Larry King Gets Owned

Check out my animated series Ava the Diva and watch as Ava puts talk show host Larry King in the hot seat!

I hope you enjoy and please share.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

YouTube Killed The Record Stars

My YouTube Channel

Video Killed the Radio Star is a song by the British new wave group The Buggles, who released it as their debut single in September 1979, on Island Records. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by the invention of television. The song topped the music charts in several countries and not by me, but has been covered by many other recording artists. Coincidentally, it was the very first music video aired on MTV in the U.S. at 12:01am on 1 August 1981 when that music channel first went on the air. The song was number 40 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80's. Hmmm, one hit wonder...sound familiar yet? Read on.

Music videos have been a great addition to the music industry. Sometimes it helps the audience understand exactly what was in song writer's noggin when  they  wrote the song. A great deal of early singers who found fame and fortune on the radio were crowded out with the invention of TV.  The early pioneers of the music industry sometimes created an image of what an artist would look like, and since people could hear them but not see them that worked for everyone until television came along. When TV came along, and some people sounded better than they looked, there went their careers.

When MTV came along in 1980's it was novel and some singers and band's images were made on MTV just because they made a video and had a certain cool look. As my manager Mr. Bricks tells me, back in the early days of MTV, not every song on the radio had a video. On a side note, Mr. Bricks was friends with Michael Jackson, (yes, that Michael Jackson) and Mr. Bricks was telling me just the other day about how Michael Jackson was describing to him the idea of what MTV was going to be all about, even before it debuted. Since there never had been anything like it at the time Mr. Bricks couldn't get the concept through his thick noggin. He said Michael kept giggling at him for not understanding what MTV was all about. Apparently Mr. Bricks never did get his thick noggin fixed.

Eventually, after several years of MTV,  the music video became less and less novel and soon became a necessity for a hit song. That brings us to the current dilemma where YouTube has created instant celebrities for the music industry and for this YouTube Generation (YTG).  Take someone like 13 year-old Rebecca Black, who’s song Friday’s video went viral instantly on YouTube amassing a staggering 111 million views to date. Did Rebecca get the popularity she has because she is a talented singer ?

No, the entire reason Rebecca Black has 111 million views on YouTube is because the producer from the Ark Factory knew that Justin Bieber was making millions of dollars and his videos were described as some of the most "disliked videos on YouTube." How bad are they? Well, if  the fact that Justin's very worst video, "Baby", just surpassed 500 million YouTube views last month, then they must be pretty bad. That is where Rebecca Black fits in. Her producers from the Ark Factory wanted to be just as "bad" as Justin, so they cleverly marketed it as “The Worst Song Ever.” By leaking a statement like that to the media, assured instant attention from the YTG who loves watching any video of the worst of anything. The worst car crash, the worst basketball shot, the worst practical joke, etc. Then they make it go viral by emailing the link of that "worst video" to 500 of their closest friends. And when a Justin Bieber song or Rebecca Black's song shows up on YouTube with a million views, the YTG thinks, " it must be good because it has so many views" and then the rest is history as the cycle repeats itself. To date Justin Bieber has 2 of the top YouTube videos of all-time with more than  a 1,541,295,560 views on his YouTube Vevo channel. (that's 1.5 billion) But, simultaneously with that achievement, Bieber also holds the distinction of having 5 of the top 10 most "disliked" (we can't say hate anymore) videos of all time on YouTube. To show the way YouTube has changed the musical landscape think of this: Michael Jackson only has 650,813,338 (that's 650 million) YouTube views on his YouTube Viveo channel. Now, if anyone can honestly say that Justin Bieber is better or more talented than Michael Jackson then they need to have their melon examined because that's just not right. With the way the music industry uses the YouTube yardstick to measure talent, that means in 2 months on the musical landscape Rebecca Black is 1/6 as popular as Michael Jackson and that Justin Bieber is a musical prodigy? This all makes my head bleed. Am I bitter, nope not at all, just sunburnt from the Florida sun.

The current record label executives grew up on MTV and they are currently not paying attention to anyone who has graduated from middle school or who knew life before Sham Wows.  They forget that a hit song is a hit song, no matter what the age of the performer is. The issue is whether or not the musical gate keepers in their ivory towers have enough vision to sign and distribute an artist who doesn’t need a legal guardian to accompany them to the recording studio. Rebecca Black’s song Friday is a mere novelty song and although it has achieved tremendous YouTube play and iTunes downloads, it is not considered to be artistically appealing. Catchy yes, artistic, not so much.

