Super 8 and Natasha Bedingfield

Tonight I saw the movie super 8 - I definitely recommend it!!

Also recommended is the frozen Fanta Blueberry drink. yum.

on Friday - I went with my friend Brandon to see Natasha Bedingfield at Irving Plaza....

I didn't realize how GOOD she is!! Her voice is like perfect - band sounded great - and she had an awesome back up singer - they sounded amazing together.

She's mature - a great performer - and hot!!

Boychoir & Bridesmaids

I met up tonight with my old friend William Southerland who I went to the American Boychoir School with, and whom I hadn't seen since I think 1998.

Pretty crazy - but awesome to see him, and we chatted it up for a little while at Bourbon Street (bar) in Midtown.

Love reminiscing!!

Then I had a party of 1 (solo date) at the 12:30am showing of Bridesmaids at Regal. 

Freakin hilarious -

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Kristen Wiig - she is my hero

Plays & movies, movies & plays

I saw two great movies and one awesome play this weekend -

1. Source Code - starring Jake Gylenhall this is one of those mind-f&*# movies - a soldier wakes up in the body of an unknown man, later to realize he is part of a mission to find the bomber of a train - hard to explain - but fun fact, Michael Arden, who stars in the film, was an old friend from Interlochen Arts Camp - I had no idea he was in it till I saw his name in the credits at the beginning!

2. I've begun to get comps for some Broadway shows - and I was lucky enough to get to see The Motherf**ker with the Hat - a wonderful play starring Chris Rock & Bobby Cannavale. Bobby plays a recovering alcoholic, and Chris Rock is his sponsor - In the first scene Bobby's character gets a new job and comes home to celebrate with his girlfriend (who is an addict) - They are about to have sex and while she is in the shower he discovers a man's hat on the table - of course he is immediately suspicious that she is having an affair, and the action ensues - wonderful play and AMAZING acting from Bobby Cannavale & newcomer Elizabeth Rodriguez.

3. New movie Hanna - AWESOME - it features an icy Cate Blanchett and wonderful young actress Saoirse Ronan - who also played Susie Salmon in "Lovely Bones" a few years ago 

Burlesque

Hung out in Boston today before coming back to NY, and went to see Burlesque. It was pretty good....very enjoyable.

Christina was awesome, and sexy, and great...

Catfish

Tonight after work / rehearsals I went to see

BROOKE PARROTT at Googie's (above the Living Room)

She was a good buddy from Berklee,

and I haven't seen her in years. She's been living in London.

She did a great job!!

Then I went and saw Catfish

Interesting movie.

Buried

Saw the movie "Buried" tonight.....very late night showing at Lincoln Square Cinema.

Awesome concept for a movie...Wow, don't go see it if you're claustrophobic! (I am kinda claustrophobic...hmm...I couldn't resist!)

Jennifer Hirsh & jazz

I had a great weekend in Pennsylvania with extended family, welcoming the addition of my cousin Emily's little girl Lili....they had a baby dedication for her.

This weekend I also saw a good friend Faith Ruark (we went to school in Harrisonburg and she now lives in Lancaster, PA), and I saw the movie The Devil.

My parents came back with me to the city tonight. They are meeting tomorrow with my manager Janet to go over a few things.

Tonight we went and saw Jennifer Hirsh at Living Room. She is so wonderful, and the new songs and full band sounded amazing!

Afterwards we went to Caffe Vivaldi to see Evgeny Lebedev, who has played keyboard on a few of my shows. He was playing with his trio and they sounded incredible.

I love live music!

Last Exorcism

Had a great day at the beach today.

This evening I went and saw The Last Exorcism and my parents went and saw Eat Pray Love (which I had already seen).

The Last Exorcism was scary and I loved it!!

Then we went to dinner at a great place by the water.....Mmmm I had Steak & Cake (Steak with a crabcake). Yum!!!!

Eat Pray Love

SO today I had GREAT rehearsals:

Rehearsed background vocals with Nick & Jade at their awesome apartment on Riverside Dr.,

and then later that afternoon I had band rehearsal with Jeffrey, Jordan, Evgeny, and Iakov. It went really well, and I can't wait for the show on Tuesday!

Then I met up with my good friend Stephanie Jaggers and we saw Eat Pray Love. It was pretty good, I got some awesome tidbits from it. Definitely recommend going to see it!

