Behind the scenes at the MusicOz Awards

I know it was a whole week ago.  It's taken me ages to write this post.  My apologies.  What can I say?  Sometimes I'm just rubbish at blogging.

But I'm here now, so let's not waste time.

Now where were we?  Oh yes... that's right, before the awards I was concerned about 2 main issues.

1. The red carpet.  I was quite seriously worried that I would look like a fool as I found myself on the red carpet wondering what to do (while media people took photos of my awkwardness). 

2. The cold.  The little number I had picked out seemed to be right for the type of event, but very wrong for the predicted temperature of 'very bloody cold'.

I'll get to how these two worries panned out a little later, but firstly, I need to mention one other thing.  In heading down to an awards night at the Sydney Opera House, I guess I was expecting one thing more than anything else.. glamour.

Well... how do I say this?  While the photos and footage of the event may well have looked glamorous... the behind the scenes reality was anything but.  And that's just the way I like it.

Let me start at the beginning.

While the event itself didn't start until 7, for us finalists it began much earlier.  I got dressed, did my hair and makeup at about 2pm and I set off around 3.  Now considering the fancy night ahead, most people would probably have taken a taxi.. but not this independent artist.  I saved my pennies and took the train.  What I hadn't thought of was that at 3.15 on a Tuesday afternoon, the carriages would be filled with school kids.  I was surrounded by teenage boys eating hot chips and occasionaly throwing them at each other.  Priceless.  At least there was no tomato sauce.

From the train I headed to our meeting point.  I only had to walk around 800m but heels are really not my bag.  With blisters on both feet already (and this was only 3.30) my first stop was the bathroom with blister bandaids.  I wasn't alone.  Take another look back through the photos of the evening.  The girls look completely comfortable in their outfits don't they?  Little do you know that many of those girls were in the bathroom only minutes earlier, desperately applying bandaids, trying to fix ladders in stockings and even trying to cover holes in skirts.

Once the wardrobe mishaps were taken care of though.. time to hit the carpet.

Now what do you think happens on a carpet?  That artists and personalities instinctively know how to be glamorous and are perfectly at ease?  Not likely.  Let me tell you what really happens.  The artists queue up at the organised location.  The media arranges themselves where they have been told to.  And at the right time, after much waiting, one of the team of organisers tells the first artist to walk on the carpet.  The others wait while that person has their moment.  That person is then ushered off and the next artist is told it's their turn.  Time on the actual carpet is probably between 5 - 10 seconds.  So much for the 15 minutes of fame...

Once you've queued up for the carpet though.. that's not the end.  When you walk off the carpet, you join the next queue, for interviews.  So much waiting around.  Fascinating.

I was interviewed by a presenter riding a scooter, and somehow or other, I ended up being taken for a joy roy, standing up, around the Opera House.. all for the camera of course.  It's not that easy riding a scooter standing up in heels...

And from there.. you can pretty much guess the rest.  I went into the Opera House (met some very entertaining people) and then took my seat for the awards.  (It was only at this point that I realised I hadn't even noticed the cold outside.)

The cameras rolled, the lights were flashing, and the performances were impressive.  This is the glamour you were expecting right? Kamahl was even there! 

But while all of the flashing lights were great to see.. I have to say, my favourite part was the less glamorous side.  There's too much pressure in glamour... I like things to be real. I loved the chip fight... the blisters.. the wardrobe mishaps.  That's what made it interesting.  

So now that I know the reality of a night like this.. instead of being nervous next time.. I'll be excited.  I'll put my blister bandaids on even before I leave the house, and I'll be ready for all kinds of things to go wrong.  And my clutch will be filled with a needle and thread.  Just in case.  You never know.

Thanks MusicOz Awards, I had a great time!

The long walk up the red carpet

What's so great about a red carpet?  Why is it that so many people have a desire to walk up one?  As soon as someone is standing on the red carpet, we watch them.. take photos of them, and maybe even wish that we too were on that same piece of carpet.

I'm actually not obsessed with it.  I don't trawl through magazines to see what the stars are wearing.  I don't even tune in to watch awards like the Oscars.  To me, the red carpet is not such a massive deal.  And yet now that I have to walk up a red carpet of my own for the MusicOz Awards...  I feel slightly daunted by it.  Why?

I know how to walk... I've walked on carpet before.. I've even successfully entered the Sydney Opera House before (no stumbling, no falling.. a total functional success) and yet.. the idea of me stumbling up the red carpet seems quite feasible indeed.  

And then there's the other consideration... What are you meant to do on the carpet anyway?  Is it a stealth walk in a straight line?  Directly to the end of the carpet as quickly as you can and then out of sight?  Or does one mill about... presumably looking relaxed and at home on the carpet? I'd like to think I could pull the latter off, but nerves may just push me to option one.  

But that's not the end of the concerns... For the greatest stress when it comes to the red carpet, look no further than your own wardrobe.  At any other time, the contents may seem perfectly acceptable, even cool and cutting edge (I am clearly NOT talking about my wardrobe there) but as soon as you learn about the upcoming carpet date, every single piece of clothing you own instantly looks like it belongs in the loser pile.

