April? Already? Posted by La Niece McKay , Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 10:38 PM, in

Man does time fly!!!!!!! Whew! Well things have been going well for me lately. There was a moment in time where things weren't as good. I lost a friend this year. I'm sure most of you heard, Nate Dogg passed away. It was a time of mixed emotion for me. He had been sick for quite some time and at the worst of it he had lost a lot of his memory. So I mourned our friendship at that time. Because we were studio friends, his family and close friends didn't know much about me so I was completely out of touch with him by then. For the Funeral the choir he had put together (which I was in) got back together. "InNate Praise" It was so great to see everyone again. We hadn't been together in about 2-3 years or maybe even more. but it was bittersweet because we all knew why we were there.

Also since I last logged in I quit my dayjob and got a new one. lol. The owner at the salon I worked at and I just didn't see eye to eye far too often. In my opinion she is quite a bit ridiculous but I'm sure in hers I probably am.... lol. Whatever the case, it was time to move forward with other things and leave that behind. So now I am at the promenade performing more often. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I also landed a gig singing background for Tito Jackson. The dates are not a regular thing but the show is a lot of fun and it is such an honor to work with someone so great and with so much history in music. Tito (and I) will be performing at Morongo Casino on May 14th. If you are free and can get there you should come check out the show. I get to sing solo's too! :0) On top of those things I am still auditioning and writing and recording all the time. I'm in the middle of a live project that I volunteered to put together for a friend of mine.

Well as you can see, a lot is going on. I just wanted to check in and letchya' know. I am so very happy right now with my choices and exercising my freedom to live life the way I want to. I am pursuing the things I want with all my might and in the process not allowing money - the lack of it, abundance of it, or pursuit of it - to effect my ability to be happy. The money will come.... and go.... that's life. But my happiness is here to stay! :) Thanks for reading. Please send me a note and let me know you've been here. Love to you!

Happy 2011 Posted by La Niece McKay , Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 11:30 PM, in

It's been such a long time.........

I've been hard at work and working hard! :) lol. Writing, styling, singing, auditioning and living. Life has been going full speed ahead and now is the time I'd like to re-focus into my artistry. I started singing at the promenade last year and it was a blast. I have a lot of fun just vibing down there and getting positive feedback from passersby. If you're ever around, I'd love to see ya there. It's kinda a spur of the moment thing for me but I'll start posting it on my facebook fanpage so you can check there if you're ever gonna be or wanna be in the area! :) Other than that, I've been writing. I'm in the process of putting together a band for live shows in indoor environments and also looking into putting on a show in the near future. It's gonna b a whirlwind of a year and I hope you are ready for it! Anyway, just wanted to check in and let you know what's on my plate. I'll keep ya'll posted on progress and on what's to come. I hope 2011 has proved prosperous for you so far. Much love.

-Lala-

Conga Room Posted by La Niece McKay , Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 1:42 PM, in

Hey Everybody!!!!!!!

So I performed at the Conga room in L.A. It is a very popular event showcasing L.A. talent put on by Jamie Fox and his radio station "The Foxxhole" on Sirius Radio. The show airs on the radio every Monday night live. The musicians and singers are the same ones who play for and sing with some of the top names in the industry like Chaka Khan, Toni Braxton, Natalie Cole, Usher, and Stevie Wonder. The club is in the newly built up downtown LA area called L.A. Live behind the Nokia theatre. The crowd is sprinkled with celebrities, local L.A. talent and other working singers and musicians mixed with aspiring talent and a lot of R&B lovers looking to have a good time in their Sunday best on a Monday night! Needless to say I was so excited to be performing at such an amazing venue so soon after returning home - and rightfully so. Before I began, the crowd seemed apprehensive but I had fun with it and with them and I felt them all come around. By the end of it all people were cheering, head bopping and agreeing with me. I even did a little duet with host Mark Curry (comedian, actor, "Hanging with Mr. Cooper") which is crazy cause I remember singing for him when I was a little girl during a commercial break at a taping of his show. Anyway, it was a great time! My background singers were GREAT and all in the family (My mom, my play cousin and one of my best friends' sister). We had a ball! If you were there, you already know and if not, you should make it a point to be at the next one!!!!!!! ;) You can find out when that is by looking at the SHOWS & EVENTS area on the home page. Love you all!!! Besos!

P.S. If you were at the show and want to show love and support, please leave a comment on the "What People Are Saying" area on page one (1) of this blog. Thanks and much love! Mwah!

