Happy Christmas

I went with my mum, and my Aunt Joan came along too... Just the best weekend ever. And I'm totally legal in Mexico so I might have had a couple margaritas.. maybe a pina colada or two... don't tell anyone though. I even came home with a poncho, which i actually wear. No lies, I've worn it pretty much everyday since I got back... it's mighty comfortable.

Anyways, an amazing trip... Got to play a few tunes, got to take in a little trip. Two thumbs up.

We scrambled to get things together and ended up in the studio last week, and recorded "I Love Christmas". It was the funnest day ever!! We had a pile of musicians come in, stand up bass, sax (alto and tenor), trumpet, guitar, i played piano... And it just ended up better than we could have imagined. There are even sleigh bells involved... but don't worry, they're very tasteful.

Anyways, we ended up with this song that you can't help but smile and dance to when it's playing. Well, I think so at least... I really hope you all feel the same way! It's going to be up on the site really soon, and... drum roll pleeeease.... it's going to be on the radio as well! Pretty exciting. Also, I'll be singing it on the Mountain FM Christmas Breakfast on December 2nd... around 8 30 in the morning.

Since it will be on the radio, I was hoping that maybe all you out there could spread the Ali gospel and request "I Love Christmas" on your favourite radio station! You won't regret it I promise

Let me know what you think when you first hear it!!

I received a FACTOR grant!!! I don't know about you, but I like to think this is pretty great news... them factor grants can be darn tough to wrangle. I won the Emerging Artist FACTOR grant, and it's going to help me fund my UPCOMING ALBUM which is going to be ready early 2009!!!!

Keep your ears to the ground and your eyes to this blog to be hearing some new tunes mighty soon!

The Okanogan is soo beautiful, and we got the chance to have a little look around on Saturday. We visited Mission Hill winery; it's like stepping into Italy... So incredible! Okanogan's also full of the nicest people. When we went there, we billeted with a family called the Kalesnikoffs. They were so incredibly gracious to have us. Their daughter Brittany Kalesnikoff played the Rockanogan too! We got to go see her, and she was great!

It was a really fun weekend on the whole... Couldn't have asked for anything more

I played Temecula on Friday night, a 40 minute set, and the crowd was soooo great. Nice and small, and really appreciative; that's totally what counts. Played mostly original tunes, and ended up selling plenty of CDs too! Haha even ended up signing a few autographs! Pretty exciting

The next day we made our way back to Los Angeles and I got to spend the day with my friend Shaun Wolfe from Berklee in Boston. He lives and has grown up in LA, so he showed me around town. Spent most of our time in Hollywood! So fun... Made some new friends (Captain Jack Sparrow, Optimus Prime, you know... the usual). Also spent lots of time in a record store called Amoeba Music! HUUUUUGE place... ended up getting so many albums (Sam Cooke, Lykke Li, Cab Calloway... so stoked).

So Sunday rolled around and, since our plane wasn't until 7 that night, Dad decided to take me on a sight-seeing tour; aka, driving around. We made our way to Beverly Hills (Rodeo Drive baby!), Bel Air, and Manhattan Beach!!! Manhattan Beach was UNBELIEVABLE, I want to live there one day... It was so incredible. Let's just say I'm totally jazzed on Manhattan Beach.

Well, we returned the rental car and made our way to the airport to catch our flight. Ohhhhhhhh, but that would just be too simple wouldn't it? Haha, oh man, turns out our flight was for 7 AM Sunday morning, not 7 PM. COOL. Well, that kinda sucked, but we luckily got a cheap hotel room and spent another night in sunny LA. Had to get up at 4am for a 7am Monday morning flight, but we made it home eventually. Luckily. Anways, I'm headed to the Okanogan for the Rockanogan Music Fest this weekend, so I'll be posting another blog soooooon!

Until then

Well, just got back from Ontario where I attended the Toronto International Film Festival! TIFF, if you will. Had so much fun let me tell ya. I first got to attend Norman Jewison's Annual Barbecue, held at the Canadian Film Center. What an incredible property, holy shiz! Unfortunately, it was pooourring rain during the barbecue... that didn't stop anybody though. Place was packed and there were just loads of umbrellas bobbing around. My sweet new moccasin boots got real muddy, but I suppose that's the price you pay!! I did an interview for the Canadian Film Center, wishing them a happy 20th birthday! Word on the street is that the interviews they took that day will be made into a video and shown in movie theaters... something like 7 millions people will see it! Pretty sweet, huh?

I next got to play at the Drake Hotel on Queen Street West. Closed reception for the Whistler Film Festival and The First Weekend Club... really fun party! The lounge was so packed it seemed folks had trouble moving around! I was behind my piano, luckily. Playing some tunes, as always!

The big thing of my Toronto trip though, was the fact that I was a part of the Canadian Music Cafe. What an opportunity! The Canadian Music Cafe showcases Canada's vibrant music scene to film and television industry leaders from around the world. The room was packed, and luckily I got to go first. Everyone was listening, one woman afterwards even said to me that "you could have heard a church mouse!". That made me smile I got a fistful of business cards from some great people. Who knows? Maybe something amazing will come of this trip!

On the Labour Day long weekend, me and my new friend Kaitie Sly travelled out to Powell River. Kaitie was playing bass for me on this gig and we had so much fun! It was a really magical festival... as if fairies and gnomes put it together! Really it was just hippies though...  and they were great. Gosh, even the food at the catering tent was incredible! As if someone had lovingly put together a meal for us So nice!
The crowd really seemed to enjoy what we were doing and listened to our entire 50 minute set. Seriously, that can be tough to ask for at an outdoor festival. Well it was an amazing location with the ocean at our backs and the forest all around. And the tunes coming from the other artists we got to hear were great too! Everyone was obviously having a lot of fun

... Ali