Did you see the movie Julie & Julia? I just saw it the other day…and I really loved it. Of course Meryl Streep was wonderful…but the real magic was that Julia Child had so much spunk that it inspired someone in this century to cook through her whole cookbook in 365 days and keep a blog about it. It’s based on a true story.
It really got me thinking about how cool concept blogs are! My blog is just my random thoughts, ideas and adventures. What if I decided to take on something to do for 365 days? I was thinking about maybe something along the lines of “The How-To Queen”. I am constantly teaching myself something…so why not share it with the world. I want to learn how to play every instrument, I want to learn how to sew, I want to learn how to do yoga the right way, I want to learn how to make music videos, I want to learn how to build a deck, I want to learn how to how to do a million things…
What if I wrote about about all the things I teach myself and inspire others to do so? I don’t know…I’m just thinking out loud. Ok, enough out of me for one night. Bye for now!!!
In November, I flew to Minnesota to perform at Gustavus Adolphus College (which was so much fun). The school put me up in their on campus guest house and it just so happened to be that there was the coolest couple from Alaska that were also staying there as well. Steve and Vanni Culbertson and I just clicked and they came to see me perform the next night. We’ve been staying in touch and I received this email in my inbox this morning. It’s such a cute story…you’ll get a kick out of it.
Hi Amanda,
OK, I had to email you this before I went to bed tonight before I forget the specialness of it. Today I had to substitute teach a 2nd grade class at our elementary school here in Barrow because they were short substitutes for teachers who were being pulled out for some special training. In emergency situations central office staff get drafted to cover classes. I have been a secondary teacher ( 6th -12 grade) for over a quarter of a century now – but I have no clue and zero experience in elementary and especially lower grades – most of these kids, about age 7, didn’t come up to my waist. My day started by having to send 2 students to the nurse during the first hour because they were crying because they had paper cuts that were bleeding. So I am doing the best I can just to make it through the day.
The reading story in their reading book today was called “ Ah , Music “ The story was broken down into categories like Melodies, Rhythm, Volume, Beat, and Emotion – each having its own page. The story had little activities for each category such as various hand clapping patterns that I did and then the students echoed it back to me for the Rhythm category etc. But on the Emotion page, they just talked about the fact that songs give you various emotions and didn’t have any activities to do, – so I grabbed my Apple and plugged the speakers in and pulled up i-tunes and just started pulling various songs up at random playing 30 second to a minute of the song so they could get the feel for it and then asked what does this song make you feel like? They all got the idea and responded well and orderly with hand raising and waiting to be called on as you might expect in a well managed and trained classroom.
After doing this with 7-8 songs I thought – oh, you know what, I wonder if they would like one of Amanda’s songs. So I pulled upLove I Have For You and an absolutely amazing thing happened. Within 10 seconds of your song playing every kid in class – boys too, spontaneously had gotten up out of their seats and were dancing and moving to the music. 2 or 3 were twirling themselves in beat to the music with their arms spread out and their heads tilted back – 2-3 others had already formed a line dance and were creating as they went. It totally caught me off guard as this obviously had not happened with any of the previous songs. They were just in total joy and jazzed by it. When I realized they were all up I was so stunned I almost forgot the activity we were doing so I paused the music and asked how does this song make you feel and they all turned toward me with huge smiles and yelled, “Happy! – Now turn that back on !!! “ So I did and just watched them enjoying it.
Just thought you would want to know that there are 2nd graders in Barrow, the farthest north town in the USA, who think you rock…..
Steve and Vanni
How cute??? Right??? I am going to send these awesome 2nd graders some goodies and some “autographed” photos. Now I need to get myself to Alaska! Haha!
I am helping my parents clean out their attic and I found this hella cute Strawberry Shortcake light switch cover. I threw it out because I don’t want the show “Hoarders” to come to my house and yell at me. But I took a photo to keep the memory.
Shhhh! I'm sleeping. Hehe. I'm Strawberry Shortcake and I am the coolest kid in school.
Hello there! How are you? Lately, I’ve been analyzing a lot of things about my music career. Maybe because it’s a new year…or maybe not. Either way, I have I’ve been thinking about who my “true blue fans” are. I don’t think non-musicians know how hard it is to gain REAL fans. In a world of “in order to play here you have to bring ___ amount of people”…the all mighty buck reigns supreme. It’s about money, not music. Sad, but true. I don’t let that get in my way, but it would be nice to think that I could play a venue because I’m talented enough…not because I can bring a ton of people who will put money in the bartender’s pocket.
All I can say is…thank god for the internet. But even this can be tricky. There are people that say they fans because they think I’m associated with someone “famous”. They think I am their ticket to getting closer to whoever that person is. So, really, they don’t even care about my music. Which is fine, my music isn’t for everyone, but don’t claim that you love my music when you probably can’t name any of my songs. Haha!
Then there are those people who I know believe in me and what I’m doing. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need anyone’s approval in order to believe in myself…but when someone has one of my lyrics up as their status…that really makes my day. I know that person enjoys my music and hopefully likes me as a person. Will they drive a long distance to see me perform? I can’t say. But what I do know is that I really care about my fans. I’m interested in what they do for fun and who they are as a person. I see a lot of artists who don’t care about their fans at all (other than having them be another body in the audience to make them look good). I would like to think that I’m the same person on and off stage. Who knows, maybe some people wouldn’t agree with that. I always want to be available to my fans (a.k.a friends). I never want that to change. I’m sure a ton of a other artists have said the same thing. I think the reason I won’t change is that I’ve meet other artists that look up to so much…and they are fake and insincere…it makes me realize how much I NEVER want to make someone feel that way about me.
So, yes, to conclude this rant…I want to thank my “true blue fans”. I know who you are…and I’m so eternally grateful.
Here is an original song of mine called “Fare Thee Well”. I wrote this song for my film-making friends from Strange Dog Theater. The movie is called “Kill Your Friend”. Check out the movie specs here!
