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.
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 CadmrbigeUstvieriny, it deson'tmatetr in wahtoedrr the lterets in a wrod are, the olnyiemorptnttinhg is that the fsrit and last letter msut be at the rgihtpalce. The rest can be a ttoalmses and you can siltl read it wtuhoitploberm. Tihs is bseauce the hmuanmnid does not read evreyletetr 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.
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.
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.....
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 culde 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 culde 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 culde 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.
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:
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.
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.
