In busking, some days are better than others. For example, this week:

Last night I had another show at the Veterans Center for Performing Arts www.govcpa.com as part of my every thursday residency there but last night was different because I had my friends Lyndzie, Mallory, and Lauren play as well songwriter in the round style. I also had a wonderful drummer named Charles Wiley play with us and he was great! He just played right along the first time he'd ever heard the songs! These shows are always fun and I have highlighted a few of my favorite moments from past ones and I have another to add from last night: toward the end of the set, between songs, Lyndzie started playing the beginning of a song we all know and we started singing it, just messing around, but it became clear pretty fast that we were doing it and there was no stopping it so we sang MMMBOP by Hanson with harmonies and drums and everything :) Yes, we were all little Hanson fans and we went back there last night. It was funny too because no one else knew what we were singing until it got to the chorus and then they all laughed and clapped. Good times.

Kris

Hi!

I've told you a little bit about the Veteran's Center for the Performing arts in telling you about my residency there but I wanted to tell you a little more about it by directing you to the VCPA Page on Facebook. Here you can learn more about the VCPA's mission to provide free artistic outlets for Veterans in their transition from service to civilian life.

They are also working on a documentary film called Straight from the Soldier's Mouth and are trying to raise $50,000 toward that and other projects by Memorial Day! That means that if each of you donates the minimum amount of $10 you will help raise the entire amount!! If you pass this on to YOUR friends we can do even more! Click on the link to the page above and then click on the link to "Join the Cause Page" under Events to go there and make your donation. Please help if you can (I know its a hard time for everyone) This is a great cause run by truly wonderful people. There are 95 days left until Memorial Day. You can keep checking the VCPA cause page to keep up with the countdown of days and the count UP to 50,000!

Another way you can help out if you are in the LA area is by coming to MY SHOWS there! There is FREE PARKING and Admission is by donation (whatever you can do!) There is also beer, wine, soda, and water available by donation. This money goes to fund these projects and if you buy my Cd's at the show I will give a percentage to the VCPA!

Its every Thursday at 9pm
446 S La Brea
Los Angeles, CA

Hope you to see you there or see you there in spirit through any donation you can make!

Thank you!

Kris

Hey! Some of you have expressed interest in me coming to your area and now you can "Demand It" at
http://eventful.com/krisangelis I am looking to put a tour together and I would like to know where you want me to go! So go to www.eventful.com (ITs FREE) and "Demand" me in your area. Even suggestions of venues would be appreciated :) Just leave them in the comments on the eventful.com/krisangelis page or in the description of your Demand.

Thanks!
Kris

I think you actually have to go to the demand of your specific area and get the widget like the one below for your specific area on that page by clicking on Stick It or Link It on the right side of the page. You can put it on your page and get more people in your area to demand it also :) I'm still figuring this all out. So if you are in an area where I am already demanded, you can add your demand to that and go to that page and get the widget, or you can demand me in a new area and go to that page and get the widget or link to put on your profile to promote it! I hope this is helpful to you because if you guys do that it will definitely be helpful to me! :)

I've been going to the Third Street Promenade a few days a week to play my music out there for the shoppers and its been fun and interesting. The other day in particular was pretty eventful...at least in my little world. As I was pulling into the parking structure, I was surprised to see people standing in the middle of the driveway. Then I noticed a poor little old lady laying across the driveway!! She had fallen and hit her head. It was kind of surreal - wasn't sure what to do but someone was already on the phone calling an ambulance and a woman was helping the lady up. She was alright. She got up and walked to the side. She didn't want the ambulance but it came anyway. I hope she doesn't have too bad of a headache!

So then I went to my spot near Starbucks...for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to get tea before I went to stand outside and sing for hours...now I don't know about you but tea makes me have to pee like crazy so that halfway through my time slot I packed up and started frantically looking for someplace with a restroom that doesn't make you buy something first!! I don't drink tea before my sets anymore.

