Fishing (opportunities)

Well, I'm back! I've been fishing a lot lately (for opportunities) and God it takes time to surf the internet! I didn't forget about you guys and I'm back to continue telling my version of this crazy story.

Before we continue,  I wanted to write about this relationship I'm having with faith: What a roller coaster! It's just never easy, is it? One day you feel in the clouds and the next day you feel six feet under and hanging on. I'm not going to lie, sometimes I feel down because the path I chose doesn't necessarily have lighting all the way. There are a lot of steps I take without knowing where my feet will land. And it's scary at times (and thrilling the others).
I've been reading a lot of blogs about how to make your own success in life. The theory is easy, the making is hard. That is pretty much the way I've been feeling lately: I am doing my best to look for that next opportunity. I'm not sitting down waiting on the world to give me one (which is pretty much the conclusion of how to create your own happiness). But man it's difficult to be patient and keep the spirit high! All of this to share with you how I feel right now: I'm very happy and excited to have my album ready (It just became available on iTunes by the way :) ) , but as every other human being, I struggle with keeping my faith at 100% all the time. Do know that we all go through rough phases! ( and getting out of them is what gives us the extra push we've been craving for).

Now let's go back in time..... if you've been reading my previous blogs, I left the story back in November 2011. I came back from Miami and I started working with my friend P.O (the musical director), to prepare the charity concert we had on Nov 27th for Mozaik Foundation. They raise funds for Mexican Children who need education, food and a place to live. Visit their website if you want to donate ;) http://www.fondationmozaik.org
We chose 12 songs (7 originals and 5 covers). Two rehearsals with the band and we were ready!! Check out the video below from the rehearsal:

I was thrilled!!! That was my first big concert with a band and the guys were all amazing. They are all Pros! I had an amazing time and I realized that playing music live is the ultimate reward for a musician. Everything makes sense when everyone's energy becomes one in a song!

On Nov 27th we were ready. The event had 300+ people confirmed and it was going to be a blast. We did the sound check around 5pm and at 7 pm they opened the doors. I was really excited. It was the first time I was going to sing in front of a big audience and I was confident because the guys in the band were all great. The show started at 8 pm and the rest was just FUN! Time flew for me and I enjoyed every second of it. I didn't want the concert to end. Around nine we played the last song and we had the audience asking for more! Adrenaline at 1000%....and I can tell you it was one night to remember!

After the concert came the holidays. Daniel (my producer), continued working on the album and I needed to find a great photographer and designer for the album art... Who would have known, my producer's brother in law is an amazing photographer. I checked my miles, had enough, booked the ticket, and Miami here we go again!!!

I will continue the story next time. I hope you're enjoying it so far!

Check out  my album on iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/so-simple-sencillo/id510064289

Take care guys!  Love u!

Mao
http://www.maoplanet.com
http://www.twitter.com/maoplanet
http://www.youtube.com/ma0planet

The idea is not to live forever, but to do something that will

Whitney passed away almost a week ago but we refuse to let go. Her videos on Youtube, songs on the top charts of itunes and last night's interview on Oprah got me thinking a lot about life. Many seem to think that money and fame are the ultimate goal, while for others (like Whitney) it is the recipe for self destruction. It was just too much.
We seem to forget that icons are human beings too. They have fears and insecurities and they make mistakes.Whitney had a treasure and we loved her more than She loved herself.

Two things come to my mind right now:
1. I'm so grateful that I've gone through experiences that brought to me the conclusion that life is about love and not about money.
2. "Learning to love yourself, It's the greatest love of all"

We are here temporarily. I remember Broadway's musical "Avenue Q" when they did the last song. It's called "For now" and it's such a great song: http://youtu.be/XJdcROXeaW
I kid you not, I listen to it every time I feel my head is going in circles about little problems.

Whitney was here temporarily, but she did something amazing. It will live forever.

So that's it. My two cents and a message: We don't know what will happen tomorrow, "besides from death and paying taxes, everything in life is only for now". We might as well enjoy it and do what we love. By doing it, we will leave something that will live forever. In a way, I feel like I'm accomplishing that with my album. My voice is there and it will live forever.

How would you like to live forever?


Mao
http://www.maoplanet.com
http://www.facebook.com/maoplanet
http://www.twitter.com/maoplanet



PS: I will continue my story in the next post. I just wanted to pay my own tribute to Whitney.

PSS: A great medley tribute to Whitney here:
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhA7T8aI9WRI1MD2US

Put yourself out there!

I've been pretty busy the last three weeks working on my website (www.maoplanet.com). I launched it on Feb 9 and I have to say that I am blessed. More than 800 people have visited and slowly but surely I'm doing what I always wanted to do, share my music!


