Mother's and Daughters opens THIS weekend.....

I had planned to sit down and write a nice blog post last night to let you all know that this is the opening weekend for the incredible Canadian feature film, Mother's and Daughters.

However, at around 7:30 last evening, I got called to cover a gig at the local casino for a girlfriend who was very ill (which in itself is worth a post, the whole experience of walking into a room and fronting a band you don't know, with no rehearsal and no set list is energizing, fun stuff, but I digress, we are here for a film today), so I didn't have time to do a nice blog last night, and sadly, I don't have time this morning, because I have to rush off to studio to do some recording.

Busy times indeed, so I am going to make this short and sweet, and I am including lots of pictures.

Below is the video trailer for "Mother's and Daughters", a Canadian feature film which is opening this weekend. I encourage you to watch it....





Last Wednesday night I had the honor of performing for the advanced screening of this excellent movie! This is the review of the night, taken from the First Weekend Club website for Canada Screens.

Canada Screens: Mothers & Daughters (Vancouver)
Post Event
Review:
Another great FWC event! And another sold out event. It seems
the city has caught on to the fact that Canada Screens offers an incredible
cinematic experience unlike no other. Director Carl Bessai and lovely cast
of Mothers & Daughters led a exciting talkback with the audience following
the screening. Rachael Chatoor provided a wonderful pre-show environment
with her beautiful voice filling the room. All in all, it was a great
night. If you missed out on the advance screening, you can still catch
Mothers & Daughters at Tinseltown, opening Friday May 8th.

I originally wanted to support this film because Babz Chula is in it, and I am a long time admirer and supporter of Babz and her work. I didn't know much about the film before I got there to perform that night, but let me tell you it grabbed me right away and never let me go. The characters are rich, real and mesmerizing. The stories all resonate on some level, if not personally, at least by association. It's a gritty, emotional exploration of the ups and downs of the Mother Daughter relationship. Some of it will make you laugh, and some of it will make you cry about, think, feel and contemplate your own relationship with your Mother or daughter.



Once again the advanced screening was held at the incredible District 319, simply the nicest private theatre in the city of Vancouver. Just look at the chairs folks........notice the footrests? I'll tell you what you might not see, most of us have a glass of wine in our hands. This is not your local run of the mill movie house.

Of great interest was the Q & A after the film with director Carl Bessai and two of the lead actresses in the film. It was a nice touch to see them in person and hear the stories behind the making of the film.

Gabrielle Rose, and Camille Sullivan were two of the actresses in the film and they were just excellent in their roles. I don't know all the awards they give out in the Canadian film industry, but I think all the actresses in Mother's and Daughters should be in the running for all of them.

I could not have pulled off this blog post without the use of all of these gorgeous photographs, which come courtesy of Dean Buscher. I am sending a special shout out to Dean and his stunning photographic work, and I invite you to visit his website whenever you are in the market for beautiful, tasteful, and inspired photographs.

Of course we must thank the Georgia Straight for sponsoring the event......

And watch out for Director Carl Bessai! Sir, I stand up and applaud your great movie!

So please do yourself and the Canadian film industry a favour this weekend and go see Mothers and Daughters, and make sure to take your Mom!

Till next time.....Rach

Walk for Kids Help Phone, Team Yummy meets Trevor Linden

Today I participated in the Kids Help Phone walk as part of team Yummy Mummy.

Heading up the walk, was Yummy Mummy Club's official West Coast Blogger Catherine, otherwise known as Earnest girl, whom I met at the Yummy Mummy coffee tweet-up just a short while ago.

I found Catherine at the registration desk, and while we were signing in, we noticed to the left of us a certain local celeb was nearby and available for photo ops. Catherine and I decided we could not let the opportunity to take a picture with Trevor Linden and us wearing our Yummy Mummy Shirts pass us by, so we wandered over there. We had hatched a plan to pose so that the lips on our Yummy Mummy T-shirts were visible, but it wasn't until I got up there that I realized that the lips on my tank top are nearly on the back of the shirt, so in order to make the shot work, I had to really turn myself around, well, pretty much right IN-towards Mr Linden himself,....... hehehe.



When Catherine and I got outside I looked at the picture on my camera and I was just a little worried at how 'snuggled in' to the hockey hero I appeared, so I worriedly expressed my concern. But she just laughed at me and pointed out that such a thing doesn't happen very often, I was instructed to relax and savor the moment.

Sigh, well, OK then, if I must. ;)


It was right around this time we met up with fellow team mate Alexis, and we stopped for another photo op.

After we took the shot , we were headed on down to the presentation stage for the opening ceremonies, and Catherine remembered that she had taken her camera out, but forgotten to take a picture herself....... apparently this is a common error for her so I thought the moment was picture worthy....

In the moments before the walk started, we listened to some speeches.

