAXI are amazing." -Alexi von Guggenberg, TAXI member

TAXI member Briagha McTavish gives a great, heartfelt performance during one of the Road Rally's nightly Open Mics.

Singer/Songwriter Briagha McTavish wows the audience with a great performance during one of the Road Rally Open Mics.

"I nearly didn't make the trip over from Hong Kong, thinking that it was too early to benefit from the Rally after joining only 6 months ago. I couldn't have been more wrong, and this really was one of the most outstanding and enriching events I have ever been to." -Andrew, TAXI member

Film Trailer Composer Nick Murray watches as Film Trailer Music Executive/ Supervisor Julia Trainor explains how trailer music should build to an exciting crescendo.

"Just like your literature promises... I made great new contacts and started some new relationships with other writers. And had one heck of a good time." -Terry Gorka, TAXI member

A-List Hollywood Music Supervisor Dondi Bastone (back to camera) invests lots of his time giving out sage advice and taking music from TAXI members after his panel wrapped up.

"I speak at a lot of music events nationally and internationally throughout the year. The TAXI Road Rally is my favorite - by miles." -Debra Russell, Industry Professional

Music Supervisors Patrick Houlihan (Fox Films), Dondi Bastone (Sideways, The Descendents, HBO), J'ean Demery (Access Hollywood), and Jonathan Klein (The League, FX Network) listened to lots of music and gave some great feedback during their panel.

"The Rally removed any doubt I have about TAXI. When my renewal is due, I'm signing up for 2 years!" -Felix Wong, TAXI member

"Fett" teaches his Recording and Production Class to a full house, and the audience loved it!

"The entire atmosphere at the Rally is like... one big family. My wife said that she didn't want to leave such a warm environment to go back to the real world. Neither did I." -Clay Butler, TAXI member

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