I was invited to perform in Florida by Kaarina Langeland, the President of the Florida Lake Worth Chapter. Usually my performances are combined with another event the chapter is planning, and it didn’t occur to me until a few days before arrival that the entire event was the concert!

Kaarina and her team spent a lot of time marketing the event and informing people to come. I was astonished at how much work they had put into making the event. Kaarina really has gone out of her way to make me feel welcome, and I appreciate that so much.

I had taken a red-eye to Ft. Lauderdale. I had a little extra time that morning, so I went to Miami for a few hours before heading up to Lake Worth. They were only 20 minutes apart, so it was a great chance for me to check out Miami, where I have never been before, but wanted to see.

I stayed with one of the board members, Eija (ay-yah) Jannini. She is a very sweet lady, who had retired from an over 40-year career at the Finnish New York Consulate. One thing I have enjoyed seeing, as I begin my travels to all the different chapters is how women my grandparents age are so active and productive. What an example to live up to!

These ladies were making decisions back in the 50s and 60s that would be bold in a modern world, let alone back then. But even thinking about moving alone as a single woman to the US back in the 50s and 60s was an entirely different idea than it is today. And I admire these people.

I performed a mix of my own songs, some traditional Finnish songs with my kind of twist, and a few “kitsch” songs. I have wanted to offer a variety so that there is something for everyone. Finlandia, of course, is something most people want to hear across the board…

The American Finnish Club has a wonderful building for their events. I was surprised how big it was, and that it was constructed completely with volunteer labor. Finns are known to be very good builders, so I shouldn’t be surprised though! I also enjoyed hearing how the women do the work too… I thought I was unusual for doing hard-core remodeling work myself, but I guess it really is a Finnish thing! And in case you are wondering, these women are not “butch,” but rather quite feminine! haha!

My favorite part of all this, is meeting locals. I spoke with a number of people after the show, and enjoyed it immensely. Some are involved with other chapters, as they have vacation homes in Florida.  I’m probably going to meet a few of these people at other chapters this year, and I’m excited about that.

One member, Dennis, had made a collage of my pictures he had found online! He brought it to me, and I was very impressed with not just the fact that had made it, and that he had made it too! He had found out that I co-manage Pia Pakarinen, so he made a collage for her as well. Kaarina promised to send them out to me since I had no way of transporting them on a plane.

Before the show, Kaarina took me to meet the Honorary Consul Peter Mäkilä.  He was a wonderful person, and very supportive of me as well. I found out later, that his daughter in law is good friends with a close friend of mine, Kristina Duff.

(Eija on my left, Kaarina on right, next to Mr. Mäkilä.)

I had also met Kristina’s parents and one of her brothers while in town. It was really sweet for me to see Kristina’s childhood home and the area where she grew up.  Kristina’s mother Kyllikki (kew-leek-kee), Eija and I went for lunch at a restaurant in West Palm Beach before my flight to Washington, DC, so that was a lot of fun too.

Before all this, however, Kaarina had asked me if I would be interested in an impromptu performance at a Finnish rest house for the elderly. Of course I said yes.  We had some problems with the sound system when we were setting up, because we couldn’t get the music louder. But the audience, who was patiently waiting for us to figure this out felt that it was too loud! And we thought it was way too quiet! So we lowered it to what we thought was almost a whisper. It was interesting to hear their perspective like that. Everyone says that the elderly can’t hear well, but it takes good hearing to hear music that quiet… haha!

So I sang for them. As I was singing Finlandia, it occurred to me that these were the people who had fought for Finland’s independence, and are the people the song talks about. (In Finnish, “Finlandia” talks about how Finland was able to conquer oppression (Soviet occupation) in WWII.) I also realized that the couple of Americans in the audience also lived through that war. Everyone suffered greatly because of it, and spent a great deal of their youth in circumstances we have no idea about.

They were tearing through my singing, but when I stopped singing, I began thanking them for their sacrifice, and was overcome with emotion myself! It just hit me how grateful I am, and how much we in subsequent generations owe to these people. There was a “lotta” (Finnish women who served on the battlefield in different ways) who had served in Petroskoi, on the Russian side.  These people are now weakened through age and illnesses, but these are the greatest generation on the planet. Soon we won’t have any of them with us.

The moment was very powerful. I will never forget that day.  I don’t think they know how much it meant to me to meet them. I had only a brief time I could be there, but it meant so much to me.

