[Phish accepts the Lifetime Acheivement Award at the Jammys (image cred)]

PRNewser rocked out last night at the only event where you'll see Chevy Chase sing, "(You Made Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" - the Jammy Awards. What are the Jammys, you ask? Simple: jam bands + Grammys = Jammys. Chase was among a long list of performers and presenters, higlighted by a lifetime acheivement award and performances by members of the legendary jam band Phish.

While Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige played the arena upstairs, we arrived at the WAMU Theater at Madison Square Garden early for the awards show as guests of Big Hassle's Jim Walsh. Walsh headed up publicity for the event, and his agency represents both those in and out of the jam scene, including Weezer, moe., Government Mule, and the Bonarroo music festival.

He told PRNewser, "Fortunately, I have worked as part of Ken Weinstein's team at Big Hassle on many weekend festivals like Bonnaroo, Vegoose and moe.down. One night of the Jammys is a breeze compared to four plus days of on-site press management!"

The show received coverage in both "traditonal" outlets and influential music blogs like BrooklynVegan. (The Phish reunion rumors sure didn't hurt.)

Judging by the results - a sold-out event - Big Hassle can certainly be pleased with their efforts.

Special Announcement: Mediabistro Circus is only two weeks away! Will we be seeing you there? Jason and I will be on a meet the bloggers panel on the morning of Tuesday, 5/21. Come stop by and say hello! We'll post more details as they come our way.

There's lots in the agenda for a pr/marketing pro to digest, in addition to the keynotes from Wired EIC Chris Anderson and NY Times Editor of Digital News Jim Roberts.

Dive in to social media, mobile, user experience design, video and more. Also, we just found out one resourceful NYU undergrad raised enough money via her blog to pay for her ticket. Kids these days!

mediabistro's own Chris Ariens made it to DC for the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner. At least two PR execs had their picture taken by Ariens: ABC News SVP of communications Jeffrey Schneider with his CNN counterpart, SVP of public relations Christa Robinson (pictured above).

Visit TVNewser for a complete recap of the night.

[Google at Web 2.0 - From Flickr: The man pictured on left declared that Google PR doesn't want photos taken of their booth and told me I must vacate the area. I politely told him I had every right to take a photo, to which he said he understood, but was being forced by PR to make the effort to avoid people taking photos. What didn't they want you to see? (image cred)]

There's a party going on this week in San Francisco - and that party is called the confluence of the Web 2.0 Conference and the New Communications Forum.

While we do wish we were there, feasting on swag and open bar parties, we're having fun watching the Twitter posts, aka "tweets" and blog posts of those at the events:

From Edelman VP Phil Gomes: Individually, I like a great many folks here at Newcomm Forum. As a whole, i'm so pissed at the attendees I can barely see straight.

From Read Write Web's Marshall Kirkpatrick: first: change the world! next: look at my crappy ad widget company! we're printing money!

Tom Foremski says Web 2.0 seemed to be a "dud," and this surprised him, "because the build up to the show was very impressive. There was a D-Day scale PR assault on the local press corps, promoting the glories of the coming Web 2.0 show--way, way more than usual."

Clearly, we feel lonely in NYC this week.

[Tucson, Arizona (image cred)]

File this under the really?! category:

The Public Relations Society of America's Western District is holding a conference on Thursday and Friday at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa.

So Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup has proclaimed Friday "Public Relations Appreciation Day" to "encourage all of our citizens to support, understand, and appreciate the intricacies of the practice of ethical public relations and public relations practitioners," a press release said.

We work in PR, and out of all the things to dedicate a day to, it definitely wouldn't would make our list. Then again, this case is purely symbolical, more like a "thank you for filling our hotel rooms and restaurants this week" note, but still.

PRNewser plays comedian: The mayor added, "citizens of Tuscon will participate in community events such as, 'cold calling,' 'e-mail follow ups' and 'saying a lot but really saying nothing.'"

We get a fair amount of email with questions about web video strategy. And, we can assume you are getting a fair amount of those questions from your clients as well.

