The rise and fall and rise again ...
Hi,
This is a pretty packed email to you because a lot of dramatic things have happened since my previous letter to you... Wanderer It's really exciting to unveil a new video that our fan, Laura, has made for our song, Wanderer. She's done a wonderful job and included Manga images in the video (I love Manga images). To have a look please go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS3PJszejkQ I'm sure you'll agree she did a great job! The rise and fall and rise again of ... Sellaband Over the past weekend, Sellaband mysteriously had a 'server maintenance' problem and so the site was not accessible for a few days. We were puzzled as to why it took so long to fix their server. Then surprising news came out that Sellaband had in actual fact filed for bankruptcy. Some believers and artists were in panic mode because this may have meant that the efforts artists had put into raising funds on Sellaband would be completely wasted (weeks, years of their lives gone to waste) ... although I know that the funds that were invested into artists were always safe in Escrow (managed by a third party and unable to be accessed by the management or artists until an artist reaches his/her targeted funding amount). If Sellaband had gone down, believers would probably have had their funds returned to them. But thankfully we heard news that Sellaband had actually been bought over by a German company who have a strong reputation in music marketing. The company and new CEO, Michael Bogatzki, aim to continue fostering the community of artists and believers that Sellaband had started. Go to www.sellaband.com/jadediary/ to read a letter from the ex and new CEOs of Sellaband. This news brought much relief to artists and believers alike. We have spent countless hours of fundraising efforts on Sellaband. If Sellaband had not been bought over, this work would have been completely wasted. So this is fantastic news! I want to encourage you to help us make our dream of recording our first album a reality. Musicians pour their hearts and souls into their music, tirelessly gigging, creating, giving away their music. This we do for love, but it would be nice to get a little bit of money for it once in a while :) If you have gained any enjoyment from our music, please help make our dreams a reality and purchase 1 or more parts at www.sellaband.com/jadediary If we do not raise the money we need for our next album, then it may probably never be heard ... and that would be a shame because we have a lot of great songs we want you guys to hear. We are not rich. We are not supported by a major recording company. I wish we were. So this is what we have to do at the present time to help keep the music alive. So we really really need your help. The Cottlesloe Hotel 5 March Our next performance is at The Cottlesloe Hotel, Friday 5 March. 8.00pm. We will be performing as an acoustic trio again. The plan was to perform as a 5 piece band, but Jarvis, our bass player has had difficulties attending rehearsals (his ankle was broken a couple of weeks back). Heartbeat for Haiti 20 March gig We are holding a fundraising band night at The Swan Lounge. Hope you can join us for that one. Door sales will go towards Haiti disaster relief. There will be some other cool bands playing with us that night so bring your friends along and support a great cause.  Soundcheck... 20 March voting madness! On 20 March all of us will be voting like crazy for our songs on Soundcheck. For a week all artists who make it to the final round (it's highlly likely that we will be in the final round) will have their votes counted. The top voted artists will then be in the running to win some big money and get a chance to perform at the Showcase concert in front of music industry professionals. We really really want to be at the Showcase concert! So get ready and rally your friends, work mates, Facebook friends, together to vote for us starting 20 March! www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do Whoa... that was a mouthful! Thanks for reading :) Cheryl Hearts and Red Packets ;)
Hi,
Happy Chinese New Year (Gong Xi Fa Cai) and Valentine's Day xx  Gotta love Valentine's Day... a day of pain and rejection for some, nonchalance for others, smoochy-woochiness, red hearts, and the sound of cash registers working tirelessly for Hallmark and florists around the world. Sorry for being a cynic! No... really, have a lovely Valentine's Day - whether or not you have someone special in your life! And now for an inundation of love from me to you:  Being the melancholic girl I am, I had to sneak in a broken one to you as well. ;) We have a new video for you if you're in the mood for some youtube and there's nothing smoochy-woochy about it ... Recently we did a cover of a John Mayer song called 'Why Georgia'. Outside of the US it's probably not a very well-known song, but I love it because it's so well-written and beautifully captures this sense of loneliness, fear and uncertainty in life that we all experience from time to time. Just go to http://www.jadediary.com/fr_media to view it. Have a few gigs coming up including one on 5 March at The Cottlesloe Hotel (full band). Hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you! Cheryl Happy New Year! No. 1 on Soundcheck...
Happy New Year's Eve or Day (depending on when you read this)!
