Variety Club Xmas Brunch~

I volunteered at my Mother's out of school childcare facility for all of last fall, teaching a group of her children 4 dances based on the soundtrack to Grease. There were three special needs kids in the class, which was very appropriate, because my dancers performed the show for the Variety Club Christmas Luncheon, and there were a great deal of special needs children in the audience, it was inspiring for them to see kids like them, performing.


The red car you see, fits over John's wheelchair, the boys decorate the car during the song, (like they do in Greased Lightening). Thats the key by the way, to getting boys to do a dance class, you gotta cool it up for them.










~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~










NOTE: originally this post was about my gig singing Anne Murray songs and how I was planning on doing a tribute to her music which is why the comments mention a blonde wig. But I started to wonder if doing this was not a very cool thing to do, meaning is it disrespectful in some way?. Then my car was robbed and all of my Anne Murray music was stolen. I took it as a sign that I am not supposed to do this tribute thing. I am STILL a HUGE fan and will always love to sing her music, but I sing her material as me, and incorporate her songs in to my full shows. :)

By the way, Anne Murray is on Twitter now and she chats to me once in a while. Interestingly this started happening once I took all the tribute stuff off of my website! Life is a mystery sometimes! :)

Motherhood: The Ultimate Survivor: Happy Friday Video

Motherhood: The Ultimate Survivor: Happy Friday Video

a sure fire way to get traffic to your blog

If you missed my earlier post about them, please meet Sue and Steve from the SueandSteveshow.com

They are also known as the newmillionaires on You Tube.

I met Sue and Steve the other night for a lovely, delicious, and delightful dinner at their house, and it was such a truly enjoyable evening from beginning to end. I felt like I had known them for years, it was so comfortable and easy to be around them.

Today they posted a new Sue and Steve show video, and I was touched and humbled to find that I was the topic of their show!

26 things about me....TAG game.

I popped by Jen's blog today, and she says that if you find yourself reading her blog you are to consider yourself tagged.





So, I am tagged, and now that you are here reading this, you are tagged too! Please follow the instructions completely by posting 26 things about yourself. ( and please go visit Jen's blog if you don't know her yet )






1) I see the glass as half full.

2) I most often choose to give people the benefit of the doubt, even though I am sometimes burned by that decision.

3) I see life as a classroom for our souls, and our problems just part of the curriculum.

4) I give an excellent foot rub.

5) I only ever really worried about dying, once I had children.



6) My favorite exercise in the dojo, is punching and kicking someone who is wearing or holding kick/body pads .




7) I am generally quite laid back and lazy, and have to force myself to be productive.



8) I am curious about a variety of experiences, I would rather try a lot of different things, and do reasonably well at them, than spend all of my time on one thing, trying to become an expert.



9) I really admire people who become an expert in any field, and I will tell them that I admire them.



9) I take responsibility for what I do and say. I am not afraid to apologize or to be wrong.



10) I realize that will always be learning about myself and the world around me.



11) I believe it takes a village to raise a child.


12) I like being around people who can sit comfortably and enjoy the silence, rather than feel a need to fill it.

13) I cry at wimpy commercials, but I can be vicious if crossed.



14) I don't feel bad about myself when I tell you that I suck at guitar, I'm cool with it. You don't have to worry, I haven't hurt my own feelings.



15) I am very social online and at work, but in life I do most things solo.


16) As a kid when it came to playtime, I was more of a tomboy than a girly girl. Today, if you asked me whether I'd rather go & try dirt biking, or, go and get my hair and nails done? I'd try dirt biking.


17) I thought I was going to grow up and move to a far away ranch to become a cowgirl, but then I saw a cute boy with a guitar and that opened my eyes to music.


18) I adore singing for large crowds.


19) I hate to be in large crowds.


20) I would love to meet a partner who would be willing and able to hold kick pads for me.


21) I love jogging and hiking in forests with twisty paths and hilly terrain.


22) I rarely wear make up.


23) I drive a stick shift.


24) I don't like drunk people or strangers from the audience, trying to touch me in a familiar way, and I feel very comfortable protecting and maintaining my personal boundaries.



25) I try to spread smiles or do something thoughtful for other people, whenever I see an opportunity to do so, I genuinely want to see everyone around me succeed and be happy.

26) I love the idea of synchronicity

If I only knew then................

