To all my dear friends, amigos, fellow guitar players, music buddies, gorgeous guys and beautiful ladies on MySpace,
Thank you so much for becoming my friend! Although I've been hearing about MySpace for some time this is a brand new site for me and I'm excited by how we can all connect so easily. As I'm in the middle of recording a new CD which promises to be very different from anything you've heard me do before, please forgive me for not being able to respond to your very kind messages. When my life gets a little less hectic I look forward to doing so. As most of you know I was born in London, England but am now living in New England. In between I've lived in Toronto, Paris, Mexico, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and most recently Miami. I must have been a gypsy or wandering minstrel in a past life!
A journalist recently asked me to name some of the most meaningful, interesting or unusual experiences I've had so for fun I thought I'd share them with you. Please don't think I'm name dropping as that's not my intent. The order is random and not necessarily chronological.
-crossing the Atlantic three times on an ocean liner, losing the talent show I'd entered with my sister playing a recorder duo of The Bluebells of Scotland, but winning first and second prizes for the art competition
-spending an unforgettable year with my brother, sister and parents in the hillside Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende
-living in both a garret and an 11th century château in Paris, France, while studying guitar with Alexander Lagoya
-having private guitar lessons from Andre Segovia, Narcisco Yepes and Julian Bream
-playing over a hundred concerts as the opening act for Gordon Lightfoot in the 70s
-being a houseguest at Windsor Castle by the Queen of England and serenading her with my guitar. Almost losing my nose to one of her Corgies!
-winning five Juno Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Grammy)
-having dinner with Rudolf Nureyev, my adolescent ballet hero
-being presented by Liberace in Las Vegas,
- playing at the launch of Adnan Khashoggi's yacht Nabila in Monte Carlo
-hiking in the woods with my wonderful artist friend Robert Bateman
-eating cucumber sandwiches in the royal family jet, while Prince Philip was flying the plane
-recording my Christmas Dreams song with Roger Whittaker and Georges Zamfir
-my former husband and I hanging out with our Beverly Hills neighbors Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.
-getting a standing ovation after a private concert for the sequestered OJ Simpson jury
-giving a concert at Mother Teresa's hospice in Calcutta, India
-watching a polo game in the royal box in New Delhi, India with the Maharana of Udaipur
-canoeing, hiking, and skinny dipping each summer with Canada's Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who was my boyfriend for eight years.
-playing guitar for the summit conference at Montebello and sitting at the table with Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Helmut Schmidt.
-performing Albinoni and Vivaldi with the Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by John Williams
-paddling two weeks in a canoe to play a concert for the Cree natives in Moose factory, Northern Ontario.
-being a guest three times on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
-recording at the home studio of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and working with the late Michael Kamen
-being conducted by Maurice Jarre ( Dr Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia) while recording the music for A Walk In The Clouds which won the Golden Globe for best music
-making a record with Sir Andrew Davis and the English chamber Orchestra, even though I was sick as a dog both days.
-tuna fishing off the coast of Costa Rica with San Salvador's legendary, Commandante Zero
-Robert Redford calling me to say he'd been a fan for years and sitting with him in the LA studio while Quizz Show was being scored
-touring with my Persona band in the 80s and playing an electric nylon string guitar
-surviving an Atlantic hurricane, an Australian cyclone, an emergency NY Concorde landing, an LA and Tokyo earthquake and a Malibu fire
-slow dancing with Placido Domingo and disco dancing with Rod Stewart
-playing guitar in such interesting places as Kathmandu, Beijing, Bombay, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Tokyo, Greenland, Trinidad,
Havana, Lisbon, Rome, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Vienna, Stockholm, Zurich, Santiago, Sao Paolo, Brazilia, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Bogota and hundreds more cities around the globe. How lucky I have been!!!
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this folk-carol on myspace... Poem 230 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (see my blog for details): CHRISTMAS SUNG SIMPLY
As gospellers have said, Beneath signalling skies, On land dusty to tread, A trough in a stable Was the strawy first-bed Of a divine baby - The forgiving Godhead.
A season for new hope - There then and here now; The yuletide of goodwill - There then and here now.
In respect of this chance, Beneath bright or dark skies, Faith's the star that we glance Attending Christ's churches And trying to enhance, With singing and ritual, Our God-loving stance.
Greetings Liona, Thanks for adding our band to your myspace. Hope you will listen to all of our songs. Our new album ''SMILE METER'' will be released 12/01/09. But, most importantly, Have a Wonderful & Warm Thanksgiving!
Keep in touch! Your Friends, MCC Band
You're fantastic. I love listening to you play, in fact you're going to put me to sleep tonight listening to you. Welcome to my page I enjoy your music very much. Dave Violet and Me playing, "Can't You See"
Hello Top Friend! In order to meet as many people on our friends list as possible- we choose ten each day to salute and say THANK YOU for allowing us to be your MySpace friend :) We hope you enjoy the music, and that we will see you all on tour next year! Many hugs from Team Juliet <3
It is a pleasure to have you as my new MySpace friend… I find your MySpace page, your talent and your enthusiasm for music pleason’ to many… I welcome you’re other MySpace friends to visit my MySpace page that I’ve dedicated to my admiration of many talented guitar playing musicians of many styles… Stop by check it out and leave a comment if you like… Thanks Ken…
I just wanted to let you know that I absolutely love your music, and admire your beautiful gift and talent for the artistry of making music on the guitar. It is obviously one with you, and you are obviously one with it! As a guitar enthusiast, I look forward to hearing much more of your music! Thank you for sharing your great talent with the world. Best Wishes.
Hallo, ich habe mich in den letzten Tagen mal dran gesetzt und zwei Weihnachtslieder eingespielt. Leider ist es mir hier auf Myspace nicht möglich diese Songs zu veröffentlichen. Ich müsste dann 2 andere Songs herunternehmen. Desalb habe ich mich entschlossen diese Songs nicht hier auf Myspace, sondern auf meiner Hompage http://www.dreamingguitar.de hochzuladen. Dort kann man/frau sie wie immer auch runterladen. Schreibt doch mal dort in mein Gästebuch ob die Songs Euch gefallen.