Addicted to Addiction

Amy Winehouse 1983-2011

So I was eating lunch today and a friend who was with me ever so overly chipper says (in almost a celebratory tone), "So did you hear Amy Winehouse joined the 27 club?" I'm like "joined what, 27 what? How could she join a club, I thought she died?"... My friend looks at me as if I were dumb as a bag of rocks, then she replies "Yes she is and she also joined the 27 club, I'm surprised you of all people don't know what that is".  Then miss book of information proceeded to tell me what the 27 club was.  As dumbfounded as I was, I just had to come home and look it up for myself to see it in black and white.  Because honestly it just didn't make sense to me that anyone in their right mind would make up such a thing.  Warning Warning, this is when my filter was removed.

According to wikipedia "the 27 Club" consists of notable rock musicians who have all passed away in their 27th year.  In particular Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison & Kurt Cobain.  All of whom have some sort of controversy surrounding their deaths, all except Joplin that is... The "27 club" or the "Forever 27 club" also consists of other musicians who also died at age 27... (I for one want to live to be at least 107) and Amy Winehouse is the latest artist in this tragic string of coincidences...  Coincidence?  I think not.  Now don't go getting your pantaloons all in a bind.  But really, honestly what human being on the face of the planet living in a civilized nation mind you - does not at one time or another in his or her lifetime get the memo that as Mr. Mackey from my favorite show Southpark would say "Drugs are bad... mmkay".

Those of you who have been reading my blog a while know by now that I think our body is a miracle.  A miracle you should not abuse, period.  Of course I can understand that people have problems, no one unless you are Beaver Cleaver has had or ever will have a perfect childhood or life.  However turning to drugs is simply not the answer.  How could anyone with even a smidge of a brain cell in his or her noggin take drugs?  You know they are addictive, you know it is for sure going to cause a whole lot of muckery for you and for everyone around you, so WHY? Why - I ask?

Honestly can you imagine what music we missed because artists like the above mentioned tragically left this world so young? Personally I think it is very sad.  Sad that so many misguided people think it is OK to abuse and promote the fact that they take drugs.  I mean Lady Gaga stated in an interview that she smokes pot in order to help her be creative when writing songs?... Really? .... Really, come on, if you have to smoke a doobie to write a good song, then guess what, maybe you are not such a good songwriter afterall, and maybe you should possibly pay a good songwriter to do that for you.  So you don't:

A. give the impression to about a zillion of your fans that you think doing drugs is ok..

B. to be able to stay alive and continue living your dream of being an artist.

As for me....  I am happy to say that all I'm addicted to is coffee, and endorphins (God's medicine).  Yes that may sound all goodie two shoes and all but that's just how I roll. No matter what happens to you ever, there is no reason to turn to drugs, period.  Life is just not that bad no matter who you are or where you come from or what has happened to you.  Life is a gift, you should be treasuring & cherishing it.  Drugs are not the answer.  If you are naive enough to think it won't happen to you, think again.  Maybe go to wikipedia and take along hard look at the list of gifted musicians who left this world far too soon.  No one is immune to the danger they posses.  Moments like todays lunch just reinforce for me the importance of what kind of an impact I make on people not only with my music, but in how I live my life.

All I have to say is that is is a sincere shame that Amy Winehouse & the rest of the 27 club left this world so soon and that they were not able to make the music that we all wish we would have heard.

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D

www.avaaston.com

Why Do Old People Expose Themselves

Note to Naked Old People... guidelines for speedo wearing see above.

So my two sisters come into town to visit me over the weekend. Despite the fact that three Greek Girls under one roof is crazy enough, imagine how it is when one of them decides "Hey, we should go to the beach". HELLO... can we say "Muckery Central?..." Sure it's all fun and games until we get there and see an 85 yr. old man in a speedo (and we're not talking about the Jack Lalane type either, and no it wasn't Mr. Bricks ~ Thank you God). This subconsciously leads us all to begin wondering if we look good in a bikini or not? Now of course you can stop asking because yes we do, but it's just a default chip programmed in every girls brain. Greek girls have two of these chips - one for each side.... one for the Baklava and one for the spinach pie - just sayin.

On with the story.... besides the fact that my one sister's psychotic dog, (yes I did say psychotic people, it was actually eating the wall while we were gone) was at home unattended terrorizing my own four fur-kids. Oh to be a fly on the wall at the doggie party... So there we were, sitting there all comfy, blanket down, snacks and iced happiness ready to go, chairs properly positioned to bake ourselves into a golden spender (yes we were wearing sunscreen - no it wasn't olive oil - or made from olive oil extract) and BAM there it goes again. But this time it wasn't a man it was a woman.... wearing a thong bikini old enough to be my grama and lets just say on the very heavy side, she could have been on the senior version of the Biggest Looser ~ just sayin. So just as we blink... we happen to notice that she has not one but two tattoos larger than my head on each side of her butt. No I'm not kidding people. Then comes the highlight of the day: its' a toss up between the super skinny swimmer guy who decides he's gonna take a shower and expose himself in the public sprayer to remove the sand or.... the woman who dove into the water and had both boobs flop out of her top and proceed to act like nothing was wrong. No guys it was not Gisele Bundchen.

Now I'm not saying I don't love old people nor appreciate them, because I do. I adore my yaya and my grama in heaven, and I even sang for nursing homes after classes when I was in high school :D However... What is it about some older people who do not seem to get it that it is not kosher to wear less than Lady Gaga on the beach. I know they say less is more, and this is most often the case, but not so much when you have not kept away father time by taking excellent care of your miracle body like Jack Lalane. Anyone who knows me knows how much I adored the guy and if you are old and you look like that, be my guest wear what you want.

In the words of one of my other fitness hero's Tony Horton "Aging Schmaging, you can get all old and crotchety, or you can be in shape." I donno about you, but I'm going for the latter. Thus my working out like a machine.

Have a blessed day & don't forget the sunblock!

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D xox
www.avaaston.com

Who Has the Most Likes On Facebook

                      My facebook Music Page. Have you liked it yet? If not click here

There is no doubt that social networking has revolutionized the way most of us live. I know that is true, otherwise blogging like this would be like the old dust bowl days days before the early part of 2003. That's when the world was introduced to the two most popular blogging sites, WordPress and Blogger. Back in the old days people wrote the crap that was in their noggin into a little book with a lock and key so no one else would see it.

But now, the more people who read the crap from your noggin, the more popular you can become. You can even get a TV deal based on how many people like the stuff that oozes out of your noggin. Not bad. Yes, by blogging and using social networking sites the entire world can now see how popular almost anything is, even a particular type of cookie like an Oreo.

Did you ever wonder how the Facebook page for your band, store, club or favorite cookie stacks up against the millions and millions of other pages on Facebook? Well, there's an app for that! Click here.

As of today May 29th, 2011 here are what pages the 500 million Facebook users "like" the most.

Name Likes 1.  Texas Hold'em Poker 43,676,389 2.  Facebook 42,797,272 3.  Eminem 37,888,938 4.  Lady Gaga 35,904,305 5.  YouTube 35,617,068 6.  Rihanna 34,849,368 7.  Family Guy 31,548,567 8.  Shakira 31,092,469 9.  Linkin Park 28,818,334 10.  Coca-Cola 28,358,949 11.  Justin Bieber 28,238,580 12.  South Park 28,034,168 13.  The Simpsons 27,993,457 14.  Cristiano Ronaldo 27,135,092 15.  Katy Perry 26,198,799 16.  Bob Marley 25,660,294 17.  Lil Wayne 25,377,278 18.  Vin Diesel 24,820,088 19.  Megan Fox 24,736,967 20.  Harry Potter 24,692,235 21.  Disney 24,423,067 22.  AKON 23,625,179 23.  Music 22,719,345 24.  MTV 22,686,123 25.  SpongeBob SquarePants 22,628,977 26.  Starbucks 22,467,997 27.  Twilight 22,177,948 28.  House 22,029,440 29.  Beyoncé 21,910,851 30.  The Twilight Saga 21,591,493 31.  Taylor Swift 21,532,346 32.  Barack Obama 21,059,384 33.  Adam Sandler 20,963,922 34.  Toy Story 20,845,820 35.  Dr. House 20,536,764 36.  Avril Lavigne 20,247,445 37.  Oreo 20,159,905 38.  Selena Gomez 20,071,562 39.  David Guetta 19,729,666 40.  Two and a Half Men 19,648,344

Ok, looks like if I ever want to be as popular as an Oreo Cookie (#37) on Facebook, I have some real work to do.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

To Be or Not To Be

Imagine the choices in Lady Gaga's wardrobe closet

That is the question... It is also the choice. Everything in life is all about the choices we make. The famous "To Be or Not To Be" quote obviously came from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet".  In the book/play, the protagonist, Hamlet, speaks this line when he is contemplating committing suicide--basically, the question was "Do I want to live or die?"SPOILER ALERT: Hamlet didn't take his own life he actually was killed by the poison that entered his bloodstream after being pierced by Laertes sword.

