Sunday, April 26, 2009

New Blog for "The House on Christmas Street"

Hellooooo...
On the advice of a trusted PR friend I have created a brand new blog specifically for information about my song, "The House on Christmas Street." You should see the link for it here on the homepage of this blog...but in case I'm wrong, here's the link: http://houseonchristmasstreet.blogspot.com/

This blog is intended to be a "go-to" spot for all information and comments on the song. If you are a fan of the song or my Christmas CD, I hope you'll stop by and leave a comment!
Thanks!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Music Page on Face book

I finally figured out how to make a music page on Facebook. You can find it by clicking here (I hope) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62250577026#/pages/Judy-Pancoast/70289139838?sid=44f83ef0dd2616ea7475a3be895a7b78&ref=search

That looks like a long link but I can't figure out how else to do it.
Anyhow, I haven't yet uploaded any music, but I'd love to have you come by and become a fan. I'm going to start listing all my shows there, and if you want to discuss my music or shows or children's music in general there's a discussion board.

In the immortal words of Olivia Newton-John,...Come On Over!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Prunes

Last night Louisa and I went over to SNHU to see the band honeyhoney open for Gavin DeGraw. Yes, we went to see the opening act and then we left. I was very excited that they were actually right here in town, since I only discovered their music about a month ago and have been hooked ever since.
We jammed ourselves into a space on the floor, not too far from the stage. As I looked around I noticed that I was not the only person in my age range there, which was comforting. (as opposed to when I go with Emma to see Hanson, where I am clearly a fish out of water, if you know what I mean.) Anyhow, I yelled and cheered for the band, and apparently (Louisa told me) some teenager was giving me nasty looks, as in, "what kind of freak are you, old lady, yelling at a concert?"
We-e-e-e-lllllllllll, here's what I wish I could have said to her: listen kid, your life is going to whiz right by you and someday you will look in the mirror and find yourself at the ripe old age of almost fifty, and yet, inside, you will remember what it felt like when you were 24 and screaming at a Rick Springfield concert, and you'll say "What the heck happened?" And furthermore, I hope to high heaven that you don't let the fact that you are twice the age you were then keep you from being the real person you are, and if you feel like yelling out because you love the guy or band onstage, then I hope you will yell out and have a great time and are able to ignore the snotty kid who is now giving YOU dirty looks.
So there.
And furthermore, to the miserable people who actually posted on message boards making fun of this blog because of the stuff I wrote when I met David Cassidy last summer: Why don't you go eat some prunes, cause you clearly need them!
I am who I am and who I have always been, and I'm not going to change and become some inhibited old lady just because society says I have to act a certain way. If someone can't handle that, it's their problem. I got made fun of when I was a teenager for the same thing: too loud, too funny, too ridiculous, too off the wall, too fat, sings too much, talks too much, too this, too that. But you know what? I've had an amazing life and sometimes laughed so hard I thought I'd have a heart attack and I'm still having a great time (alcohol and drug free always, I might add.) So you can come along and join the fun or you can sit around and make mean-spirited comments, but I hope you have a box of prunes handy, because you really need it.
Too the rest of you who have loved me and joined me in the whirlwind, I love you too. I'm so glad you get it!
Love always, Judy

SIGN MY GUEST BOOK PLEASE!!

Hey You Guuuuuuuuuuuyyyyyysssss....
In an extension of what I said yesterday about blogging being weird because you don't know who is out there reading it, if, indeed, anyone is: I noticed that since I installed the newer guest book on my website 250 people have visited it, yet only a teeny weeny fraction of those people have actually signed it. Come on!! It's lonely out here in cyberspace. Every once in a while I look at the guest book to see if anyone has left me an exciting or unexpected message. You know, like fan mail from some flounder. If you are stopping by to read other people's messages to me in the guest book, you should at least leave one of your own. That would make me sooooo happy!