About a month in.... Posted by La Niece McKay , Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 6:00 PM, in

So, I guess I didn't keep my promise to keep you all posted on my days left in Japan. Let's recap: I had a great time! :) lol. I did a lot of partying and dining out and meeting with friends in between all of my packing and cleaning. I made it out on time and everything was done ahead of schedule which is an amazing feat for me! I've been home now about a month. Originally coming back here was disorienting (no pun intended). I felt like an outsider in my own homeland. It's crazy how accustomed you get to being somewhere in such a short amount of time. Eventually though I got back into the groove of things. I am still working on the day to day things to promote myself a a solo artist. While I'm looking for an agent for acting/modeling. I booked a part in a play called "Momma Christine's Colored Girls". So I've been busy learning lines and rehearsing for that. I am also in the process of putting together ideas for my live shows. Hopefully really soon I'll be playing out and putting myself in front of more people more often. It's a crazy wild ride living the dream.... but hey, somebody's gotta do it! I need more and more people to know about my music so that I can share with them and I see more ways to do that all the time. I feel immensely blessed and so happy to do what I love! Also loving being home with family and friends nearby. I'm gonna try to make a point to blog more often. It's great to have a way to let everyone know what's going on in my head and heart! I hope you are all wonderful!!!!!! If you haven't already, please leave a comment in the "What People Are Saying" Entry below! I'd really appreciate that! Thanks! :)

38 days Posted by La Niece McKay , Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 2:05 AM, in

Hey ya'll....

It's been a minute. And while the time has passed things have changed. My end date has been moved up by a week! So I'll be back home a little sooner than expected. The holidays have passed. And things around here have changed dramatically! The other lady in my cast of performers' contract ended and she left. A new lady has come in to replace her. A lot of the shows have finished their contracts for the year. And a lot of the people who I have grown to love and depend on have gone home. The bulk of my closest friends are still here but there are a lot of ppl missing and it feels like a ghost town around here lately. One thing that's really fun about that is that you get a chance to get to know some people you may have overlooked when it was super crowded and busy. That's always fun. I've been rehearsing for another show we're having here on Jan. 20th. This time I'll be doing a few of my songs and some covers with a live band and background singers. I couldn't be more excited about that. I went to see SWV a few days ago and they are some sangin' sistahs as their name implies! They were also so cool. We got a chance to hang out with them for a little bit after the show and they welcomed us and treated us like family. It was amazing to see them just being regular people and so gracious toward us even though they didn't know us from "gus"...lol. Well, as you can see, a lot has gone on. It's been about a month or more now since I last posted. Trying to catch you up on everything would be damned near impossible. But I am in good spirits. I'm enjoying the end of my time here. and I'm looking forward to coming home! Things are great for me now and I expect them to get better and better...... Hopefully you can say the same! ..... till next time.

84 days Posted by La Niece McKay , Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 5:57 AM, in

Hey ya'll

So another week has passed. Since I last blogged. We're knee deep into the holidays here and I am definitely feeling the spirit. I had a little get together and made eggnog, peach cobbler and pumpkin soup and invited ppl to trim my tree! I had a ball with folks. Everyone ended up bringing something with them and I have leftovers for days!!!! lol. Feels just like home. My neighbor was also having a little gathering so ppl were popping back and forth from both. It was a really great night. As the week went on there was just plenty of work and not a lot else. Then I brought the weekend in with a fun night out! We went to this restaurant that I'm still not sure how I feel about. It has a lot of Christian symbols taken and made fun of. I was told about it before I went so I guess I could've opted not to go, but I did. Most of it didn't offend me. But there was one piece that made me quite uncomfortable. It was a painting of the last supper and one of the disciples was giving Jesus head........ I mean I guess it can be taken as funny, but at the same time it is offensive and kinda unnecessary. I don't understand why ppl feel the need to make fun of other ppls beliefs. If I started making fun of atheists and agnostics ppl would label me crazy or stupid. We are all expected to be tolerant of almost everyone for everything but no one is taught to be tolerant of Christians.... it's a double standard I deal with all the time. I love my faith and my beliefs but I don't feel like I need to condemn or make fun of anyone else to do that. For some reason though, ppl often feel the need to condemn and poke fun and Christians and our faith system.... aw well. Not like I can't handle it. Don't know if I'll go back to that restaurant... It just kinda stayed on my mind. But it was my choice to be there...... the food was good though.....lol....... What do ya'll think? Think I'm over reacting? Under reacting?.....

91 days left Posted by La Niece McKay , Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 12:38 AM, in

So it's been about a week since my last post. I had thanksgiving dinner here at my apartment with some of the other performers who live here. We had good food. It was very close to home! We did it potluck style and everyone chipped in something. Even those who couldn't really cook brought snacks or something. It was great. I loved the fact that those of us who were American got to share our holiday with those who were Australian, Japanese, Canadian, Russian, and English. It was a lot of fun. Although no one went over the history of the pilgrims and indians, we did go around the table and say what we were thankful for. Which was great. With so much gratitude in one room you just have to smile and be thankful yourself! After thanksgiving dinner I spent the rest of the week working on two things 1) working out to make sure I don't pack on too many holiday pounds (a few are to be expected, we're all human) and 2) rehearsing for an event I would be performing in. The rehearsal process was kinda crazy and a lot of things went wrong. One of my dancers pulled out, my choreographer got sick, a background singer pulled out and I kept changing people around. It was hard to get fill ins at the last minute but by the grace of God, everything came together! The show was a lot of fun. There was my number which was a performance of my song "Hold On" off of the 'Songs from my breakup' album, and there was a group number that included most of the female performers in the show. The events purpose was to raise money for a single mothers group here in Osaka. It felt really good to be a part of something giving to the community I've been living in and that has given so much to me. I had a great night and video footage will be coming soon! Hope you're all well......