Eddie Watkins Jr. on The Bob Rivers Show

Every week, I have the extreme pleasure and honor to sing at the Center for Spiritual Living with the very talented Eddie Watkins Jr. He's our music director, and he's also had an amazing career as a Motown session musician, bandleader, soloist and song writer.

We're putting on the "Soul Train meets American Bandstand" concert at CSL on Friday, October 21st, and I was able to get him booked on the Bob River's Show on 95.7 KJR FM this morning. He did an AWESOME job!!

Like Getting This Close To Your Dreams

My sisters and I performed this song a million times.

Well, maybe not a million, but at least a thousand. We were pretty good too. I'd take the high part, Anne had the middle part and Linda took the low part. There's even a photo of us in our high-school yearbook performing the song.



And a couple weeks ago, I met a woman who toured around the world with Bette Midler as a back-up singer.

In fact, I was one of HER back-up singers. She was a guest artist at my church, and I sang one line over and over with her:

"I'll Never Be The Same".

She was NOT easy to work with. In fact, the other back-up singer and I were dismissed by her on a couple songs, and she didn't even give us a chance. But I thought, "I have something to learn here, and she does NOT have the power to make me feel inferior. I immediately felt better.

That's when I learned she got to tour with Bette.

I shared how much I admired her for not only her talents, but also for living one of my dreams. And she said "You can do it too...just visualize yourself doing it, know it, and you'll be there".

OK. Bette, you reading this? I wanna be a HARLETTE!

Wouldn't that be cool?

Here's a link to the song I got to sing with Ester Nicholsen:

I'll never be the same.

This in No Way Reflects My Personal Situation

Facebook Life Meets Real Life

This may look like a bunch of cute puppy patooties, but in actuality, it's a significant moment in my Social Networking life.

This was a meet-up of people with dogs, who, with one exception, had only previously met on Facebook.

In fact, three of these pooches have their own Facebook pages, and have been communicating with the human owners through their dogs' voices.

Sounds a little unusual, but it was a lot of fun.

One of the actual humans on Facebook initiated a meeting because he would be in Seattle for his daughter's college graduation. He said he had a few free hours and proposed the get-together.

I suggested the Magnuson Park Off-Leash Area--best dog park in Seattle in my opinion.

Since it was all about the dogs, that's where our attention was focused.

I brought Dudley and Motley, Larry brought his wife Michelle, his daughter and a friend of hers, and his puppies, Seamus and Reggie (who was a little too attracted to me), Martha brought her fiance Adam and puppies Frannie and the famous Buddy-Oskar,

And internationally-renowned Samoyed pooch Jamie brought his dad Doug. Jamie's sister-dog Alice had to stay home because of a recent medical procedure.

There was a lot of smiling and all the dogs got along famously.

Dudley, Jamie and Motley had a swell time at the beach:

And we all got to know a little more about each other as human beings, human pet owners, and real-life dogs.

Before Facebook, I never would have believed this sort of thing was possible. But because my little white dog seems to express a side of humanity that I don't, we've welcomed new friends into our lives.

Pretty cool, I'd say.

This is my Favorite

Really made me smile when I saw this photo that somebody manufactured.

I remember I was anchoring the midday news show on KOMO when George W. had his famous news conference on board the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.

I saw that bravado-laden sign and I screamed in the newsroom to the TV... "LIAR!". I wasn't on the air at the moment, since we were carrying the speech.

My program director was anchoring with me, and he quickly asked the board op and one other person in the studio to leave the room. Then he reprimanded me for my outburst.

It was instinctive. I have a really strong Bullshit detector. And he knew it.

Yeah, maybe it was inappropriate to yell at the TV, but it was pretty clear this was a set-up.

Still to be determined:, if the "dumping of Osama's body at sea" was also a set-up.

I think there's a lot more to the story we haven't heard.

Global Love Day

It's coming up soon! May 1st, to be more specific. What's it about?

See below. :

Global Love Day – Sunday, May 1, 2011

We are one humanity on this planet.
All life is interconnected and interdependent.
All share in the Universal bond of love.
Love begins with self acceptance and forgiveness.
With respect and compassion we embrace diversity.
Together we make a difference through love.

It is our vision to unite one and all in a celebration of love and compassion. We honor each May 1st as a symbolic day of unconditional love and call upon all people and all nations to gather together in the wisdom of peace and love.

