And on the Seventh Day...

Today is Sunday -I sang at church yesterday with Gene - it's so cool to be back in the same city with bro on weekends!

Let me back up - brother Gene and I both lived in LA - he had his own place, I had my house with my sweet sweet hubby and lil Punkin', Boo. My husband, Ben, is an animator and Assistant Director for "The Simpson's" and Gene and I wrote and performed music for various projects. Our Sunday job, though, was working at a church in a city called Paramount, which neighbors Compton and Long Beach. The pastor hired us to form a youth choir/group (which we had never done before) because he "never wanted to preside over the funeral of a teenager again."

This pastor had such vision - we said, "Father,...um ...we've never done this before." He said, "I know, but I believe you CAN do it." Prior to this, Gene and I had been on the road for years, and I was ready to take a break from the travelling, especially because I had just gotten married, and wanted to spend more time with my husband than with my brother :) We went home, thought about it and said what the heck? We took the jobs - and threw ourselves into it.

And the "choir" turned into so much more than that - we'd take the kids (5th grade - young adults) to the Hollywood Bowl, go to Art museums, go to touring Broadway musical productions, take them on college tours, help them with scholarship and financial aid information, set up appointments with college admissions personnel, etc. We worked on the "United in Memory 9/11 Memorial Quilt," sang for the yearly city tree lighting ceremonies, sang on recordings, took the choir to New York to sing... It was truly a wonderful experience. What we didn't plan on with these kids is how much we would fall in love with them - we became like second parents to them, and they were (and still are) like our own children.

When my hubby was given the chance to work from "home" rather than having to go into the studio, he said "CanI make, home Nebraska?" They said sure - just get the work in on time :) So I left my job, but Gene stayed in LA. and kept the choir going. Gene and "The kids" would continue to call me every Sunday, so I still felt part of the choir.

Sadly, the pastor who hired us was transferred to another parish, and the new pastor didn't share the same vision. Gene's position was dissolved a few months ago, and with that went the choir, and all the things that had been built. Gone. It was heartbreaking - the parents and kids were devastated. The kids tried to keep the choir going, and would call all during the week to get the chords to this song, or that, but without Gene spearheading them, they lost their steam and their will. Running a choir is a huge job - there is a lot more to it than most realize - you don't just "show up and sing". The choir dissolved officially last Sunday morning.

Where God closes a door, he opens up a window. Gene will be moving here officially in March, And we are at the beginning of a new chapter! Gene really likes the church my hubby and I attend, (my son goes to school there too) so we help out with the kids choir occasionally and offer our talents a couple times a month. Yesterday we sang together - it's good to be home.

It's 3:28 a.m. - what am I doing up???

It's 3:28 a.m. - what the heck amI still doing on the computer??? Ther are not enough hours in a day - I've only gotten about 4-5 hours of sleep each nigh tfor the past wee - it has been CRAZY!!

As I mentioned, or ...rather...SCREAMED...on my last post, WE WERE ON DONNY DEUTSCH!!!!! THE ...one and only... BIG IDEA!!! Holy Cow - how exciting was that??!!! Our video was featured in the "American Dream Team" segment. He said our names - and pronounced it right! Nobody ever pronounces "Klosner" right - OH DONNYY!!! :) I was in hog heaven. I have posted the clip on our "Press Page" so you can see it there. Then, two days later, (Wednesday), one of the local channels did a story in response to the Donny Deutsch episode, and fetured us in their "Oprah Extra" segment, which follows Oprah, and does a local take on whatever Oprah's topic was for that day. This day happened to be "American Dream" - hello???? What a coincidence!!! So Action 3 News did the whole feayure on us in the recording studio!! How cool is that? What was so great for me is that in my CD, I have a thank you to Oprah and Donny Deutsch,( they did a close up of the thank you's in the video) because they have been such a huge inspiration to me...and in two days time, I'm seeing my dreams come true being on Donny Deutsch and in an Oprah Extra!! (next time it will be sitting next to Donny Deutsch, and sitting on Oprah's stage :)

Life is feelin good.. Anyway, we were in the studi9 from 9 - 5, got home and press releases have to be sent out, punkin' needs to be picked up from a birthday party, pick up some Schlotsky's sandwiches for dinner, put Punkin' to bed, phone calls have to be made, hubby needs some smooches, boards have to be visited, blogs have to be written -and now it's 3:44. Time for bed.

Sweet Dreams, everyone!!

Cher :)

OH MY TOTAL GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We JUST got a call from the producer of Donny Deutsch's "The Big Idea" - we are going to be on tonight!!!!!!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm freakin' OUT!!!!!!!!

