MOA® TREND BOARD

Mall of Amer­ica® Trend Board is a group of young adults ages 13 and up that rep­re­sents the voice of their age group for Mall of Amer­ica. Trend Board mem­bers will be given the oppor­tu­nity to par­tic­i­pate in media seg­ments with Trend Spe­cial­ist, Sara Rogers, give the inside scoop on what’s hot and what’s not in fash­ion, write movie reviews, report on events at MOA® and par­tic­i­pate in com­mu­nity rela­tions events to give back to our community.

Shop­ping With Love Out Loud

Fri­day night, and I just fin­ished a long day at school. What else would I want to do but go to the Mall of Amer­ica with my best friends and the boys of the band Love Out Loud? Before hit­ting the racks, Tay­lor and I sat down with Jake, Austin, Josh, Dil­lon and Erik to talk about their grow­ing fame and new CD. Their first EP, Com­plete In Color, is four bub­blegum pop songs that you can’t help but dance to. With songs about falling in love to the break up, the band cov­ers a whole range of emo­tion. “Let Me In is about seiz­ing the day. There’s a door in front of you, what are you going to do? Choose to go out and live, or stay in and won­der what you’re miss­ing?” states the lead vocal­ist, Dil­lon Jones. When asked about the name of their next CD, the band just laughs and looks at each other. “I guess we don’t really have a name for it yet”, says drum­mer, Erik Bear. With the band record­ing with Sing It Loud’s Pat Brown and engi­neer Todd Kolo­jeski, the CD is sure to impress. It fea­tures Pat him­self, and includes five songs. The sin­gle “Crys­tal Ball” will be released in May, while we’ll all have to wait for the full length in Sep­tem­ber. “The song is about a girl that can get any guy she wants with her magic pow­ers.” …Any other girl jeal­ous they can’t have that power to use on the bassist Austin Schwichtenberg? ;]

The new CD reaches out to a larger vari­ety of lis­ten­ers. It even includes some rap by artist Mod Sun and some pop break­downs. Be sure to check out Love Out Loud’s tunes by click­ing on the link to their Myspace at the bot­tom of the page! Can’t wait to hear the new CD? They’re hav­ing a CD pre­view party in May, where the boys will be hand­ing out the sin­gle for free, along with play­ing all of their new tracks. Their sum­mer tour includes them play­ing Son­shine, along with hit­tin’ New York in June, home­com­ing in mid July, and doing a Mid­west run in August… so make sure to check em live! www.myspace.com/xloveoutloudx

What’s a band with­out some skinny jeans and v-neck tee’s? The boys also revealed what they love in fash­ion… and the Mall of Amer­ica. The whole band agreed on the store Amer­i­can Apparel for every­thing from cardi­gans to jeans. (You never know who you’ll see shop­ping at the Mall of Amer­ica! When we went into Amer­i­can Apparel that night, Christofer Drew of Never Shout Never came in and was nice enough to chat with us while shop­ping before his per­for­mance at the mall the next day!) Other favorite stores were Her­itage 1981, H&M, Urban Out­fit­ters, and Pac­Sun. When asked their favorite place to eat when at the mall, Austin replies “def Chipo­tle”. Key­boardist Jake John­son prefers Johnny Rocket’s, and gui­tarist Josh Clut­ter likes The Rain­for­est Café.

Although all the guys admit to have not being in the amuse­ment park since it was called Camp Snoopy, they all had favorite rides. The swings, Fairly Odd Coaster, log ride, and Spongebob’s bouncy pineap­ple house were all on the list. A favorite mem­ory from the mall? Erik Bear says when his fourth grade choir sang at the mall, and shop­ping with Christofer Drew was on everyone’s list, of course. Austin said when he went to Magic Quest and learned gob­lin, and Jake John­son said when he and Tay­lor jumped off the Nick­elodeon Uni­verse bal­loon… just kidding.

Love Out Loud’s list of “In” styles for spring/summer ’10:

• Tom’s Shoes
• Casual jack­ets
• A cool neck­lace and arms full of bracelets
• V-necks
• Skinny’s
• Lay­er­ing
• Cut-off jeans
• Black ath­letic shorts
• Tanks

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The night was def­i­nitely a suc­cess, with all the guys get­ting new gear to wear for their con­cert the next night. (Talk­ing with Christofer Drew also made the night that much bet­ter!) Don’t for­get to check out Love Out Loud, and the new styles at the Mall! You never know who you’ll run into… ;]

–Lau­ren  Hill, MOA Trend Board

Pick-A-Prom 2010

Call­ing all prom-aged teens! Feel­ing dar­ing or adven­tur­ous? You could be one of two cou­ples who will win every­thing needed for your prom cour­tesy of Mall of Amer­ica! Sub­mit your story on how you were asked to prom or asked some­one to prom for a chance to par­tic­i­pate in Pick-A-Prom 2010. Those inter­ested in hav­ing a chance to be one of the two cou­ples picked to par­tic­i­pate in Pick-A-Prom 2010, visit mallofamerica.com/prom for more info.

Trend Board Hol­i­day Gift Picks

Hey — it’s Brid­get! I had a cou­ple of our Mall of Amer­ica Trend Board mem­bers sub­mit their hol­i­day gift lists and thought I would share them with you. Whether you’re a par­ent look­ing for ideas for the teen in your life or a teen your­self look­ing for a gift for your girl­friend or best friend, hope­fully the lists below will help you come up with the per­fect gift this sea­son. Enjoy!

By: Lau­ren H.

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Zip­per Trim Slit Pumps $22.80 Forever21
I love leather and gold, and the dou­ble zip­per is really unique

Bur­ton The Hero 155cm Snow­board $449.95 Zumiez
Snow pants aren’t the biggest fash­ion state­ment, so a sweet board is a must!

Silence & Noise Sequin Skirt $88.00 Urban Out­fit­ters
I would wear this skirt to a party and to school

Shear­ling Lace Up Booties $39.99 Char­lotte Russe
A much more styl­ish ver­sion of the brown boots every­one else is wearing

Urban decay Matte Eye­shadow Pur­ple Haze $16.00 Sephora
I love the color, espe­cially to cre­ate a smoky eye for a hol­i­day party

Zom­bieland Logo T-Shirt $19.00 Hot Topic
Great movie, sweet shirt. I’d pair it with a black mini and black booties

Cot­ton Span­dex Jer­sey Two-Sided Leg­ging $30.00 Amer­i­can Apparel
The color pop is so unex­pected and I love the colors!

By: Tay­lor G.

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My Christ­mas Wishlist:

1) Droid -Ver­i­zon Wire­less $200

2) Unlim­ited wrist­band to Nick­elodeon Uni­verse $30

3) Metal­lic Bowler tote–For­ever 21 $25

4) Blaster duo watch neck­lace–Metro Park $130

5) Beret–For­ever 21-$6

6) Vans–Zumiez $42

Although you can’t find this at the Mall…I also have World Peace on my wish­list every­day and hope that you & your fam­ily have a safe & Happy holiday.