ACMA Show 2004

Academy of Country Music Awards

Images from the Academy of Country Music Awards Backstage Celebrity Gift Lounge held at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on May 25 and 26th, 2004. I presented hand-picked turquoise gifts directly to 80-100 artists, producers and selected press. Out of the twelve vendors invited, we are the only company there offering jewelry.

Ten days before the show, I got a phone call from the lady that handles the marketing for basically all of the awards shows. She had been looking for an authentic turquoise jewelry vendor and SkyStone was just what she was looking for. It took some figuring how to pull it off financially and logistically in ten days, and help from all the artists/suppliers to cut their profit and or cost to make it happen. Basically, I felt what's good for turquoise is good for all of us, and they wholeheartedly agreed. This was the first show SkyStone has ever done. We' were invited back but probably won't do it again. It was great fun and an amazing experience.

DATE: Tuesday, May 25th (Rehearsal Day) and Wednesday, May 26, 2004 (Day of Show)
LOCATION: 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.,
NETWORK: CBS + airing in 178 countries

WHO WAS THERE: (Partial List based on last year) Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Alabama (4), Toby Keith, Martina McBride, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, Lee Ann Womack, Terri Clark, Diamond Rio (5), Alan Jackson, Lonestar (3), Montgomery Gentry (2), Rascal Flatts (3), LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain, Keith Urban, Wynonna, Trace Adkins, Lance Burton, Eric Close (“Without A Trace”), Kellie Coffey, Emerson Drive, Bill Engvall, Jennifer Hanson, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Cledus T. Judd, Louise Mandrell, Mark Miller (from 70’s band - Sawyer Brown), Wayne Newton, Joe Nichols, Nancy O’Dell, Penn & Teller, Pinmonkey (5), Blake Shelton, Jake Simpson (STAR SEARCH winner), Tony Stewart (NASCAR driver), *Pam Tillis, Trick Pony (3), Karri Turner (“JAG”), Phil Vassar, *Mark Wills, Darryl Worley.

Closeup of chest
Closeup of the treasure chest table I created which was filled to the brim with beautiful turquoise

The gifts the artists could choose from were set on the table. The jewelry in the rustic chest was a sampling of some of the higher end jewelry from the website

PRESS RELEASE: "Passionate about turquoise, SkyStonetrading.com specializes in the finest, rarest turquoise in the world. Always natural, each piece is unique, reflecting the wide range of exotic colors and webbing characteristic of historic American turquoise mines. Most people outside of New Mexico have never seen turquoise such as this. Native-made, hand-made, sterling silver jewelry from Santa Fe, New Mexico."

SKYSTONE'S MISSION AND INTENT: To increase awareness of the rarity of high-grade natural American turquoise and show the market how New Mexico turquoise compares to what is mostly stabilized Chinese coming out of New York City. The finest bolos, rings, money clips, bracelets, rings, pendants, pins and earrings, in every color of natural turquoise have been carefully hand-picked for the gifts to the artists (retail value at least $100).

Along with the gifts given away, our higher-end jewelry was there available for them to see (and purchase later). There was an awesome representation of turquoise in the rough, unfinished form along with copies of the About Turquoise Page to give out. We're going to show them turquoise like they've never seen.

They told me to wear jeans, be dripping in turquoise and have fun. I'll give it my best. ;-D

Julia with Rascal Flatts

I would like to extend my deep thanks and appreciation to all the artist/friends I deal with and especially Ernie Montoya, owner of the Carico Lake Mine, for helping such a small company as us participate in something of this scale.

June 1st, 2004 SkyStone Jewelry ON STAGE at the Show!

Rascal Flatts accepting award at show

Back from Las Vegas and the Academy of Country Music Awards. It was incredible! Four people that either won or were presenters were onstage wearing SkyStone jewelry. Other than the gifts that were offered to the artists on the table, I had a rustic (treasure) chest filled with the website jewelry. Only two pieces left the chest: a Pilot Mountain Andrew Cadman ring to Gary LeVox, lead singer of Rascal Flatts, and a Kai Gallagher-Andrew Cadman Spider Woman Cross Cuff given to Randy Travis. They both won! Rascal Flatts performed during the show and Gary LeVox, lead singer, wore the ring for the performance in addition to when they won for Best Group. The ring was on his forefinger as he held the award speaking for the group. How cool is that? Randy Travis won for his cd "Three Wooden Crosses" and was wearing his bracelet under his sport coat. :-)

BACKSTAGE DURING REHEARSALS I was backstage and in the audience during one of Toby Keith's rehearsals, was given a seat to the show (wasn't that great entertainment?), and a pass to the backstage party at the All Star Jam that was held after the awards show for the 3000 fans that showed up and lasted until the early hours of the morning (I heard second-hand). What an experience!

Rascal Flatts Post Show Interview

Martina McBride, Toby Keith, Lee Ann Rimes came into the gift lounge along with 50 other artists and ten CBS executives. There were three television crews in there as well: the Biography Channel doing a show on the company that came up with the idea of Celebrity Gift Lounges two years ago; "Barely Famous", a new show with the Warren Brothers airing in September on CMT; and "A Star for a Day" airing in July that will show the jewelry and/or myself talking about turquoise. I'll let you know when they are going to air.

Most of the celebrities had never seen this quality of natural turquoise before or were aware of how rare natural American turquoise is, or of the variety of colors that it comes in. When the celebrity came up to my table I introduced myself, SkyStone, to look at the amazing pieces of jewelry in the chest (from the website), and invited them to choose a gift from the table. They were all gracious, attentive and grateful for their gift. No matter how famous or successful, they were, every one of them was gracious and listened attentively while I was quickly explaining about what makes natural Turquoise so special and then were excited about, and thankful for their gift. They were down-to-earth people that were a pleasure to interact with.

Randy Travis and wife with Julia

There were twelve vendors total and a professional photographer from Getty Images taking pictures for two days. The images will arrive within a week of the artists wearing the jewelry or holding it, the display (and cool room with blue lights) along with many images of myself with the artists. Some of the other vendors were Sunset Beach Resort & Spas in Jamaica giving away three days vacation, Sworovski Crystal Sunglasses (worn onstage by Big & Rich during the show), Red Bull Energy Drink, Hollywood Trading Co. (who make cool leather belts), Love Sac, a cowboy hat designer, a custom handbag designer, leather wristband designers (worn by two performers during the show), Hot Wheels Collectibles, a table of authors giving away their books: D.P. Lyle, Kathleen Antrim and more. A great group of entrepreneurs and fun people who were there to enjoy themselves.

The table was set up with Navajo rugs, exotic turquoise specimens, white corn meal, incense, a macaw feather, and a map of the turquoise mines of the Southwest.

SASHA ALEXANDER, Actress, NCIS
Sasha was delightful. She was very interested in learning about turquoise and took her time choosing her gift, a ring.