Hello Hello! 

I write to you as I wait at JFK...soon I will be boarding a flight to London and begin my adventure! My European Tour...a musical one!!

.....the beginning of a dream that I have dreamed for a very long time now....

gosh...travel  is such a complex bit of emotions...it is for me at least...

I had not realized to this extent...

First I'm excited, then I'm more excited, then more excited still...

(Yes, that quite possible! Haha)

And yet I find all the ways to worry...

But I can't predict the future!..and why should I even want to try?

....knowing all the happy or sad moments before they happen... ? Nah ...not for me!

I like to think that good things will happen...because they always do.

So what did I finally end up packing for a 5 week tour??

Obviously I wanted to pack light...everyone does!  

Not sure if I accomplished that..

The clothing is very basic:

2 simple dresses, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 tops, 2 sets of pajamas, a sweater, a light coat, one pair of shoes, 2 pair of socks and tights!  (Oh my that doesn't sound light! Haha!)

I have all that in my soft guitar case protecting Garcia (my guitar)

Maybe I should have cut the list in half...but it all fit, so I went with it...

Then, I packed music, a small amp (Roland), a mic (Mikey), chords, batteries, CDs , business cards,  art pad, and oil pastels! 

And I still had room to bring my iPad, phone, umbrella,curling iron, toiletries, hair dryer , oh! And two cute saves!  

So all this fits in my guitar case (yes my guitar is in it as well! Haha!) and a carry on bag the shape of a big purse.  Wow...just listing all this stuff even amazes me...no wonder that my two bags are very heavy!! Oh well.....we'll see what happens... It is manageable ...I do hope!

I'll be arriving in London at 9:30 ...London time tomorrow June 23! 

Oh my oh my!!! This will be my first time!! 

Talk to you tomorrow!

With Love,

Andrea

Hello!!

Oh WOW!! I leave in the morning... 

Philadelphia to JFK... and  then I wait for 7 hours... 

I will use that time wisely....I will write more to you!


talk soon!

eeeeee!! London here I come!!

xo!
Andrea 

It's a bitterly cold January afternoon....I think they say the wind chill is minus one!!

I feel so fortunate to be sitting here, in my reasonably warm room with a hot cup of Earl Grey tea.  Potatoes are baking in the oven...the house is getting a bit warmer even.....,and the smell gets stronger and better!  So as "comfort" food bakes (and soon fills me), I shall fill this page with words....

Today is a "day off" for me. I teach guitar at Settlement Music School....I do have the best job ever! I adore all of my students! I fill most weekends with gigs and play music with so many different musical artists. This weekend in fact, I play with someone new!...Michael Ronstadt on Cello! Next week Joe Arnold joins me on Violin, and David Bobdrummer on Percussion! Then, the following Saturday my 18 year old son, Anthony Carlson, will be playing Violin with me! (He is quite the talent I must say!)  I love sharing music so many ways...and the ways seem to be new each time... and with endless possibilities.

This sharing of music is what is driving me to Europe! (Ah ha! It must be that!)  I know I don't need to go far to do such a thing...as I do plenty of that here!  But the stars seem to be aligning for me...and I'm not going to argue!

I'm still working on my connections and planning... I do realize more than ever what a booking agent must go through.  I book all my gigs here in the States with the exception of a very few. I have had good success with that.  But, far away lands....I find this is quite different...or is it??   Not everyone responds, but when they do it seems to be positive and promising!  So I must keep the faith and keep moving forward with the process any way I know how....

As I have mentioned I have bookings in the works, but I need to spend more time...and reach out even more!  This is a rather huge task and ends up taking a lot of time!  If I wasn't just "learning as I go" I imagine it might be easier. So, maybe the bright spot is that when I go again next year (haha! why not??) I'll have an easier time of it! And, as I find so often, my day off is really another way to work. This is what music is too..it is a business...as much as I try to deny...

But, how can it be work when I love it all so much??  Cleaning the house, now THAT is "work"!!
Okay, I get it, I'm taking the day off from that! So I DO have a day off after all!!! Yay!! ....
(and many many more most likely!)

Oooo! Lunch is ready!! Yay!

more news soon!

with love always,
Andrea

I'm up so late writing...but that is nothing new really.
I am a "night person"... a convenient way to be, especially if you are up late writing!

Hello!!

Happy New Year!  2013!
And, the topic is European Tour!
Surprise!! haha!