If you have some time today, we highly recommend this free webcast with Jim Louderback, CEO of Revision3, (and mediabistro Circus speaker), where he will wax ecstatic about the future of online video.

Revision3 is one of the few companies playing in the originally produced and programmed arena.

Checking in on the state of the online video industry is one thing Jim will do, but perhaps the most useful points of discussion will be around the tactical advice - why produce video for the web, how to assemble a crack production team, promote the video, get the right distribution portals, make money and stay ahead of the competition. And, he will address the burning question of the day: does production value really matter on the web?

Tune in: Today at 2pm ET.

As many of you know, it's conference and tradeshow season. And, don't expect it to slow down until June.

One of the big shows this week was Ad:Tech, described by AdWeek digital editor Brian Morrissey as: "Tons of random, sketchy lead gen ad networks who hire booth babes and blow their marketing budgets on parties filled w drunken sales guys for vendors. One VC I met w here called it "the vast underbelly of capitalism."

Sounds like fun! Ok, so we've never been, but according to some Twitter accounts of the show, it may be living up to its reputation.

Via well known PR man Peter Shankman's Twitter; "Overheard at dinner: dude, Google 'topless women playing the Wii.' It's amazing!"

Social media strategist Paull Young had his own thoughts: "Packing up. Ad:Tech kind of sucked."

One conference we know that won't suck: Mediabisto Circus! PRNewser will be there, will you?

(image cred)

Life isn't always fun when you're living in 30 minute increments, yet that is often what happens at a trade show or large conference.

Given the time of year, it's likely at least one of your clients may be involved with a big show. In case you need some help, ClickZ's Rebecca Lieb lays it out.

What's most important? Give the journalist some time to think:

Got breaking news you're planning to announce during the conference? You'd probably do better to break it in advance of the event, under embargo if necessary. The advantages are more mindshare and consideration from the journalists covering the news, affording them more opportunity to ask questions, conduct research, and do follow-up, while they're under less pressure to get a story filed amid a flurry of other activity.

We couldn't agree more. Unless you have super sensitive news, it's always to your advantage to give target media contacts a heads up in advance.

[Hat tip: Fusion PR blog]

If you wonder what all the fuss is about over Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), DKC PR (Dan Klores Communications) has the event for you:

"On April 17th at 6:00pm, five leaders in CSR will discuss whether the time and effort publicizing and reporting on sustainability really pays off for corporations. From a public relations and financial rating perspective, what is the value of these reports when assesing companies' performance - Helpful? Distracting?"

Moderator:

Bruce Kahn, Second Vice President-Wealth Management, Smith Barney

Panel:

Krista Pilot - Senior Vice President, DKC and former Director of Community Affairs, United Technologies

Peter Knight - President, Context America Inc.

Claudia Deutsch - Business Reporter, The New York Times

Michele Sacconaghi - Vice President of Corporate Citizenship, Time Warner

Please note: PRNewser is invited to cover this on-the-record event. We're not sure if it's open to the public.

If you are interested in attending, email sami_ghazi AT dkcnew dot com for information and location details.

PR News' Courtney Barnes captured some of the back and fourth between Charlie Rose and Howard Rubenstein during one of today's sessions at Media Relations Summit 2008:

"We are your advocates here," [Rose] continued, referring to the media. "We have an interest and a goal-we have an agenda, and it may or not be yours-but at the same time, keep people like me informed so that I feel like you have my interest in mind."

Rubenstein followed that comment by saying that too many PR people blindly send pitches, and Rose then offered two very valuable tips to the communicators in the audience:

"Don't send us [journalists] things that we know are official lies. If I think you are trying to spin me and you think I'm trying to screw you, then we are at a loss."

Ok, so maybe "don't lie" is a given, and not necessarily a "valuable tip." But to Rose's point, if you're going to have a confrontational relationship with a journalist, with each party thinking the other is trying to pull a fast one, neither of you will get anything of value out of it.