Global Love Day is the universal recognition of our innate oneness through love. When we come from this limitless love we naturally and easily embrace ourselves and our fellow humanity. Opening our heart, we allow unconditional love to be our guide and compassion to be our gift to life.

We invite you to celebrate with us by consciously focusing on love and what it means to you throughout this day. We hope that by practicing love in all areas of your life, you will find it easy to love unconditionally all year long. Our main theme explains it best... "Love Begins With Me"

What I Can Do
Simply be love. Let the love within your heart be the focus of your awareness throughout the day. Allow yourself to be accepting, forgiving, peaceful, joyful and in harmony with yourself and all life around you. Just be!

Allowing unconditional love to be your primary intention is the main idea, and if you find yourself also wanting to actually "do" something loving or share the day with others, we provide several categories on our website to help give you ideas of how you may approach the day. We encourage you to come up with your own inspired, creative ideas and expressions.

We Celebrate our Humanity
As we continue to connect with people and organizations around the world, we are amazed at how much is being done to positively assist humanity. There are so many wonderful people and associations that are actively working on behalf of a community, nation and even in global proportions.

We often remind ourselves that what is being presented by mainstream information sources is often a narrow and negative perspective of what is happening upon this planet right now. To the contrary, our experience is that there is good and right occurring everywhere. Look for love and you will see it all around you.

You courage inspires us. In a world that has historically revered the negative and fear-based aspects, it takes strength to be and share love. It is time for love to become our common vision.

Please join us. Be a part of this global day by choosing love, compassion, peace, and unity. Love locally and spread it globally.

Tweet, text, post, blog, and share this information with your friends, relatives and coworkers. Join us on Facebook, Second Life, YouTube and numerous other social sites too.

Our flyers are in over 35 languages and available to download and print. We have sample ideas to get you started along with various confirmed events already posted on our site, and you can view over 300 proclamations from elected leaders - plus much more! Please visit http://www.globalloveday.com/ or our main site at http://www.thelovefoundation.com/

My 2011 Oscar Picks

Here's the list of what I believe WILL win the Academy Awards this Sunday night, and in some cases, what WILL win next to what SHOULD win.

Best Picture: The King's Speech

Best Actor: Colin Firth

Best Supporting Actor: Geffory Rush WILL win, but Christian Bale SHOULD win

Best Actress: Natalie Portman

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Art Direction: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 1

Best Cinematography: Black Swan

Costume Design: The King's Speech

Best Director: UPSET! David O. Russel for The Fighter

Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Documentary Short Subject: Poster Girl

Film Editing: Black Swan

Foreign Language Film: Biutiful

Music-Original Score: The Social Network

Music-Original Song: "I See The Light" from Tangled

Short Film-Animated: "The Gruffalo"

Short Film- Live Action: "God Of Love" OR Nawewe --but probably God of Love

Sound Editing: Inception

Sound Mixing: "The Social Network"

Visual Effects: Inception

Writing-Adapted Screenplay: True Grit

Writing-Original Screenplay: The King's Speech

But the big question.....What to wear to the awards? :)

I'm Still Here

I'm here again.

Filing for Unemployment compensation for another year.

Unbelievable.

I really thought I would be able to find a job by now. At least I thought I'd warrant some interviews or make it to the next level of something good. After all, I've got nearly 30 years in my profession, have also worked as a writer, marketing director, TV producer, voiceover talent and I know how to bottle beer.

Turns out I'm "not what they're looking for". But that's all about to change. I can feel it.

Sometimes you just have to wait for the right thing to come to you.

OK, it's time.

I just re-upped my unemployment claim, and they make you take another "waiting week". That means I won't be earning $440 this week, even though I'm following all the rules.

And the mortgage is due.

So, once again, I'm going to have to go into my 401(k) account to help make ends meet. I'm grateful I have some retirement savings, but it's very difficult to spend this money, knowing I'm taking it away from "retirement" funds.

But I've got to pay off my credit card.

And the mortgage is due.

I'm grateful I have a mortgage. Grateful for my health. Grateful that Washington's unemployment benefits are so generous.

And for the most part, this past year has been a good one. I kind of like working part-time.

If I only didn't have to worry about the bills.

Welcome to adulthood.