Monthly Archives: December 2009

Dec17

Blog: "Dream Catchers", Tortured MySpace, Party @ Cargo Cafe & Me Rambling

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Blog: "Dream Catchers", Tortured MySpace, Party @ Cargo Cafe & Me Rambling

Anna Sundstrand and me in the summer of 2009.It’s been a very long time since I blogged, huh? Well, part of that reason is my head is a scramble of book releases, interviews, work, internships, friends/family and sleep deprivation! LOL! I may be turning into Haley Foster (from “Dream Catchers” available now!!!)…if you read the first 2 chapters, you’ll know she has trouble sleeping.

See, I prefer NOT to sleep, lol. That’s 8 hours I could be writing! But sleep is needed and I do enjoy dreaming. I keep dreaming about my mother coming back to life…I wonder if that means she’s visiting me in my sleep, or my memories of her are so fresh that it feels like she’s still with me.

Anyway, I’m on Madison Avenue today. Anna Sundstrand and her mom went back to Sweden for the holidays and offered up their apartment to me for the week. Of course any opportunity to get off Staten Island is taken for me! I would love to live in Manhattan one day…

So many exciting things happening–besides the holidays, which I love–“Dream Catchers” is on sale today!! I know the release date is officially January 26th, BUTTTT I’ve decided to make it available earlier for the holidays!

Also, I’m working on a Sandy-lo.com store where you can find both “Lost In You”, “Dream Catchers”, and cool merchandise like t-shirts, totes, etc. Also, “Haley’s Letter” – the song I wrote with James Manzello will be available for purchase through there as well. The Cafe Press store for “Dream Catchers” is now available: http://www.cafepress.com/DreamCatchers10.

Okay, so that’s all I have to say for now…I’m waiting to hear back in regards to an interview with Thirty Seconds To Mars…say a prayer for me! I LOVE them! In fact, they were the inspiration to many things Tortured in “Dream Catchers”. Oh, in case you’re wondering–Tortured is the band that Jordan is in. Man, I can’t wait for you to read this book already!!! There’s so much to discuss! lol.

For now, check out Tortured’s MySpace page and become their friend! (I run this page for fun, lol. Tortured is NOT real, but based off real people!). Go to: http://www.myspace.com/torturedmusic.

Oh! And reminder: if you’re in the NYC area on January 23, 2010 – come to Cargo Cafe in Staten Island @ 7pm for the “Dream Catchers” release party where you can celebrate the book, my birthday and see awesome performers like James Manzello (performing “Haley’s Letter” for the first time!), Anna Sundstrand (my dear friend and awesome singer/actress), and Harlem Witness (my rapping friend Shawn).

Until next time…

Hugs, Kisses & Stars,
Sandy Lo

Dec9

2009 StarShine Magazine Music Award Winners Include Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Jesse McCartney & more

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2009 StarShine Magazine Music Award Winners Include Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Jesse McCartney & more

The 2009 StarShine Magazine Music Awards took place online between October and November.  Thousands of fans voted for their favorite artists in what proved to be the magazine’s tightest race to date!  The delay in announcing the results was due to StarShine’s efforts to get acceptance speeches from the winners to no avail.  Between tight schedules and publicists not cooperating, we weren’t able to make it happen.

Lady Gaga was the big winner this year with a total of 5 awards including Favorite Female Artist, Best New Artist, Song of the Year for “Poker Face”, Best Dance Song for “Just Dance” and Album of the Year for her debut The Fame. Gaga only lost one award, and that was surprisingly to teen heartthrob, Jesse McCartney, who received Artist of the Year over her with only 3% more votes!  McCartney also takes home Favorite Male Artist beating out Michael Bublé.  Katy Perry won Best Pop Song for “Hot N Cold” while newcomer Jessie James grabbed Best Ballad for “I Look So Good Without You”.

Canadian rock band Hedley won Best Rock Song for “Never Too Late”.  The obscure indie band, 100 Monkeys, fronted by Jackson Rathbone of “Twilight” fame nabs two awards for Favorite Band and Breaking Artist.  For Best Live Show, StarShine’s reader favorite–Backstreet Boys take the win; beating out top-selling touring acts, Michael Bublé and Katy Perry.

