America's Next Great Star

I'm sitting in the back of the van... watching John Mayer on DVD heading SOUTH!

We're driving through Atlanta at the moment. Even though we've had the week off... this is the third time we've made this drive in a week! On our way back from Ft. Benning.... I popped down here and back yesterday.... and then we're passing through on our way to Jacksonville. Sometimes I sit back and look at my life from outside myself and just smile. I always wanted this. It's been way harder than it is now. Parts of it may get easier some day. But whatever form it takes... I just want to keep these wheels a rolling and never stop this train. :)

On Saturday night after I accepted my awards at APCA, I was asked to be a judge on America's Next Great Star. Think American Idol/America's Got Talent... but one that comes to you! Campuses can hire the show, "The Live Entertainment Experience" and audience members get to participate. After the judges select 3 top acts, the audience gets to text for their favorite. They do the WHOLE show - from auditions, to interviews and testimonials that they air as the person is walking on stage to perform... multiple camera angles shown on the projectors during the show... It's really a cool thing.

The student that won APCA's won $250, their tape will be sent to "industry professionals" in Nashville, New York, and L.A. The winners of the campus-wide tour have a chance to win $15,000.

It was so fun being a judge. And it was HARD! There were some VERY talented students and participants. I loved being a part of the show, and I was so glad they asked me to judge.

It was fun because they actually got to play with a live band. It's a band that was showcasing at APCA and they do "live band karaoke". The students had to pick from a list of songs (just like Idol) but they actually got to play with a live band! So cool.

I highly recommend the show. Campus advisors were asking me questions later... and they really do a great job of capturing the entire experience. I'm a fan!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

I'm Going To Update My Facebook "Favorite Movies" RIGHT NOW

You'd think if you went to New York City... all you'd want to do is run around all over the city. But when the windchill is 6° outside... it's not very enticing to "go for a walk"

And that is JUST FINE WITH US!!! James and I have been having so much fun doing... just about nothing.

It's so fun to act like you live in the city for just a bit - we went to the neighborhood Diner... The Comfort Diner for breakfast and then walked to the grocery store and the corner store. We've stayed in and watched movies the rest of the day. The view here is incredible. So it kinda makes "just watching movies" even more fun of an event than it normally is... which is saying a lot because we LOVE "just watching movies" :)

AND there's a CHIPOTLE 2 blocks away!!! We've been twice already. :)

I must say... out of everything we've watched so far... 500 Days of Summer still holds up. It is one of my favorite movies, ever. It is so incredibly well written. It got GREAT reviews. But of course some people have ripped it for being a bit too cliche, which I think is totally bogus. I love how NOT cliche it is. It says up front in the opening "Don't be fooled. This is NOT a love story" It's funny, reviews ripped certain lines of dialogue... but it's not supposed to be literal. I don't want to get into specifics because I don't want to ruin it for anyone that hasn't seen it yet. But I HIGHLY recommend it. :)

And Penelope was on tonight as well. That also stands up against all the rest. :) I feel pretty awesome since I have seen two of my favorite movies in 2 days!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit warmer... we're planning on getting out past our 5 block radius :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Coast Guard Day 2009 Staten Island

Look at what we did today!!!

The Band's Theories of Lost

Different theories thrown out by the band of what the final episode of Lost will be:

The whole thing is Leprechauns dreaming.

By the time this thing ends... Apes will just be ruling the island.

It ends in a good Locke/ bad Locke showdown and becomes the new Sister/Sister spin off with the Locke twins trying to make it in a New York City Loft.

It's all a big elaborate scheme by the "Dude" just to get compensated for his rug.

Peace, Love, Fiddle,
~natalie

Fiddler On The Quad

You know something that is funny? Sitting in traffic for the George Washington Bridge seems normal. :) And I don't live in New York. But we have passed through both Boston and New York so many times recently... 4 times in the last week alone... it all just feels like home. Being on the road sure does make the world seem smaller. I used to feel like Boston was so far away when I went to school there. Now... it just seems like a hop, skip, and a jump from Tennessee!

I drove most of the day today. Today's showings in the Suburban included Season 1 of 30 Rock, Dr. Laura, Top Gun, and Pineapple Express.

One of the weirder things happened while we were sitting in traffic for the George Washington Bridge... On 30 Rock, Liz Lemon had the radio on in the background and they were talking about the heavy traffic on the George Washington Bridge... for a brief moment, my brain was unbelievably confused. I KNEW I was listening to the DVD player, but thought maybe I was simultaneously listening to the radio? But I got that all figured out pretty quickly. :)

I hadn't gotten a chance to see the poster they put up on the wall at Rhode Island College. But they gave it to us as we were leaving, so we brought it in tonight to look at it. I had to hold it up because it was bigger than the bed!!!



Close-up, it almost looks like a water color of me :) And I love that the headline is "Fiddler On The Quad".

They had it up in the main dining hall and it was next to another giant poster for the school's "annual drag show" :) I thought that was pretty awesome.

We only have a couple hours to go for the drive tomorrow. This is the route we are taking:

View Larger Map

So tomorrow we get to go on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge!!! It's a 20 mile long bridge with a 1-mile long tunnel in the middle.
I am pretty excited about that!


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

It's a good Good Friday

I went to write with Gordon today and it was SOOOOOO good to see him. There's never enough hours in the day when we are writing together :) But today was great because it gave us a chance to reevaluate everything we worked on earlier this year. I still have so many unfinished songs with him.... that's not unusual for me though :) I usually have a whole stash of songs I am working on that I finish at the most random times. I can try and try with all my might to finish some songs.... but with certain pieces of work - I just have to wait for the inspiration to hit me.

That's how I wrote most of the songs for "Late Night Conversations" - I had an entire digital recorder filled with ideas. And over time I finished them one by one. And the strongest ones ended up making the record.

We finished one today that I am thrilled about! I can't really talk about it yet, but you'll hear it soon enough. :) And then we have 4 others with really great starts. I'm smiling so big right now cause I am hearing them all in my head at once. They are just little infants right now... I can tell what they will look like for the most part... they just haven't fully developed yet :)

SO I have a lot of work ahead of me.

I had to cut us off to catch the last train back into the city. Gordon and I were texting lyrical ideas of one of the songs to each other. But there was an inebriated Italian fella, Fabrizio, that really wanted to talk. His English was a bit broken... which he kept apologizing for... but his English wasn't really the reason he was hard to understand.... It was probably all the wine with dinner.... if I were to guess...

He came to this country to "have experience", which he explained ummm... a few times.... and then a few more...

I can't possibly attempt to explain what he was talking about (nor could he) but the one thing he was sure of..... I have "eyes like fox." He said that over and over again. He REALLY wanted me to know that. He wanted to make sure I go home tonight and look in the mirror to check and see if "Fabrizio is full of BS or Fabrizio tell truth". He nearly missed his stop because he kept putting his hands around his eyes to make the shape of glasses and was yelling "YOU. Eyes like fox!!! Like FOX! You see! Look in mirror!" And THEN once he got OFF the train he ran to the window where I was sitting and was screaming it from the outside... and putting his hands around his eyes again. And then making the shape of a pregnant belly. (That was a whole other story... he thinks I am smart like fox and won't have "The children" until I KNOW... cause I have eyes like fox... ) Yeah. I don't really get it either. The train attendants kept staying close by. And after he got off the train one came over to me and said "We should have put that on youtube." I actually recorded a bit of the conversation onto my iphone because it was cracking me up.

But apparently I have "eyes like fox" so I guess that means don't mess with me?

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie