By the time I ran through the doors of 12 Galaxies in San Francisco's Mission District, I was already over an hour late. I was attending an exposition for musicians and music critics hosted by Noise Pop, last week's San Francisco arts festival. Frantically, I shoved my Volkswagen into a "one-hour only" spot and jammed over to the venue.

The following conversation ensued: "Hi, welcome to the Noise Pop Expo." "Thanks! Hey, are meters checked around here?" "Um, yeah." "Okay … I'll be right back."

Another half-hour later, my Beetle safely stowed next to a dumpster somewhere off Mission Street, I was finally ready to get down-and-dirty with the music industry. I arrived just in time for the second panel of the evening, a discussion entitled "Careers in the Industry." Perfect.

While the ground floor of the venue featured panel discussions and advertiser booths, the second floor saw a bevy of aspiring musicians and journalists waiting in line for one-on-one mentoring sessions with seasoned professionals in the industry.

The first mentor I spoke with, Aaron Axelsen, is the music director and assistant program director for San Francisco-based radio station Live 105, host of radio show "Soundcheck" and founder of nightclub hotspot Popscene. With surfer-blond hair and a fast, enthusiastic manner of speech, Axelsen was a fun and encouraging person to talk to about the industry. He said a passion for music is essential for anyone seeking to enter the industry: "What I do is a true testament to what I love. Music is my passion, so it's kind of an intrinsic characteristic, like breathing; it just happens naturally."

Next, I met John Lucasey, the owner and founder of Studio 880, a world-renowned recording studio in Oakland. He also produces tracks for Wal-Mart's "Soundcheck" and numerous bands on his label 880 Records. Green Day, one of Lucasey's longest clients, wrote and recorded their massively successful album American Idiot at Studio 880.

"One time, it was a hot summer, our air conditioners broke down and Tre [Cool], the drummer, left me a little present that I didn't notice until about three or four days later," Lucasey said. "He bought a bunch of cold cuts, cut some holes in the couch and stuck them underneath. A few days later, it started to stink."

He added with a laugh, "I got him back."

But Studio 880 also provided the band with the perfect kind of inspiration for their album: "They wrote about our studio, and it's because they called it home," Lucasey said.

My last mentoring session was with Ken Taylor, a freelance music journalist for various publications and managing editor of bi-monthly music-and-culture-focused XLR8R Magazine. A truly seasoned pro in music journalism, Taylor gave advice on starting a career in the industry by drawing on his experiences as a fledgling journalist. "Because I was really naive and I didn't really know what was going on, I blanket-pitched like a hundred magazines, or something like that, and then got good responses from some of them," he said. "That's my advice: to pitch a lot and to not be scared to pitch big magazines."

The expo was a great experience for me as it allowed a very personalized approach to gaining insight in to the industry. It also provided a nice introduction to one of the most important aspects of the entertainment industry: person-to-person networking. And my car didn't get towed, so I had a fantastic time all around.

Tags: NOISE POP