2010 is upon us and you've probably got a mental checklist of New Year resolutions ... 'get in shape', 'cure global warming', 'win a Grammy' or for those of you with lower expectations: 'try not to get abducted by aliens'. The new year for us promises to be a super busy year with a lot of hard work, performances and blatant, unabashed self-promotion! It's going to be a 'look at me, look at me' kinda year (for Kath and Kim fans read: 'look at mooi'). Soundcheck Competition = No. 1 and Featured Artist Thanks to your daily votes we are currently no. 1 (as I write this) on the Soundcheck Competition Elimination Chart. Also 'Featured Artist of the Week' which is really fantastic! What does being on the Elimination chart mean? Well, if we stay in the top 10 of the elimination chart by 22 March, we get in the final round of the competition. Once in the final round, all songs competing have their votes turned back to 0. So in the last 2 weeks of the competition fans will vote madly for their favourite songs. We calculated that we need a minimum of 200 votes per day for 16 days to ensure our placement in the top 5 by the end of the competition. The top 5 will be given a chance to win up to $50,000 and perform in the Showcase event with lots of A&R managers and record labels checking them out. This is definitely something achievable for us, if we continue to have your daily votes to: a) keep us in the top 10 of the Elimination chart until 22 March; b) get us into the final top 5 by the end of the final round starting 22 March 2010. Here are the links to vote again: http://www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do?entryId=1513 http://www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do?entryId=1518 http://www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do?entryId=1519 http://www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do?entryId=1512 It would be awesome if you could vote for all the songs :) So a BIG THANK YOU to you for voting for us, listening to our music, supporting us on Sellaband, reading our E-letters, sending us encouraging messages on Facebook, myspace, email etc. Every little thing you do really matters to us ... hey it's not easy being a starving, tortured artist... ;o) All right ... try not to overdose on champagne, caviar or excessively off-key versions of Auld Lang Syne tonight and you're all set for 2010! Have a really fantastic year from Renee, Jarvis, John, Eddie and me at The Jade Diary. Cheryl Soundcheck Voting
A very Happy Christmas to you and your family!
Soundcheck: we need your help ... We're in this competition called 'Soundcheck'. Thanks to some fantastic UK supporters, we are still in the competition (artists get kicked off if they don't have enough votes). We currently need as many votes as possible to be in the running to perform at the big Soundcheck music showcase concert in front of industry professionals and get $75,000. The exposure would be fantastic for us ... so would the money of course - that would go into recording our first album. Once we get in the final top 'Winner's chart' on 22 March 2010, all song entries will be reset to 0 votes, and people will vote in the last week of the competition. At this point in time, we just need to get to the final round which is very possible if you help us! What I'm asking of you is to VOTE DAILY for our songs. The top main songs of ours are What She Wants and Landscape of Dreams. You can only vote once a day from the same computer. That's why you'd have to do it each day. These are the links... you could book mark them and vote each day? http://www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do?entryId=1512 http://www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do?entryId=1519 http://www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do?entryId=1518 http://www.soundcheck.com.au/showEntry.do?entryId=1513 To vote: 1. Click on the links 2. 'Cast your vote' and select '5'. 3. Enter code that they've got on the screen e.g. efxa 4. Click SUBMIT button. Voila! Thank you so much for your help in this! It would be awesome if we manage to get to play at the Soundcheck Showcase concert :) New look website The website has had a makeover (again! well she likes changing clothes;)... hope you like it: www.jadediary.com. I leave you with this beautiful Christmas song medley by Hayley Westenra: Christmas medley People forget what Christmas is really about ... not presents, food or trees! Hint: it's in the word 'Christmas'! Have a really wonderful one :) Love, Cheryl Girl to be revealed ...
Hi,
Now that I've caught your attention... ;o) Girl With No Name We are keen to reveal our new song, "Girl With No Name" to you but kinda need a bit of persuasion first ... we are shy shrinking violets after all ... If you pre-order our album, and help us raise $4800 on Sellaband, we can release the song to you guys as well as let you download it + our Landscape of Dreams EP for free. How do you do this? Just go to http://www.sellaband.com/jadediary and register as a believer, and purchase 1 or more parts in The Jade Diary, then we will let you download this exclusive never before released song, "Girl With No Name" (full band) once we have reached $4800 on Sellaband. If you don't want to register as a believer on Sellaband, just go to Pre-Order Album and pre-order. Pre-order our Album for $12 AUD = 6 songs to download + 1 physical CD of our first Album mailed to you once released in the future = Bargain! Great X'mas Presents We have discounted our CDs down to $5 AUD (normal price $10) for 1 CD or $4 AUD each for more than 1. Just go to Store to place your order straight away and I'll be sure to send it off so you receive them before Christmas! Christmas Break Three of us will be overseas for the Christmas and New Year break (Jarvis going to Russia and other bits of Europe, Eddie in Norway, I'll be in Singapore). John and Renee spending lots of time with family and friends :o) Hope that you're having a really great start to Christmas and using the time to catch up with friends and family. Don't forget to take a breather and think about what Christmas really means ... It's easy to get caught up in the craziness of parties and dinners only to forget what really matters! Here's a blast from the past or 'cringe' from the past heehee... www.youtube.com/watch "Last Christmas" by Wham ......... enjoy (or cringe)! ;o) Cheryl Sublime TV Performance and Sellaband Top 5 Gainers!
