IN Keystone Oaks Summer 2014 | Page 28

e is tes or Corme f ike Na ’s M g a ille KO kin shv a elf in Na M s Him e Stev st with ers d is ju ld u woo sho . ing Under O grad p Bum Carrie for K y and her da t ano rowing up, Mike Cortese was your average kid, hanging around with friends at the local guitar store, Guitar Bazaar along West Liberty Avenue, and venturing out to get pizza at Varatti’s or Mineo’s at the end of the block. But there was something he loved about music that not only led to him hanging out in a guitar store, but to taking up the instrument himself. One day, the store got in a used 7-string Ibanez Universe, a black solid body guitar with neon green pickups and a low B string that would resonate with thunderous bass. The guitar was developed by guitar legend Steve Vai, and Cortese said, it was a very intimidating instrument to approach. Years later and hundreds of miles away, Cortese now has the privilege of saying that he not only got to meet Vai, a hero of his since his youth, but he actually got to work for him. “I ended up in Nashville by pure luck,” Cortese said. “I knew I wanted to break into the entertainment industry so I knew a move was in my future but I didn’t know when that was going to take place.” Cortese discovered Nashville while dating a Belmont University student. He did some research and decided that Nashville would be the perfect fit for his aspirations. “I figured [in Nashville] that I could get a degree in music business and intern with some of the brightest minds in the entertainment industry,” he said. If landing in Nashville was pure luck, that wouldn’t be the end of Cortese’s streak. He attributes his being able to break into artist management to luck as well. “I was temping at Warner Bros. Records in Nashville during my senior year of college and I received the job posting from my boss at Warner Brothers and two other contacts,” he said. “At that point I didn’t care if I had to get coffee or wash cars, I just wanted to get into the industry.” He was able to interview with the team, and Cortese knew within minutes that this would be a perfect fit for him. Fortunately, the employers agreed, and Cortese spent the next eight years working next to some of the heroes who made the music he loved. “To this day my experience with that team is the single greatest learning experience I’ve ever had,” he said. G 26 724.942.0940 to advertise | Keystone Oaks Vai The firm specialized in clients who had a strong niche audience, including the man whose guitar awed and inspired him – Steve Vai. He also was able to work alongside Desmond Child, the songwriting wunderkind responsible for hits such as Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer” and “You Give Love a Bad Name,” Aerosmith’s “Dude Looks Like a Lady,” “Angel” and “Crazy,” Ricky Martin’s entire first album, and Katy Perry’s “Wakin’ Up in Vegas.” After eight years of managing artists, Cortese came to the realization that he needed to manage himself. He assessed his strengths and weaknesses and every round of assessment came to the same conclusion: acting. “I had learned so much, but deep down I knew that I had to start creating myself,” he said. “I had no experience but I did have some training in improvisational comedy. I also knew if I didn’t do it I would regret it for the rest of my life. So I made the jump. I went out, got an agent and just worked my tail off trying to learn as much as I could about the craft. It was really hard and it still is. Sometimes you fall into a character very easily and sometimes you leave the audition room embarrassed you even showed up.” Sometimes, things just fall into place, and Cortese’s agent told him about an audition for a Carrie Underwood video. “The next week, I randomly met her marketing rep from Sony, and that same week I met the screenwriter who wrote her part in the film ‘Soul Surfer,’” he said. “I didn’t say it out loud at the time because I didn’t want to jinx it, but after all those occurrences, deep down I knew it was meant to happen.” The video turned out to be for Underwood’s “Two Black Cadillacs,” a song about a cheating boyfriend murdered for his transgressions. The video is a dark, soulful homage to Stephen King’s “Christine,” as the Cadillac appears to be the murdering star of the show.