So ground(ctrl) took a trip to beautiful Lake Tahoe this past weekend for some good ol' company bonding and team structuring. We learned a lot about who we are as a company, what we represent, and of course how many personal pizzas we can consume over the course of four days. Check out some of the G rated selections from the photo gallery here [as soon as I can figure out how to upload them]...

The headlining tour begins Aug. 6 at Majestic Ventura Theatre in Ventura, Calif., and concludes Sept. 14 at House Of Blues in Cleveland.

Additional stops include Grand Sierra Resort & Casino in Reno, Nev. (Aug. 10), The Rail Event Center in Salt Lake City (Aug. 14), House Of Blues in New Orleans (Aug. 22), The Valarium in Knoxville, Tenn. (Sept. 7) and Zoo Entertainment Complex in Pittsburgh (Sept. 13).

Deftones is donating $1 from every ticket sold to the Chi Ling Cheng Special Needs Trust in support of the band's bassist. Cheng is recovering at home after a November 2008 car accident left the bassist in the ICU for months.

The U.S. dates follows Deftones’ European tour, which wraps up July 10 with a performance at Sonisphere Festival at Open Air in Madrid, Spain.

The BlackDiamondSkye trek kicks off Sept. 16 at Charter One Pavilion @ Northerly Island in Chicago, with dates booked through Oct. 16 at The Joint @ Hard Rock Hotel / Casino in Las Vegas.

The tour was named after Alice in Chains’ 2009 album Black Gives Way to Blue combined with Deftones’ Diamond Eyes plus Mastodon’s 2009 release Crack the Skye.

Diamond Eyes was released May 4 through Warner Bros. and Reprise Records.

Deftones’ sixth studio album has earned high marks from publications such as Alternative Press, which writes, “Diamond Eyes belongs in the pantheon of amazing albums born from tragedy. … Unlike their alleged ‘peers’ (do they really have any?), Deftones learned years ago that a whisper can be more terrifying than a scream and power isn’t always about BPMs and downstrokes per minute.”

For more information, check out www.deftonestix.com (powered by ground(ctrl)

Well I am not really much of a blogger but here it goes.....kind of.....

Every June Nashville holds CMA Fest (formally fanfare) that brings in country music fans from all over the country as well as pretty much EVERY name in country music.  Fan club parties, meet and greets, public performances, softball games, BBQ, beer, short shorts and a TON of cowboy boots.

Some of the events we were lucky enough to take part in are captured above via my iPhone. Thanks to Martina McBride, Jake Owen and Rascal Flatts for letting us be a part of Nashville.

Its official, www.clayaiken.com is live!!! Read more...

One of the most pressing issues we have experienced in recent months is within our shipping department, more specifically; accurate tracking of packages shipped via the United States Postal Service. Currently USPS provides a "delivery confirmation number", this number simply tracks if your package has been picked up and updates when your package has been delivered, no status updates happen along the way and tracking stops *if a package leaves the United States.

In most cases in our business we are in 100% control of the customer experience and are able to respond quickly and definitively. When it comes to shipping, it's a leap of faith in our partners. A leap that doesn't always pan out the way any of us would like.

We are happy to announce effective May 1st  2010, ground(ctrl) will be switching our primary shipping partner from the United States Postal Service to UPS Mail Innovations. Over the past 4 months UPS representatives have been kind enough to work very closely with our development team to determine a plan to better serve our customers while maintaining a low cost. Although packages will continue to be delivered to your door by USPS, all the tracking & most of the transit are handled by the UPS.

The way this works:
Customer orders are processed via the UPS system and picked up from ground(ctrl) by UPS. Packages are then sent to a UPS sorting facility, placed on UPS planes and sent as close to the destination as possible. Once sorted the packages are passed off to the local USPS (or international service, i.e. Canadian Post) to be delivered to your door.

What this means to you:

• UPS tracking (Domestic orders only)

• Faster Ship Times

• More Reliable Delivery

What about international?

The bad news first, neither USPS or UPS Mail Innovations provide actual tracking data outside of the United States.

The good news is that the United States Postal Service will be cut out of transit all together for international packages, ground(ctrl) will pass your package on to UPS, the package will arrive at a sorting facility and then be routed to the destination country.  This streamlined process will allow ground(ctrl) to digitally handle customs forms via UPS clearing the way for faster ship times and lessening the risk of hang ups at customs.

What about overnight?
These changes mark the beginning of many service changes & options being put in place for our customers at ground(ctrl). In the next few months customers will be allowed to pay extra for overnight delivery, or ship via UPS International (bringing the benefit of tracking to international orders), and various other common services available from UPS.


** VATs & International Tariffs will continue to be assessed by local customs offices - these charges are not made available to ground(ctrl), UPS, or our partners at the time of checkout, thus we are unable to charge these fees at time of purchase.

Ground(ctrl) leaving its physical mark on the world with new signage. Sister company BKWLD across the hall. To quote Ninja of South African sensation Die Antwoord, "Stainless steel, comin atchya!"

KNOXVILLE — Award-winning singer and songwriter Martina McBride, along with her manager and husband, John McBride, and an entourage of interactive marketing experts recently visited the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as guest lecturers.

Their visit kicked off an applied-learning project for an MBA marketing class, which is producing a social media plan for McBride’s newest CD as part of its course curriculum.

In celebration of its 11th year, our good friends dredg will be performing their debut full length album "Leitmotif" in its entirety at a handful of concerts across California.

Check out dredg.com to see if they are performing near you! 

What’s up for the Backstreet Boys this year? How about a summer tour and a December ocean cruise, for starters?

But before the cruise, before the summer tour, and even before the Backstreet Boys appear on “The Bonnie Hunt Show” April 14 to debut their new single “Bigger,” the group will perform an all-acoustic show in an intimate setting at the Napa Valley Opera House in California April 11.

With social networking fostering a whole new level of listener involvement, multi-platinum artist Martina McBride is finding myriad ways to engage her sizable and dedicated fan base. While the singer is the first to admit that the life of a superstar isn’t always glamorous, that hasn’t stopped her from taking her fans “into the action,” whether it be to a monthly marketing meeting, a behind-the-scenes look at  her latest video shoot, or  backstage access on the Shine All Night tour. McBride makes of point of encouraging fans to get involved, whether it be via Twitter, MySpace or other online outlets.