Calgary Stampeders Game - September 28, 2012

Remember all those questions?

Came across a great picture today that reminded me of all the questions I used to get when KJ&C were first born and people loved being nosey.  Below is the picture and the link to a blog I wrote back in 2006 about those questions:

http://the-purpose-driven-blog.blogspot.ca/2006/09/if-you-dont-want-to-be-celebrity-dont.html

Singing with the masses!

Below is a screenshot of a web story about me singing as part of a 100-voice choir at this year's Calgary Stampede.  In case you can't read it, here's the link: Singing with the masses

Happy 100th Calgary Stampede Everyone!!

YAAAAHOOOOOO!!!!!

In case you're not on Twitter or Facebook,  here is video (two actually, taken from different angles) of my singing O Canada at the Calgary Stampeders preseason game on June 15th.

Sideline view:

  

View from the stands where Steve & the boys were sitting:

The Biggest Stage Yet...Part 2!!

Could 2012 perhaps be an even better year for singing than 2011?  Certainly in the anthem category, it's beginning to look that way.

Less than 24 hours after posting 'The Biggest Stage Yet', I got an email from the director of game operations & events for the Calgary Stampeders asking if I could sing the anthem at the Stamps pre-season game June 15th.

HOLY MOLY!!!

The seating capacity at McMahon Stadium is over 35,000!! THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND!!!

Granted, a pre-season game likely won't be a sell-out, but if it's anything like the 2011 pre-season game, I could be singing in front of 25,000 people.

Hopefully this game will lead to more games during the 2012 season.  I'd be extra excited if I was given the opportunity to sing at the Calgary vs. Winnipeg game in September.

Did I say HOLY MOLY already?

The Biggest Stage Yet!

This time last year, I had lived the dream of singing the national anthem at a major sporting event thanks to the Calgary Vipers. This year, a month from today, I will sing in front of my largest crowd ever. Granted it's with 99 other singers, but what an amazing opportunity.

 A work colleague sent me an email last week with a link to the Calgary Stampede blog. The blog read: In celebration of the Stampede Centennial, we are assembling a 100 voice choir to participate each evening of the Calgary Stampede singing the national anthem! 

The casting call for singers was the next day, so I quickly fired off an email to the contact person hoping there was a spot left for me to fill. I got confirmation within an hour that they still needed a few people and so off I went to the casting call the next morning.

There wasn't a huge crowd of people there which surprised me. Then again, I was one of the first people there and after I left, there was still 3 hours to go in the casting call.

They called us in three at a time.  Each of us went to a separate panel member who asked us a few questions and then we sang for them.  I had assumed everyone would be asked to sing the anthem, so I wasn't prepared when the panel member said "So, what song would you like to sing today?".

I sang O Canada :)

She stopped me about 5 lines in, said 'Ya, you're good. You're in' and directed me to go see the music director at the piano. I sang O Canada with him as he played the piano and that was it. Casting call over. I had secured my spot as 1 in 100 for the 100th Anniversary of the Calgary Stampede.

This coming weekend is our first rehearsal as a group and in two weeks, we will be going into a recording studio to record the song.  There will be a final rehearsal on the Grandstand stage the night before "Sneak Peak" and then every night for the 10 nights of Stampede, I will be standing in front of 20,000 people singing O Canada.

20,000 people!!!! Assuming it's a packed house every night, that's potentially 200,000 people throughout the course of the 10 days of Stampede.

Amazing!!

I'm excited beyond words for the opportunity. Again, it's not a solo but considering my largest crowd to date for singing the anthem(s) on my own is about 1500, having 99 other people alongside me is probably not a bad thing.

Hey One Direction: The Mommy Mission Continues

*Please reblog and/or tweet the ‘Hey One Direction’ video link to @OneDirection and/or the boys themselves (@louis_tomlinson, @harry_styles, @niallofficial, @real_liam_payne, @zaynmalik). Anything you can do to help me in my mommy mission would be greatly appreciated*

Ever since I posted the video of Keegan, Josh & Connolly rocking out to One Direction on youtube and began tweeting it to the band to see if they would watch it and say a little something to the boys for their 7th birthday (May 9), the Triplet Directioners have gotten just a little attention.  But as far as we know, they have not caught the attention of the five most important people...Harry, Louis, Niall, Liam & Zayn!!

The (updated) video...

Back in April, on the first day of tweeting the video and asking some Directioners (that's what One Direction fans are called), I also sent it to Entertainment Tonight Canada and its host Cheryl Hickey. Two days later, I got this tweet from Cheryl...


@CherylHickeyETC: @Aisling_HkyMom @onedirection OMG my fav video! Love love


Then Cheryl tweeted... @CherylHickeyETC: @Aisling_HkyMom @onedirection Ok do me a fav record our show for your boys tomorrow ok?


And this... @CherylHickeyETC: @Aisling_HkyMom @onedirection we all love the video here

Here's the result of Cheryl's love of KJ&C's video:   

The full video is also linked on ET Canada's website under 'Web Exclusives'. Yes, that is Keegan, Joshua & Connolly (bottom right corner) featured on the same page as Kevin Costner, James Franco, Jane Lynch (GLEE) and fellow Canadians Cory Monteith (GLEE) and Kiefer Sutherland!!

Following in ET Canada's footsteps, Global News Calgary got in on the Triplet Directioners love and did a brief segment on the boys on their Friday, April 6th news hour.  You can see the story at the 45min 40sec mark of the newscast : Global Calgary News Hour - April 6th 

Other than the television coverage, Ben Mulroney, host of CTV's "ETalk" tweeted the video to One Direction and both Ky Furneaux (Hollywood Stunt Woman) and Neil Jackson (Actor) have retweeted the video. 

Most importantly though, the mum's of two members of One Direction have seen the video.  Harry's mum Anne tweeted me to say she thought it was really cute. YAY!!  So sweet. She gets tons of tweets, so to have her tweet me back was amazing.  Louis' mum Jay was even more excited. She tweeted me saying "I'm loving this.  I have twins. #multiples", and then she retweeted the video to her 150,000+ followers. How awesome is she, my fellow mum of multiples!! She even dubbed KJ&C "Little 1D".  In addition to Anne and Jay, both of their best friends have tweeted the video as has Niall Horan's cousin Emma and his aunt Sinead.

At the time of this blog, I don't have any confirmation that the guys from One Direction have seen the video.  

After 3000+ personal tweets since I started my mommy mission and the many many retweets by Directioners on Twitter, I would like to think it's only a matter of time before One Direction does see the video and say something about it. But when you're competing with millions of Directioners, it's a hefty feat to get One Direction's attention. 

The mission has become more than just getting One Direction's attention. It was suggested that I try to get Ellen DeGeneres to see it as well and possibly convince her to help 1D meet Little 1D (hence the twitter hashtag #1DmeetLittle1D that you see often on my tweets).  Wouldn't that be something!! Jay (Louis' mum) loved the idea of 1D meeting Little 1D on Ellen.  But like the boys from One Direction, Ellen has millions of followers and it's not easy to get her attention.  

But I have never been one to give up on a dream and I certainly want to do everything in my power to help KJ&C's dream come true.  I am as determined as ever to complete this mommy mission. 

It's been 3 weeks since Keegan, Joshua & Connolly's 7th birthday...

The Mommy Mission continues!!!

• KJ&C's Youtube Channel

• KJ&C's Blog

• Aisling's Twitter