There were 6 women and 6 boys sitting together in the stadium that night. I was enjoying watching the kids exploding with anticipation as they waited for the show, excitedly watching every move the pit crew made. I was chatting with the young lady beside me, (who was accompanying her boyfriends son because Mom had an emergency), and as we chatted I learned that she was newly engaged.



My eyes immediately traveled down to her hand to check out the ring and I could not believe that I had not noticed it before that moment, but it was a very, big ring. I know the guy she was intending on marrying, and that ring was not in his budget. It wasn't even in his budget when he didn't have an ex- wife and child to support.

I know this was none of my business, but I couldn't help but start to worry about it, and I started to worry about the guy. I knew he was smarting a bit over the split with his wife, and I wondered if he was thinking straight.



My thoughts and questions on the subject were interrupted as the answers that I had feared, started to come my way:





She: "Yeah, we chose it together, I just knew it was the one, the second I saw it"



[oh no here we go ..... I had this sad image of them in the ring shop, I wonder if he kept himself composed as he heard the price of the ring ]





Me: "Wow, that's quite a big ring, is it really in his budget?" ( yes, sometimes I ask inappropriate questions,)





She: " Well, he has a second job now on the weekends so that we can pay for it"


[I don't know if it was the stadium hot dog I had just consumed, or if it was her little story, but at exactly that point, I threw up a little]









Me: "Wow ( yes, again, I said Wow, and I said it with a big exhale and an incredulous tone, which she missed ), soooooo, when do you see him?" [ thinking I could get her to see what she was doing, if I approached it from another angle ]





She: "Oh, ..... well", she sighed sadly, ................"its really tough"



[at this point I thought she caught my drift, and might be referring to how hard he was working for her, and I softened a little]







Me: "Is the ring really worth it do you think?"





She: "Oh yeah, its so beautiful," she perked up, "and you know, my girlfriends keep me company when we are partying on the weekends, so I am not too lonely without him"





[huh?............. wait, no,..... its not about you being lonely.....er...god I wish It was legal for me to smack some sense into you..........]





I decided to try another route, I shared my own story. Because, I thought, I am a pretty cool and admirable chick, maybe I could lead by my own example. You see, I didn't even have a diamond ring when I got married, I still don't, and we could afford it. I figured it was a waste of money though, so, we just saved the dough, and eventually bought other things (like the old Porsche I found online and had shipped from North Carolina to Houston for hubby, way cooler than a ring if you ask me).



Then I told her about the ring that I had had, made, which I could wear to fancy functions or ladies luncheons or whatever, it cost under a $100 dollars, & in all the years I wore it, no one ever doubted it's authenticity. I suggested she take her ring back and choose a setting she likes and put in a fake diamond, so that she could spend more time with her fiance. I reminded her that when they could finally afford it, they could put a real diamond in (if she really wanted to still).







her answer;











She: " Well, yeah I understand what you are saying, but this is really the only time I am going to get married, so it really has to be right, I want this to be the ring I wear forever. "







Me: "How old are you anyway?"





She: " I'm 21"





I knew I was defeated, the conversation was over, I don't like to work that hard.





I know I can't give her my experience, though I hope she learns to listen to people who offer it to her, sooner rather than later.









I know I did, listened to my elders. I recall very early on, hearing the adults around me say "If I only knew then, what I know now",........ I noticed it was such a universal saying, I knew there had to be something to it. I didn't understand it, but I made note of it, and paid attention because of it. So when I am the recipient of advice from someone I admire, even if I don't understand the advice at that time, I try to remember it, file it away, so that when I encounter that particular experience, roadblock, or situation, I might be armed with a piece of wisdom to help me find my way.





To be fair, this young lady is young, and it does take a while to get there, I did my share of stupid at 21, and lord knows I am still learning and have a long way yet to go. I know that I don' t know everything, or anything even, which leaves me more open to consider another point of view. That is where understanding lies for me, in seeing things from as many different perspectives as possible.





I do worry about a culture that places more emphasis on the ceremony and accessories associated with weddings, rather than the actual union itself. It seems to make the young girls feel entitled to this big magical day, no matter what they truly can afford, and I fear young couples set themselves up for way more stress than they need to, at such a young time in their relationships. Hopefully simple cheap weddings will be whats in vogue by the time my children start flirting with the idea of it.



















