PERFORMING AGAIN ^^ (The O'Siem BC Spirit Festival)

I miss performing. DEARLY.

I haven't really performed in... way too long. I had a couple gigs this past summer, which is not near the amount I want to have this year.

Since I've realized I need to stop planning everything before I do it, that I need to be apart of things as they come- "go with the flow" more, I've been doing a lot of research on venues, open mics and gigs here in Victoria.

I want to perform again. So, that's just what I'll do :)

Next month, beginning February 11th, I'll be playing half hour sets throughout the weekend of the O'Siem BC Spirit Festival.

Just what the doctor ordered :]

*Note that this is the first time my name has been included on a poster in BIG letters. :D I'm not even listed LAST! That in itself is a first! :P THANK YOU JOHN!! (He's the Festival's Artistic Director- he hired me)

I'm very excited to perform again. This time I'm not going to let school stop me, or pressures about my album, or anything else. If I want to perform, then that's what I'll do. Every little thing doesn't need to be lined up to share my music- that I already have- with people who are willing to listen. That's what performing is.

I'll have my EP (of four songs) available at the Festival.

I repeat: I am excited.

I'll post more on this when I hear of more info (what times I'm playing, etc..) For now, visit the Festival's website and my website for more details on exactly when and where the event is occurring.

Hope to see some familiar faces!

TTYS,

K

Some things in life, you just have to experience.

There are some things in life you just have to experience.

From bad days, to things like, oh I don't know.. going to your first Heavy Metal concert. =P

If you didn't catch that hint, I'll just tell you.

Last night, believe it or not, I went to the SlipKnot concert at the SOFA. I'd like to say, I'm actually a hardcore SlipKnot fan, but in reality I only went because we got free box seats, and I've never been in a box seat. :-) But it really wasn't anything special.. except I got a coke without having to wait in line. There was our own private bathroom too, but I didn't even use it. =P It was cool though, going up the elevator instead of just entering the short stairs to the regular seating. And walking around up stairs until we got to our room. It certainly felt like the VIP experience. :] So I don't regret going.

And also, that isn't the only reason I don't regret going.

Cause again, "believe it or not" I'm not even lying, I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the concert.

I knew 3 songs, and I liked 4.

I respect the band. The performed very well! People were so surprised to here that I was going to see them, some said they were scary, crazy, I even got the word disturbing. But it wasn't like that at all. They were just a band (in weird costumes mind you) that played a set of their songs for a crowd of people who enjoy their music. It wasn't even to loud! Which I found weird for their type of band. As I can remember, Simple Plan was louder than them.

Walking into the concert was different, I'll admit. The crowd was much different than I'm used to. Compared to Sheryl Crow and Avril Lavigne the people were a lot older. =P And almost all of them wore black. And crazy.. jewelry, piercings, some even wore makeup to look like a band member. Have I mentioned that there are 9 guys in SlipKnot? Oh, and I never had to deal with a frisking at the door. Not that that really helped the smoke level. It's easy to smuggle things in. Just put it in your shoe. Not that I'm suggesting you do that. =P

It was a right of passage.

One of those life experiences. :-)

Didn't bring my camera, so I only have bad quality cell phone pictures. But some of the, surprisingly, turned out okay. Of course there's not close up's, but you can get the gist of it.

I thought this one was cool. I was shocked to hear them do a slow song, but pleasantly surprised, because it was good. Oh, and everyone waved their lighters in the air.. Cause everyone had lighters. lol

The frontman had an interesting stage presence. Kind of creepy. =P

I think this picture looks creepy. Everyone's just standing still looking at this giant bright light. O_O Almost Zombie like..

During one of those bright light moments, I was able to take a photo of my family. That's my dad (who is the reason we went), my brother, and my mom. :)

And that's all of the photo's I took.

Or at least all of the ones that you could tell what they were. =P

It's the day after the concert, and I'm not doing much today. Still trying to shake this cold I've had for almost 2 weeks now. (You can still hear it in my voice) So no recording, but I better practice and get ready for when I can. Which is probably next weekend. Also need to put together a set list for the Acoustic Night on Wednesday.. and find someone to take with me.

OH! And I'm getting invisalign Tuesday morning. O_o

I'm diving right into extreme adolescence. I have to get elastics with them, which will make it difficult to take them out. WHICH IS EVERY TIME I EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING THAT ISN'T WATER. O_O For the next 2 years. How fun will that be?! ha ha ha. ._.

But, it's worth it. It'll be nice to have straight teeth for once. And this is the perfect time to get them, I'm still a dorky teenager in high school so it's all good. They'll be off a little after I'm out of school. Sounds pre' good to me!

So, that's all.

Gotta do homework, update my website, figure out set list, and practice.

Signing off

xx Karly.

"Things are never how I imagine them to be."

Today was the "big" Garage Sale. It didn't turn out exactly as I imagined it, but then again nothing really does. I always imagine things bigger and better then they actually are. For example, my gig's. If it's supposed to be in a hotel or something that's fancy, I always picture it way bigger than it turns out to be.

Which, I find to be a relief when it doesn't meet my expectations, because I still get nervous. I think I'm just a nervous person. Can't help it. But, I suppose in a way I can, I think I'm getting better at performing the more I do it. I want to perform as much as possible. Tonight I had a gig at the Grand Pacific Hotel, it was nice and easy- just two songs, but boy, was I nervous. I always am before such a formal event, but every time as soon as I get going on stage I relax. Thank god, if I didn't I wouldn't know what to do with myself. In less words, I think I'd be screwed.

Anyway, today was indeed the Garage Sale, and as I said, it was different then what I imagined. I imagined a bright, warm and sunny day with lots of people looking at all of our items and familiar faces stopping by to say hello. 

With, background music playing, up-beat summery tunes like "Summer of '69" and "All Summer Long," when I wasn't up on the little platform of a stage slamming on my beautiful Takamine guitar. - It wasn't like that. The weather was cold with overcast as for as the eye can see, and it was trying to rain from 9 AM on. A decent amount of people showed up, but not many familiar faces- at least not the faces I expected. (thanks to everyone who did show up :) And there was no music playing, I did bring out my guitar for a bit because I had to stretch out my new E string my dad replaced for the Father's and Daughter's Dance. All in all, the Garage Sale wasn't how I pictured it, but it was still fun. My neighbors are great people and I have a lot of fun with them. =) 

We sold a good majority of our stuff, and got rid of the rest without having to drive to the Salvation Army, which was a bonus. I made about $40 from my stuff, and my mum made like $300. I know! I much prefer busking as a way to come up with cash, haha. It's MUCH more effective. ;)

Now, being after the Garage Sale, I'm left with about a half less dense room, still was stuff from the closet on the floor, from going through everything. I went through my entire room last night. Took me from when I got home from school, around 3 o'clock to 12:30 AM. THAT'S A LONG TIME, and A LOT of stuff! I've been meaning to go through my room though, I just never thought I'd do it in one afternoon. One half a day. CRAZINESS. 

So that was the story of today. The Garage Sale was a success, just a different success than how I imagined, and the Father's and Daughter's Dance went well, despite my level of nervousness beforehand. 

Now, as for the rest of the day, my job's are to put all of my belonging's I took out when preparing for the Garage Sale back where they should be, to update my website with Performance pictures and then COLLAPSE.

See yah!

*yawn* 

-KARL.