dinner's ready! ~cooking with rach~

There was once a time when my entire day was devoted to changing diapers, caring for the house and cooking meals for my family. Fortunately the diapers are now gone and the children are older but like other working Moms I no longer have all day quite so free to focus on planning a menu so I've had to learn how to make super quick and easy meals out of scraps of leftover nothing sometimes. Handy because I don't use recipes. Trying to please young palates and still getting veggies into them is always my goal. If I can sneak nutrients in in any way by chopping them up small and hiding them in sauces or under cheese, then I do that. If I do say so myself my food is simply delicious, even it is kinda fattening. I'm no expert on anything but I don't think we should deprive ourselves of the joy of delicious eating so do eat well, but moderate. (That's my tip for getting away with all the naughty ingredients).

One day I took a shot of my dinner with my iPhone and was surprised how well it turned out for an iPhone shot. It sparked a number of picture essays which I've been sharing lately on my facebook and it's been suggested  that I put the series in a collection somewhere together online, rather than just  in random untidy posts.  

So I filed them in an album called Cooking with Rach which you can see here.

Here are a few highlights:

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm~

rach  xo

a princess for a party~

You all may remember my friend Alyssa from previous posts or videos about my substitute gigs with Abbacadabra.

One day Alyssa arrived downtown for one of our Abba gigs wearing a princess costume because she forgot to bring a change of clothes after giving a princess party. So together we had to walk around downtown with her still in her costume. I had the best time ever laughing with her at the looks people were giving her, struggling  to keep a straight face as if it is perfectly normal to be wandering around Gastown with Cinderella. Anyhow I have always wished to do a video for Alyssa to support her because just in knowing her I was virtually certain she was the most perfect princess ever.

Last week (as it happens), my friend and All Access Pass co-host Kelly's daughter Kayla had a visit from a very special princess and I was there to catch the magic. I always knew Alyssa was going to be a great princess but I didn't realize how much she looks and acts like was born to be one until I saw her in action with the kids. I don't even need to give an endorsement, you can see what it does for them right here in this video, it's written all over Kayla's face!

For more info on how you can invite a princess to your little girls party, visit Alyssa's website here!


And may a real princess come sprinkle fairy dust on you too! xo

Egypt and the the Who's from Whoville

I started watching the happenings in Egypt basically from day one and one of the major things that impressed me as it grew was their steadfast dedication to remaining peaceful. Even in the face of brutal beatings and taunting by the opposing thugs they stayed true to their message and carried their protests in peace.
The real turning point of the uprising in my mind happened the day after all the worst of the violence and bloodshed. Despite the regimes cowardly efforts to bully the people into submission, the uprising grew larger and even more peaceful.


When I woke up to the news that morning it sent shivers up my spine. I was so pleased to feel like a part of our human collective got it right and figured out how to truly gather peacefully to make change and to do it on such a wide scale...... THAT is why I wear rose colored glasses, because I do believe that most people/humans want peace and good and the power of that does not have to fall in fear under the shadows of bullies and tyrants. Even though bullies exist, we really don't have to let them rule.

The tipping point that connected people I think was literally 'connection'. Social media was the spark. The ability to pass on the message to each other is what allowed them to galvanize over a shared emotion, it started this movement. Incredible.

It's amazing because this has been unlike any other time in history as far as sharing information goes, and even though the govt shut down the Internet in the early days of the unrest, I think enough people had been reached. They had felt it and clearly they recognized themselves in each other, the saw that they ALL had been very unhappy people for a long time and suddenly they were unwilling to settle for it.

When death becomes a more attractive option to you than living under the same depressing conditions, then you have no choice to stand up for yourself and try to institute change.

And they were smart enough to know that they would lose the message by doing anything other than having a unified and peaceful protest. Good for them. It's inspiring to the core.

Yes, that day after the violence when they all came out to the square like the little Who's from Whoville to sing around the empty Christmas tree..........for me at least, I had this real sense that this uprising might actually be able to sustain itself all the way to a successful revolution.

It was an incredible moment yesterday when he stepped down, today on the news they showed people rejoicing in the streets......, you could feel the country breathe again.

I will be very curious to see how the military handles the transition. I hope they are smart about it, or at least choose for themselves to make an impressive mark in history. They could be instrumental in building something amazing if they just travel ahead 'with' the people and really focus on building a new country with them.

HitZone!