Weekend

has been pretty uneventful. Lots of sleeping/relaxing.

Hung out with my friend Demond Nason at his awesome apartment in Astoria.

He cooked some salmon and we watched "Inglorious Basterds," awesome movie! I love Quentin Tarantino!

Saturday I went to see my friend in a play at the Cringefest at the Producer's Club. Silly fun!!

Movies

Great therapy appointment...

Coaching with Breanna...I play piano for singers...get them ready for auditions etc. 

Met up with Al and we went to see Cyrus...which was really good!!

Awesome cast...John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener & Jonah Hill. Then we snuck into the first part of Inception.

Better now

Was out in the world today.....

Classes & gym...

I feel a lot better....

I finished watching Precious and I have to say, it was not as depressing to me as I feel everyone made it out to be. I actually found parts of it uplifting. Here is a girl who seemed to be overcoming her upbringing and surroundings....raising her kids & stuff.... I really liked the movie....I'm just sayin...I've seen some depressing movies.....Revolutionary Road is damn depressing in my opinion.

Anyway, here's to you Precious!

Shrine show + appointments + Inception

Had an Awesome show at Shrine on Thursday.

Good turnout, good vibes, good built-in crowd. Haha they don't play around with the lights. As soon as I started, it was strobes and smoke machine lol....but alot of fun. I pretty much played keys the whole time, and was joined by Iakov, Jordan, and Jeffrey. I think we sounded great. I did a few covers, including Mariah Carey "Make it Happen," which went well, had the audience singing along at a few points, and even had some friends come up on stage to sing, including Christopher Cox, a semifinalist along with me for Making the Band. He just moved to NY and wow, he sounded amazing! Such a fun show.

Here's some pictures of Jeffrey, Iakov, and Jordan, when we were on the train on the way to the gig. I love these guys!

On Friday, I had some good appointments - long overdue dental appt. (only 1 cavity, I'll take it!), therapy, and a good meeting with Jamie Salka from Story Pirates. He emphasized improving my live show and having a gimmick, or hook, for the audience, so I've been brainstorming on what that could be. 

I went back to Shrine Friday night to check out Geoff Earley, who was in town from LA. 

Today I saw a good friend Stephanie Jaggers who I hadn't seen in a while. We went to see Inception, which was awesome! And then had some Japanese food. Yum!!

BOOM

Slept in a lot later than I had hoped, but at least I got a full night's sleep for once. Went to the New Music Seminar in the afternoon and got some good advice and talked to a few people.

Then had dinner with the awesome Jenn Mundia, old friend from Berklee who was in town from North Carolina, as well as the lovely Andrea Setaro and a few others.

Met up with a friend in BK and watched "Up in the Air," which was very good.

That's all, over & out!!!!

Nightmare on Elm Street

Last night I saw the new nightmare on Elm Street....OOOOOH it was scary! I love scary movies!

Master

Laying in bed

In a hotel room with parents

They are sleeping

I am listening to my MASTER CD for the umpteenth time

Hope it can finally go into production tomorrow

Had a Crumbs cupcake and lovely walk with Cara Scherker, my beautiful friend and background singer who is leaving for 5 months on a cruise. Boo, I will miss her, but I think it will be a great experience for her. 

Had some dope salad and pasta with parents at Patsy's in Chelsea,

then went to the Clearview theater to see

"Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

and it was a reallly good movie!

Sleep / Rain / The Crazies

SOOOO good to sleeep iiiin two days in a row!  


I got up and went to take my friend Joanna Numata's class at Broadway Dance Center. Check out her choreography in a video we did last year at the end of this blog. 


I went and saw "The Crazies" at Regal E-Walk 13. It was pretty good! Nice rainy night activity. I think the following pictures will help explain the insanity of the rain & wind in NYC this weekend.....broken umbrellas everywhere! I had to throw mine away at the end of the day.

Shutter Island!!!!

Today I:


--played music for an adorable little girl's birthday party

--took Luam's class at BDC, which was bananas. I loved the combo. I think the song was called "Fast Car," by Trish, and it was kinda robotic, but with a little groove at the end. Loved it!

--I saw Shutter Island! Aaah, good movie. It was sold out, and I was sitting in literally the front row of the theater, looking up. I got used to it though, and really enjoyed the movie. It's very eerie. I highly recommend it!