With the holidays some of the "planning" slowed down a bit. This is the stage where I am still gathering the contacts, writing, and waiting for responses.. Now that I have my tickets, I have to really sit down and decide on the cities I plan to visit.

Lets see,...as it stands right now..
London
Paris
Amsterdam
Oslo
Berlin
Budapest
Vienna
Milan
Barcelona

Oh MY! It's starting to sink in how tiring this might be! Perhaps I need to scale down a bit, but then I keep thinking...5 weeks...3 to 4 days in a city.....hmmmm ... there is time.. I think!  I want to be free, but I also know I need to make some clear plans for performance dates.  This is a challenge.

Perhaps the best way to handle this is to keep all the cities I plan to go to still on the "list" and mark them off as needed, depending on where I will need and not...

It's better at this point to think broad .....

I'm thinking.... and it is a little daunting too!  Now that I'm back in the swing of all this I'll ponder and get back to you soon..

I feel it is important to share this part of my plan....the confused part...because after all..you are here to experience this with me....hang in there!! This is happening one way or another!

with love,
andrea

I'm so happy to be sitting here writing to you!

Since I have purchased my tickets, my head has been swimming with ideas, plans, contacts, and daydreams.... but perhaps mostly daydreams!

Yes, I am a dreamer... and maybe you are too!  Perhaps that is why you are with me right now? I do hope so...dreaming can be so lovely ..

As I mentioned before, my main focus for this Blog right now is my up-coming European Tour!  I have my tickets...the dates are set, but now a certain process of planning is in order, even for a spontaneous spirit like me!

It all really started about 6 months ago. I began planting the "seeds". I shared openly about my dream and made more than few jaws drop at the boldness of it all... "Alone??",  "Do you have an Agent?", "Where will you stay?" and so on...

And, amazingly to me, when I explained that I was "just going" and had planned to "make it happen" I actually got a lot of support!  People would even start to offer me information, contacts, of what that they knew and had in Europe! Each conversation would flower...  Then, before the talk would get too far, they'd ask "Oh wow!! Can I come with you???" ...."Sure!" I would say...and I still do! Yes, come with me!! Why not?? Nothing is holding you back if you think about it truthfully.... and surely not me!

I am defining my contacts now. The seeds that I have scattered are starting to find places to root! And, just as in a garden, sometimes seeds take root under other plants, even in the cracks of a sidewalk! They can hide....so I must carefully transplant them so get enough sun and the proper nourishment. I have found too that the more I speak of this tour, I receive advise. I listen. This is important too. I want continue to learn more about what needs to be done. And, I will share that with you...

And, one last note before I close for today.  I do dream...yes, but a plan to play music throughout Europe, it is something I take seriously.  I must hone my craft...practice practice practice..with care.  I need to have the best of what I do to offer. I must say, this is something that should be the forefront of planning a tour,....to be ready to give it all you've got!  This is surely my plan...and it has already started....

Welcome!

I write to you this day, with a lovely sunshine streaming through my room, and view a outside of snow still spattered on the ground. It is left over from our first snow of the year, on November 27, (which happened to be my birthday too!).  

Now it is November 29, 2012, and as good as a time as any to start my blog... 

Thank you for joining me today...

As most people, we can find it  a challenge to define ourselves...but when given the opportunity to vent a bit we can pretty much go on and on ....because after all... we are still living, still growing, and still defining ourselves all over again.

The main reason I am starting this blog is the hopes to be of interest as to the life a musician and artist of today.  So many amazing and wonderful things have come to my life through my desire to make and perform music.  I have met countless wonderful people I would have never met otherwise.  I have traveled to towns near and  far (and got lost both near and far! ) to experience places I would have never seen had it not been for my engagements in music.  

This brings me to the greatest musical travel I am working on! My European Tour!!  
It is my inspiration to start this blog! 

You say, " European Tour? How can you, Andrea Carlson, do such a thing? I have never heard of you!!" or "Why is it you and not me?"  and perhaps there are more questions in your mind.  I will be answering all these and more!!

But, I also hope to encourage you to do the same thing!! Anything is possible! I have found that to be true over and over in my life.  We have a power to make things happen....and we can't wait for someone to make it for us! We must be steady in our journey...but enjoy each and every moment...because it is the journey after all is said and done that was the most fun and thrilling, and not the arrival. (And, just a quick comment...um, well, we never arrive....shhhh! it doesn't matter!)

So welcome!

I'll have more soon...

come and visit me again! I can't wait to share with you!!

with love,
andrea