Thursday, September 01, 2005

Report from Summer Jam

Summer Jam was a huge success. We got there at about 8 AM, but the Shoreline Arena was already bursting with life. I was half asleep when I got there, but within
minutes, I was wide awake thanks to the music bumping before the concert even started.

Our booth was right in the front of the gates, the same place the 106.1 KMEL booth was last year. The concert was scheduled to start at 12:00, but the line was increasing by the minute, as early as 9:30. There were booths from all over the Bay, representing everything from Trojan to record labels. Everyone was representing their city; girls dressed up as ghetto fabulous as it gets. Before the concert even started, you could tell it was going to be crackin'. The DriversEd.com staff, were sweating and burning in the hot sun, passing out bright orange bracelets with the slogan "I AM NOT A STATISTIC." The staff worked out a plan to stand in front of the gates and pass them out as soon as people were walking in. Occasionally, we would take turns running the booth as a break from the overwhelming crowd. Not surprisingly, our bracelets soon became a popular symbol, especially for the younger majority of the crowd. Through out the day, people could be seen wearing up to five on their hands, and still asking for more to take to their friends. Most of The KMEL staff, including the well known Chuy Gomez, were also sporting the wristbands and some even helped pass them out. In the middle of the day, I grabbed a bag of wristbands and decided to take a peak at the show that could be heard from everywhere in the arena. Before I even made it half way up to the stage, the bag that was full of bracelets just minutes ago was already empty, I had to make another trip back to the booth and grab two more bags.

Ying Yang Twins, 112, Kanye West, Keisha Kole, John Legend, the Bay Area's own Goalpele, and many more artists drove the audience crazy. By the end of the day, almost everybody could be seen wearing the orange wristbands. People were stopping by the booth to express their feeling about the wristbands. Most of them felt that it was a great idea, unsafe driving is a serious problem we face. Sending out the message of supporting safe driving causes people to pay attention to their driving and remember to drive cautiously.

I still see people on the streets wearing our wristbands and I take it as a positive sign.

Written by Dasha