Performing at a Charity Luncheon for Pensioners!

Today was a very interesting day on stage! I loved every moment of it, as I always do when I'm performing. The show was a charity luncheon for pensioners or aka senior citizens. There are a lot of positives to performing for pensioners, the first being that if you sing off key, the majority of them wouldn't even know (bad joke I know). The audience was absolutely lovely, and very receptive, except when I tried to sing directly to them. They would turn away, like I wasn't even there. Either they were scared of me, I smelled, or they were sleeping and didn't want to be bothered. It was a long show to be fair! The seniors were actually an amazing audience, with huge applause after each number, and even some woooo's from those feeling adventurous.

The show took place at the Business Design Centre, which is a lovely venue, and the room was spectacular. The sound engineer was on point, and all the performers were first class. I sang a few covers and a couple of my originals, which were met with delight. I wanted so badly to tell the crowd that they can purchase my songs on iTunes, but I didn't want to confuse them with the technology talk. I also wanted to plug my Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter, but again I thought this might be a lost cause. I mean, even if they did have a social media site set up by one of their grandchildren, would they know how to follow me, or even remember that my tag name is @itsmehunnyb? This day was truly for them though, and it was such a pleasure to see the smiles on all their faces. To be one of the reasons for those smiles is what brings joy to my life.

God blessed me with a voice, and has allowed me to use my voice to build a career. It is also my duty to use my voice to give back. I love to perform, and I thank God everyday that this is what I get to do.

A true artist will sing wherever and whenever they can, for whomever! Never forget that!

Peace and Love

HunnyB

Why Some Radio Stations Make Me Sick!

Today I was approached by a radio station to submit music for airplay. I thought this was so nice of them to notice me, so I looked them up. Not to my surprise, they were charging artists for airplay by selling different promotion packages. Some of you may think that this is okay, because everyone needs to make a living, however I think this is taking advantage of the artist. We all know that most artists are vulnerable because of their obsessive desires to succeed brought on by extreme passion. They have little money, and yet will spend what little they have to try and Make It!

Companies that use this knowledge to make a profit off these artists yearning for a break, make me sick. If you are going to establish a radio station, do it because you love music and want to support musicians. We need your support! You also need us to have content to play. Why don't you charge the big names who have that kind of money? Oh yes, that's right, you can't, so why prey on the little people, so to speak? Make your money from advertising. We spend hours and hours, and a lot of coin recording and preparing one track. Most times, these tracks are never played on a station, and are only heard by friends and family, but they are made with love. If you love the song as well, then play it! Don't play it just to line your own pockets, but do so because you care. If you don't care, then 'Fudge Off.'

I am all for investing in yourself. I do time and time again. I believe in the saying, 'If you don't believe in yourself enough to invest in yourself, than why should anyone else?

Please stay away from the companies that try to exploit artists. You don't need them! Keep filling up that bucket one drop at a time, and soon you will be overflowing with radio stations playing your records, free of charge, and full of support!

I want to give a big shout out to "Desert Deb's Crystal Cavern," "Duggy Degs' Music Show," and "Blackberry Soul radio," amongst all the other radio stations who have played my music, and who have been a huge platform for my career.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! I am eager to sing you a love song, but can't since this is a blog :( However, I have a few love songs that will be coming out very soon, and I can't wait for you to hear them!

Speaking of love, I would love to hear what you all did for Valentine's day? I had the day to myself to rest, as you all know I wasn't feeling well. Then my handsome husband and precious son came home bearing gifts of roses, chocolates and champagne. We then went you for a lovely meal, and when we came home, there were rose petals all over the bedroom and bathroom, with gifts on the bed!

When I started my career in the music business, everyone use to tell me that I had to remain single, and that being seen in a relationship would hurt me more than help me. If that was the case, I would be a lonely musician, without a husband to share my successes with, and a son to give the world to. They are the inspiration for my art, the push to my drive, the warmth to my being, and the beat to my heart. I am better at being an artist, because I have them to love, and them to love me.

My advice to all up and coming artists out there would be: Don't be a puppet on a string, and let someone dictate your life. If you have fallen in love, and have to choose between that person or your career, then pick both. They can work together, if you let them. Be bold, be brave, love whole heartedly, and don't let the games in the music business deter you from being the best artist you can be!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love HunnyB

The Importance of Rest

Dear sleep,

I need you. I know you haven't been my friend lately and I'm sorry if I've offended you, but I need you back. I have so much on my plate and I can't afford to get sick anymore. Please come back to me.