Unfortunately, these record executives are missing some pretty incredibly talented singers (hello, my name is Ava Aston and I think I am a pretty incredibly talented singer, just sayin') and it has turned many of us into indie artists. Take me for example, even though I have worked my Greek butt off since the age of 5 developing the skills and talent that I now have, skills that a teenager like Rebecca Black doesn’t have, simply because I no longer wear braces and a padded bra, I am off-limits to the major labels. That's just so wrong! The industry's trend of signing super young singers makes Taylor Swift seem like a VH1 artist and a music industry veteran. 

So, as most of you should know by now, next Thursday April 28th I am releasing the "Gone" music video, which is the title track on my "Gone" CD. I have given Mr. Bricks permission  to go ahead and send out a press release proclaiming "Gone" as the worst song ever written and the absolute worst music video of all time. I even gave him permission to say things like, "Ava Aston's "Gone" music video is so bad that if you watch it more than 3 times in a row your noggin will explode" or "If you thought Rebecca Black's Friday was bad, wait until you see Ava Aston's "Gone"  or my all time favorite hyperbole is, "Free sneakers to the first 100 Million YouTube Views"

Now of course I don't really believe that my song and video are worst of all time, I am actually very proud of them. And I don't begrudge Justin Bieber or Rebecca Black at all, I am happy for their success. I am impressed with what they have achieved. If you want to see just how bad my "Gone" music video is, you will be able to see it on Thursday, Thursday, Thursday  April 28, 2011.  Set your iPhone reminders now!!!

Ok, this hot Florida sun is wreaking havoc on my noggin. I think I need #60 sun screen.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

April Showers Bring May Flowers

If April Showers Brings May Flowers, what will this MayFlower truck Bring Me?

The other day when I booted up my computer I had the following email waiting for me:

Dear Ava:

You are pretty and I like your music, (but not as much as Justin Bieber).  I try and read your blog every day, unless my brother Timmy doesn't let me use the computer, but then I tell my parents and he gets grounded. I like when that happens. Ava you seem super smart and have an answer for everything, so I hope you can help me. I am in the 8th grade at Pine City Junior High and I am supposed to write a paper for Mrs. Tramm's English class about Spring Time. Can you help me?

TTYL,

Your #1  Fan

Virginia (you can call me Ginny)

PS: Is Mr. Bricks a real person?

Yes Virginia, there is a  Santa Claus  Mr. Bricks! And as far as your English paper goes I suggest you write about the origin of the phrase, "April Showers Bring May Flowers."

Well Ginny in New York this year the way March ended up I thought for sure we would have April Showers that will not only bring May Flowers, but also The Pinta, The Santa Maria and Noah's Ark! It's been total muckery, and with so much rain having a boat is the only option for getting around.

So April Showers Bring May Flowers. I know this is a deep deep subject for your young noggin, but don't fret Virginia, the Greek girl is fully capable of 'splainin' it to you. See, some monk in a room with nothing else to do traced the saying back to a mid 16th century proverb. Turns out way back in 1557 a dude named Mr. Bricks, no seriously although I think he is that old, anyway some guy named Thomas Tusser wrote, "April showers bring forth May flowers."  And OK, it wasn't Mr. Bricks and it wasn't a monk who did the leg work for me on tracking down the origin. It was Gregory Y. Titelman, who wrote the book  Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings (Random House, New York, 1996).

Ok Virginia I know you are saying, Ok, Ava but what does it mean? Well according to the Cultural Dictionary April showers bring May Flowers means: 
Some unpleasant occurrences bring about better things.

As a young girl in junior high, I am sure you are an avid texter! So Ginny allow the Greek girl to help you out there as well. According to the Urban Dictionary it can also be abbreviated to "AsbMF" when texting, posting in chat rooms or forums, or even spoken in everyday communications. I missed that one the other day in my post when I spoke about new abbreviations in the Oxford Dictionary, but no worries, you can read that post  by  clicking here.

I hope this helps Ginny! And let me know what grade you get on your paper.

