Special Guest at The Venue

The concert tonight was a success. I reworked my set list at the last minute to accommodate my weakened vocal chords, that was nerve-wracking! But it went fine and I was still able to impress with some good juicy songs towards the end (Hero & Bleeding Love) that left people with a positive impression of me (I hate to disappoint!). The Michael Maher Band was awesome! They were great and I hope I get to share a bill with them again sometime soon. 

I was so glad to see some familiar faces *Special thanks to my 2 fans that showed up* and also reunited with some older acquaintances. There was a lot of people that i know recognized me from Living Hope but couldn't quite put their fingers on where they knew me from! lol That was kind of a funny joke. I'm sure I looked a lot different tonight with darker hair and all dolled up too :D

Anyways, I'm glad my 2 fans came out, I thought there would be more but it was pretty cold out tonight, guess noone wanted to leave their warm homes! oh well :) I rocked it out anyways. Sinus infection and all! you'd have never known except that I had a weird assortment of songs :D lol

Live In Concert

The big day is quickly arriving... that means practice, practice, practice... but i've got a sinus infection that better leave sooner rather than later :( It's so frustrating! I need to rehearse but I'm afraid to do too much and loose my voice. But I don't want to wait until the last minute to prep either! Arg... 

Well, I have the first half of my lineup ready to go. The band I'm opening for I've heard has a David Crowder-ish sound and that makes me worried that the people coming to see them won't like what I'm singing... The first half of my set consists of a Destiny's Child song, Christina Aguilera & Kelly Clarkson. Yeah... nothing like David Crowder! lol

Oh well, I'll stay true to who I am and sing what I love to sing and hope for the best. At the worst I'll get a polite applause. This isn't the kind of crowd that would Boo me off the stage! hahaha

Arts & Idols 2010

I got an email from the USC Foundation at 12:06 this morning.  "While you were not selected by the judges to be a finalist for the gala, we were impressed with your skills and encourage you to audition again for the 2011 event when it is scheduled." Bummer! This was the big one, $5,000!!  I am kinda curious to see who they chose to compete. That's the only hard part about closed auditions, you don't get to hear the other singers at all. Well, it was a great day with my husband and i know that I did very well. I hope they are able to raise lots of scholarship money this year! And I will of course mark it down for next year's list (unless I'm in LA!) 

The Venue - After the Show

New Year's Eve was incredible! I had a blast singing at The Venue and also getting to hear Waking Vegas for their first show! They rocked!

So part of the purpose of this blog is to share the in's and out's of what I experienced, and to give anyone that wasn't there a taste of what they missed!

Preparation began early in the day... my hair of course. But overall getting ready was pretty relaxed. I did do a last minute rehearsal for Matt & Julian in the afternoon and ended up switching one of my songs. Julian went down for a late nap at 3:30 so he would be well rested and able to come hear me sing. That actually worked out very well. I was surprised! So I got there and the first like 5 people I talked to commented on my shoes (not at how cute they were, but rather at how skinny the heel was). There was a part of the stage that has an inch-wide crack down the middle and I think I was making some of the gentleman quite nervous! lol I considered removing them or moving the mike stand but I thought "no, these are awesome heels and I look and feel awesome in them so I'm gonna pay attention and rock it out!" and I did :) 

The night went off with few hitches. I was told they would introduce me, but apparently missed that part so everyone was waiting for me to appear for like a whole minute and I was patiently waiting backstage... Clueless as usual ;) So after rushing out on stage I started my first song, "Beautiful", a little out of breath but got it under control before the good parts. I stopped between songs to shamelessly plug my next appearance at the Venue (Jan 30th-don't miss it!) and then continued on with "Since You've Been Gone" as my second and final song. That went down beautifully except for the musical interlude. During rehearsal I was trying out some different things with choreography and (let me say here that I am a singer, not a dancer!) so I needed to do something rather than nothing. I was trying this head-shake-hair-fling move and it felt really stupid at first. But I thought, "If I don't at least try it then I'm a big chicken with bad stage presence to boot." I figured I owed it to myself to try and if it's stupid then I'll hear about it and I'll never do it again! So I tried it... and it was stupid... and I promise I won't do it again! :D But hey, I give myself props for stepping out of the box, right! 

I wanted to mention one more part of the night that stood out. During Waking Vegas' last song Julian got a second wind and started crawling up towards the stage. He had earplugs in so don't freak out that my 17 month old was at a rock concert. Anyways, he was "dancing" as crawling babies do. It was so funny! He started doing this head-bang and rocking back and forth and would clap his hands after every sing. It was awesome. He was rockin' it out in his little Skeleton sweatshirt too :) 

Last comments... I do have pictures and video of the concert that I was post as soon as possible. The USB cord for my camera has not been working properly so I will try to get those up asap. 

Love you!

The Venue

I am so excited to sing tonight at The Venue on Corunna Rd. They are having their New Year's Eve Bash and I was invited at the last minute to join Waking Vegas during their set. Song selection was difficult as I was cleared for 2 songs... I have so many to choose from! So I'm doing 2 songs from completely different styling backgrounds. "Beautiful" for a bluesey warm-up and an easy listening opener for the whole event, followed by "Since You Been Gone" to set the stage for the rockinest New Year's Eve ever! :) 

Hope to see you there. $5 cover charge and doors open at 8pm... I sing around 845 so don't be late!

Arts & Idols 2010

Yesterday I auditioned for the Arts & Idols competition in Utica, MI. It was so quick! Matt and I arrived 15 minutes early. As soon as we walked in we were registered, had photo taken for the website, and I was immediately escorted to the waiting room where I could warm up my voice. I chose to use that time to check out my reflection in the mirror instead :/ It was windy! What can I say? I sang about 1 line of my song and a lady came to escort me into the ballroom where the judges were waiting. A nice man confirmed the pronunciation of my name, announced me, I sang, the man said "thank you, Shaena" and I was escorted out! It was all so fast! The judges never spoke a word to me, never cracked a smile, and never stopped writing. I think we were out of there in less than 30 minutes to be honest with you. I'm still reeling from it :) And of course, waiting for results to be announced! 

I'm sure you'll want to know my song selection. I chose "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys. We had to sing the song we want to compete with if chosen for the finals, and we had to sing an acapella rendition of it. So I went with that song because it's intricate enough to compete with, but easy on the register for acapella. I did great! Matt was listening on the other side of the partitioned ballroom and he was really excited for me. He said it was really clean and sounded great, which coming from him, a man of few words, that means it was AWESOME!!!!!!! :P

I will of course bring you up to speed when I find out the results of yesterday's audition and stay tuned for more details later in the competition. 

Love you!

So Much

I wanted to create a place that I could share not only what is going on with my music but where I can express the behind-the-scenes things that are happening. I want to be real and raw and hold nothing back. I hope that you can grasp who I really am beyond the hype and the craziness. 

God has given me so much and blessed us, with only more to come as I continue to seek out the who, what and where of my destiny. I sing for Him. For His purpose, His will and His sacrifice. Without Him I would not be where I am today.