League of ROCK showcase announcement and photo update!

Well this is it!!! We are in the final stretch of Vancouver's first session of the League of Rock!

On OCT 1st at the Yale, you can come see for yourself! Join us as 4 bands, comprised of non-pro musicians who did not know each other 10 weeks ago, perform live onstage at one of the city's most well known music venues.

Some members have never set foot on a stage before joining the LOR, and now, just weeks later they have; workshopped with well known industry professionals, recorded in a well known studio and are gearing up to perform live in front of an audience.





Following are a few shots taken over the last several weeks;

This my friends, is the League of Rock, Vancouver Style!

Nando (drums) rocks, that's all there is to say!

Denis (Drums) is one of the many multi-instrumentalists who has joined the LOR!

Stephen (guitar) took up guitar at age 60, and has impressed everyone including me with his amazing attitude, drive and determination. Not only is this his first shot at going onstage, it is his first band experience in his life. High five Stephen, you rock buddy!


Nicola (guitar and vocals)

By the way, tune into Classic Rock 101 on Wednesday at 3:00 to hear both myself and Nicola, as well as Terry Moshenberg dialing in from Toronto, talking to Dean and Hatch on-air about the League of Rock!

Nicola taking video of (LOR coach) Tal Bachman's fingers so she could remember exactly

what it was he taught her!

Vancouver Chapter head Rob Boshaw displaying a fine looking pizza for the band members ( the pizza is provided so that we have something to wash down with the awesome beer that TREE brewing provides for us at our rehearsals every week), and (LOR coach) Shaun Verreault ripping a solo on the guitar during a regular session workshop!


At the midway workshop at the Yale
Grant (drums )

The Tragically Ripped, the band voted with the best name in the League!






Al (bass), and introducing, the glockenspiel. This is my favorite picture from the LOR! Taken by Sharylin, who is like family to me.





Mark (guitar) blew me away with his guitar playing in studio, and Danno (guitar Lead vox)
is one of the most natural high energy performers I have ever seen~!





Allan (lead vox) another born frontman and Nicola ( acoustic guitar, vox) has the sweetest voice, I can't wait to jam with her on the radio on Wednesday!






LOR coaches at the Yale midway workshop, Shaun Verreault and Shari Ulrich, both of whom inspired the members with their insightful thoughts and helpful positive advice!

Studio Day at Nimbus Recording studio!






In the captains chair for League of rock studio sessions was the incomparable Topher Stott! I can't wait to hear how the recording's turn out!



There is so much more to say, so many more people to talk about, this is a mere snapshot. You have to come participate to get the full value of the experience. Stay tuned as I am sure to continue to share the going's on via video and this blog. I consider myself very lucky to be a part of it, and I am glad to be able to share it with people, and go through the process with them. Rock on Vancouver.




So there you have it folks, we are wrapping up session one, and already we are gearing up for the Fall session. If you want to be a part of this musical community you can, it doesn't matter what your skill level, if you can string 3 chords together to play a song, you can join! Get in contact with Terry now at the LEAGUE of ROCK, space is limited, Toronto is sold out, it's only a matter of time before the Vancouver chapter follows suit!


Shaun by the way will be playing with Wide Mouth Mason right close to the Yale on Oct 1st right after our Showcase, so if you are interested in seeing some of the LOR coaches live in action, click the link for info on where to catch their show!

( After you check out the League of Rock showcase at the Yale of course!)






See you on Thursday at the Yale! Rach xo

just what comes to mind

sometimes..........when I sit and doodle.........

press the replay button to see how I drew these pictures.

The power of a Tweet..part 2.

Cont. from Part 1: So what is the Yummy Mummy Club?

Founded by celeb mom Erica Ehm, The Yummy Mummy Club is the go-to place for moms with an edge.

At Yummy Mummy Club, we're women first, moms second. The vibe is guilt-free, real and relevant. Yummy is a state of mind, we are MILF's, Modern Inspired Life makers, and freakin' multi tasking babes!

That is one definition of the YMC, and Erica, being locked and loaded into whatever is hot and happening in this world, has immersed and embraced Twitter in order to connect with the women who read her amazing online magazine. You see, at the core of it, Twitter is all about the conversation, and with it you can talk to friends and build relationships all over the country, the world even.

So as it happens, I saw a Tweet one day that Erica was planning to come to Vancouver for business and I sent her a message right away..... Would she have time to meet? Could we do dinner?

The answer was yes, and yes, and so the second Vancouver Yummy Mummy Club tweetup was born. We put out a call to our local gals and between us all, we managed to nail down a time and a place to meet! The photos below document the night!

Conversation was sassy, thoughtful, hilarious, inspiring, supportive and filled with laughter. There was a great deal of admiration for each other and it felt in real life like the village that Erica had created online. A safe place to express ourselves. We shared stories and experiences and easily found common ground. All the chicks that follow Erica really are Freaking multi-tasking babes and I was so impressed with everyone, new and old friends alike. Sunita and Sharylin Lorie, Raj, and part of Alana's eye. Catherine and I.

My sister and I doing our self portrait, this always happens when we get together, we can't help it. By the way, she's a scientist, how Yummy is that?

Catherine, Kathleen, Erica

Catherine is so funny, and she blogs for Erica's website, you may recall my blog post last spring that included Catherine, we did the Walk for Kids together and got our picture taken with local hockey hero Trevor Linden while wearing our Yummy Mummy shirts.

We did it for Erica. I know, it was very selfless of us. ;)

Kathleen and I went on a run with Erica downtown on the Monday morning after the dinner (in-between Erica's appointments), I hadn't planned on going but I just somehow invited myself along on the run at dinner the night before. I was a little worried to join in on the run actually, knowing these girls do marathons, and that I hate running. (I get so bored so easily) I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up so we made a plan that if I needed to exit, I just would do so, and they would carry on. But you know something? When you have good company, a run is actually quite enjoyable. I managed to make it the whole way and didn't even turn purple or faint.

So I leave you with this, a snap from our Tweetup with Erica Ehm. Thanks Erica for giving us a reason to have a Mom's night out. I really had a blast!

Yummy Mummies. Left to right top row (links to twitter profiles): Gwendolyn ,

Alana (not on twitter yet), Kathleen , Rachael , Lorie , Raj

Left to right bottom row (links): Tracy , Catherine , Erica,

Sunita (not on Twitter yet), and Sharylin

On our way out, I had to get one last shot, the lovely Erica Ehm and I

being all sassy and yummy!

Before I sign off, I am going to divert traffic here to say that my League of Rock bandmate, a drummer who's name is Nando, is a nice, talented guy, and at rehearsals last Sunday, when he found out I was going for a run with Erica Ehm the next day he actually got up out of his chair with excitement and asked: YOU are going running with Erica EHM!? THE Erica Ehm? Man I LOVED her!

It's as if he was transported back in time and he saw her right in front of him, LOL it was very funny and cool to see how much of an impact she still has after all these years.

She really was a voice of our generation, someone we all looked up to for being uber cool and having her finger on the pulse of everything.

Flash forward to today and I think it is safe to say that thousands of Yummy Mummies across Canada (and around the world) who read her online magazine to find out what is happening with happening Moms today, would all say the same thing, that some things never change.

Rach xo~

The power of a Tweet~! (Part 1)

People who don't use it, wonder what the point of Twitter is. I get asked frequently about it and it's not easy to explain in a nutshell because there are endless applications for something like Twitter. I myself use it as a tool. It is a phone book, a source for personal references, a connector, a reflector, a gig getter, a people mover ...... Twitter can be whatever you make of it.


One week ago I had a Saturday night that was conceived and brought to life entirely through Twitter. My evening started in the afternoon actually at Vancouver's Twestival, a fundraising event which was born online, promoted, through Twitter and held in our city to help raise funds for a local charity, the BC Children's hospital.

These events are held worldwide,Vancouver's Twestival was held at Cieli's Pub and was organized by social media savvy goddess of all things Vancouver, Rebecca Bollwitt, Miss604 (who is also known as @Miss604 on Twitter).

Event organizer Rebecca Bollwitt and Raul Pacheco


It all started with one single Tweet and from that it grew and turned into a social networking success with the venue, gorgeous prizes, live music and comedy, all donated. Tickets were sold for the prizes and entry and in the end, nearly $3000 went to BC Childrens hospital .

This is John Chow, I just love this pic, it has no real relevance to my particular story today, but I had to include it because it made me laugh. BTW. John is a very cool guy totally plugged right into the world of social media. Dial him up sometime.

The above shot is of Rob Cottingham treating us to some comedy!

The ladies all sitting in the front area there are Twitter friends most of whom are Mom's doing some sort of online business. We have all chatted online through Twitter over the last year, and I had sent videos, links etc of my singing, but most had not actually seen me sing live so I was very touched that so many gals showed up to support the event and told me they came to hear me sing. Here is a video link, the only video I have found of me at the #Twestival, it is less than 30 seconds long but it was tweeted out on Twestival's twitter page as well as links to pictures of the event if you wish to see more. :)

I donated some CD's to the prize pot.