I started my second set farther along the Promenade and noticed a girl across the street with her whole set up on its little dolly. The men that work the shoeshine stand near the Starbucks had mentioned her to me. They said that I should get an amp and stuff like she has...I've been out there with just my acoustic guitar and my voice. I played a few songs and she was watching. I got worried that I had accidentally taken her spot and asked her about it. She said she was just waiting until 6 and she was enjoying listening to me. I found out that she is from England and was actually going back the next day to figure out her visa situation. She was so sweet and offered to let me use her amp and mic and everything because "I deserve to be heard." It was great! I got to play and sing my songs without thrashing my guitar and my voice in order to be heard :) Although, it is fun to try to get people's attention without an amp. The manager of the street performers on the Promenade actually told me the other day that I need to be careful because they give tickets to people for being too loud.......I WASN'T USING AN AMP!! Lol!

A few other things happened that day but they might only be interesting to me :)

Kris

I had my first show of my weekly residency at the Veterans Center for Performing Arts last Thursday! It was fun! It was all people I knew and I got to just play whatever I felt like and whatever they requested and it was really laid back. One of the requests was "The Juice Song." This is a song that I came up with during Big Sur Theatre Lab in the beginning of January. Its a ridiculous medley of known songs that I changed the words of to make it about me as a Juice Box superhero. Totally the hidden track on my next CD! - not really.

Some other highlights of the show were when Lyndzie, Mallory, and Lauren - all talented singer/songwriters and members of my sideproject, the Twilight Music Girls came up and joined me on a few songs. My sister also sang with me which is fun when I can get her to do it because our voices sound cool harmonizing together - its like singing with myself! (She is my identical twin, in case you didn't know that) I also sang a brand new song that I pretty much finished that day called Must Be Nice or at least thats what I'm calling it now.

But perhaps the most memorable moment was when the owner of the theatre brought out his commemorative Barack Obama Election Day plate (WITH certificate of authenticity) and set it up on a stool like the one my sister and I were sitting on and put a microphone in front of it and we all sang Bob Dylan's The Times are A-Changin' The whole audience sang along too. It was awesome and hilarious!
I hope that these weekly shows continue to be as much fun!
You should come and then it will be!

Kris

I just recorded a new version of my song Drowning which I'm pretty excited about. You can hear the older version on the Twilight Music Girls page. The new version has lower vocals which aren't quite as intense but higher guitar and beautiful cello played by Josh Neumann. I posted the new version on my profile so you guys can compare and I'd be grateful for any feedback! My goal with this song is to get it on the New Moon soundtrack. New Moon is the sequel to the Twilight film based on the books by Stephenie Meyer. I actually wrote the song after I read the book, so if they like the song it would actually fit perfectly with the story of the film :)

I'm also sitting in a studio right now while my friend Lyndzie Taylor records one of her songs with basically the same story as Drowning We had to go out to Orange County to the studio so we are going to stop by at Disneyland on the way back! (We both have annual passes) Heehee! :D

***K. I had to add this part: We went to Disneyland and went on the California Screamin roller coaster and then we were going to do the new Toy Story ride and thats it, but the line for the Toy Story ride was really long and we didn't want to wait and get stuck in rush hour, so Lyndzie wanted to go on The Tower of Terror. Now I have a traumatic childhood experience with that ride that has kept me from going on it since I was 9. I went on it with my parents and sister in Disney World and had no idea what it was about and there, the ride starts out all slow and you go on a little track through "The Twilght Zone" and I thought thats what it was - like the haunted mansion or something - then it opened the doors so you could see the whole park which was pretty cool and then...IT DROPPED!!!! I didn't know that was going to happen! And there were no seatbelts, just a little lap bar which didn't go far enough down for my little nine year old body so I came completely off the seat! Someone made a rude gesture in the first photo, so the ride operators said we could go on it again right away so we could see our photo - I'm not sure how but my parents convinced me to get on that thing again and then swore NEVER AGAIN!! Mallory and Lyndzie even tried to get me to go on it last month but I lucked out because the line was too long. BUT...Lyndzie got me on it this time, glaring at her, my hands sweating the whole way and...it wasn't that bad. =)

Kris

I am starting a residency at The Veterans Center for the Performing Arts!

Learn more about this great organization here: http://www.govcpa.com/
I will be performing every Thursday night in February and March and then it may change to Friday nights! Parking is free and admittance is whatever you can donate! This is a great chance to come to a intimate venue and enjoy some music while drinking soda, beer, or wine the proceeds of which go to this organization. So tell your friends to tell their friends and we can make it a fun time!