Now if you've got money.. this may be a simple problem to solve.  But let's remember we're talking about the MusicOz Awards, an Awards night for independent artists.  Now I can't speak for the other artists, but this independent artist has a wardrobe budget of about $50.  Tricky.

I don't want to give too many secrets away about what I'll be sporting up the carpet (and my walk may indeed look more like I'm playing sport) but let's just say, in creating this outfit, more time was spent, than money.  If only I was a gifted seamstress I could have saved myself not only the dollars, but about 5 hours of stitching too.

The MusicOz Awards are on tomorrow night (May 15) and you can tune in to watch on Youtube TV.  I'm a finalist in the singer/songwriter category (for my song 'Reborn'), and no matter what happens on the night, I'll have all the behind the scenes goss for you in a few days!

Kx

MusicOz Awards Finalist!

What a shock I had when I turned on my computor the other day to see my name on the list of finalists for the MusicOz Awards!

You know how it is.. there's so much going on that it's impossible to keep a track of it all.  I had sent in a song a few months ago (yes just the one song.. I figured you gotta be in it to win it.. but I didn't want to go crazy entering everything).  So once I had submitted.. I forgot about it.  Completely.  When I saw that the finalists had been named, I hesitated... 'should I spend the time checking just in case????  Okay, go make a cup of tea and read through the names - you can spare 5 minutes!'

That was my decision... I sipped slowly on my tea, reading through the names of the lucky finalists.  I knew then that these finalists would get driven to the awards in a limousine, and then walk down the red carpet to the Opera House where the awards will take place.  How cool for them, I thought.

My tea was strong and steaming... and everyone knows you need to take care when drinking hot tea.  I read further down the list of names... and saw one that looked remarkably like mine!  Holy shit... It is mine!  I gasped... the tea was hot... I spluttered... 'That's my name... on the list of finalists... ' I scanned the room for a few moments, wondering how often typos happen.  But after several cross checks, I confirmed it's true.  I'm off to the awards.

Now I need a cloth.. and something to wear on that carpet!  Help!

Stop motion #2

Hey Peeps,

Finally, here's a link to my 2nd music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu5kKsPfkSE

Check it out, and send a link to your friends! (thanks, you're awesome by the way)

And here's some info about it...

So after making 'The Life Raft', it was a massive challenge to come back and do another stop motion, because it needed to be totally different to the first, which means that the easy option of animating things stuck to the wall, needed to be avoided.

This time I wanted to take it out of the bedroom, and away from a simple one frame set up. In order to do that, I needed a professional photographer who could roll with the location and angle changes, making sure that each photo looked great along the way. Another challenge, was that despite the increased technical difficulty, my budget was again set at about $20 (which covered rope and balloons).

Jesse Taylor is the brave photographer who volunteered for this enormous task. He worked tirelessly, setting up the frames, taking the shots, and then editing the photos together so that the change of scenes looked smooth.
Without Jesse, this project would have been a complete mish mash, so a massive thanks to him.

Check out his website: www.jessetaylorphotography.com

or find him on facebook.

I was also extremely excited to be able to borrow some fabulous dresses from two glorious Brisbane based designers.

That stunning flowing skirt comes from Laurence St Pierre
www.laurencestpierre.com

And the super cute cartoon dress is from Edwina Tait
Facebook: Edwina Tait Fashion Design, Styling and Event Management.

Feel free to look them up and place an order!

Another big thank you goes to Miles Thomas for volunteering to be the main man. And of course there was a plethora of extras who had no idea what they were getting themselves into, but did it anyway. Thanks girls and boys, you were all great.

The shooting for this was over about a week, with another week needed to edit the 1250 photos together. 

This was a massive learning curve for us, but I won't go into all the details of that now.. there's a 'behind the scene' video to come which will show exactly how this was done, what some of the more difficult things were and what we learned for next time!

For now, enjoy the video, and make sure you head over to my facebook page for details of the 'behind the scenes' video, and my upcoming EP."


Kate x

flood relief concerts

Hi guys,

As you may already be aware, flood waters in Rockhampton stopped me from getting to Tamworth, so sadly my gigs there had to be cancelled. However, I'm not one to be idle..

As the water slowly starts to recede across QLD, the cleanup is now fully underway. With so many communities crippled by the flooding, flood relief fundraisers are happening right across the state.

I have been invited to play at several relief concerts and events so far, and I am honoured to take part. Check out my events calendar for an up to date look at what is organised. And if there's a flood fundraiser happening in your area and you're looking for more people to get involved, give me a shout or pass my details on.

A big thanks to ABC radio national as well as 4RO for their support playing 'The Life Raft'! It's awesome to hear from listeners right across Australia, so keep the comments coming!

And finally, now that the airport is close to reopening I can look at dates to make my second music video in Sydney... stay tuned!

I hope 2011 is getting better for you all day by day.

k x