I can't even blog right now, I'm so EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xoxoxoxoxox Cher

Hi all! I just got back from judging a "Mommy's Bake -Off" - the last thing I need to be doing since I started on a diet on New Years - but it really was a lot of fun - plus it is always nice to meet other Moms from around the area - it's nice to meet other Moms from anywhere, actually - Moms are just plain cool. :) They had a raffle at this event - one of the Moms used all of her raffle tickets to win a copy of Stardust - and they had some good prizes!!! A free massage, gift certificates to restaurants, beauty salons, grocery stores...so I was honored that she would use all of her tickets on my CD. See? Moms are just plain cool. I was also voted "Most Unique Mommy" - must be my third eye...

We just got booked for a wine festival over Memorial Day weekend - I was hoping to go to Kerrville Texas for the festival over Memorial Day, but this landed in our laps and it's a new vineyard - I think it will be a great time. We also got booked for our first official House Concert, which will be March 29. I can't wait to do the House Concerts - we've done a few unofficial ones, and they are just awesome - very intimate, up close and personal. If you don't know what a House Concert is, check out www.ConcertsInYourHome.com they have a lot of great info...and, if you ever want to HOST one, well, we got some talkin' to do ;) Seriously, if your interested, get in touch with us - we'll walk you through it.

Gene and I go back in to the studio this Wednesday to start on our next CD, "This Old House" - a singer/songwriter CD of originals - been wanting to do this project for years, so we are psyched!! We also have a second Christmas CD that we are working on, so we're keeping busy.

I have started working with some teriffic gals on the PR for Stardust. I can't wait to see how this all unfolds! We're also updating the website a bit this week, so it'll be a busy one.

Alright, enough for now. I'm going to watch Star Wars with my hubby and my son :) We love Star Wars at my house - used the Star Wars Theme for the Recessional at my wedding!
Good night all - may the force be with you...
Cher

Taking down the Christmas tree...

Yes, it's true. It's January 12, I am JUST taking the tree down. It is so dry, the needles are poking through my industrial strength Union Pacific Engineer gloves. Christmas is over. But a new year is here, and what a wonderful and extremely busy year it is already turning out to be. This week has been amazing - I'll post more of the weeks events tomorrow, but one of the highlights was that we were contacted to have a couple of our songs on a CD for kids dealing with cancer. I'm there - anything for kids... that's where my heart is.



I promised myself I wouldn't spend much time on the computer today, but I had a few PM's so I had to take care of them. And three hours later, I'm still here - I'm learning all about "New Media" - cyberspace PR - it's fascinating, everchanging and ...never ending. I've decided to go on the hunt for a Virtual Assistant, who can take care of all the Press releases and sending them in for me. I have a few feelers out, and I'll be talking to them on Monday.

I got involved with a few online Mom's business groups - Mompreneurs.com, mommymillionaire.com, and a couple others - all are really cool and have opened my world! This is where I am making incredible contacts, and have already hired two of the ladies there to outsource the stuff I don't enjoy doing, and that they DO enjoy doing :)



Okay, now that my hands have stopped bleeding , I've got to get that tree down. After that I'll put away the pilgrim statues. :)



Nite-nite,

Cher

Starting my blog today - um,...again!!

Oh Lordy I am so behind on the bloggin' - one of my resolutions for this year, in addition to getting some well needed work/family balance in my life, is to get on top of this, and outsource other duties...

But mama likes this duty, so mama going to take on this duty!! :)

Okay, so my brother Gene and I just released a brand new 2-disc lullaby CD, Stardust, that came out a little over a month ago - it has been FLYING off the shelves at stores - many of the stores sold out once - and twice - in a couple of weeks time! Our online stores both sold out twice as well- one of them sold out twice in a week!! Can't ask for more than that. The reviews have been fantastic. Now that Christmas is over, I need to figure out how to get Stardust into the hands of parents who need help getting their kids to wind down - and helping the parents to wind down!! I met with an ad agency - they were nice as can be, but I just don't have $12,000 to do a commercial and bare minimum print ads, through the established, traditional route of advertising - and that's just a base cost for LOCAL advertising! So, I am embarking on a somewhat new journey, into the world of cyberspace marketing. Yikes!! I'm learning new stuff everyday, so I'll be sharing with you what I learn along the way.

I also kept a quasi-journal during the recording of "Stardust" which started in March, so I'll get bits and pieces from that up on here too - I videod a lot of the recording process, so I'll get some of those clips up here and on You Tube. We also launched all of our sheet music for Mass Settings (Light the Fire Music) last summer, which is a whole 'nother website and adventure...oh yea, and most important, and I have an incredible husband , Ben who is an animator for "The Simpsons" and a work-from-home-Dad. We have delightful son, Benjamin (nicknamed Boo.) Gene and I are going back into the studio in two weeks and Gene will be moving here from LA in a couple of months! Welcome to the real life of working musicians and artists !

Now I need to get to sleep...2008 is going to be a kick-butt year :)

Cher