From there, I hopped on to a plane to the Nation’s Capitol, Washington DC.Story from that coming soon!

Below a few more photos from Miami!

I wrote this flying to Washington DC from West Palm Beach Florida.  I have started the concerts for my year as the Finlandia Foundation Performer of the Year, and Florida was my second concert.

My first concert was in Denver, CO on 2.25, but I never had a chance to write about that until now.

I performed at the Denver Chapter’s Kalevala Day luncheon. In case you didn’t know, Kalevala is the Finnish national epic; a collection of poems, or songs that talk about Finnish mythology.  J.R. Tolkien used a lot of these poems as a base for his Lord of the Rings trilogy. For instance, “Gandalf” is based on a Kalevala character called Väinämöinen.

I performed a poem song about Väinämöinen and Joukahainen. The latter, a sluggish youngster challenged the former into a singing match and lost. Väinämöinen cursed him into a swamp, and Joukahainen was left to plead for his life. He tried offering Väinämöinen all kinds of things ranging from his horses to boats in exchange for his life, but Väinämöinen always had better stuff already. He finally gave up his only sister Aino to Väinämöinen for a wife but regretted it deeply after Väinämöinen freed him.

I was amused about how Joukahainen, feeling all ashamed for giving away his sister  – came crying to his mother. But she turned out to be excited about having such a great man as her son in law!

Nice mom! Aino wound up committing suicide rather than marry Väinämöinen.

I find the melody that people sing Kalevala songs to be quite monotonous.  So I decided to spice it up a bit. I sang it as a “duet” -  I had run across a track of an old man singing this story. He sang Väinämöinen’s parts and I was Joukahainen.  There were also kantele versions of the melody out there that I used for backing music as well as a Celtic-sounding rendition of that same melody. So I combined all three elements. I also shortened the story quite a bit. It’s in “olde Finnish” and hard to understand unless you are familiar with the story.

But contrary to the characters I sang about, the people of Denver were just amazing. I stayed with a couple, Chris and Lea Wilson. They have a beautiful home, and made me feel so welcome. I met a few of their friends as well. I also saw a dear friend of mine who had moved to Denver from California.

Here we are at the Red Rock Amphitheater. (The Wilsons were also kind enough to show me around Denver.)

The honorary consul Juha Mäkikalli was the speaker at the event.  He talked about many of the things that are going on with Finland in Denver and in the US. It was also very nice to get to know him a bit as well.

The chapter’s president Arthur Koski, who had invited me and arranged the event, was a very lovely gentleman. Everyone who was there was so gracious and kind. I feel proud to be a part of such a community of thoughtful, kind, intelligent people around America!

The event was located at Mt. Vernon Country Club up in the mountains. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and it was great to get to experience winter as well!  I actually really liked the crisp air, even though it was a bit harder to breathe up in the “mile high city!”

The trip, however, was not without complications. I had been sick prior to leaving, and the day prior my voice was so gone that I couldn’t even get a peep out. I was horrified about how I was going to survive the trip, let alone sing.  I couldn’t bear the thought of canceling my first FFN event!

So I rested, drank lots of liquids, and asked everyone to pray on my behalf.  This helped enough for me to at least manage the traveling, and I did my best performing. My spoken voice, however, was a dead giveaway that I was not well. Contrary to how it may seem, sometimes it’s easier to sing than speak when sick.

Everyone was very gracious and complimentary though, and I will always appreciate them for that.  I do wish I have another opportunity to perform in Denver again, when I am not sick! How about we hold an event at the Red Rock amphitheater?! Haha

Lea and Chris took me there on our way down from the country club.  And what a sight that was. We also saw some buffalo hanging about!

I would definitely recommend visiting Denver if you can. The scenery is amazing, the people are warm and friendly, and it’s very easy to get to due to being an airline hub. Next time I want to take the family there and go skiing!

I had the opportunity to meet Tuomas Holopainen, the founder of the Finnish Symphonic Metal Band, Nightwish before their show at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City. I wrote an article about it for The Network. You can read it here:

Nightwish Article

Below are some pictures from the show!

Tomi Hinkkanen, a journalist writing for the Finnish “Ilta-Sanomat” (and founder of finntimes.com) came by to check out our “pad” and write about it. It was published in the 1.21.2012 weekend edition.

Some new developments have happened since the article as written in the fall of 2011… one relating to my vanity: I have lost weight since then.

