State Of The Union

For two hundred plus years we have had to listen to Presidents stand up and tell us the state of the union. They go on national television and all you hear is Blah blah, blah, blah and then 73 minutes later they say..In conclusion..

That's crap. Since when does a president have any idea what is really going on in this country? How can anyone describe the state of the union unless they are actually living the life that the majority of Americans are living? Just a hunch, if the President has a hankering for a slice of pizza at 3 Am he doesn't have to worry about the freaks who are hanging around the 24-hour pizza joints. All he has to do is push a room service button on his phone and someone brings him a slice.  It's like the old saying..."If you want to really get to know a person, walk a mile in their sneakers."

I may be just a rocker chick and not the President of the United States. But since I don't have to rely on the secret service to make sure the Presidential Seal doesn't fall off of the podium again. I don't have to wait for a bunch of high-priced politicians to agree on ways to screw the American public, so I can deliver my State of The Union address way before the ink dries on the cue cards for President Obama's State of The Union address. You know what they say...the early bird gets the worm. (That saying kinda creeps me out)

So here is The Greek Blonde Girl's State of The Union address for 2011.

Mister Speaker, President Obama, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, distinguished readers of my blog and all other fellow Americans and oh I guess my manager Mr. Bricks:

Things are messed up and I am making some sweeping changes to get people back to work and to find ways to better stimulate the economy.  So that is why I am happy to announce here today that all shopping malls in America will now be required to stay open 24 hours a day. This new requirement for each store will force them to hire more people to increase their staff to be able to be open 24 hours a day as required. Ok, I just added about One Million jobs, how hard was that?

The housing crisis in America has lingered on way too long. This is why I have decided to put a stop on all home mortgage foreclosures. We will go back to the way this country was founded and give squatter rights to each and every homeowner in the country as long as they are occupying their own home. However, if you have rental property and do not occupy it, then that now becomes the property of the current renters occupying the dwelling. This will be a great equalizer of all home prices. Since no one is now in jeopardy of losing their home, I just solved the housing crisis, how hard was that? Now some of you will be screaming that is a redistribution of wealth and maybe it is. But so what. If you don't like it, write your own State of the Union address.

As a girl and as a proud Greek American I have noticed we have become a nation divided. As much as we would like to think all Americans are the same, we are not. We must begin to address our differences. I have found a way to unite us. So, no matter what internet service provider you use, whether you use a Mac or a PC, if you are hard-wired or wireless, we all must find ways to get along.  We need to set aside our differences and welcome Google users into the homes of Bing or Yahoo search engine users and they too must welcome a Google user into their home. Is is only through our differences that we will be able to find our similarities. Now I know that last sentence didn't make any sense at all, but it sounded really cool. Ok, the Greek Blonde Girl just solved the diversity issue, how hard was that?

Taxes are way too stinking high. The current thought is that we need taxes to pay for all of the social service programs. You are right, therefore we are discontinuing all freebies and government handouts. The one program that will continue is social security. You get out what you put in. Ok, I just balanced the budget and ended the deficit.

My dad came to this country from Greece with $20 in his pocket. He actually had more but was robbed when he stepped off of the airplane at the at the airport. OK, wait that whole getting robbed part isn't true,  I just wanted to say, if you want something in life work for it. If you come from another country great! That's how we were founded. But you no longer get free food, free education, free housing, free transportation, free Laker Tickets... Wait a minute. Oh what are you saying? You mean this country doesn't look so enticing any more? Good. Ok, I just solved our illegal immigration problem.

In conclusion, we still live in a great country, but we need to stand up, speak out and take our country back...hey I feel a song coming on here....

Good day my fellow Americans.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

You can check out my song "We The People" on YouTube by clicking here.

Oh, Say Can You See...

So my sweetie just put together this video of me singing the National Anthem on the Capital Hill lawn in Washington, DC, and I must admit I am pretty proud of it. Yes, of course I am proud that after all of the hours he spent editing it, it turned out really nice. What I also mean is I am proud that I had a chance to sing "The Star Spangled Banner", our National Anthem at our Nation's Capital! What an honor!

"The Star-Spangled Banner" lyrics come from a poem called "Defence of Fort McHenry" written in 1814 by the 35-year-old amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy  ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the United States Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931, which was signed by President Herbert Hover.

In recent years patriotism in our country has taken a back seat to political correctness. It used to be that every television station would sign off the air each day with our flag, "Old Glory" waving in the wind while blaring our National Anthem.

One of the things that get's me fired up (in a good way) and almost gets me as excited as sneaker shopping or working out, is hearing those first five notes of our National Anthem, da, da, da - da, da.  What American isn't proud to hear "The Star Spangled Banner" when one of our athletes is on the podium during the olympics.