Lately I have been struggling with my health. I am not sure if it's a flu, exhaustion, or both. I am not just a dreamer but a doer and with that, I put work first and sleep last. The consequences are that I am now battling feelings of pain. It's as if my whole body has been hit by a truck .

I have to perform next Sunday for over 200 people. I am singing 6 songs and have a lot of rehearsing to do. I am afraid that I will not get better in time to rehearse like I need to.

Sleep is our best friend, and despite how busy we are, we need to learn that lack of sleep will have so much more of a negative impact on us, than maybe not finishing everything we had planned for that day.

It's hard when you're a workaholic like me, but the consequences are not worth the extra hours.

Pray for my health and for my performance next Sunday! I need all the strength I can get.

Peace and Love

HunnyB

Expedia Film shoot with HunnyB

I am not sure if i'm supposed to be speaking about this, however today I had a very long, but rewarding day shooting a video for Expedia at their offices in London. The call time was early, but reasonable being 8am. Now I am a country girl, and have to commute into London for work. This is totally fine and easy, especially when I take the train, which is always, EXCEPT TODAY! I do not know what possessed me to think that driving into central London on a Thursday morning, in rush hour, was a good idea, but I did it anyway. Everything on the roads were smooth, and moving at a good pace, until I desperately needed to stop for gas. This literally took me five minutes, but in those five minutes, the traffic piled up enough for me to lose 20 minutes of time. So now i'm going to be late for my job. GREAT! As if I am not panicked enough, my phone decided not to charge last night. Now I rely on my phones satnav, or i'm doomed! I have no idea about these UK country roads, and especially London roads. You know in the UK you have to switch on the power to the outlet, and of course being from Canada, and not use to this, I sometimes forget, leaving me in almost disastrous situations, like having an uncharged phone. So my phone now has only 6% battery life, but by the grace of God, I drive by a petro station. I ask them if they have a car charger, and to my astonishment, they had one left, and it was universal. Hallelujah. Ok so this solved my dead phone issue and my no stanav issue, but I am now running 45 minutes late for my job. WHY DID I NOT JUST TAKE THE TRAIN! STUPID!

So here I am, in heavy traffic, trying to stay calm by listening to classical music, when my phone decides to say, "gps signal lost." Really? Now? Classical music could not help my panic at this moment. Here I am doing circles around Holborn, praying that my gps signal will be found. After about 10 minutes of circling, my common sense kicked in and I rebooted my phone. Yay, I have signal now! So finally, I find where i'm supposed to go, park and then finally meet the assistant, the producer, the director and the other actor. Shaking hands with them, I try hard not be too bothered about the fact that I am an hour late! Yes an hour! WHY DIDN'T I JUST TAKE THE TRAIN! I would have been early, gone over my script, had a tea, even a little nap, but nooooooooooo, I had to drive.

Anyway, being the brilliant actor that I am, I was able to knock out 13 pages of dialogue, ahead of schedule, making everyone forget that I was late. Did I mention, that I only got the script the day before? Oh yeah! All in all, the shoot was amazing. We had some great laughs, I met some amazing, talented people, and I even got to have a naked veggie burrito for lunch!

Not so bad for a day on the job with HunnyB.

2016

Ok, so we are now in February of 2016. The year is already flying by. I always want every new year to be the best one yet, but should we really put that much pressure on ourselves? I started off the year with a bang, having performed, and presented at the premier of the short film, "The Attentive Taxi Driver." I performed at the V.A.S.T.T event, which I will blog about later, and I have a film shoot for Expedia tomorrow. I am also preparing to perform, in a couple weeks, at the Business Design Centre, at a charity function for pensioners. This is all great stuff, but what happens when it stops, because it will!? How do you keep yourself motivated, and in a healthy state of mind? I am guilty for being a person who stresses out about life. I like having control of things, especially my career. I know that in the past, if the work slowed down, I would wallow in my self pity while eating buckets of ice-cream, especially Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup.

This year is going to be different. Despite how busy my year started, I parted ways with my acting agency, IAG. This is sort of a big deal, as they represent John Boyega from Star Wars, amongst many other well known actors. However, their lack of communication was terrible, and they were more worried about their fame and status as an agency, versus being great managers to their clients. In the past, I would have run to McDonalds, and ordered a chocolate milkshake with large fries, however this time I motivated myself. I started going to acting workshops, posting more videos of me singing covers on YouTube, even signed up for an on camera course at the Actors Studio starting in March. Now I have no time to be depressed.

Keeping oneself busy with ones passion is one way to beat the blues. I am sure it will work for me, so if you're in need, give it a try!

Let's make 2016 a year of positivity and inspiration. Take control of your emotions, and you will have control of your life!

Love and Peace

HunnyB

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