It is in Finnish, so I have to find time to translate it… It’s quite long…!

I read some of the reviews and they were a mixed bag. Some loved the show (like I did), and others called it posed or fake.  One of the things that I feel that people may not understand is how passionate Paul Fisher is. He really puts his heart into what he believes in. And what he is doing to change the lives of not just the agencies that he represents under “The Network,” but also the models, is truly significant!

I have seen firsthand how Paul F behaves, when he believes in a girl. My husband (also named Paul) and I have recently started managing Pia Pakarinen, the ex-Miss Finland. It all started with an interview my husband published at The Network about Pia just before the Miss Universe contest.

Original Pia-article On The Network

Pia subsequently gave up her crown, because ironically, the Miss Finland-organization is run like a disreputable Hollywood-agency – in fact, they, if anyone should get “remodeled!”.   We were proud of Pia’s courage, and invited her over to LA to regroup and figure out what she should do after resigning her crown and title.

While in LA, we took Pia to meet Paul Fisher, who was truly taken by her beauty.  Since, he has opened many doors for her, and played a vital role in giving Pia the opportunity for a new life in Hollywood.  He has opened these doors without asking for anything in return.  Yes, we plan to “give back” to Paul as well – as this is a theme that permeates through the Network, and something I too believe is of immense importance. But he hasn’t asked that of us first. Even though on the show he talks about the importance of i.e. “exclusivity.” He didn’t “have” to help. He did so anyway. That, in and of itself, like anyone living in Hollywood would know – is rare. People don’t “just help.”

I have attached Paul’s letter to everyone who contributes to The Network to give an idea about his world view.

So what you see in Remodeled may seem staged for TV, that Paul is “mean”, or whatever.  The truth is that Paul is working to change an industry. And the modeling industry obviously has a lot of problems. It remains to be seen whether or not Americans want to see what REALLY happens behind the scenes in the modeling world, or if we should just watch another contest where girls are paraded around with numbers, and we can all mindlessly pass judgment on the contestants ourselves.

Happy New Year!

The craziness from the fall continued to the very end of the year 2011, and of course culminated in me getting sick now that I finally was able to rest LOL!  Note to self – never get so busy that it affects your health/skin, right?!

Anyhoo, we had decided to go to Vegas for Christmas. Our traditional trip to Northern California (not San Francisco, twice that distance – all the way up to the Oregon border!) to a secluded ranch seemed like too much trouble.

After having been helping Pia Pakarinen, the ex-Miss Finland get started on a Hollywood career, we felt like we need to enjoy some of the fruits of all of our labor!

Paul Fisher, the founder of The Network, where my Paul, (heretofore mentioned as Paul K,) and I are experts/contributors, has been an incredibly supportive person not only with us, but with Pia as well. Paul F had arranged for all three of us to have dinner at The Sugar Factory at Paris, and continue on to the Chateau Night Club after dinner with the VIP treatment. Paul F’s good friend is the owner. So we were of course very happy about that! We hardly ever go out, so a night out like that was just awesome in every way. Pia had never been to Vegas prior, so she got to experience Vegas the “right way!”

This year 2012 in general is starting off with a lot of exciting things. The very first one in line is The Network’s TV show, Remodeled. It is airing on January 17^th! It’s in prime time, and the episode will air several times during the week. So CW is really giving it a hard push. I can’t wait! We need to have some kind of Remodeled-party where everyone gets together to watch.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, check out the trailer and show some love on Twitter/FB; you know the deal!

http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/remodeled

First we had FinnFest, a week of tremendous fun – but also an insane amount of work…

Then I became the Network Modeling Agency’s Music Expert, and have worked with new opportunities there…

Miss Finland came here, and I took her on a whirlwind tour of LA that scanned through the Network, meetings with Film people, red carpets, and more…

All the while I have been remodeling our new 4-plex deep in the throes of South Central LA and dealing with gang bangers, drug dealers, pimps and hos.

Today, I found out that I have been selected as the winner of the Finlandia Foundation’s Performer of the Year 2012 award! That will take me across the US next year. I can’t tell you how excited I am for all that is to come!

So let’s hope I learn to blog a little more often so that I can keep everything current and more detailed per event… especially now that my face has cleared up!

Below are some links to a couple of the things going on:

Latest blog at The Network

Miss Finland Pia Pakarinen’s blog on Finland’s most popular magazine 7 Paivaa about her trip here (in Finnish)
Her picture gallery on the same site