~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

trust me, this is neat

This is clever folks, enjoy!

sitting around the campfire

thanks for sitting around the campfire with me, I'm sharing my rough draft of a new tune

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't get sleep last night I was just
lying there trying not to think of this
Imagine, running into you oh just
standing there all making sense and so full of it.


what was I thinking even following you around?
I could be out there sinking
but youre nowhere to be found
Im not looking for a life line baby,
I know how to swim
I wont be falling over board,
so you wont be jumping in


the way you look at butterflies
I've wondered if that look could ever be for me
well look around its no surprise
like a statue in some garden we're all at youre feet

ch

I know, I know theres no safe place to fall
were bout as close now as that poster hanging on the wall
it doesn't matter if you let it make you strong
....or just sit down and write a song....

working it for the weekend, backstage with LOVERBOY,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


.

I had an outstanding weekend & I feel like I have opened a bunch of new doors that have some pretty exciting things behind them. Now, however, after the heady excitement of the weekend has worn off, I realize that I have hours upon hours of video editing ahead of me, which is a great deal of fun, but it has me worried that I will have no time to laze around (which is quite an enjoyable thing to do if you ask me).

Sometimes you do have to be careful of what you wish for. :)



OK, I am just moaning for no good reason, I am honestly thrilled, and I 'll give you a quick rundown on the past weekend and how it all happened.

I have a personal You Tube channel which is for my rough music drafts and just, whatever I feel like filming. This year I am working on a second, new You Tube channel idea, with gal pal chick singer Kelly Brock, (pictured) who will co-host the channel with me. We are not making high end film productions, we are just using my little camera and going behind the scenes with various local personalities, to capture real life, backstage, behind the scenes, banter and happenings. We just want to share with you, make connections, pass around little glimpses and bits of insight, share links and info, as well as show a real side of who people are, and what they do that inspires us.


We have been plotting this channel ever since I shot and edited my first videos of Kelly, such as the one filmed backstage at the Red Robinson Show theatre (rehearsing with the band for the 2008 BCCMA awards show). We also shot a behind the scenes at a photo shoot video, at Rock Beach Recording Studios,. I found that I really liked filming someone else for a change (I have had my personal You Tube channel for just over a year now, and I have become quite sick of me), so having another subject to film and edit was a delight.

Which brings us to where we are today, and telling you about the shooting we did last weekend. I can'tell you too much about our first shoot, which we did we did earlier in the day, but I promise I will when I can. Lets just say that Kelly and I manged to get ourselves behind the scenes of a music video shoot (the video will be aired on CMT when it is released).

How did we manage to do this? Well, I had met this artist a few months ago, and in our talk I shared with her, ways in which I might be helpful to her, then I left her my card. Well, out of the blue last week she emailed me, turns out she had kept my card (throw yourself out there people, something may bounce back). In the email, she happened to mention her upcoming video shoot.

Well, as I frequently do, I connected the dots immediately, and while I had her attention, I told this artist about the channel Kelly and I were working on. I sent her the video clips that I had made of Kelly and she loved them, she said she would ask her manager about letting us come shoot behind the scenes at her video shoot, which was being produced by Alex Galanis of Arkadia Pictures.

So I had the artist on board, but I still knew it would be very tough to get past management, I just know this, so I decided I wasn't just going to simply leave it at that. I called Kelly to tell her about this potential opportunity, and it turns out, Kelly knows that band's manager quite well, so she got working on that end of the equation. Kelly must have some magic that follows her around, because next thing you know, we have a pass to go shoot some behind the scenes fan video footage of this wonderful country group. It was so much fun, I can't wait to share it with you all, but I won't divulge the details until the band is ready to release their video, I don't want to spoil any surprises.

So that was my daytime shoot, but it doesn't end there, we had somewhere to go that night too!


Kelly sings background vocals for Loverboy, and a few months ago we hatched this plan to ask Mike Reno if we could do one of our videos using him as a subject. Not an easy thing to ask, after all, Mike Reno doesn't really need me and my hand held video camera, lets be honest here. I was asking him to expose himself to some stranger hanging around taking videos and being in your face backstage, when you just want to chill after a show. I get that, and I respect it. Most people forget I am there (eventually), and I have never had a complaint. I am very discreet, and charming, and polite.

As luck would have it, I am acquainted with Loverboy's amazing keyboard player Doug Johnson (who knew my father before he passed away last year). Once in a while I send Doug an email to keep him in the loop of what I am up to. So here is what happened Doug, sent the clip I made of Kelly, to Mike (back when I first posted it on You Tube last fall, because the video includes us finding Mike's signature on the walls backstage at the Red Robinson show theatre), so luckily, Mike was already familiar with the sort of video I make. Which really made this all much, much easier when Kelly asked Mike if we could come do a fan/bio video of him, he decided to support us and our project, and let himself be a subject. I am humbled.

