…because who wouldn’t want a little quickie with me?

Anyways. A few updates.

1.) I didn’t make it to the Imogen Heap album signing. My friend was too broke to go and I was too tired from work. We still both bought the album and are both enjoying listening to Imogen at all hours of the day.

2.) Ingrid Michaelson also released a new album on the same day last week, called Everybody. Me and everyone else downloaded it on iTunes and it made it to #1 on the iTunes charts. If you’re an Ingrid fan you won’t be disappointed. Ingrid is one of the few musicians who writes a whole album basically all about love and I don’t feel emo listening to it. I love her voice, it’s like warm butter being spread across toast. (Hey, she blogs, too!)

3.) Other musicians and bands I’ve become a fan of recently: Grizzly Bear, Discovery (i’m on an electronic music kick again), and every remix put out by Steve Aoki. I’m really easy to please when it comes to music. Make me dance and I’ll love you.

4.) I’ve been so bored music-wise (i’m sorry if that’s not really a word english & grammar nazis) this summer that i’ve relapsed with all sorts of music-related projects for the coming months. In addition to the repertoire of the new season with the Chorus of Westerly, I’ve decided to go back to singing with my college choir because I miss my peeps so much. I only left in the first place because I thought everyone graduated and left. To my surprise everyone stayed because most of them stayed at the school for their grad studies also. Who’s embarassed now?

I’m also going to try to learn to play guitar because my sister was nice enough to let me borrow her acoustic AND she bought me Hello Kitty picks and I’d be asking to get my butt kicked if I just decided I don’t want to do it anymore. Plus I promised to play a song at her wedding so I HAVE TO LEARN PERIOD.

Oh yeah and I just remembered I need to remember to play piano so I have to practice that too.

I’ve been working feverishly to complete a few string quartet arrangements that I can work on with my professor this semester. I’d really like to see this project come to fruition one beautiful day with a live performance and four string players with a sense of humor and interest in pop music.

Good luck, you say? THANKS. I NEED IT.

I don’t know if I ever said I am not the best writer, but writing music reviews is not in my future.

So this non-review is about Imogen Heap‘s new album. It’s called Ellipse and will be released tomorrow, August 25th. The album has been streaming from immi.fm for at least the last week and I’ve kept my browser open for as long so I can listen to it whenever I feel like it.

Immi just taped her appearance on Letterman which is slated to air on friday night. Plus she’s doing an album signing at Barnes & Noble in New York City tomorrow at 5:30pm! My friend Chris and I will be catching a train from Connecticut just to see her. I’m really excited.

I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

If you appreciate the music of Edith Piaf, La Vie en Rose is probably the best biopic to watch. To be honest, I had no idea what kind of like Edith lived before watching this. I just knew that I loved “La Vie en Rose” and “Non, je ne regrette rien” as having the most romantic and (for lack of a better word) ballsy lyrics I’ve ever heard. Her singing voice is like no other. I also now know why Marion Cotillard won awards for the movie, because she did so damn good.

I also found a new movie that Marion Cotillard is in, called Nine. Apparently it was on Broadway? (Shows how much I keep up with musical theater, I had no clue) Long story short, it follows a film director as he tries to find harmony between his professional and personal lives and his numerous relationships with women in his life. If you liked Chicago, you might like this. It’s got hot women (Marion! Nicole! Penelope! Oh my!) and a bunch of musical numbers. I have a feeling I might LOVE IT.

When I spent the week at the Choral Symposia I ate all natural foods and drank a lot of water. I think my body liked it enough that I probably lost a couple pounds. Since I’ve been back home I tried to eat healthier but it’s been difficult trying to tell myself I don’t need to eat so many slices of bread and I don’t need that large of an iced coffee, made light and sweet. The amount of carbs and sugars I consume are more than my body can commit to going to the gym.

I could try to make this coming week a “no sugar and less carbs” kind of weird diet, but the last time I tried to do it I forgot by the third day so I scrapped the idea.

I mean, c’mon! McDonald’s iced coffees and iced mochas are SO GOOD. And Wendy’s Frostys and shakes are SO DELICIOUS. And Burger King’s BK Mocha Joes are SO YUMMY.

