BY JULIA CIRIGNANO

I have been writing for Limelight Magazine for six months and unfortunately my time here has ended. While many of you may have seen my articles for Limelight or have met me in person at shows hosted by JKB Entertainment Group, you may not know that I have actually been an intern.

As a student at Endicott College with a major in English with a creative writing concentration and a music minor, I decided to do my senior internship under the guidance of Katie and Jay, the co-owners of both JKB Entertainment Group and Limelight Magazine. I chose this internship because Limelight was my favorite local music magazine and after meeting Katie and Jay I knew we would gel well together. I couldn’t have been more correct.

Interning for Limelight has been an amazing and truly rewarding experience. While I was given many intern-like responsibilities through my work for JKB, I was also a full time staff writer for Limelight. For JKB, I worked many shows and got to meet some awesome people – both musicians and fans. For Limelight, I was given the opportunity to interview many amazing musicians, business owners, and other people within the music industry and write articles about them. I interviewed local musicians and bands such as Sarah Barrios, Liz Bills (of Analog Heart), blindspot, Erinn Brown, Nikki Coogan (of The Devil’s Twins), Exit 18, Flight of Fire, Girls, Guns and Glory, Shanna Jackman, Ashley Jordan, Jenna Lotti, Martin and Kelly, Dan Masterson, MB Padfield, Sinners Inc., and Matt York, and also several national acts such as Paul Bielatowicz, Black ‘N Blue, Journeyman – A Tribute to Eric Clapton, MASS, Motion Device, Leather Leone, Joan Osborne, and Trevor Rabin.

I also had the opportunity to write featured stories on several businesses and nonprofits, including Cable Car Cinema and Café, Coolidge Corner Theatre’s After Midnight Program, Dark Delicacies, Fright Rags, Hudson Horror Show, Mouradian Guitar Company, Purchase Street Records, Narrows Center for the Arts, The Time Capsule, and TJ’s Music All Star Band Program.

I interviewed director Justin Mayoh about his film Tales of Rocky Point Park and author J. Blake Fichera about his book Scored to Death. I also wrote a few themed stories which focused on a variety of subjects such as vinyl, tattoos, fitness, and more. These stories included quotes from many musicians, fitness trainers, business owners and music fans: Erin Ollis, Amy Marie, Amanda McCarty, Nina McGoff, Sarah Barrios, Emil Belisle, Paul Horton, John MacFee, Hailey Magee, Brian McKenzie, Jennifer Mitchell, Moment of Clarity, Christopher Ruiz, Allison Sigrist, Emile Belisle, Nikki Coogan, April Cushman, Mike LaRoche, Ken Macy, Stan Matthews, Ryan Stark, Arline Urquhart, Mark Vinciguerra and spokesmen from  Burlington Records, Cheapo Records, In Your Year Records, Joe’s Albums, Music Connection, Nuggets Records, Round Again Records, Skele-tone Records, Spun Records and Sunset Records.

I also interviewed JKB Entertainment Group/Limelight Magazine’s co-owner Katie Botelho-Bielatowicz about nail art designs and how to book shows. In addition, I contributed to a tribute story on Bob Coburn of Rockline by interviewing Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull), Rik Emmett (of Triumph) Shaun Hague (of Journeyman – A Tribute to Eric Clapton) and a number of Limelight’s loyal readers.

I am hugely grateful towards both Katie and Jay for taking me on as an intern, teaching me the ropes to write articles and host shows, being patient with me, buying me food, and keeping me entertained. I truly enjoyed the wonderful experiences I had while working for the both of them.

Some of my most memorable moments includes driving to Rhode Island to watch Jay get a David Bowie “Blackstar” tattoo while I interviewed the tattoo artist and musician Nikki Coogan (of The Devil’s Twins). I will also never forget the night I got to help Katie and her husband (and national touring guitarist) Paul Bielatowicz judge JBK Entertainment Group’s Opening Act Contest held at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, Mass.. Along with the amazing people I met at that show, I will never forget the jaw-dropping performance put on by Flight of Fire, which ended up being a band I have stayed in contact with, written an article about, and assisted when they opened for Lita Ford.

For JKB Entertainment, I was able to help host shows for a variety of different artists such as Blackmore’s Night, Opening Act Contest (Elsie [featuring Lisa Couto & Ray Cooke], Flight of Fire, Allison & Kevin Giuliano, Huxster, Gracelyn Rennick, Ilene Springer, We Own Land, and Matt York), The Yardbirds, Lita Ford, and Paul Bielatowicz & Simon Fitzpatrick.

It was great to be part of the Fall River community if only for a short period of time. Before this internship, I had never been to Fall River. Being a Bostonian myself, I learned to love Fall River and the surrounding towns due to the truly passionate and creative people I had the opportunity of meeting and working with. I am thankful to every business owner who invited me into their store and took the time to answer my interview questions. I am thankful for everyone who picked up their phones or sat by their e-mails answering my interview questions.

Thank you to Katie and Jay for all they have done and thank you to all the other helpful people I have met through them. This internship was truly a blast! I am grateful for all the tools I have learned along the way and will continue reading, writing, and being an avid music fan.