Today I read a tweet by @mattchevy where he wrote "No one got anywhere without putting themselves out there and making (more than) a few mistakes". He's so right! 


Overcoming the fear of showing others what we're capable of is ultimately the purpose of our existence. When we are able to let go that fear of being judged (or stop judging ourselves), is when things start happening for us. We are all connected and people will feel your energy. They will like what you do if you believe in yourself 150%. Let me tell you, there's no better reward than getting someone to tell you they like what you do! I'm feeling the love! 


Conclusion: Put yourself out there! Don't be afraid to get out of your confort zone. Quit your job if you need to. Move to another city. Meet new people. When we take a step forward, life shows you where to step next.


Now let's get going with my story! We left in the part where I came back to Canada from Miami after writing my future hit songs with Daniel, my producer, and the amazing Songwriters Cesar Franco and Dani Blau ( who sings with me the song we co-wrote: I want more). Daniel kept working on the demos while I spent the last days of the summer figuring out how to put on a concert in Montreal. I was dying to play live and I needed a band.


In 2009 I went to see a local artist at a bar. I loved the band and I was able to get in touch with the musical director @Porioux. He is a great musician and after meeting with him and sharing my demos he showed interest in working together. We scheduled the show for November and he was going to put together a band. He'd let me know when we had everyone on board.


The demos Daniel kept sending me got better and better. Those arrangements were so good that I couldn't think they could get any better. They did with each new version of the songs! 


At this point I was really motivated. I had the band to do my first concert in Montreal and the EP was a reality. 


I flew back to Miami in early November to record the final vocals for all the songs. That week was amazing!!! I didn't feel I was working, on the contrary I felt the joy of doing what I like the most. We worked for around 5 days in a row and we had everyting: lead vocals, back vocals and the collaboration with Dani Blau. Now we had to let Daniel work his magic. And he did! He got the best musicians in Florida to work with him (Lee levin in the drums for example, who has credits on albums from world superstars). 


Back in Montreal I started working closely with P.o (the musical director) to select the repertoire for the concert. We had a month to put on a great show!


It's time for me to get ready for an appointment so I'll stop here. I'll see you next week! feel free to comment below if you have any questions or if you want to just share something with all of us.


Happy St Valentin's!! Remember that there's nothing more important than love!


Cheers family.. see you soon!


Mao
www.maoplanet.com
www.facebook.com/maoplanet
www.twitter.com/maoplanet

Patience.. good things come to those who wait!

Welcome back folks. Before I continue last week's story, I would like to make a little introduction about patience. It's just one word but it's heavy, difficult and most of all, rewarding when we learn to put it in our favor.

I have been working on my new website (www.maoplanet.com) for the past three weeks and it has not been an easy task. Tweaking took a whole new meaning and photoshop became my new best friend. I'm really happy though. It's nice to learn new things and most of all, it's been rewarding to work on my patience (I must admit it's something that I lack in many situations). I learned that being patient is easier when you do something else in the meantime, something that you care for. While I waited on some technical problems,  I started to get frustrated. The first two days I was just waiting for that email where they would tell me the problem was solved. That email did not come so I used my time to work on new templates instead so that I had many more options by the time that problem was solved. That email came yesterday and even if it wasn't the solution I had expected, I have figured out another way that is now being implemented in my final template.

This story is not supposed to win an award, but it can be translated to so many other situations in life where we are "waiting" and being patient becomes difficult.  In a relationship, at work, waiting for the bus, doing a line-up or counting the hours to receive a box with 500 CDs of your first EP (in two weeks!!!). There's always something that we can be doing in the meantime that will bring us something extra and will make time go faster. Remember, Einstein was right, time is relative!

So let's get back to my story now, the exciting part of this blog!

I was back in June 2011. I kind of new that the next step was to work on my EP. I didn't know what that stood for so I 'll explain for those who don't know: EP stands for Extended Play and it is a recording with   more than one single but not enough songs to be considered a full album. This "format" is used by emerging artists like myself to introduce their style and put in a recording their best material.

At that time I was taking a course online with Cari Cole, who suggested to find a good producer. I already had the attention of Daniel Betancourt in Miami, who accepted to work with me in this project. He's an ASCAP award winner and his co-productions have been nominated 7 times for the Latin Grammys. At that time I went on my online banking and did my math. I didn't have enough money but I didn't care. I was going to get it no matter how and I was going to make this EP.

I flew to Miami in early August and met Daniel and his family. He's an amazing person and a talented musician. I couldn't be working with someone better. Together we wrote two songs and he introduced me to other songwriters in Miami. We co-wrote another two songs. The foundation for my EP was there: 4 songs in Spanish plus "Vuelve junto a mi" (The spanish version of "Take me back to you"). At that point the EP was going to be only in Spanish. My trip to Miami was over after a week and I came back to Montreal flying in a cloud. I was beyond excited and it was just the beginning. Even the demos sounded like finished songs to me.