Musical Score for "The Star Spangled Banner"

I remember when I was in elementary school we would stand up every day before class started and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Sadly, that doesn't happen anymore because of the Political Correctness. But thankfully, at sporting events and a few other events we still stand and sing our National Anthem. Go Team USA!

I get a lot of visitors on my website from other countries who might not be familiar with the words to our National Anthem, so it is with great pleasure and pride the Greek Blonde Girl supplies you with the lyrics so you can sing along with me as you watch my new video.

Star Spangled Banner

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

and God Bless America... oh wait, that's another song all together.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

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

A Woman's Right To Choose

I thank God every day that I get to live in a country where  "We The People" still have a few of our rights left. But hurry folks, they're going fast. I try to be Switzerland sometimes, but as a New Yorker and with the previously mentioned Greek heritage, well  sometimes I just can't keep my pie hole shut.

But yes, I am glad that I am a woman who still has the freedom to choose. No, not that freedom to choose. I promised Mr. Bricks I'll keep my blog muckery free and that I won't go on any tirades about my political beliefs. And Lord knows I gotta keep Mr. Bricks' blood pressure down. If he starts popping any more of those blood pressure pills, I'm gonna have to check his butt into the Betty Ford Clinic. Know what I'm saying?  Any way....when I say the freedom to choose, I mean the freedom to choose which picture I should use for my Facebook profile. Are you with me friends? Is that what you were thinking?

OK, so currently I am using this picture. I think this is the picture that best represents me. Do you like it?

I also use it for my acting career. So many times when I have walked into an audition the casting directors are shocked!! They can't believe I actually look just like the photo. No Photoshop, no  air brushing at all. Nothing. Sorry folks it's all naturally me. I've been asked to consider starting my own skin care line because without sounding conceded, I do have nice skin. Can you hear me Allure, Covergirl, Anyone?

Ok, back to the blog...So yes, I do have freedom of choice of what photo to put on my Facebook page. I could change it every other day like most girls do if I wanted to, but I'm trying to create a brand for my career. So I am using the same picture on everything I do for a while. I've learned, the best way to help create retention for your brand is to use the same image over and over. I call it my ketchup picture. So, for right now wherever you find me or see my name Ava Aston, you will see my ketchup picture.

Why do I call it my ketchup picture?? Well for one reason I am a ketchup freak! I put ketchup on almost everything I eat, for reals.

Here is a recent dinner with massive amounts of ketchup on my eggs. OK, I know I just grossed out half the population of North American with this picture. Now my blog stats will plummet, my Twitter numbers will fall off the charts and I will lose all of my Facebook friends just because I let you into Ava's world and showed you how much I enjoy ketchup. Oh Lordy, there goes my public image.  I bet I just gave Mr. Bricks a heart attack. Ok, where were we? Oh yes, I was explaining why I call it my ketchup picture.

Well, think about Heinz® Ketchup for a second. Heinz was founded in 1869 in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, by Henry John Heinz. And after all these years, the dude is still the undisputed king of condiments!

So when  you think of Ketchup,  this image is pretty much exactly what you think of, right?  Well, except for some of you lame people who buy generic brands, then you might see the word Kroger or Piggly Wiggly instead of Heinz. Not me man, it's Heinz Ketchup or nothing at all. That's just how I roll.

And Heinz  has been successfully making everyone think of their brand for more than 130 years. They haven't mucked it up by changing things around. Here's a few Heinz Ketchup statistics ( Because I know you wanted to know)

• Heinz is a $10 billion global company
• Heinz sells 650 million bottles of its iconic Ketchup every year
• Heinz products enjoy #1 or #2 market share in more than 50 countries

So in 130 years when you think of Ava Aston, you will still know who I am, because I didn't muck anything up by using a 1,000 different looks and styles for everything I do.  I kept using the ketchup picture. What you see baby is what you get.

Not everyone or every company is so smart. The Coca Cola  company created all sorts of muckery by introducing their New Coke to replace their standard Coca-Cola with a new design and new recipe in 1985.

Oops....that backfired. Consumers revolted and a few short years after they had rolled out this new version with great fan fare they retreated and re-introduced the old coke and rebranded it as Coca-Cola Classic or simply, Classic Coke.  Sales eventually increased, but not after a few heads rolled at the corporate offices  in Atlanta.

Even the King of Pop, Michael Jackson knew the value of having something akin to a ketchup picture. The Jackson 5 were introduced to the world in 1969 with their debut album called, "Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5"

Over the next six years The Jackson 5 released a total of 10 albums and sold more than 36.5 million albums for Motown Records. You'd think that would make the Gloved One and the Brothers Jackson happy campers, right? Nope, because there's a funny thing about creative people like The Jackson family and myself, we all have a huge need to always be in control of our own destiny.  And although the Jackson 5 were international superstars, at that time they still lacked control over the music they recorded and their image. They wanted to control all of it. So they sought out a partnership with a new record label who would allow them to write and produce their own songs. But switching labels wasn't as easy as it sounded. That's because Motown Records owned the trademark, The Jackson 5.  So, despite the fact that they were the 5 Jackson brothers that made up the brand and the band called  The Jackson 5, Motown still owned the brand name and would not let them use it.  A huge messy lawsuit happened.