I just like this song, and asked my band one night if we could play it.
On the spot, without hesitation they said, yeah! I love it when they do that, or when an audience
member asks for Hotel California and we just do it on the fly, and we decide we like it so much we add it to our set list...yeah....this is why I am so lucky.  :)  Thanks to Brian Wright  for taking the video and sharing it. :)

Rach:

Modern Vocalist features League of Rock band Bitter Suite on their weekly spotlight.

I thought I would share with you today this video from the 4th session West Coast League of Rock finale last December, seeing as the last thing I mentioned is that we were preparing for the show. So on finale night, past member Brian Wright was there to support the showcase and he took this video of the last band of the night, Bitter Suite. Loralee Parks made the video work in her favor when she submitted it and it was accepted as a weekly feature on the well populated Modern Vocalist website.

Bio below was cut and pasted from the website:




Loralee Parks hails from the beautiful city of Vancouver Canada. She spent several years in retail sales & management until wanderlust set in. She then packed up everything to work on board luxury cruise lines hosting informational talks & seminars on shopping and port information. After traveling the world, she then decided it was time to head back home to Vancouver and settle on land. Ever since a young age Loralee always had a love for singing and entertaining. Mainly a hobby singer, she never really pursued her talents until about 2 years ago when she got serious and started taking vocal lessons with a master Speech Level Singing coach in Vancouver. After committing to daily vocalizing and practicing she truly found her voice and a new confidence on stage. With the encouragement from her vocal coach, friends, and family she was urged to get out there and perform. Without knowing many people in the Vancouver music scene, Loralee joined an organization called “The League of Rock” where musicians of any skill levels can join a band, rehearse, record, and perform in 10 weeks. This program not only gave her an opportunity to perform but also to meet and network with many professional musicians in the Vancouver area. The band “Bitter Suite” for example only met 10 weeks prior to this performance. Loralee is excited to be pursuing her love for singing and is currently looking at several new opportunities that are developing since her debut with “Bitter Suite”.


Congrats to the band!  What a nice thing to come out of the League of Rock.

By the way there is a Groupon deal if you want to have a taste of the league......$59 for a one day, 4 hour workshop where you will get a sense of the community and rock and roll atmosphere..... go to website for more info  hurry there is only a day left!

Sweet Kerosene band with me and Topher Stott, season 4 showcase!

Rach xo

River Rock Casino, Richmond BC, live entertainment, Vancouver band, Rachael Chatoor, covers.

Rachael Chatoor at River Rock Thursday Dec 23rd.
My band on this night was impeccable:
Russell Marsland -Guitar
Shawn Soucy-Drums
Mick Dalla Vee-Bass

Guest Tyson Froese joins Rachael and her amazing musician friends on Baby Blue (a song his father Howard Froese played on when he recorded it with the band Chilliwack http://www.gonegonegone.com/ )

I was asked to sing along on this song which I was not expecting, but I was given the lyrics so that I could read them. This is the first time for me to sing this song, so glad the moment was captured on video.


For more info on my corporate band the HitZone see website!

the final League of Rock showcase at the YALE is upon us!

Well the final showcase is upon us, this Thursday Dec 9th the 4th session of the West Coast League of Rock will take the stage at the Yale 7-9pm and dare I say it, this has been the best session yet.

Here are some pictures from the previous 9 weeks to give you a glimpse of what you can expect when you join the League. :)

The first few weeks are dedicated to rehearsing at one of Vancouver's best loved jamspaces, NAL sound.

Kara (who helps facilitate operations in the League) in rehearsals!

me, generally just hanging out with the bands and cheering them all on!

Paul

Sydney

Sean

Brandon

Dave and Stephen

Wayne

 (another one of our invaluable co-ordinators, whom we could not run the West Coast League without! )

Brent

Nando

Sean and Jay

Loralee

Colin

Derek

Mike

Randy

Every week members enjoy receiving advice from professional coaches. Here pictured is Shawn Soucy who  toured and recorded with countless artists including  One Horse Blue, The Blue Shadows, Farmers' Daughter, Ellen McIllwayne, Joel Feeney, Lisa Brokop, Doug and the Slugs, and many others. His band Alibi was a Juno award nominee and, he is also the drummer for my band!

After a few weeks the bands get together and perform for each other in what are known as the midway workshops. The first midway is held in the big room at NAL sound.  This is where my part comes in as I am the MC for the events.