Daniel started working on the Demos. I needed to learn more about the music industry so I used that time to take my courses with Cari Cole. We decided to translate the songs in English too. This dream was getting bigger and bigger!

This stage of the creative process took some time (refer to the introduction about patience... lol). the next step was to go back to Miami to record the final vocals but  I'll stop here. This entry is getting too long :)

I'll continue next week and I promise to write every detail I remember. Details make the stories so much better!

I wish you all a great weekend. Keep dreaming!

Mao
www.maoplanet.com
www.facebook.com/maoplanet
www.twitter.com/maoplanet

My first baby: "Take me back to you"

Hello family once again! I hope you enjoyed the first entry of my blog and that you will be coming back to read more about me and my adventurous journey.

After quitting my job in early 2011 I didn't know where I was heading. I just had one thing clear: I didn't want to be an engineer and I wanted to work on my music and share it with the world. Everything started with a big dream.

Looking back, I don't think I would have been able to picture what is about to happen very soon: I will have the first copy of my album in my hands. Every adventure I have had in the last year is what I want to share with you because that is what really matters. It is in the journey that I have found my happiness.

In March 2011 I took the first step. Through craigslist I found a producer in Toronto who was interested in co-writting with me. We would pitch the song after to music supervisors in Canada to try to get the song in a TV show. That was the moment I found myself again. I felt like I was 5 years old when I used to sing all the time without caring so much about what was happening around me. That feeling is indescribable and I know it sounds a lot like a psychology session, but finding your inner child is finding your true self (at least that is what happened to me).

And then, my first baby was born: "Take me back to you". Music took me back to her and since that moment I feel there's no way back. This song triggered all the amazing things I will write about in this blog and for that I will be eternally grateful. 

In June 2011, after having written a couple of original songs, I decided I needed to take the next step and figure out a way to record my first EP. Because of "Take me back to you", I was able to get the attention of a producer in Miami that became my mentor since last summer and the hero behind my first EP. 

What I will tell you for now is that I had to make one of the biggest decisions of my life: Invest everything I had (and didn't have) in dreams, in something intangible. And let me tell you, I couldn't be happier with my investment. You will see what I am talking about.....

I will continue the story next week. Thank you once again for sharing your time with me and my music. As a little preview of my album, I share with you "Take me back to you" Enjoy and sing along!!

Love,

Mao

http://www.maoplanet.com

http://www.facebook.com/maoplanet

http://www.twitter.com/maoplanet

PS: "Take me back to you" was recently placed on an ad for a German drugstore chain. That was my first pay as a Musician :)

We're all Billy Elliot

Welcome family to my first blog. I've always thought it's sane to write things down, so this is my attempt to share with you what I think and what I feel. I apologize for my written English. I promise to do my best and will try to make sense (doesn't happen all the time.. hahaha).

My first inspiration is "Billy Elliot". I watched the movie again last night and I remember now why I fell in love with this film the first time: We're all Billy at some point of our lives. I say so because we all have a passion for something. We might not know what it is probably because we are too busy trying to follow the standards of our dear society. And yes, I know it sounds cliché, but I'm convinced that we all have a purpose in life. I truly believe that there is something unique in all of us that makes us feel powerful. We don't necessarily listen to that inner voice because most of the time, we feel ridiculous for wanting something that seems impossible and/or we care too much about what "others" might think.

While I write this I say to myself: I'm so lucky! I feel free and unstoppable, and there is nothing (no money, no corporate job, no one) that can take away the happiness of doing something I enjoy so much. 

I don't miss my previous life. For those of you who don't know, I quit my well paid engineering job to pursue my childhood dream: being a singer. Oh God it feels good to say that without any shame or regret.. I am a singer! 

I wanted to share this feeling because it set me free. I had to go through a process that wasn't easy. I had to feel crazy for wanting to pursue a dream I had when I was 5 years old and that I never had the courage to follow. I had to feel crazy for leaving a well paid job that was supposed to give me the confort and stability we're told we need to be happy. Well, I don't care about any of that anymore as Billy didn't care about what anybody thought of his passion. He never stopped dancing and I'll never stop singing and it's simple as that!

Don't be Billy's grandmother who keeps repeating she "could" have been a professional dancer. Be Billy and do it.

If you don't believe we're all Billy Elliot, ask the people around you what they would love to do and what their passion is ( I did it). You'll see what I mean. You'll see the light in their eyes when they talk about it and you'll understand why I wanted to write this blog.

So this is it! I thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and most of all, I invite you to listen to my music because it's the fruit of my passion and my dreams. I hope you can feel my happiness and I also hope that when you sing along, you feel inspired to follow your own dreams too.

love,

Mao