You know how I feel about any cold beverages from Starbucks. I DIE.

I hate myself for having a sweet tooth.

I think I’ll keep going to the gym, trying to consume less amounts of sugar and carbs, keep moving, and have more spontaneous dance parties in between everything. Wish me luck. IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO ACHIEVE A BEACH BODY.

I fully intend to write a lengthier entry* about my week at the Choral Symposia sometime later but for now I will give you a list of the highlights that I believe describes my experience in a nutshell.

• I was conducted by the ever famous and spunky 89 year old Sir David Willcocks. JEALOUS?! I’ll admit I was scared whenever he got frustrated when people weren’t singing what he was trying to conduct. On the other hand he’s extremely pleasant with his adorable british accent. He tells funny stories and does a really good impression of old choir ladies.
• I learned valuable lessons on singing from the beautiful Paula Rockwell and am grateful they both spent time at the Symposia. I get to see her in November when she performs with us in Westerly. Once again, JEALOUS?!
• In the after hours I spent quality time getting know my peeps from the Chorus of Westerly. I learned to play Spoons and french fries taste delicious piled on a platter with some white wine.
• A little bit of history of where I stayed, Camp Ogontz. The camp, opened in the 1920s, was originally a summer camp for young ladies of the elite and prestigious Ogontz School in Pennsylvania. (It was sold in 1950 to later become Penn State.) I heard the second owner of the camp blew all her riches chasing Pavarotti around the world. I also heard she was a crazy one and murdered all her horses and buried them in a pasture somewhere. I’m just telling you what I heard. In the early 90s, Mr. and Mrs. Kent bought the camp and are one of the largest land owners in New Hampshire. It now hosts the weeks of Choral Symposium and kids Choir Camp as well as renting the property to other camp programs throughout the summer.
• This has been the most difficult week ever for me in terms of learning new pieces of music in a short period of time. I sight read most of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Rutter’s Mass of the Children, Vaughan William’s Toward the Unknown Region, and all 34 anthems in The Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems. If I see another measure of sixteenth notes I think I might puke. Though I’m proud of myself for getting through it and knowing I can handle a challenge like this.
• At the warm up class with Paula Rockwell I had introduce myself to everyone and I had to tell them something unique about me. I told them that I loved cats. So throughout the week I had people tell me stories about their cats, I was invited to meet Mrs. Kent’s 2 cats, and someone asked me if I missed my cat (YES I DID THANKSFORREMINDINGME). It got old by the third day but I still enjoyed everyone’s attempt at being friendly with me.
• THE FOOD WAS EFFING DELICIOUS. The chef Andrew is an amazing cook. At Ogontz they grow their own vegetables, raise their chickens, hatch their eggs, bake their bread, and every meal cooked was fresh and used all natural ingredients. Nothing goes to waste, either. Whatever is leftover from a previous meal is saved and later turned into a completely different food. Andrew is a genius, basically. Plus he puts on the greatest theme parties. I’ll keep you wondering about that.
• I went swimming, went for walks, had staring contests with spiders while peeing, it was all theraputic. It was a vacation that I needed from the demands of life. No tv, no cellphones or texting, and no internet (I was angry when I found out the camp had wifi and I left my pretty MacBook at home).
• My cabin roommate, Lora, was awesome and funny and we got along really well. We also both love cats. Who knew?!
• I loved every aspect of the Symposia and the camp. My only disappointment, and Lora agrees with me on this, is the extremely low (Note: NONE) attendance of young and attractive male singers at the symposia. I was buried in a soprano section with 95% of women over fifty. Figure out how the tenor and bass section looked like. I wrote this as a suggestion of improvement on the feedback form. We also brought this to the attention of Ryan, the Chorus of Westerly director, in person. I offered to spearhead the tentatively titled “Hot Guy Project.”

That’s all I can remember right now. The remote magically appeared in my hand so I’m going to turn on the tv and start vegging out. Peace out homies.

* I think I may be lying, as I think I just described everything here.