The only tricky part, was getting a media pass for inside the venue. Live Nation is serious about stuff like that, and they don't just let anyone do this sort of thing. There were hoops, trust me. I didn't even know whether I was going to get a media pass approved until the morning of the show, so I was on pins an needles until I got the word. When I did, I was thrilled, especially when I realized that it was, Mike who went to bat for me and pulled the right strings, so he really was the hero of the day. I really look foward to making a wondeful fan tribute for them.

The show rocked by the way, the band was tight, and the crowd were singing and crying and showing their boobs to the band. (It was a rock show after all). Hanging out backstage was hilarious, it always is, there is just something about the energy it takes to do a show, that makes people quicker, and faster with the funny, either that or its the booze.

I had the great pleasure of meeting the other gorgeous background singer who works alongside Kelly, her name is Catherine St. Germaine. They are affectionately dubbed, the 'Lovergirls'. I have been emailing with Catherine for months now, so I did sort of 'cyber-'know her already. As well as performing for a living in a number of different amazing local groups, Catherine also books the bands into the lounges, for the Great Canadian Casinos. It was a treat to finally meet Catherine in person, she is beautiful and talented and I admire her a great deal. If you caught the show I am sure you were fell in love with her after she sang Almost Paradise with Mike near the end of the show.

Finally, I want to say that underneath all that incredible talent and powerful voice, Mike Reno, is a really funny, nice, and genuine guy. I was a big fan back in the days when I was wearing out the grooves on my records, and I am still a fan, and I am delighted that Loverboy are still rocking up there on stage, playing the songs of our youth and bringing us back to simpler times.

They have a wicked new CD out, & I am listening to the tunes as we type, I do highly recommend you check it out, and pick up a copy. There is a reason we fell in love with these boys 30 some odd years ago, and this new CD proves they still got it!

Loverboy will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame at the 2009 Juno Awards this spring, and I applaud CMHF for honoring such a worthy band and acknowledging what a rich tapestry of music Loverboy has given us to grow up with. Judging by the fans cheering and singing along in the audience, a LOT of people feel the same way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

what are we missing?

The following post was not written by me, I recieved it in an email.
I believe it is worthwhile sharing.








~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From The Effective Club :

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the case and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents,
without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we
recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kylee Epp

I thought I would post a couple of pics from my Abba-cadabra gig last December, in order to introduce Kylee Epp , my Abbalicious partner in crime in the Abba tribute I just started working in ( produced by Mooncoin productions ).

Kylee is a living doll, she is so musically accomplished, beautiful, and talented at such a young age, yet, she is extremely mature and down to earth which I really like. She has absolutely no idea how incredible she truly is.

Kylee has a new CD coming out soon, and when it is released, I will post about it here, so stay tuned. In the meantime I will link you to her website so you can read and explore as she shares her recording experiences. She also talks about some of the excting things that happen while on road with a country star. ( Oh yes, did I mention she also has a gig touring with and singing background vocals for Jesse Farrell ? )

a delicate subject

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may have met my friend Sharon, I have posted about her blog here before. She makes me laugh out loud, often, and today I am sharing her very important PSA. Sharon has tackled a very delicate subject and shared it with all of her cyber sisters.

Sharon, you are selfless. Such an important message,..... lmao ; )

*I hope you will go visit her..........

( Sharons blog about a very delicate topic )


*if you don't have a sense of humor, or if you are squeamish when reading about er, ...ah,... 'personal recreational activities for the home and bedroom", then, take a pass.....but I suggest you get over that, and simply enjoy the fun of the post. ;)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

E! Online interview

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well Miss 604 posted her interview of me yesterday, and it was SUCH a whirlwind day.

Seriously, I met SO many new people online and through Twitter, its been fabulous.

If you are new here, Hi! Welcome.

This is just my diary, trust me, there are funnier blogs, and blogs with useful content that you can actually learn something from, you wont find any of that here. If you want blogs like that, go check out the blogs I am following, because they are all very cool. This blog is all about me.

Luckily, for you, one big part of ME, is that I happen to like to share things about other people. It gives me warm fuzzies to post something nice about someone else, especially if something they did, inspired or touched me.

So, besides following some of my adventures, you will also find some of my favorite links, videos,and blogs posted here.

Which brings me back to Miss 604.