Visit StarShine Magazine: www.StarShineMag.com

2009 STARSHINE MUSIC AWARD WINNERS!

BEST DANCE SONG: Lady Gaga – “Just Dance”

BEST BALLAD: Jessie James – “I Look So Good (Without You)”

BEST ROCK SONG: Hedley – “Never Too Late”

BEST POP SONG: Katy Perry – “Hot N Cold”

FAVORITE BAND/GROUP: 100 Monkeys

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST: Lady Gaga

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST: Jesse McCartney

BEST LIVE SHOW: Backstreet Boys

BEST NEW ARTIST: Lady Gaga

BREAKING ARTIST: 100 Monkeys

SONG OF THE YEAR: Lady Gaga – “Poker Face”

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Lady Gaga – The Fame

ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Jesse McCartney

Dec7

FREE DOWNLOAD: Jeff Timmons Album; Plus, Find Out Why StarShine Loves Him!

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FREE DOWNLOAD: Jeff Timmons Album; Plus, Find Out Why StarShine Loves Him!

StarShine’s good friend Jeff Timmons called me recently to tell me about a new development in his career.

A free album!

Yes, we mean completely free!  Sign-up to receive this wonderful gift of music here: http://www.jefftimmons.com/signup.html.

And in the season of giving, make sure you pass on the link to your friends.

So why did Jeff Timmons, a man who is not having trouble obtaining a record deal, decide to release his music on his own, and for free?  With the industry going the way it is–free downloading sites like Lime Wire, music stores closing down, and record labels shelving most of their artists’ music for years–Jeff figured, why not?

“People can get the music anyway,” he says.  “I thought the record business needed something different.”  With his free album, Jeff hopes to achieve 1 million downloads and bringing change to the industry.  He’s already halfway to his goal!

Jeff’s free album campaign has taken the film industry’s inspiration by subsidizing costs through sponsors and product placement.  Most importantly, Jeff is hoping word of mouth, the oldest promotional tool in history, will be his best bet.  With the relationships he’s built within the industry over the years from 98 Degrees to his solo career, Jeff Timmons is just the man to accomplish this feat!

He’s humble, talented and innovative–not to mention a real artist.  Personally, I always specify that in my articles since oddly enough–real artists are hard to find nowadays.  Like many other people, I discovered Jeff Timmons and 98 Degrees in the ’90s–and musicially, he has remained a constant in my library–from disc mans to i-Pods!  In fact, I just whipped out my 98 Degrees Christmas album the other day, which I have done every year since its release in 1999.  The purity and natural ability of Jeff’s voice always makes me smile.

With that said, I look forward to hearing what he’ll come up with on his new solo album–especially some of the new dance tracks!

Now as StarShine Magazine’s editor-in-chief, I can say with confidence that Jeff Timmons will remain a constant on our website–and not just my personal library.  It’s always an honor to get to know an artist I’m a fan of.

So what are you waiting for?  Go to: http://www.jefftimmons.com/signup.html right now to receive Jeff’s FREE album!  What do you have to lose?

Dec7

"Dream Catchers" Book Release Party @ Cargo Cafe in Staten Island, NY!

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"Dream Catchers" Book Release Party @ Cargo Cafe in Staten Island, NY!

To celebrate my 27th birthday AND the release of “Dream Catchers”, I will be having a book release party at Cargo Cafe on January 23, 2010.  I will be debuting “Haley’s Letter”, a song I wrote for the book.  My good friend, James Manzello wrote music to it and will be performing it live at Cargo.  Other performers include Anna Sundstrand!

The party starts at 7pm.  All ages welcome.

Cargo Cafe
120 Bay Street
Staten Island, NY 10301
(718) 876-0539
www.cargocafe.com

To be kept updated on this event, please comment below and provide an accurate e-mail address (which will not be visible to anyone but me).