I went to the ladies room one last time, and when I came back, the crowd was being led in a warm up. I am pretty certain that the white arms up in the air are Catherines arms.




Now they are bringing up a special guest, you can just see him on stage...




Wait, I will zoom in.......





Yep, Trevor was up there doing the warm up too, what a good sport!

So, all warmed up, we headed off on our walk.

There were cheerleaders along the way......

and we just talked and laughed and chatted the whole time, the route could have been twice as long and we still would have found things to talk about.

We kept coming back to the fact that one of the things we like about the Yummy Mummy Club is that it felt like Erica has created the Village for us. There once was a time when girls, sisters, aunts, friends, mothers and grandmothers, all gathered and shared their experiences with each other, about everything. Its how we learned about ourselves.

That no longer really happens today, we are often isolated, especially when we are home with young children. The Yummy Mummy Club makes us feel connected, less isolated, part of the village where we can feel free to ask questions and share our realities.

And the Yummy Mummy Club inspires us to do things for others, such as meet up on a beautiful day and walk for an important cause.


And this is a very important cause.



The Kids Help Phone, please consider looking into it, particularly if you have been looking for an excellent charity to support.

At the end of the day I heard them announce that nationwide the walk for Kids Help Phone raised over $130, 000. I am proud I was a small part of that effort, and I want to thank the people who pledged and gave to the charity in the Yummy Mummy Club's name!

And to Erica Ehm our Yummy Mummy Team leader, I hope you like the pic we got for you of your West Coast 'Team Yummy Mummy' with local hockey hero Trevor Linden. It was a real burden for us to -ahem- struggle through, but we did it for you! ;)


Rach~

this is more than I asked for..............

I had to buy a dishwasher the other day and had found a suitable unit in a clearance centre which was half price. I was delighted with my find until I asked about delivery and install and discovered that I would have to call an independent guy and it would cost me $175 dollars.

That sounded pretty steep, but seeing as I didn't have a truck of my own or any idea how to install my own dishwasher, I didn't have a lot of other options, besides asking and obliging friends which is something I try to save for emergencies. So I called one of the numbers on the list provided by the store and managed to talk the fellow down to $150.

The delivery fellow did mention that the price discussed was his 'over the phone quote', and could change if there was any extra plumbing to be done but he wouldn't know about it to quote on it, until he got there and took out the old dishwasher.

Right away the red flags started waving. I have been seriously burned in the past by workers "finding" problems after they have already given me a quote, so I must admit, I was wary. Very wary, and I told the guy that I would be there watching to see for myself if there was any damage that needed repair. He said he was fine with that.

It is safe to say that I was very distrusting of the delivery guy I had hired. Before I even met or talked to him, I thought I had him pegged, thought he must be a no good scammer. I prepared myself to hold onto every dollar that he would surely try to pry from my near barren pocketbook.

When he arrived, he seemed like a nice enough guy, but seeing as he was the enemy, I still watched him like a hawk to make sure he wasn't doing something off colour, like bending a pipe that he would have to 'fix'

As we chatted, I warmed up a little, he seemed like a nice guy, courteous, competent, and respectful. He complimented my kids on how well mannered they are. I started to relax.

I mentioned the loose sink fixture to him when he went to turn on the water, and he offered to have a look at it. Even though I was feeling more comfortable about him, I was worried at how much this would cost, but knowing a plumber would charge me $80 just to walk in my door, I decided to let him look at it, seeing as he was here already. I figured it would bump up my bill a bit, I just hoped it wouldn't be too much.

Fixing the fixture turned out to be a bit of trouble but at least it got fixed, and once the dishwasher was in and running, I asked the fellow how much I should make the check out for (and then I braced myself).

My jaw could have fallen on the floor when he said $150, the original price he had quoted. My mind was buzzing, inside I was thinking, What? you mean you aren't going to charge me for the extra work? This is unheard of.....is it possible?..... Can I actually wear my rose colored glasses today and not feel like a total fairy-dust dweeb?

Needless to say, I was impressed that he didn't try to take advantage of me.

So without a word, I wrote the check, but I wrote it for more than $150.

Then I handed it to him,........... he looked at it, clearly confused, and said "This is more than I asked for?"

I looked at him and smiled and said "You did more than you said you would".

We looked at each other in the eyes and the smile that showed up on his face was genuine and priceless, and in one blink of a moment, we saw each other as humans rather than opponents. I was actually hopeful for humanity, and grateful to find that in some ways, in some places, the village still exists.


He took his gear to his truck, and then returned with some items for me to look at, telling me that he and his wife also ran a beauty product company. Then he placed the goodies in my hand and told me, "This is a gift for you".

Clearly he appreciated that I acknowledged his efforts, as much as I appreciated the helping hand without a dollar value attached to it. We were strangers who recognized the humanity in each other, that was the true gift.