I don't know WHAT I was thinking, but I didn't really realize this interview was going to be put on E! online. I thought it was for the local blog (which was thrilling and exciting enough I might add). But when the interview was over and I was saying goodbye to Rebecca, I didn't quite know what she meant, when she said it will be on E! online, later today. Huh? I was a bit dazed over that, and actually thought I heard wrong.

Anyhow, when she posted the story, and I realized it was THE E! online, I just could not believe it. What am I doing up there? How freaking cool is that? I immediately wished I had at least brushed my hair or put on make up or something. LOL, what a doofus, when I told these thoughts to my pal Sharon, who called me from Toronto to congratulate me, she just laughed and told me that, 'that is what she loves about me'. So I guess it kind of all right that I am hopeless about these things.


Anyway, I can't thank Rebecca enough for contacting me and putting up such a great story. I love so much that she took an interest in some of the charitable causes I am donating my time to, and that she chose to share their information with her audience. The people from the Stupid Cancer foundation were so excited and pleased. It was a powerful day, and I am proud to share this with you all!

click link for the E! Online story

miss 604 and moi!

Well I just got back from a delightful morning coffee with Miss 604 herself, Rebecca Bollwitt. I have been following her blog for some time now, long before I ever decided to start writing my own blog.

I often will check Rebecca's blog to see whats up in Vancouver, she is always covering something interesting. Also, she takes adorable self portraits, so the stories often come wrapped in a pretty bow. Sometimes when I go to her blog, I post and join the conversation, and sometimes I just shoot her an email to let her know about upcoming events.

I guess I made enough noise, or perhaps it's a slow week and there is no one more interesting to interview (because they are all still on holidays) , but for whatever reason, Rebecca emailed me to see if I wanted to meet up and give an interview about being a singer in Vancouver.

How totally exciting, I was thrilled to accept.

Rebecca is even more charming in person, and I greatly admire how she has carved out a place for herself in the Vancouver scene. She is everywhere, supporting a large variety of local people, events and news stories, from live blogging, to social media events, to Hockey to live music, and everything in between.

I will be excited to watch her star rise along the way, you probably have seen her yourself, her picture is on the side of many Vancouver buses. Actually, its kinds cool that now I have a pic of myself and her together. One day I will be able to can say, I knew her when!

Here is a link to her blog, http://www.miss604.com/ I don't know when exactly she will have the interview up on her site, but it will probably be in the next day or two ( if not today) . She tells me she is putting something on E-Online as well (which is in my list of blogs that I follow if you want to check that out too).

The only downfall for the day........................ is that she has talked me into getting on Twitter. Rebecca insists it is the thing to do. My online pal Susan Sierra from the sueandsteveshow.com , just got onto Twitter a few weeks ago too, and she has tried to rope me in, but I managed to resist her efforts.

So today,during our meeting at the coffee shop, Rebecca gave me a surprised look when I told her I am not on Twitter. I may as well have told her I still use an outhouse for potty purposes.

She decided she was going to bring me into the future, and she showed me on her laptop, how Twitter works. She started by asking me who I wanted to look up. The first person I thought of was Susan. So we searched, and Rebecca found Susan, She her to her list, and made a Tweet about her. And within seconds, I could see Susan online responding.

OK, they got me with that little demo of Twitters connecting capabilities, it does look pretty effective. I admit that am being dragged kicking and screaming, but I am finally going there, I am finally Tweeting. The only problem, between Twitter, facebook, You Tube, my blog, and my website, I foresee having NO life. I still have to learn songs and rehearse and take care of children and everything, where will I find the time? Thanks a lot, you girls are a pain in the ass.

Hehe, pain in the butt or not, THANKS again Rebecca, for everything, for the chat over coffee, for being cool, for sharing information the way you do, and for just spreading good energy around the world. I can't wait to come play at one of your events.

Now all you Tweeters, please feel free to add me and help me take my first baby steps on Twitter!

you tube collaboration

People do collaborations all the time on You Tube.

I was asked to provide the vocal for a tribute video to John Lennon.

I had some minor but annoying challenges with this little project, the video I was to send, had to have me singing acapella, I could only use the little mic on my tiny video camera to record my voice, and of course, it all had to be done in one take. The key of the song was very awkward, too high for me to belt it out comfortably, and too low to be really dynamic at the high points, but the track was done by the time they got me on board so there was no changing the key.

After trying a number of things however, I just sat down and sang the song simply, after all, there is no point messing with John.

