8 August 2007

Yay! The sun has finally shown its face!  Maybe, just maybe, we'll get a summer after all…here's hoping.  For those of you not aware, over the last few weeks the UK has been dealing with lightening, thunder, hail storms and torrential downpours resulting in devastating flooding across the country.  I've been one of the lucky ones.  Thankfully, the water that accumulated on my balcony during the major deluge didn't quite manage to overflow into my flat…although it was pretty close to doing just that.  Many others weren't quite so lucky and my heart goes out to them.

Since I've been back in the UK I've been keeping busy with concerts across the country, as well as making it over to Dublin to perform with the RTE Concert Orchestra.  Performing with such talented musicians was a real honour.  Just over a week ago I performed at Classic FM's Woburn Live concert singing some of the 'West Side Story' hits for the first time in public.  I was joined on stage by the wonderful Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo and together we sang the parts of Maria and Tony.  For those of you that didn't make it (as well as those of you that did and liked what you heard!), a 'West Side Story' recording celebrating it's 50^th Anniversay will be released on the 13^th August featuring Vittorio and myself …so get your copy!  It's the best musical ever written in my opinion and you won't be able to stop yourself from singing along to all the hits such as 'I Feel Pretty', 'Tonight', 'One Hand, One Heart', 'Maria'…I could go on and on!

So, what else have I been up to?  Well, over the weekend I had two concerts at Shrewsbury Abbey (my third visit) which was a fun trip as I got to spend a day sightseeing around the beautiful town.  I did get lost and spent most of my afternoon trying to find my way back in time for my soundcheck for the second show, but if you know me well, that is to be expected!

I also had a show at the Eisteddfod Festival in Llangollen, Wales last month which I'm thrilled to tell you was sold out with 4000 people in attendance.  For my final number, 'Hine E Hine', I was joined by the New Zealand Youth Choir which included many of my friends from back home -some of them I hadn't seen for at least 3 or 4 years (!) so it was a special moment.  The Welsh were very warm and welcoming as usual. J

Before I forget, I have to tell you about one other performance…for none other than His Holiness the Dalai Lama!  He had come over to Derry, Northern Ireland to support his friend's 'Children In Crossfire' charity.  It was a moving event. 

Better sign off before I bore you, but just one more thing!  On the 31^st August (this month!) I will be holding a concert –actually, more like a gathering! -at the Shephard's Bush Empire in London called 'Hayley's Kiwi Ceili' to give the All Black's a fabulous send off for the Rugby World Cup.  Dave Dobbyn, a kiwi legend, is going to be joining me up on stage to sing some of New Zealand's favourite songs as well as us both performing some of our own hits.  For those of you in or around London, you gotta come! 

Right, better be on my way.  Lots of love to you all…

Hayleyxxx

Hey guys,

How are ya?  I'm fantastic.  In great spirits.  Hope you are too.  :)  I'm in Boise, Idaho at the moment, backstage at the Velma V. Morrison Centre getting ready for the tonight's show.  I'm sitting in the hair and make-up room getting all dolled up with the rest of the Celtic Woman girls and, as usual, we all are in fits of laughter.  We have some great personalities on tour, including Nil (make-up) and Ryan (hair) who always keep us amused. ;)

So, where to start?  Well, as some of you may know, I was in New Zealand for a week of album promotion at the end of last month.  Unfortunately I only had a couple of days in my home city of Christchurch so I only was able to see my family briefly and meet up with one close friend who resorted to coming round to my house to watch me pack.  My family and I did quite well though, considering.  We managed to squeeze in a trip to our lovely local Indian restaurant for dinner, a movie at home (Flightplan…a little too scary for me though!), some shopping for all and lots of hugs of course!  It wasn't much fun saying goodbye to everyone at the airport, but it was nice to have Mum accompany me around New Zealand for my work commitments.  During my trip home I performed on the New Zealand version of 'Dancing With The Stars'.  I sang 'The Water Is Wide' from my latest album as the votes were being counted.  I found myself really nervous!  I assume this was because 'DWTS' is NZ's biggest TV show at the moment and I knew all of my friends and relatives would be watching.  Despite the nerves though, I did enjoy myself tremendously.  I met up with the super-talented and forever-funny Jason Gunn who is the host of the show and whom I used to work with quite a bit as a youngster.  He's watched me grow up so it was nice to be working with him once again.
I also had the honour of singing the National Anthem at the dawn ANZAC day service in Wellington.  Thousands gathered in darkness and in almost silence.  It felt so special to be there and to have the opportunity to pay my respects to those who had lost their lives and to those who had given so much to us all.  Three of my Great Uncles were fighter pilots in WW2, one of which lost his life, and so this added to the significance of the day for me.

Australia was my next stop.  I was in the country for 2 days - one in Sydney and one in Melbourne -doing album promotion.  I performed on some TV shows, talked on a number of radio stations and gave interviews for the local magazines and papers.  I also had a signing at 'Readings' where I sang a few numbers accompanied by guitar, was then interviewed on stage and afterwards, met the wonderful audience and signed albums.  This was the highlight of the trip for me.

So I'm now back in the US on the Celtic Woman tour and having an all-round fantastic time.  Must get back to work.  We have a show to do!  Look after yourselves…

Hayleyx

PS.  Photos coming shortly!!  I still haven't been able to hunt down a camera-laptop cord! 