My CD cover by the way was designed by Chris Norris and I thank him very much, I will do a better blog post about my CD soon. :) If you are looking for a graphic artist by the way, Chirs is super talented and a really great guy to work with, see his link!

Well there you go, a little glimpse of Vancouver's latest Twestival, and the whole thing started with a single Tweet. The message continued to be passed on all the way up until and throughout the event. Here is a a tweet I found when I got home that night:


So glad the YummyMummyClub Tweetup ladies came to #yvrtwestival - thank you @rachaelpachel @earnestgirl @raspberrykids @sharilyn and more.

And yes there were more of us, and even more after that because right after the Twestival ended a bunch of us gals headed down to Granville Island for a lovely dinner at the Dockside, which was another little tweetup born and raised on Twitter. A Mom's night out with YummyMummy Club founder Erica Ehm.

What is Yummy MummyClub you ask?


Go to the next post for (part 2).......

feelings for sale~ rough draft, rachael chatoor

Song idea came from one of my favorite childhood poets, Shel Silverstien and his wonderful poem Sister for Sale.

Feelings for sale, Feelings for sale, some trying and sighing young feelings for sale
I don't want them anymore, they're just doing me wrong
Trying to make me go to places where I just dont' belong.
Feelings for sale, Feelings for sale, some vying and prying dumb feelings for sale

Im going to wrap them up so pretty
that your never going to know
They way they are going to tear you apart if you ever let them show
I don't need them anymore this has gone on too long
I could have a thousand faces but I only want one

Feelings for sale, Feelings for sale, some vying and sighing young feelings for sale
Feelings for sale Feelings for sale, want to go to the party now like I never really cared.

A funny thing happened on the way to my birthday...

The Gap called, and told me they were having their 40th birthday party.

Now the thing you may not have known about the Gap is that when they first opened their doors 40 years ago, they only sold denim and music.

So, as part of their 40 year celebration this year, the Gap went back to their roots and had live acoustic performances in 700 of their stores nationwide all in celebration of the re-launch of their denim line.
It was a great idea for me, playing at the Gap for my 40th!

How exciting, look they even made me a cake!

It was kind of cute, we were basically a living store display, playing our music in the window. Check out our new stylish Gap jeans!

I sang both covers and original music . People wandered in and out of the store all night and many stood around watching for a spell. Everyone was so warm and appreciative, and I was especially, ESPECIALLY delighted that so many friends showed up to support us and share a birthday wish. I can't possibly name everyone who came, but there were many friends new and old, I was so touched and I thank you all for coming.

I think I will send a special thank you to Kelly Brock and Catherine St Germain, who are not only my pals, but they are two of the city's top female vocalists. I was so touched that they not only showed up, but they got up and sang a song with us. The harmonies were gorgeous! Thank you girlfriends....xoxoxo

I didn't pull this gig off alone either, I am very lucky to know so many amazing musicians in this city. The two friends who joined me for this event were Rob Boshaw on guitar and Shawn Soucy on the cajon. Rob Boshaw and his wife Sharylin ( who took most of these photos ) are treasured friends of mine whom I met through the League of Rock (Rob is a wonderfully talented musician who is the Vancouver Chapter Head for the L.O.R.), and I am so grateful that he and Sharylin came to lend their talents and support me for this gig. By the way folks this is VERY important, if you are a resident or own a company in the lower mainland, please take note! If you ever require the services of a handyman, or know someone who does, Rob and his company Vancouver Handyman, come HIGHLY recommended by me, you can't go wrong with them, you just can't.

My other dear friend and hero for the night is long time pal Shawn Soucy whom I have known since 1994. Shawn and I have been working together on some projects over this past summer and in fact, he is the stellar drummer in the Lulus lounge video found just a few posts below this one. Shawn plays with some of the top pro's in the country on a regular basis and I feel so lucky that he works with me too! An inspiring person in general, Shawn is also an inventor, so I would like to draw your attention if you are a drummer (or if you know a drummer) to his website where you will find some incredible new brush drumsticks that will knock your socks off, for more info check out this link.....

The other advantage to holding your party in a mall?
Your friends show up with little presents that they picked up along the way.
Good plan, I hadn't thought about this little bonus prior to the event, but in hindsight, I pretty much recommend it!

By the way, I plan to do my 40's like I have been doing everything else lately, with a light in my heart and a smile on my face!

Till next year then, with hearts and hugs.......

I was so PUNKED!!!! (caught on video) Surprise!!!!! You are going on the ZIPLINE!

I was punked, its all in the video. :)

If you ever wanted to know about the ziplining on Grouse Mountain? Here you go!