Lai decided to put some harmonies over my vocal, which he says he has never done before so that must have been cool for him. I am very glad I decided to play along with this, Lai has about 3 thousand subscribers to his You Tube channel, and I woke up this morning to an inbox full of subscribers and new friend requests who found me via his video, and the requests still keep coming.

I do show up in this video, for the last verse and chorus.

just one of those precious moments

This video was never meant for public consumption, honestly, I am in my jammies, I have a cold, I was just messing around video-recording myself playing in different keys and toying with the melody lines of songs while I was watching my daughter take her bath.

Caught on film, a moment when she started chatting to me, and then all of a sudden started singing along, improvising a song about her mermaid doll, Ariel.

The moment was so precious, I decided I had to get over the housecoat and post the video.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

spelling, or lack thereof

If you are a fan of decent grammar and proper spelling, I have no idea what you are doing here. Hopefully by now we are clear on the fact that I am not a 'writer', and that this is just a diary, of sorts.


I got lazy with my spelling, after reading this sentence one day.....


" Airdoccng to a rsrechecah at Cadmrbige Ustvieriny, it deson't matetr in waht oedrr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny iemorptnt tinhg is that the fsrit and last letter msut be at the rgiht palce. The rest can be a ttoal mses and you can siltl read it wtuhoit ploberm. Tihs is bseauce the hmuan mnid does not read evrey letetr by itlsef, but the word as a wlhoe."




Seriously,...........if most of us can read this jumbled mess, then a spelling error, or a typo, is not really such a big deal now is it? So long as you people get the basic idea then, my job is done.




By the way that was just my lame apology /disclaimer for any atrocious spelling you come across while you visit this blog/diary. I assure you, I am aware of it, I don't lose sleep over it, hopefully you don't either.

this is the thing that life built

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Well you know the story about the breast cancer song right? (See two posts below this one, if you want more info.) Anyway, if you know the story I have a song that will be on a compliation CD that is expected to raise funds for youths with cancer.

It was suggested to me that I build myself a website, because I would be able to expect a lot of traffic once the album is released.

So I sat myself down made a website.

I don't really have anything to sell, no CD or anything of that nature, so previous to this, I had never before thought about having a website. I don't see myself as a recording artist, I just like to work, I would really like to keep getting great corporate gigs, it's such a treat to work on nice shows, with inspiring people.

And of course the job I covet most, is a great gig doing background vocals on a big tour. I totally loved doing the Merrit gig with Kelly, she did her own material, but the video I am sharing here, is of her singing Heart (me as background vocalist). I have so much fun doing this sort of thing, seriously. Check the vid, its taken from a cell phone so the sound is limited, the faint background vocals you hear are me, I do make an apperance later in the video at about 3:11.







See that size of stage? I love it. I want to be singing back ups on that size stage again. It will happen, one day, and we will all celebrate here on this little blog, trust me.


Anyways, once again, I digress. We were talking about the website. So , now that I was thinking about a website, and the fact that I have so many bands I work in, so many projects always on the go, all of my videos I liked to film edit and play with, and how I know so many people who impress the hell out of me whom I like to promote just because I feel like it, a website suddenly seemed like a good place to keep track of everything. So like I said before, I just sat down and made one.

And that, opened a whole new set of doors.

I am pleased to say that my website is already showing results, there have been a number of opportunites that I used the website to get in tune with so far. Just today, I recieved two calls for work, one place wants to hire me for a gig, and one is a studio session to sing a demo for someone. Love it, love it, LOVE it!

I am very grateful for the Stupid Cancer people for kicking my backside into action, because now when people ask, I have a place to send them, I have a little home on the web.


I am in awe of how life just happens, and if you are open to the doors that open in front of you, they truly can lead you to new and exciting places.


Go LIFE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

charlie bit my finger

I would guess that this video has been posted thousands of times before on blogs everywhere. It hasn't been posted on mine yet, so here it is, and IF, on the off chance you have not seen this video yet, well, yay. Good thing you are here. Please take a moment to join the 73 million other people who have seen this on You Tube.

When I watch this video, I seriously don't know whether to laugh or to cry for the little guy, he is one of the most adorable little beansprouts I have ever seen, this is easily one of my top favorite videos on You Tube. Enjoy.....

finding the silver lining in the snow clouds

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I can't even write the words I was uttering to myself this morning as I shovelled my car out once again, with my ridiculous little child's size shovel. Consider this a lesson learned, finally. After all, aren't I too old and too tall to play with kids toys? My back is killing me and I seriously need my back. I really must learn to be more practical , and I should stop being so drawn to cute things.