Try to see someone today without judging or misunderstanding them. You might be surprised.

warmly, Rach

Aww the sweet smell of horse manure......

Yes, you read correctly, I like the smell of horse manure. Well "like" may be too strong a word. I don't exactly 'like' to smell manure in the same kind of way I 'like' to smell freshly baked bread or cooking onions, but I do associate all horse related smells with happy carefree times.

I was a horse loving girl all through high school. Even the barn cleaning moments were fun, just us girls driving the tractor around, chattering and goofing off as we cleaned the stalls and made the world a little nicer for our beloved 4 legged creatures.

We were so in love with the horses, nothing could distract us from them. We lived at the stables. For at least one or two seasons, we even slept in the hay shed all summer long, spending most every minute devoted to our equines, grooming them, cleaning tack, playing with them, training them, and just endlessly hanging out at the barns. It kept us out of trouble, our love for horses, because we did our rebellious staying out late at the riding club, far away from parties, boys, and sleezy places downtown.

My girlfriends were so much fun to be with, we came from all corners of the Lower Mainland, and we may never have crossed paths had it not been for riding at the same stable. They were some of my very best friends during that time of my life. Constantly it seemed, we laughed till we cried, and we were all so different, yet everybody was included. We went to horse shows, to the races, to other barns, out for lunch, to dinner, to the tack store,...... we just did everything, it was all horses all the time.


I lost touch with them about the time I got into music. Suddenly, late nights no longer mixed well with early mornings and my life at the farm faded away. I kept riding for a number of years as I travelled around the world, mostly as a random hobby. I never really got completely back into it again, never really made that connection with other barn members either, which was really a big part of the appeal.

One day, while riding in England, I think I was about 27, I fell off of a horse and got a concussion. It was quite scary, and I have not been on a horse since.

Enter facebook. One of my girlfriends found me through another old horse crazy pal, and she left me a message as well as her sisters phone number. I called the number the minute I read the message, as I had been wondering lately, where they both had gone, had wondered what they had been doing after all these years.

Suddenly, I was meeting them at one of my gigs, and we were laughing till we cried at the memories we had to share. Some of the stories they brought up, I am not so sure I really want to remember. For example, apparently, I used to wear curlers while I slept in the hayshed. ?????? Yeah, we got real good laugh out that one. I don't know. Don't ask. I was under 20, that is all I can think of to say in my defense.

As it turns out, one of them still has a horse and she is managing one of the stables in the flats where we used to ride, while the other boards her pony there, so we have plans to meet up for old times sake and go for lunch.

I have always imagined myself and my kids riding together, but I never really found an opportunity. Today I had that opportunity and I took my kids to see the stables to see where Leslie works. This is the video of their first introduction to horses.

Yummy Mummy Club Vancouver Twitter Moms meetup with Erica Ehm

My day at the first tweetup for Yummy Mummy Club twitter Moms!

It was a complete success, we had a blast, Erica was gracious and beautiful, and all the Moms got along like we had known each other for years. It was so nice to put faces to the names.
Watch the video to get my take on the day~!


hashtag #YMcoffee for tweet ups happening close to you.

http://yummymummyclub.ca/ for more infor about Erica and the Yummy Mummy Club online.

@YummyMummyClub
@miss604
@rachaelpachel
@earnestgirl
@sharylin
@canadamomdeals
@michellekelsey
@fatrock
@stylekid
@Savvymomvan
@zoeyjane

Erica Ehm is coming to Vancouver......

One of my recent passions is making videos. To me the whole process is exciting, the planning, the shooting, the editing, there so much opportunity to be creative with the medium, and as a songwriter I love the chance to branch out and make something more with the music I am learning to create.

I bought my first digital video camera in the fall of 2007, when I came across a video contest hosted by the Yummy Mummy Club, founded by celebrity mummy Erica Ehm. The YMC is the 'go to' destination for multi-tasking Moms looking for adult stimulation. Membership is in the tens of thousands already, it is a place for awesome women to come together to celebrate and commiserate the joys and perils of being a modern mom while balancing it with being a sexy mama. (pictured above) *Suzette, Erica and Rachael*

The video contest that Erica held, was a search for Canada's Yummiest Mummy, and each video challenge gave us a new topic to base our videos on. I loved the challenges, and I especially liked meeting the other women online, it was such a dynamic and caring community. In fact, I have made online and real life friendships that last to this day, including an endearing connection to the winner of the contest, Sharon Devillis, whom I emailed in the first week of the contest, to let her know that I was voting for her, because I was sure she was going to win, and also, Suzette (pictured above) who lives here in BC, Suzette and her husband have shown up a number of times to my gigs to see me play, and when Erica put out a call to Yummy Mummies to help with her booth at the Baby fair last Dec, Suz and I both decided to go, and requested we work together, it was such a fun day!