A big 'konichiwa' from Tokyo, Japan!  It's just gone 1 o'clock in the afternoon and I am hanging out in my dressing room at FUJI TV's studios getting ready for my appearance on the popular tv show 'Waratte Iitomo' ('everybody can laugh') where I will be singing my English version of the Japanese song 'Nada Sousou' that I recorded for the Japanese version of my album 'Treasure'.  I've been in here in Japan for a few days now doing promotion for 'Treasure' and, despite the jetlag and a serious lack of sleep, have been having an awesome time.  This must be about my eighth or ninth visit to Japan, but I haven't been here for a while so it's really nice to be back.  I'm so intrigued by the Japanese culture.  Everyone is so polite and respectful, following very different etiquette to what I am used to.  It's always a bit of a culture shock no matter how many times I've visited before.  This time it was a simple pool trip that completely overwhelmed me.  The pool was part of a spa/gym complex and right from the outset -after I'd taken off my shoes at the ladies changing room door like the sign said, mistakenly changed into the slippers labelled 'spa' and then been chased by a lady panicked by the fact that I was wearing footwear in the changing room -I knew I was in trouble.  I changed in the wrong area, wore the wrong robe to the pool, didn't know that I had to book my place in the pool in advance (only 4 people are allowed in the pool at a time), didn't put my hair in a swimming cap when I was finally allowed in the water and then struggled my way through the whole showering and dressing process on my way out.  I never expected my swimming pool visit to be such an adventure.

Yesterday I was in Kochi performing with the Japanese group 'Begin' at their show as a surprise guest artist.  It was a wonderful experience -the group are very talented, as well as very kind and courteous, and the audience was very warm.  Dinner in Kochi was great too -squid guts and ink, raw baby sardines, sea snails…fortunately there was also tempura (deep fried vegetables for those of you unfamiliar with Japanese cuisine).  There's nothing like a bit of recognisable food alongside the completely unidentifiable.
On this trip to Japan I also had the opportunity of working again with the gorgeous harp player Mika and her husband Hitoshi on guitar.  They accompanied me on my song 'Summer Rain' which we were performing for a radio show.  It was a beautiful arrangement and superbly played.

I'll put up some photos for you guys as soon as I manage to find my laptop-camera connection…Japan was a lot of fun and very beautiful.  We timed our trip really well -the cherry blossom trees were in bloom and looked so pretty lining Tokyo's streets in pink.

Speak later!

Hayleyx

Please enjoy these pictures from Hayley's Trip to Japan!

Thank you for everyone's participation! Here are the long awaited answers to your questions for Hayley! Your Signed CD covers will be coming shortly.

Hello hello!

How is everyone?!  I have to say, this glorious sunshine in Atlanta, GA, is doing me the world of good.  I'm sorry to those of you who are missing out!  It's a bit of a contrast to the crisp New York weather we experienced just the other day where I had no choice but to buy some new boots to replace my drenched ones (I was the only one who repeatedly stepped in the melted snow puddles) and where the Celtic Woman girls and I had to pile on every item of clothing we owned to avoid freezing to the spot when we kicked off the St Patrick's Day parade.  The previous day we had performed at the White House (where they fortunately did have sufficient heating as we were wearing our sleeveless stage costumes!).  It was a great honour and although I had actually already performed for and met President George Bush before, I, along with everyone else, was pretty star-struck!  I had hoped to have a quiet word to the President about his work on Global Warming, but unfortunately he was whisked off early, along with the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahearn TD, due to a terrorist threat.  We also had to leave promptly –we only had a sold-out concert at Radio City Music Hall that night…a 3hr train journey away!

Both Radio City shows went very well.  The crowd seemed to have a blast and so did we.  I still wasn't back in 100% health and was dealing with the tail end of a cold, but despite this, did enjoy myself immensely.  The CW team is made up of such wonderful people –I really am one lucky girl. 

On Tuesday I had a solo NY gig at Ullyses where there were also a couple of NZ film crews attending (I believe some footage has been put up on my website www.hayleywestenra.com).  Initially it was quite strange going back to doing a solo show as opposed to being up on stage with the support of 4 other girls, but very quickly I felt right back at home.  The show gave me the opportunity to perform some of the new material from my new album 'Celtic Treasure' (in the US)/ 'Treasure' (in the rest of the world) which was fun.  I also performed the song 'Dulaman' which in the Irish language means 'seaweed', however this song is actually about a young man. He is nicknamed by the seaweed he gathers and is trying to win over a fellow seaweed gatherer's daughter.  This is one of the songs I perform on tour with Celtic Woman and I really wanted to try it out with the musicians I had backing me up for this show –keyboard/whistle, violin and guitar.  I think we did a smashing version of it if I'm allowed to say so myself!

The CW group reconvened in Charlotte, NC on the Thursday for two shows at the Ovens Auditorium –great audiences as usual – and then hit Nashville, TN for two shows over the weekend.  As the tourbus pulled away from Jackson Hall and headed towards Atlanta, GA I realised that I hadn't seen anything of the city apart from the hotel, venue and local Walgreens, which was a little disappointing, but at least I now have a good excuse to come back!

Well, I'd better go and get myself ready for the show tonight…Lots of love to you all.

Hayleyxxx

Celtic Treasure, In-Stores TODAY! 3/13/2007

Please visit the below link to see the transcript from Hayley's live chat on gather.com yesterday!

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976929700

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These are the 20 Questions (chosen at random) that will be answered by Hayley.

For the first 10 Questions (chosen at random), please wait for a MySpace message from Hayley to collect your prize! Thank you for participating! Hayley's answers will be posted in the next few weeks!