Anyway, that's not the reason I am writing today, it just couldn't be ignored that it was a very stupid decision to buy a child's shovel that's all.

So, back to story, I was shovelling my driveway (with the equivalent of a barbie shovel in hand) when I noticed someone needed help with a car out in the cul de sac. Of course I ran right over to assist and was greeted by name, I thought about how this has become a regular thing in the cul de sac, this little rescue maneuver, because there is so much snow that it is difficult reach our driveways. Its like a club now, I think everyone has had to be rescued at least once. I have needed four assists in or out of the snow zone, they were all given with a smile.

This whole winter snowstorm may have had its downfalls, but it certainly has brought our little cul de sac community together in a nifty way, and that's my silver lining for the day.




EDIT, see photo evidence of the moment in which I recognized the value of owning a child sized snow shovel. I take back everything I said about myself earlier, I am a genius.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

coming out soon song CD release and W network show

I am getting quite excited because early this year we will see the results of two projects that I worked on last fall.

Project ONE: is that I will have a song included on a compilation CD release for a website called Stupid Cancer. You see I wrote a song last year, shortly after losing my father to a cancer. I was originally inspired to write the song, after seeing interview of Melissa Etheridge. I admired her so greatly, everything she said about life, love, and learning, made perfect sense to me, and because she went through it, she made me think about what women must feel and endure, and so I began to write a song about a moment in the doctors office when a woman is told she has breast cancer.

One day, in the middle of writing the song, through a moment of tears and brutal realization, it dawned on me that I was using the feelings surrounding the loss of my father to draw from. When that realization hit, some part of me knew, at that moment, that this song would be a part of something very helpful to people with cancer. I did not know at the time, that the song would one day be connected with one of Time Magazines top 50 websites of 2007. Oh Yeah, if you wish to hear the recorded song, it will play when you go to this page on my website:

http://rachaelchatoor.com/Showcase.html




This video, is the original rough draft of the song, which I posted on You Tube






The other exciting project is a documentary that will be shown on W network. It is a reality documentary called Keeping it Real, which examines the use of non-invasive, non surgical procedures for women that wish to battle aging, but who don't wish to undergo surgery. The audition notes had said they were looking for women with strong stories. So I sent in an audition, I have a pretty strong story, and I had just done a laser technique on my skin, and filmed and posted it on You Tube. So I included a link to the video with my little audition blurb about my busy crazy life. Its a pretty funny video actually, and the film company thought so too, so they chose me to be one of the subjects of the documentary.

It was quite a lot of fun to do this show, the people from Insight films are so super cool and nice, and very positive and complimentary, it was impossible not to feel comfortable. The film crew followed me around while I had some consultations and they filmed me while I had some laser and botox ( which I hated in the end ) done. And of course they needed a back story so they filmed me while I played with my kids, recorded a song, rehearsed at home, and they even shot some footage of me with my band at the casino.

I must say, I am so clever for doing this, because now I will have some professionally shot footage of me with my band that I can use to promote myself and get gigs. I am in no position to pay for this kind of promo, so this was a very synchronistic connection to make. I also included my pal Kelly Brock in the casino shoot. My band and I are a cover band, with only a couple of originals that they play with me. The same band however, has played originals with Kelly, so seeing as I know her background vocals, and the band knows her tunes, I invited her to share the filming gig with me. That way she could get some great footage of her own original material, to use herself, and at the same time, the show, would have more music to choose from which is a little more easily licensed.



Well thats all I have to say about that really, I am just getting excited. Its nice to see the results of past work. Of course I am already onto the next little bunch of projects, I have two demos to learn and sing for people over the next few days, as well as 3 new songs for my casino gig, and a number of different videos to shoot and edit. I will be collaborating with the Vancouver Film School on a video for my breast cancer song, so I will have to find time to do that when the school year starts up again. I have no idea what to expect there, but its going to be a great project, and should be good cross promting opportunity, considering the song will be released on the Stupid Cancer CD. I also have been asked to give an interview about being a female singer in Vancouver, to Rebecca Bollwitt of Miss 604 fame, so thats very very exciting, I admire the lady and look forward to meeting her.

So, busy months ahead, I don't know how often I am going to be able to post, but now that I have started this little blog, I will certainly try to keep it updated.

rach in Erica Ehms blog....