Blessings,

Ava

A NOTE TO ALL OF MY LOYAL BLOG READERS: I want to thank my manager Mr. Bricks for filling in for me yesterday with his clever blog. I was filming the video for my song "Gone" that will be out on April 28th. Now that I am back at the computer keyboard, Mr. Bricks can go back to the salt mines and work on getting me a record deal! Thank You Mr. Bricks.

Christmas Bonus Buy

I INTERRUPT MY REGULAR SCHEDULED BLOG FOR THIS COMMERCIAL

Are you like my manager Mr. Bricks who says each year he leaves all of his Christmas shopping till the last minute? If so shame on you. But I'm not here to judge. The Greek girl is here to help. You can buy your gifts right here on this blog. You can think of this as a Greek Girl Yuletide Bailout, if you will. Why would you want to go to the big box stores or crowded malls when you can do all your Christmas shopping online right here in one safe, convenient, jolly place? Duh, it's a no brainer because I also have T-shirts and other really cool stuff..

As a way of thanking you for being loyal followers of my blog I am offering a tremendous deal on my CD's - for one week only!  You get both "We The People" single and my "Gone" CD which has 10 songs for the low Christmas bonus buy price of $9.99 - yep you get both CD's for that low price.

Remember, this is a limited time offer, so please hurry and purchase your CD's now before Mr. Bricks finds out and shuts me down. Just click on the image above where it says buy now and it will take you to my store. Thank You in advance.

What?? You say you have never heard my music? Shame on you again. Well, to make it easy for you here are the songs from my "Gone" you can listen to before you buy. Please Note: Song 11. I Thought Wrong is not on "Gone" CD.

Thanks again for being such solid supporters of my music and now of my blog. It's all going so fast. It's hard to believe that there are now thousands upon thousands of readers of my daily blog and it has only be around since the first of October. From the bottom of my heart...I can not thank you all enough! And if Mr. Bricks had a heart, I am sure he would also thank you from the bottom of it.

Blessings,

Ava
xox

Here Women Talk

There is something powerful when a bunch of women get together and talk. I am not talking about like the women from "Sex and The City", who when they got together, it was more like boasting and gossiping about their sexual escapades, rather than a bunch of women talking with each other about life in general. I actually would find it rather embarrssing talking about my sex life with my girlfriends. I guess you can tell I am not a Kardashian! So maybe you don't want to keep up with me! I feel somethings should not be open for discussion.

Women can learn a lot when they band together and learn from each other's experiences. That is the whole concept behind, HereWomenTalk (HWT) a fairly new social network for Women. According to the HWT Founder Kay Van Hoesen, it's always been her girlfriends who have kept her grounded. She has said, they are her family and her support. Knowing the importance of girlfriends, Kay created the HereWomenTalk social network as a way to connect, support and inspire each other. I am glad she did!!

HereWomenTalk.com

I actually knew nothing about this social networking site until they approached my manager Mr. Bricks to have one of my songs be the theme song for a new radio talk show they were launching. After checking out the site and finding more about the radio show, it was something that I really, really wanted to do. The more I ventured into it, the more excited I became.

I have met some really neat ladies on the site, including the founder Kay Van Hoesen. Which is pretty cool to think that the person who created it is actually accessible. It's not like Mark Zuckerberg is ever going to accept my friend request on Facebook! But Kay accepted my friend request on HWT and we have been able to share a few spirited posts back and forth. What a neat lady she is. And Kay is a dog lover, so I know she is a class act - Anyone who likes dogs is OK in my book - just sayin.'

The song the site is using is "Gone" from my "Gone" cd, you can listen to the song here. The radio show is called "Time's Up!' and is hosted by Susan Murphy-Milano.

The Time's Up! radio talk show airs Wednesdays at 4pm ET on Here Women Talk broadcast by the Zeus Radio Network or you can play archived podcasts at anytime at the HWT website.

Susan Murphy-Milano is often praised as one of the most dynamic and engaging speakers of our day in the domestic violence prevention field. Her books and strategies are taught world-wide and used by law enforcement, domestic abuse advocates, social workers, attorneys, health care workers, human resource departments and domestic violence agencies.  The comprehensive strategies and escape plans utilized by Susan have been successful and tested by time for over 20 years.