Pictured here with Lory who is also a part of the LOR production team and she is practically the glue that keeps this thing running with the way she pays attention to all the details, emails to members and paperwork (ie: scripts for me).

Taking the stage,  Bitter Suite

Mark

Steven (whom I am throwing a shout out to for helping me with his gracious and generous donation to a family in need, thank you Stephen and Parker Mattresses, what a great company!)

Corinna (you may recognize her from this post here )

Moose Nukl takes the stage

Watching the other bands...

Coaches Shaun Verreault (Wide Mouth Mason) and Simon Kendall  (Doug and the Slugs) who have been mentioned several times on my blog already thanks to the League of Rock, were the first mid-way coaches for session four and these fellas are always so hugely helpful and very appreciated for all the support and insight they have to share and continue to give to the members of the League of Rock.

After the first midway we had another week of  rehearsals where we enjoyed the coaching advice from Camille Henderson, a friend of mine whom I featured in a video on this blog post. Camille played the role of Shirley in the classic Canadian movie My American Cousin in 1985, and then went on to become part of the Vancouver-based pop group West End Girls from 1991 to 1993. Following her departure from the band in 1993, Henderson became a backing vocalist for Sarah McLachlan, and also appeared as a vocalist on albums by Delerium. She is the daughter of Bill Henderson, a singer-songwriter associated with the bands Chilliwack and UHF, and is a vocal instructor in Vancouver.  I didn't have my camera with me that night so I don't have a pic of Camille in action with the League, but I poked around and found this picture online with me and Camille, credit goes to the North Shore News.

The next midway was held at the Yale and the community really came together and cheered each other on. If this midway was any idication of how the finale will go, then the showcase 9th is going to ROCK!

Edible Looking Plastic rocks out!

Sweet Kerosene

During the midway we were glad to welcome back coaches Mick Dalla Vee and Marc La France to share their vast wealth of experience. Mick and Marc both have been mentioned on my blog a number of times for  their own projects as well as having been featured as the rock solid musicians who back up Canadian rock legend Randy Bachman. The trio (including Brent Howard who is also a LOR coach)  have just completed a world wide tour with Bachman and Turner to support B and T's recently released album of new kick ass material. The weekend before Mick and Marc came to work with our members, they had just performed with B and T during the half time show at the Grey Cup so the room was buzzing.  All the members at the League of Rock were so excited they were able to fit us into their busy touring schedule it seemed to be a bit of a thrill for all involved. I'll take an instant to send a shout out to Mick who records/produces my songs for me, and let you all know that bands and singer songwriters who are looking for a producer, might like to check out his great work at Millennia Sound Design.

The final week of rehearsals brought coach Brent Howard and by this time he really just had to share some 'finishing touches' advice with everyone. At the end of the night some of the members of Bitter Suite enjoyed a unexpected surprise as Brent jumped onstage to show them a bass part. Somehow this moment turned into a few songs and really, everyone was pretty stoked about how much fun it was to play with him.

The final week brought  LOR co-founder   Topher Stott all the way from Toronto to produce the bands at Nimbus school of recording arts. Each band by now had chosen their strongest song and they all spent half a day recording it with the guidance of Topher who produces all the League of Rock recordings  from both Vancouver and Toronto.

I myself was gigging that weekend so I couldn't make it to all the recording sessions but I made it back to town and caught the last band Bitter Suite as they finished off their last tracks and they knocked it out of the park!

 

Special thanks needs to go out to Tempus Drums who are a new sponsor in the League of Rock family. Tempus are handmade, high quality specialty drums that you MUST check out as I can't possibly cover it all here, but drummers, I invite you to see what the fuss is all about by going to the website. You can also see the drums in action if you come to the Yale on Thursday as there will be a kit there and a planned 'Drum off" Not to be missed......and oh, by the way, amongst the unusual materials Tempus uses, well lets just say they could have called their company "HEMP us" (wink wink)

What else will you see on Thursday besides four bands who met only 10 weeks ago  performing at the Yale? Well we will be giving away thank you awards including  a Tempus snare drum, a guitar from our long time sponsors Long and McQuade, software from IK Multimedia , and more.

Still want to know more? Check out these testimonials from past members and see more success stories in November's Sound Check, as well as the latest special deals for new members here!

Or, you can always watch this vid from session one!

So, ready to sign up and join the most welcoming music community around? Now were talkin! 

Next session starts here~! 

See you on Thursday! xo