Hi,
Full Band TV Appearance Had fun filming our appearance on The Couch as a full band for their 300th anniversary televised on Foxtel. It was cool to get dressed up and get our make up done for us. The audience showed us lots of love and gave us really great feedback! We'll post up a Youtube of it soonish :)  John (drummer) and Eddie (guitarist)  Renee looking hot... getting her make up done. Check out the MJ impersonator at the back - he was cool! Sellaband Top 5 on the Weekly Chart! What is Sellaband? A reputable website where fans can directly fund an artist's album by becoming a 'believer'. Basically the music fan 'becomes the record company'. Even big names like Public Enemy are using Sellaband to fund their albums these days. It's a very gratifying process because fans get lots of great stuff in return like the CD once it's complete, a portion of the album revenue and other cool incentives. For more information go to http://www.sellaband.com Everyone who buys a part will get a CD of our first album (think of this as a pre-order of our album) and share in 65% of our album sales. There are other great incentives we're offering like a private concert or life-time VIP pass to our shows. We were quiet on Sellaband for a long time due to various reasons: the economic crisis (lots of people pulled out), Sellaband had lots of technical issues, band members leaving us, the inflexibility of the whole system (artists could only raise $50,000 and could not set their own targets or change the plan to suit them). And we lost hope of ever succeeding through the Sellaband system. Well, glad to say that we are back with a vengeance and mean business now! And our hope is very much renewed and we plan to take this thing all the way. Our new custom Sellaband plan is to raise $35,000 to fund a 12-song album and DVD. For details about our plan please go to http://www.sellaband.com/jadediary. Proud to say that currently we are no.5 of the top gainers on Sellaband: www.sellaband.com/searches. Of course this is a live chart and will change throughout the week. But right now as I write this we are no. 5! We would love your support through Sellaband ... it doesn't have to be much money ... every little bit counts! It would make our dream a reality and you will get to share in our success :) Signing off, Cheryl Foxtel TV Appearance Friday 16 October
Hi guys,
Letting you know that Eddie and I performed a cover song on Foxtel Aurora Channel's 'The Couch' TV show to be televised Friday 16 October at 3pm and 8pm (repeat) Perth time. If you live in the East it should be televised Friday 6pm and 11pm. Disclaimer: The Couch has given us the wrong information before regarding when we are televised, so please don't get annoyed with me if you watch the show and find that we did not appear! If you miss the show or simply live outside of Australia, don't sweat because we will post the video on Youtube at a later stage. #2 on Ourstage.com Always the bridesmaid, never the bride? Some time ago, 'Love Called Me Home' was no. 2 on Ourstage.com's pop chart for a brief time. Didn't make it to no. 1 :( But now 'What She Wants' is no. 2 on the Ourstage.com pop chart. C'mon girl... go get that no. 1 spot! Go to www.ourstage.com/contests/3467-pop to check out our current standing. The chart will shift and change, so let's hope it changes in our favour! Free Songs Our two new demo tracks are still in post production. I'm sorry for the wait, but we will be sure to send you the link to download once they're ready! Patience ... Image Revamp Stay tuned cos we're going through a bit of an image change... can't say too much cos it's a bit of a secret ;) Will it be punk/goth/EMO/Britney lookalikes/Manga... who knows! Maybe all of us will get piercings? That's for me to know and for you to find out! Hint, our TV appearance only hints at the image change. Well thanks for reading and hope you enjoy our little TV appearance! Cheryl Recording in the Lounge Room
Hi!