Health Update

I find it very weird to blog, I'll admit. I have often thought that no one is out there reading any of this stuff and I'm just writing to amuse myself. But I was proved wrong when I posted about my cancer scare several days ago. I received many emails and inquiries from people concerned about my welfare, and it really touched me.
Here's what finally happened: after a really terrible Easter weekend during which I pretty much had myself gone and buried, I went to the specialist at the Elliot Breast Health Center on Monday morning. He looked at my pictures from my ultrasound, and then did one of his own, and he said there was absolutely nothing there to worry about. He said the original radiologist had mis-read the films. How about that? All of that worry and nail biting and tearing up was for nothing. I don't know if I was more relieved or angry. Relieved for the obvious reasons, but also angry because the specialist mentioned that this is apparently a pattern for the particular radiology office where I went for my mammogram and ultrasound in the first place.
The good news is that they feel that, because of my mother's breast cancer 15 years ago, I should be under their wing at the Breast Health Center, so that's where I'm going for mammograms now, every six months.
I do want to say a very, very sincere and heartfelt "thank you" to everyone who kept me in their prayers and sent notes of concern. It's so good to have friends! And all you Mommies out there: be sure to have your yearly mammogram and take good care of yourself!!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Dreams Can Come True at Any Age

Ok...it's a difficult weekend. But someone sent me a link to this video, and it made me feel so good I had to share it with you.
I have never seen a look on Simon Cowell's face like you will see in this video. It's really worth watching. http://digg.com/d1oVwl
Happy Easter!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Design Your Own Judy CD

I've had a brilliant idea! Coming very soon you'll have the opportunity to design your own Judy Pancoast CD. You pick ten of your favorite Judy songs, pay $9.99 via PayPal, and we'll make a CD just for you. I'll autograph it for you and ship it off free of charge.I've decided to do this because the demand for CDs has slowed down considerably, while downloads of my music from iTunes and other sites have really picked up. I think CDs may be going the way of the dinosaur soon. So, instead of reordering thousands of copies of my past CDs and having them take up space, I'm going to let them sell out (Swimming in Jello already has) and make only custom CDs of my current library by request.However, I will be releasing a brand new CD of new material this summer, and there will be plenty of copies of that to go around until those sell out as well! I'm gradually going to add the new tunes to the existing online library to make them available for your customs CDs. This option will be available soon! So, if you would like to introduce your favorite Judy tunes to a child in your life, start picking out your ten songs and you'll have your personalized, custom made, autographed CD on your way to you in no time flat for only $9.99!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

The California Muse

The California Muse is an interesting blog I found when I was searching around for people on Blogger who areinterested in children's music. Here are 6 questions she sent me, and here are my answers:

1. What is your musical training/background? Are you self-trained/did you have formal musical training? I am a self-trained songwriter, but I did have formal training in piano from the time I was ten years old, and I have a degree in music from the University of Maine. I took voice lessons there as well but I wish I hadn't.


2. Why children's music? What draws you to compose and perform music specifically for children?
I began composing songs for children when my first child was born. It was just natural to make up little songs for her. Then I went back to school to become a teacher, and during my field work in classrooms I just began making up songs with the kids. One day the principal of the school where I was working asked me to do an assembly, and the rest is history. I began working professionally as a children's musician in 1996 and I have never looked back. I'd rather sing for kids than any other audience in the world. I'm not an "adult" musician who does music for kids part-time or just to make money. This is truly my purpose in life.



3. What were some of your musical favorites as a child and what were some favorites you played for your own children?
Well, like every kid I loved Disney songs and my first record was an album of songs from Disney movies that my mother got at a gas station, believe it or not! They were selling it as some kind of promotion! I wore that thing out. But I was the youngest of three kids so I got into pop and rock pretty early. I'm a child of the 70's and my favorite music has always been bubblegum pop...and I'm not ashamed to say it! My kids were raised on The Partridge Family, the Carpenters, and lots and lots of oldies. They also really liked Joanie Bartels, any music from Sesame Street and Rory


4. What countries have you traveled to in the world and what were your favorites?
I have been to Canada, Mexico, England and Kenya. My favorite was Kenya because of my experiences there at the orphanage at which I volunteered.

5. What are 10 things you still want to do in this life?
Yikes... that's an interesting question. Let's see....
1. See my song "The House on Christmas Street" actually become a real bonafide seasonal hit that plays on the radio long after I've left this earth
2. Meet John Travolta
3. Win a Grammy
4. Go back to Nyumbani orphanage in Kenya
5. Take my husband to see the Tour de France
6. Buy a small cottage or shack by the sea
7. Visit Japan
8. Write a musical
9. Hold my grandchild in my arms (of course, one has to be born first!)
10. See my daughters happy and successful

6. What are 5 words friends would use to describe you?
I'm not really sure, but I'll take a whack at it...
1. creative
2. funny
3. talkative
4. good mother
5. hard worker

There you go!