Now hopefully no one reading my blog today is as close to the edge as Mr. Hamlet was because after reading all about my muckery they might just jump to put themselves out of their misery...and that wouldn't be good a thing.  I don't need you bumping yourself off. I need all the fans I can get. Who's going to buy all of my CD's when Mr. Bricks finally gets me a record deal?

The different choices we must make in our lives start the minute we wake up in the morning each day. From do I make my own coffee or do I run to Dunkin Doughnuts for my cup of happiness to do I wash my hair if I go out or thrown on a hat? Or as I once heard Mr. Bricks say, do I finally do some laundry now or do I just go buy new clothes? Epic Fail.

When I don't understand something do I blame it on being blonde, blame it on loose wires in my Greek noggin or just blame it on Mr. Bricks? That's a tough choice. When I'm thirsty my choice is what flavor of Vitamin Water Zero do I drink? As of late it has been exclusively their "go-go" flavor.

My fellow bloggers out there will understand and relate with me that each day the big choice is what to blog about. I was one crazy Greek girl and made the commitment to write a blog-a-day this year, so I can not even ask myself "to blog or not to blog" because that is NOT the question.

Here are some other people with real choices they will have or had to make:

Rebecca Black

Does Rebecca sit in the front seat or the back seat?

Mr. Bricks

Does Mr. Bricks have a 2 Big Macs  or 2 McRibs for lunch?

Lady GaGa

Does Gaga cook the meat before she makes clothes out of it or just use it raw?

Charlie Sheen

Does Charlie pretend that he is still winning or does he admit losing a $3 Million- A-week sitcom job to Ashton Kutcher makes him a total loser?

Justin Timberlake
Should Justin attempt to try and bring sexy back one more time, or just leave it alone?

Ryan Seacrest

Does Ryan leave American Idol at the end of his contract like several judges have?

We must remember and not take too lightly how poor choices can greatly impact our life. Many people in the entertainment industry and in the public eye can lose their career based on poor choices. Yesterday, Arnold Schwarzenegger publicly admitted a poor choice he made more than 10-years ago. No doubt his wife will be saying Hasta la vista, baby.

Ok, most of our choices might not be as life altering or as important as William Shakespeare wrote for Hamlet's soliloquy but how fun would it be if we actually put that much though and consideration into everything we did. This Greek girl thinks we might just end up with a better world - just sayin'

Blessings,

Ava

xox

Hell In A Handbasket

Is Lady Gaga going to Hell in a handbasket?

Sometimes it just seems like everyone else in the music industry has just thrown the towel in and the industry as we once knew it is going to Hell in a handbasket. Going to Hell in a handbasket is what my Mom use to say when something or a situation was quickly taking a turn for the worse without effort or with great haste.

What brings up this old saying?  Two words: Lady Gaga

I knew I was going to have plenty of WTH moments watching the Grammy's last night and I was not disappointed thanks to many of the artists, but especially to Lady Gaga.

According to Reuters, "prior to the Grammy's telecast Lady Gaga declared in a Twitter message that she was "in incubation" for her live appearance. Aides said she had spent three hours crouched inside the egg with an oxygen mask ahead of her arrival."

photo courtesy of ABC News

Hatching from an egg was the latest in a series of stunts by the performance artist and singer. In September, Lady Gaga wore a headline-grabbing dress made entirely of raw meat that she wore to the MTV Music Video Awards. The arriving in an egg was another guarantee  that everyone will be talking about her for the next several weeks. Remember how outrageous people use to say Michael Jackson was? His nickname use to be Wacko-Jacko, but he never hatched onstage - just sayin'

However, onstage for the Grammy's on Sunday, Lady Gaga crawled out of an egg dressed in yellow and sporting what appeared to be pointed shoulder implants? WTH was that all about?