Erica Ehm, one of the original VJs on Much Music, now runs a highly successful website called the Yummy Mummy Club. Last fall, I was mentioned in Erica Ehms Blog.

Kelly Brock

This year I had the great pleasure of meeting a local recording artist, performer, singer named Kelly Brock. I knew who she was from the radio, I had heard nothing but great things about her over the years from industry friends, I had seen her perform live a couple of times, and I even competed against her in the finals of a province wide vocal competition back in 94, but I never had the to opportunity to really meet her, until this summer when I performed background vocals for her set on the mainstage at the Merrit Mountain Music festival.

Kelly is just one of the nicest girls ever, and we clicked right away. She like myself, is just one of those girls that prefers to be nice to others, and is genuinely happy to see other people succeed. She knew I was looking for more corporate work, and the day after we returned home from Merrit, she called me up and asked if I could sub for her for her band gig the next day. THE NEXT DAY? I had not even met her band, though they are one of Vancouver s top corporate bands, I had no idea even what their set list was like or anything. Kelly assured me that it would be a breeze, and promised she would not have asked if she didn't think I could do it.

So, the next day I went. I literally met the band 10 minutes before going onstage. We got a game plan, picked some songs ( they have been playing together for 20 years, it turns out they know everything), and I walked onstage with them. Depending on the line up there are at least 3-5 singers in the band so we all took turns which made the gig pressure free. When it wasn't my turn to sing, I followed Sarah Johns, who is the other gorgeous gal in the band, found the missing harmony part and added it to the mix. I had such a great time that day, and have been added to the call list, and worked with them again.

Since then, Kelly and I meet up occassionally, when time and family allows, and because I have a video camera, a You Tube channel, and wanted to do some filming/editing of someone else for a change, I decided to try out my idea for an ALL ACCESS PASS channel, which is meant to promote other artists and interesting people. So my plan, is to go film my friends in the industry doing their thing! If I am lucky I can get Kelly to help me with some of the videos, which willl add a great dynamic to the project.

This video is from the rehearsals, and backstage for the BCCMA country music awards show where Kelly was singing and doing background vocals.

the irony of Christmas

The thing about Christmas, is this, I, like plenty of other Moms, went to a bit of trouble to get exactly what my young children were wishing for this year.


Just imagine this please, it is only a few days after Christmas, I have invited a little school friend of my son's, to come for a sleepover.
I have been watching them playing and I feel as if I have been somewhat duped over the importance of presents at Christmas. They don't care about the toys. I would like to share with you, what the most popular play item, so far this year is.



scroll down for pics......































keep going....







this may or may not surprise you......





































you'll see what I mean in a second.....



















I promise........................................

They easily spent a full 45 minutes creating costumes out of plastic grocery bags. I was just wondering by the way, is this considered recycling at all? Because I could always use some extra recycling karma.

:)

new years gig

Happy New Year!

I worked last night, at a lovely Dine and Dance style restaurant called Howies Bistro. The room has tables on two levels, surrounding a large dance floor and stage. It is clear that this place caters to dancers. I was thrilled to find they already had a PA set up, which means I didn't have to haul equipment and gear around in my high heels. ( its the small things in life that really make me happy). The decor is sleek and modern, the colors, black, red and white. I had someone take a picture of me because I matched the decor so well.

The venue was sold out, people from the local dance school came in a large group, so the dancing began with the first song and did not end until the last. I love watching couples dance while I play, especially if it is ballroom dancing, I am so impressed with the moves and fluidity of some couples. It completely entertains me as I perform, and this crowd was very entertaining, it was a great night.

The food they served was divine, I had the seafood medley, which was a plate of lobster, crab, prawns and scallops. The garlic butter what to die for. I hope that those couples who were on a date, BOTH chose the seafood and garlic butter, lol, it was powerful! The plate was enormous, I could barely get through half of it.

At the end of the night, as I could not believe my eyes as I opened the door and walked outside into a flurry of snowfall. Good grief, are we KIDDING here? I had a long way to drive home, on slippery roads, and there were several potentially treacherous hills to get over between where I was and home. It did require a great deal of planning to avoid all the stop lights that are situated at hills. Starting on a hill from a standstill, would have been impossible for my vehicle seeing as its so crappy in the snow even on flat ground, so if I wanted to get home without getting stuck somewhere, I really had to work out my route carefully. It took me twice as long as it normally would have but me, my car, and my gear, made it home safe and sound.

I feel like had JUST fallen asleep when my kids woke me sometime before 7am, asking for breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~