Wow, I’ve been sooo busy since being back home; Christmas celebrations, Boxing Day at the beach, getting everything back in order, catching up on much needed sleep. Paul and I have dived right back into writing music for my CARMEN show. We’ve got about 20mins worth of music for the 50min show done in the past week! With that and organising publicity for the show, I hardly have time to do anything else.

It’s been so hot, I’ve put off starting choreographing and rehearsing the dances, so as not to be out in the 40 degree heat. Today I ventured out onto my wooden practise floor and had a bit of a stomp. I have a flamenco gig this Saturday and the next and then a showcase performance of CARMEN excerpts at the end of the month, so I really have to start building up the strength in my thighs again for all that flamenco footwork. It doesn’t take long for the muscle memory to kick in but the strength and stamina seem to take a while.

The calender’s starting to fill up with gigs and we’re having a few people contact us to play at different events and radio stations already in the new year. Figuring out my dreamplan has been really motivating and I’ve come back really pumped and optimistic about the year ahead.

Paul and I have been discussing the Orsino Nation album, which we’ll start work on after CARMEN and ScorcherFest (an Adelaide music festival we’re playing the week after the last CARMEN show!) We’ve decided to get our tracks mastered by someone who’s going to cost a bit of money (but whose work we really love), so we’re going to release an EP in September now instead of an entire album (mastering fees are per track). The EP will be a great tool for approaching festivals to book us and a way to get some of our songs out there for our fans. And recording five tracks is a bit more manageable than twenty-one. That means new artwork! Oooo, I’m so excited! I’ve also started making these hand-embroidered lil’ Orsino pets to sell at shows. I think they’re very cute.

Well, I’m still aiming for my dream of making a living from my art. I currently have zero dollars, but I’m working hard at it.

Much love,
Yas