Away from the Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles, the singer made headlines by saying in a pre-recorded TV interview that she uses marijuana and whiskey to help write her songs. "(I) drink a lot of whiskey and I smoke weed when I write. And I don't do it a lot because it's not good for my voice," the singer told TV news show "60 Minutes". "I don't want to encourage kids to do drugs....And I don't lie. I'm not a liar. I built good will with my fans. They know who I am. And I'm just like them in so many ways," she added.

I am just curious if it was the whiskey or the weed that made her think coming out of an egg was a good idea. Since I don't drink or do drugs I can't even imagine how screwed up her coconut is after indulging in those substances.  If Mr. Bricks ever asks me to make an appearance on national television by coming out of an egg I'd have to kick his butt and knock his noggin off.

Also I'm curious if when I do my interview with "60 Minutes"  I will make headlines by saying that I use Vitamin Water and Zone Bars to help me write songs?  Or if I will make headlines by not hatching out of an egg, but instead just walking onstage to sing at the Grammy's just wearing a t-shirt, vest jeans and my sneakers.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

Born This Way

Ava Aston Copyright © 2011

I get a lot of flack from people saying I am either too Greek or not Greek enough. I am too blonde or not blonde enough. And when it comes to my love of sports and working out, I hear I am too much of a tom boy, but when I pass by a Kohl's or a sneakers store and I enter a shopping trance - I am too much of a girlie girl. I say, what the heck, I was born this way.

I am just who I am. I am silly, creative, loyal and I'd like to think talented and pretty. Hopefully that is what most of you like about me. I am not, fake I am real. I pretty much say what ever comes out of my noggin. What you see folks is what you get. I was born this way.

I love my Greek heritage. I think it sets me apart from just another blonde girl. I will let you decide if that is a good or bad thing. (Mr. Bricks - shut your pie hole, no comments from you) I am an animated chatter box at times. Other times I find peace and tranquility in just lying on the couch not saying a word with my four doggy fur babies surrounding me. But that's me, I was born this way.

I wasn't born with a perfect body so I run 5 miles every day or do an intensive workout (really I do.) I love eating healthy. Those are two things my body tells me to do to stay in the best possible shape. I know people who just can't get it in their noggin that exercising and eating healthy are good for you. Although I may not have been born with a perfect body I feel fortunate that I now believe that a healthy lifestyle can help me achieve a perfect body. Another person I know, and I won't name them by name, I will just call them "Mr. Lazy Eye" was born  the way he is with his beliefs that he can pretty much eat whatever he wants and not work out. Sadly, I do believe that he is not alone and many more people are born with his belief system that were born with a belief in living and eating a healthy lifestyle. Otherwise there would not be 32,158 McDonald's franchises world-wide, 11,500 Burger Kings and 5,845 Taco Bells - Just sayin'

I think when people want to rebel against society in one form or another it is very easy to say - I was born this way. Maybe that is true. But the reality is (myself included) we all could use some self-improvement in one way or another to make us a better person. Other wise if our total fulfillment is established at birth - what is the point of life? At the same time I do think it is important to embrace the differences in others. There are some great stories of individual overcoming great odds to achieve greatness, despite the way and or conditions they were born into. Woodrow Wilson struggled with dyslexia, but overcame it and became President. President Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted polio, famous actor James Earl Jones has dealt with a stuttering problem since childhood, Halle Berry has diabetes...the list of individuals who didn't quit or cop-out by saying, I was born this way is endless (and very inspirational.)

My manager Mr. Bricks has been approached by several Christian Record labels. As much as you hear me say, "I want a record deal Mr. Bricks" you would think I would be jumping at the chance, especially since my musical tastes are rooted in Contemporary Christian music. But somewhere deep seeded in my coconut is the logic that I want to be a main stream Pop/Rock recording artist because I can be more effective in that arena. My life style and beliefs are pretty mainstream America and very un-rock star like. I have never trashed a hotel room, I have never OD on drugs and I have never gotten out of a limo with a short skirt and no underpants. I just don't roll like that. I was born this way to make a difference in other people's lives. Singing Contemporary Christian Music to Christians is akin to preaching to the choir. So, I want to attack the beast head on. I want to become a beacon in the very dark world of rock and roll. I want to be that the one role model and inspiration to people everywhere who when they hear me say, I was born this way - that it a good thing!

Blessings,

Ava

xox