So when The Jacksons  switched over to CBS records in 1975 they had to go by a new name.  Even after selling  36.5 million records, having their own variety TV show, their own animated cartoon on Saturday mornings, they still needed to try and keep the same brand name so fans could find their product on the record store shelf.

So cleverly they called their new name The Jacksons....but they used a font to fool the public into thinking they were reading the words The Jackson 5.  If you look very closely at the albums they released on CBS records after they left Motown the font they used has the "S" cleverly shaped like a number 5. So legally fans  were buying a record from The Jacksons not The Jackson 5.

With out knowing all of the legal mumbo jumbo behind the story, or as I say, how the sausage was made, the typical fan looked at this first album on CBS Records as if it read the Jackson 5, but truthfully and legally it doesn't say that at all.  See what I am saying? They had to keep their ketchup logo to keep their brand alive, even though they were already mega stars!!!

Ok one more quick tidbit....Michael Jackson. Madonna, Lady Gaga and other recording artists feel that they have it all in their head as to what their destiny should be. It is what creates those huge egos you read about because they actually believe they are the ones in control of their own destiny.  News Flash -- I know I'd like to think I am in control of my own destiny like other pop stars think, however this is where I am different than the average Pop star, because I know God is in control of my destiny, not me. Whenever I fool myself into thinking I am in control of my own destiny for a minute I find myself needing to strap on a soft helmet because I feel like my head is about to explode and my brains are going to come gushing out. That's always a huge sign for me to give the control back over to God.

So, back to the blog...see how easily I get side tracked?  So once The Jacksons switched to CBS Records they titled each new album reflecting their new found creativity and growth. It started with their introductory album simply called, "The Jacksons" Then they followed in order with the albums, "Goin' Places", "Destiny", "Triumph", "Victory" and finally their last album was called "2300 Jackson Street" which meant they had finally arrived home.

To make a long story short,  yes I do have the freedom to choose which picture of me is on my Facebook profile. If you get sick of looking at it you can always click on my photos on Facebook or my website www.avaaston.com to see more. It's not like I'm camera shy or anything. I do have lots and lots of other pictures of me floating all over Al Gore's Internet.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

Why did I write "We The People"?

Click here to view "We The People"

Here are the most common questions I get asked:   Are you single?  Do you really have 4 dogs? and Why do you put cottage cheese on your baked potato? The answers are No, Yes and because its yummy! The next most common question I get asked these days is, What inspired you to write the song, “We The People” ?

Allow me to explain:

Well, before I get into the details of how the sausage is made, let me first say that I believe whatever your political beliefs are, one thing is for sure; the most important thing about being an American is our Freedom & Liberty. Everyone no matter what your religion, race, political background, etc… we are ALL blessed with the FREEDOM to be what we want to be, what we choose to be, whether it be success or failure. In America you can become anything you choose to be, specifically because of our Freedoms.

So starting in 2009 I watched with great sadness as our magnificent country started to move in a direction that was shocking and something that is so far away from what our founding fathers laid out for us, that it frightened me.

Freedom & Liberty are on the line, every day another piece of our freedom is being stolen from us whether you realize it or not, it is happening and happening now. I have up until very recently chosen to keep my music strictly about the music, and not disclose my political beliefs. However in these troubling days I can not be silent anymore.

I am a singer and songwriter, what I do is write about things that happen to me, happen to people around me and what also inspires me or how I feel. As an American I have strong feelings about what is going on, and so I had to write about them.

So, all of the magic with this song happened while I still needed to have a pay-the-bills job.  One night I was working as a bartender/cater/waiter during Fashion Week in NYC. The event was being held in a high-end clothing store and the evening was dragging by slowly when suddenly a chord and certain lyrics popped into my head. I grabbed a cocktail napkin and I started writing them down so I wouldn’t forget them. I knew it was something special… by the time I got home the first verse and chorus were done. By the following day the song was finished.

The song was not written about the right or the left, it was written about right and wrong.  What so many people don’t understand is that everyone; Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, whatever… is in jeopardy of losing their Freedom to be Individuals. If we as Americans do not stand up now, we may very well lose our Republic. So I ending up writing the entire song encouraging all Americans to stand up and speak out.

Benjamin Franklin said we will be a Republic as long as we can keep it…

My question is: Will we?

Blessings ~

Ava xox