any given night

Emma is Missing...

and I'm missing Emma.  Emma the cat, for those of you who have not met her, is a very central figure in my little family.  I have no children so I've doted on this animal.  She has such a personality...  not always a good one!  But I've always been rewarded with her affection and attention. As "Mom" she'd hover around me a little black, furry shadow.... sleeping on my desk in her basket during the workday and on me in bed at night.

I adopted her after meeting her at the pound about 6 years ago.  I walked by a cage and this little paw took a swipe at one of my curls.  I fell in love instantly.  I had no idea at that time how sick she was and how much of an effort it must have taken her to be playful.  She had an upper resporatory infection as well as hookworm.  She didn't eat on her own for the first two weeks I had her...  I had to force feed her medication.  Slowly, slowly she returned to health.

I live near a wooded area in a suburban development that has displaced so much wildlife.  It's common to see bears, racoons, squirrells and so on in the yard.  What I'm worried about though, are the coyotes.  I've had two other cats go missing in the 6 years Emma's been with us...  one of the reasons I've always been so protective of her.

It is fucking heartbreaking. 

Another good reason to move.

New Orleans

I've been over here on Vancouver Island for a few days now and I am starting to feel my shoulders relax somewhat.  It's been lovely, lovely but in such contrast to the reports from New Orleans.  Tonight we joined my parents at a restaurant called Catrina's...  too close a name to the devastating Katrina that's just passed.  I feel like I'm in a bubble here enjoying one of my favourite places in the world while another place close to my heart falls to pieces.

I want to do something...  if anyone who is reading this has listened to Any Given Night, you'll know that the CD is heavily influenced by New Orleans and I feel I owe her something for that.  If you've been holding off buying it, please do it now.   I will be donating half the proceeds from all my sales to the Red Cross in order to help the Crescent City.  As soon as I get home from the Island I'll be updating my website to that regard.

Please go take a listen to House of the Rising Sun at http://www.myspace.com/kristiadigregorio and help me help New Orleans.

Any Given Night is available at www.kristia.com and http://cdbaby.com/cd/kristia.

rejection

This is the part I remember not liking much.  I still have a file somewhere in the cabinet filled with rejection letters from various labels and distributors (the nice ones actually spelled my name right, others were not so on top of their form letters and forget to change the name.  I hate being called Gary). 

Today I received some rejection emails to add to the collection.  Not unexpected, but that it all came down on the same day is disheartening.  I did have one positive lead I did hear back on today, though.  I made it to the short list to perform at the festival for the Western Canadian Music Awards.  With any luck I'll have formal confirmation on that gig in a couple of weeks.

My mom has a good philosophy on these things.  She believes the opportunities you don't win usually are not yours to win in the first place.  Of course, you have no way of pre-determining that... so you do have to continue to knock on doors to find what's yours.

It's a nice thought.  It'll keep the pride in tact for another day, at least.  Although I am disappointed that I lost out on one opportunity in particular.  When it came down to it, they went with much younger female singers.  There's little I can do about that.

And so... and so... that thing about taking August off?  I wasn't completely truthful about that.  But I have been trying to get out and enjoy summer a little more.  Seeing as I don't need to sit around and wait for the phone to ring anymore, I think I'll try to get back to summer mode here.  We have another 2 - 4 weeks before the weather will change.  Once the bad weather sets in again, we'll return to the studio and start working on the next project.

Yes, there's more new music on the way...

August

And so.. and so...  summer is here!  It felt like a long wait for the summer weather to catch up with the calendar.  Now that it's here I find myself concerned that I'm not going to get in everything that I had planned to do... sailing, camping, picnics with friends, outdoor plays and concerts, roadtrips, barbeques, etc.  I'm finding it difficult to settle into relaxation and fun this summer because I'm feeling so wound up with NEED.  The need to move forward with music, the need to carve out a bit of success for myself.

My head has been spinning on this subject for a while.  Finally last weekend at the grocery store I stopped thinking long enough to sit down and get a massage.  Yes, at the grocery store.  I LOVE the grocery store!  I was so bloody tense, but in 10 minutes the talented lady with the talented hands and me perfectly, perfectly relaxed.  Perhaps no further in my musical endevours, but at least I could look kindly on the world again.

I think I'm going to have to go visit her again this weekend!  I just have to settle down and accept that August isn't the best month to be trying to get some recognition.  Lots of emails and promo packages go out, but there's very little feedback.  I assume its the time of year.  I don't want to be at my desk either.  My porch and my hammock are calling.  I want to be in a tent, or thinking about what to burn over the fire for dinner, or in the ocean floating on my back. 

I've got some shows coming up... I'll do what I have to to promote them.  I'll send out orders too.  But other than that, I think I'm just going to take it easy this August.  I need to regroup, to re-create.  I need to enjoy this weather while it lasts.  There will be time enough for work in September.

xoxox,

Kristia

Hello!

Where does the time go?  I've been meaning to write this post for days but somehow I got distracted between gigs and trips to Home Depot.  We're currently doing some repairs and upgrades to our place now that Tony's off work for the summer.  I can hear him up in the crawl space installing the Fortuny lamp we bought while in Venice on our honeymoon.  It's only taken us 4 years to get to that!

And so.. and so...  our big night on stage at the Queen E Theatre was quite a rush.  I cannot tell you how utterly RIGHT it felt to be up there.  All the months leading up to being in that spotlight could not prepare me for how quickly our set would be over.  I have no idea how I'm going to propell myself back up onto a big theatre stage, but I swear to you... I could taste my future up there.

It was such an interesting contrast between shows this past week...  The Queen E, another event at Hycroft Manor and then a little club called Rime for a Grrrls with Guitars showcase.  I definately felt more alive for the first of the three.  There's just something about curtains and dressing rooms and stagelights that calls me.  Not that I'm complaining about being background music at a gorgeous mansion...  it's just that being on a theatre stage comes closer to my aspirations.

I conjured the dream once.  I'll do it again.

on stage with my Gentlemen of Leisure

Carmen and Kristia backstage

Tony and Kristia in the dressing room