Susan uses humor, passion, and all her years of experience to motivate her radio audience to become more effective first responders, advocates and professionals in their work to stop family violence.

I feel honored that my song "Gone" is being used to help women all over the world find the strength to leave domestic violent situations and move into a safer and more stable environment. As a recording artist, that makes me very proud.

Although primarily designed as a network for women, HWT also welcomes men! Check out HereWomenTalk and listen to Susan Murphy-Milano's show Time's Up! on Wednesdays at 4pm ET  on The Zeus Radio Network.

Have a great day!!!

Blessings,

Ava

xox

You can order your own copy of "Gone" here. It makes a great Christmas present!

What's on Your iPod?

You can tell a lot about a person by what songs they have on their iPod.

A wall street banker might not want to share the fact that he has a Miley Cyrus playlist or a tough looking gang-member will not be very comfortable letting the homies in the hood know that he has Captain And Tennile's "Muskrat Love" on his playlist. That would be an epic fail for both of them, or would it?

As a singer and songwriter, I believe that music is universal and it alone could bring together the different cultures of the world when sometimes war and diplomacy might fail. But then again maybe I've been wearing my rose-colored glasses a little too long. But a girl can dream can't she?

I recently grabbed my manager Mr. Bricks' iPod to get a peek at the songs he had on it. First off, I initially did not even believe he even had an iPod because he is so far behind in technology. You remember this blog about his cell phone don't you?  Seriously, I thought maybe he still had a Sony Walkman with cassette tapes.

Secondly, of course I wanted to make sure he had my songs on there -- hey, I was just checkin'. I am proud to say Mr. Bricks gets an A+ because, yes, he had a whole slew of my music downloaded to his iPod. He also had songs I had never heard of. It turns out that Mr. Bricks is a huge disco lover and it appears he also likes any music that was recorded during the 1970's. It was all there on his little machine for the world to see. (little machine = iPod. That's what I call it.)

So what is on the Blonde Greek girl's iPod? Well, I have spoken about some of my musical tastes from time to time and it is all over the musical landscape. I know I surprise some people when they find out I might like a certain song or artist. My diverse love of music is also shown in the music I record and what I sing at shows. I think Mr. Bricks best summed it up today when he said that my own music appeals to everyone from babies to grandmas, and everyone in between. And that is so true because I have been exposed to every genre of music and I am influenced by it all. So I will continue to record and sing all types of music and I don't think that is a bad thing, no matter what the homeboys in my hood might think of me. Sista Ava is down wit dat.

Here are some of my favorite tunes that are in heavy rotation on my little machine:

Carrie Underwood  -  Jesus Take The Wheel

Almost Over You -  Sheena Easton

I'll Never get Over You Getting Over me - Expose

Lose Yourself - Eminem

My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

How Am I suppose to live without you? - Michael Bolton/Laura Branagin

I have Nothing - Whitney Houston

Everlong - Foo Fighters

I'm Your Baby Tonight - Whitney Houston

Power of Love - Celine Dion

Alone - Heart

Dreamboat Annie - Heart

We The People - Ava Aston

Independance Day - Martina McBride

Love Will Lead You back - Taylor Dayne

I Believe In You - Amaanda Marshall

Reflection - Christina Aguleria

I also have tons and tons of other songs from POD, Nirvana, Police, Sting, Jermey Camp, Switchfoot, Natalie Grant, Johnny Cash, Journey, Eminem, Daughtry, Evanescene, One Republic, more from Kelly Clarkson, almost eevrything from Journey and the new stuff from Goo Goo Dolls and Heart and blah, blah, blah  --so many more I could go on for hours. Infact I have almost 15 gigs of music with a little more than 4,000 songs on my iPod Nano - If I ever fell down in a ditch while out running and no one noticed me,  at least I would have about 10 days worth of music to keep me going.

So if you look over my playlists you can see that I am a rocker chick with a sappy side. Just look at how many of my favs have the words "over you" or "without you" in the title. yep, I have had my heart broken a few times. Broken love is also is a common theme on my latest CD, "Gone". NOTE: I am proud to point out that my iPod is Lady Ga Ga free, sorry little monsters no Lady G for me -- that's just how I roll.

So, what's on your playlist? Let me know.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

You can vist me at www.avaaston.com

You can fill up your iPod at  itunes/avaaston