For those friendships alone I am grateful that I stumbled upon this contest in 2007, but the biggest benefit I found through participation, was the inspiration and motivation, to continue making videos. I can't even tell you how drastically my life has changed since I began putting myself out there in cyber land. I have literally met people all over the globe due to the videos and songs that I have been putting out there.

Almost every cool event you see me writing about here on my blog, happened because I attached one of my videos to an email. For example, the TV documentary show that recently aired on W network (it was called Keeping it Real, and it will be re-aired Thursday May 7 at 11:30AM in case you want to catch it), happened because I attached this video to the application email.

My song 'Standing all the Way" which is a song about breast cancer, is on a very soon to be released CD for a website called Stupid Cancer, which is one of Time Magazines top websites of 2007. My inclusion on this project was a result of sending Stupid Cancer founder Matthew Zachary, the video of me playing the song in my kitchen.

My involvement and eventual win with Jack FM, happened because I had a video handy to send to the radio station when they asked for video submissions for their big talent contest last May. Participation in that contest, led to my contract with the Great Canadian Casinos.

I could go on with examples, but that is not the point of this post, the point was to really to express thanks to Erica and the YMC, for inspiring women like myself to chase our own dreams, she reminds us that even while we give endlessly to our children, we can't forget ourselves.

I am excited to let Vancouver Mom's know that Erica is meeting with some of her Yummy Mummy Twitter friends this coming Tuesday April 21, at Calhoun's coffee shop in Kits, at 1pm (to join the conversation on Twitter, use the hashtag #YMcoffee). Erica is coming to Vancouver to be on Breakfast Television, and Urban Rush, and she has graciously agreed to squeeze in a coffee and a chat with us, just before she has to fly back to Toronto.

So if you are a Yummy Mummy and want to join the fun, please come join us, and if you are not in Vancouver, I encourage you to go check out Ericas website. There are always lots of free prizes to be won, and an endless stream of funny and engaging articles, outrageously talented bloggers, and also lots of Yummy videos to watch.

And make sure you tune into BT and Urban Rush on Tuesday to catch Erica's appearance!


See you Tuesday!

Rach~

Miss 604 at the Meet and Tweet!

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, may recall that I was recently interviewed byMiss 604, Rebecca Bollwitt, for an E Online story about being a working performer and singer/songwriter in Vancouver.

Its funny but, whenever I spend time this woman, my online exposure level goes up another notch. First, she introduced me to Twitter, she simply insisted I sign up for an account, and with one single tweet about me to her followers, I had almost a hundred followers on my first day of Tweeting.

Believe me, I saw the power. I have been watching and learning ever since.

I often check in with Rebecca on her blog, she is a busy young woman with her finger on the pulse. She is the "Internet It girl", and not only is her image travelling around plastered on buses all over town, she is also a regular guest on 1410 the Buzz of Vancouver, the talk-radio station I tune into when I need to just turn off the music. ( yes it happens )

So last night, I took my handy little video camera with me to film Rebecca as she mingled and gave a speech at the Tech Valley Social Club's first ever Meet and Tweet which was held at a gorgeous venue called Dublins Crossing . If you would like to know more, or view photos and find links to all the fine people involved in this networking event, I invite you to visit Miss604's recap of the night.

My personal reasons, why I filmed this event, was to illustrate to my musician and industry friends, the power of using the internet (and specifically Twitter), for business and social networking.

You can easily apply this technology towards promoting your band or your CD. Sure its great to be on Myspace where you connnect with other musicians, but I'd say most of them are trying to sell their music to you. If you are like me, you need to connect with real customers and talent buyers whether it be a pub, club, event, or concert venue looking for entertainment, or the bride, parent, or spouse who is looking for a band for their party. Twitter is also great for connecting with industry people and the businesses that will be helpful to your career (photographers, web designers, artists etc).

No matter what your business, you want to find and focus on your customers, and the people who know them. That is what Twitter can do, if used effectively, it can take your Tweets, and multiply them.

My final note on this, is to update you on how my online life has changed since my last meeting with Rebecca.

Because I was following her around all night, I wound up meeting and hanging out with some pretty incredible Twitter-holics. In particular, there were two fellows whom I am quite certain are responsible in part, for the FLOOD on Twitter followers I am receiving, due to the tens of thousands of followers they themselves have. I believe I have had over a hundred new followers in less than a day. I can barely keep up, this is powerful stuff folks.

So I want to specially thank Rainer from @ThinkReferrals, and Gary, @bluefur for giving me a shout out "tweet"! And to all the other great people I met, and those of you who have also been sending some "tweet love" my way, thank you! I hope you all enjoy the way I chose to document and share the night.

Final note, the people from Domain 7 did an excellent job of putting it all together.

To those that missed it, better come to the next one!!!

best, Rach!

~~~~~~~