Yes we've been a little quiet recently, but have actually been busy little iSnack 2.0 Vegemites ;o) ... Recording Tracks and Free Song Giveaways Apart from the odd acoustic gig at The Publican Cafe, we've been recording new demo tracks in my living room with a very cool sound engineer, Peter Gigengack! If you want to check out a very shaky video (a la 'Blair Witch Project' style)... was limited by space so I couldn't get the whole band and Renee was behind a wall... sorry! But it''ll give you a feel for what happened anyway. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTEez8wXZpE to see the video. To thank you for your fantastic support of us and incredible patience, we are going to be giving away FREE SONGS to you in the future. The first FREE SONG (brand new track) is in post-production at the moment and will soon be able for your downloading pleasure! If you have friends who may be interested in our music, perhaps you can forward this email to them and they are more than welcome to subscribe to the mailing list at www.jadediary.com to get their hands on some FREE DOWNLOADS in the near future.  Sellaband For a few months we were very quiet on Sellaband: http://www.sellaband.com/jadediary. But things are different now. For those who are unfamiliar with Sellaband, it's a website where artists can get direct funding for their albums/projects by 'believers', i.e. fans who want to support an artist financially. They can purchase a 'part' in an artist for $10. Once the artist meets the target set (which can now be $50,000 or less), the artist gets a large proportion of the funding for their project (e.g. record an album, promote the band, photos etc.). Believers will also have a share of revenue from sales of the album etc. You can find out more at www.sellaband.com. As part of 'The Dream Team' (a group of Sellaband artists), we are currently being promoted on a Syndicated Radio Segment as 'Featured Artist' of the day. It's wonderful exposure and a great way to be introduced to new fans. Our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/jadediary) has been really busy with lots of traffic. We are celebrating the fact that we now have over 100 fans! Last count was 103... and growing! A fun little community is being formed there, so I'd encourage you to join us on Facebook too! OK... stay tuned for FREE SONG downloads (brand new tracks) in the near future! But first, you have to be a mailing list subscriber! Thanks again for your patience... Love, Cheryl Goodbye Michael
7 years old and in pyjamas. My cousins, brothers and I were sitting on the floor at my Uncle’s home watching the 1984 Grammy Awards. Our eyes were glued to the TV as we saw Michael Jackson perform Billie Jean. His sequins glittered as his body gracefully pulsed to the music and moonwalked across the stage. Pure magic. I remember my brother watched the performance over and over again so he could learn how to moonwalk.
For those of you who are Gen Xers like I am, you may remember a time when Michael dominated the music charts. His songs became hits, one after the other. No one could perform and thrill like he could. His songs haunted your sub-conscious and his dancing electrified the stage. I read in an article that Michael still maintained a perfectionist ferocious work pace at 50 years of age as he rehearsed for his upcoming tour (S. James Snyder 29 Jun 2009). According to his vocal coach, Dorian Holley: "He'd take the stage with this group of dancers, all in their 20s, but you couldn't take your eyes off him ... Many of his songs have six or seven parts, and he would often come over if we were missing an important note in our mix, and he would sing through all the parts rapid-fire to show us what he wanted. We would just sit there with our jaws open - it was awesome," Holley says. "He could still do everything...”. The press raised him up in the 80s but relentlessly tore him down in the 90s as he became fodder for the tabloids. A victim of his own fame. I watched as the seemingly never-ending love and adulation that he enjoyed quickly turned into humiliation and scorn. Now in death, they are only singing him praises. We are reminded of the fragility of life and how fickle-minded humans are. Michael Jackson was not perfect. A human being with flaws like the rest of us, and he paid a terrible price for his fame and success. As for me, I will remember Michael Jackson as an extraordinary musician who gave us more than music. He gave us MAGIC. He made me excited about pop music when I was 7 years old. Thank you God for Michael Jackson. Back to work I’m back after a 5-week holiday and ready to get back into rehearsing, songwriting and all the other fun things. We will be auditioning two promising guitarists to fill in our gap in the band and will let you know how things turn out. Also eager to try out some new songs that we’ve written. Learning more about Michael Jackson’s work ethic reminds me that the road to success does not come easily. Even with all his amazing God-given gifts, he still worked tirelessly to perfect them. Meanwhile, here’s a Youtube of his unforgettable Billie Jean performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7mEQVWQgRA&feature=related. Thanks for tuning in. Cheryl Angry song waiting to be born...Songs... sometimes they come to you at 3am in the morning after a dream. You wake up in a daze and it demands that you stumble across a dark hallway towards the nearest mobile phone, press record and croak out the melody (I'm pretty sure that's how I wrote Love Called Me Home). Otherwise it drifts away from you, never to be remembered again. Where do all the unwritten songs go? Like shapeless ghosts waiting to be discovered, I think they linger around hoping to bump into some other poor unsuspecting musician with a severe case of writer's block, which is a great description of me at the moment. 
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