Verity's Blog

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Thought for the week...

The most rewarding things you do in life

Are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.

    -  Arnold Palmer

The Song's The Thing - this Tuesday

Yesterday I spent an inspired afternoon rehearsing with three amazing songwriters for our collaborative show "The Song's The Thing" at The Waiting Room this coming Tuesday 28th July. Four songwriters, 16 songs, all adding our flavour to each other's work and a guaranteed evening of musical firsts, beautiful harmonies and lots of room for magic to happen on the night! Ian Henderson, Julia Jakobsen, Stanley Zive and myself are a mixed bunch of singer & writers which makes for an even more interesting collaboration!

This is a wonderful stretch for me as I realise I am so used to relying on my band to play my songs that I have forgotten that I can actually play the piano! Yesterday saw me finding simple lines to add to Julia and Stan's songs and it was awesome to collaborate in this very new way for me. Ian, who is the mastermind behind the series, has already had a run of Tuesdays with 13 of Cape Town's finest songwriters and the response has been amazing. The Waiting Room has been packed out for every show, so if you are keen to catch us on Tuesday they recommend arriving around 8pm to be settled in for the show starting at 9pm.

Ian, Julia and I were interviewed yesterday for KFM/Highveld's Home Brew and it will air this Sunday just before 6pm. It will be worth tuning in as they may even surprise you with something unplugged!

Exciting times ahead...

Wow! The last week or so has been amazing! Will try to sum it up in a few lines so here goes:

After an hour long chat to the CEO of Watunes in the States my music is now officially online worldwide on iTunes and other top digital download sites. Still lots of exciting things to come as Watunes have identified my album and the story of how I financed it as one that they want to have featured internationally in there August marketing campaign. Watch this space!

I have then also booked some great events for Women's Month so August is going to see me being VERY busy... These include: The Honey Ultimate Launch at the Cape Sun on August 1st where I will talk and sing to 600 women! Then an exclusive Business Partners Women's Lunch at the One & Only hotel on Aug 12, followed by and MCing for the Reveal Beauty Bar Women's Day on 15th August. That will just about leave enough time for me to jet to Jozi on August 18th to speak to 300 delegates at the first annual Innovation Summit being held at the Cradle of Humankind and then home for two big gigs with "The Shades" on Aug 22 at Catu in Hout Street and then highlight of our year - KIRSTENBOSCH WINTER CONCERT on August 30th! SHEW!

But wait, that's not all! I have just got back from a meeting with Carol from the fantastic band CODA and it looks like Verity & The Shades will be joining them for some very exciting shows in the not to distant future...

More to come! Happy days indeed!

Thought for the week...

We have to do the best we can.

This is our sacred human responsibility

    -  Albert Einstein

Celebrating a walk to remember...

Today it is 9 years exactly since I reached Santiago de Compestello after a 5 week, 800km walk across Spain in memory of my father! I woke up at 5am this morning and it all came flooding back, how with two wonderful Canadian friends I had met along the way, we reached the city at 2.30am in the light of the moon after a 53km final walk and sat on the plaza in front of the cathedral in awe of the journey we had been on and the distance we had covered.

Looking back on the last 9 years, the Camino truly defined the road I have chosen to walk through my life since then. Proving to myself that I could walk across a country despite blisters and aching muscles set me up to have the courage to push the limits in the music industry and step out inspite of my fears. The girl who set out on the road to Santiago arrived as the woman who returned home to start living her dreams and stop procrastinating.

That my fans chose to call my album "Journey" serves as reminder of how those 800km across a foreign country were indeed the turning point in my life, and that losing my father was the biggest lesson in how short life is and that there is no space for regrets and 'what if'. Just get out there and DO IT and be part of the change you want to see in the world!

To the road ahead and wherever it may lead!

Click here to read the journal of my Camino

A fans' thoughts on "Afraid"...

"I listen to the words (of your songs) and find so much encouragement in them that it helps to become very conscious of my surroundings. "Afraid" is one of those (songs), because it teaches me to be strong in what to do to get what I search for in life.

I only wish I could have heard most of these songs earlier. Our fear is many times the reason we fail in many things and to be bigger than our fears is one way to stand out. One can only asked oneself what you could have been if there was no fear in your life.

I want to thank you again for the songs, because they ease me and for once I feel relaxed and can go to sleep feeling positive. It helps me to take every day with a new feeling of zeal and vigor."

Thought for the week...

When you start to do something, you inspire so many people with the fact that you are just trying. That is all life ever wants for you – to know you gave it a shot. The outcome is the least important thing in the experience – all it means is you have to start something else now. No-one ever arrives. All those people you admire in the press? They are working just as hard as they ever did if not harder to hold onto what they’ve got. All that has changed is the picture. They are still trying. That’s all we ever get to do!

This universe is never done. If God ever stops all of it will. Energy is endless – there is no stopping, just changing from moment to moment. We choose the change. Choose it boldy!.

Lucky Packet is getting an MBA...

I have had a great day being interviewed by journalist Peta Krost Maunder (who produced the Carte Blanche insert last year) for Wits Business School who are going to be using my story as their case study for viral marketing for their MBA students! She has kept my story on a backburner ever since we finished Carte Blanche, so it was a wonderful surprise to have her call me up and say that they want to use it as a case study.

It has been amazing to go through how I started the Lucky Packet Project back in 2005 and how much showed up along the way and what I have learned about business, internet marketing and perseverance! It is a huge priviledge to have my story and business model used by Wits for their students to analyse - another amazing milestone on this crazy road I have been travelling...

Awesome August News...

I have just come back from a great meeting with the owners of Fine Women SA and it look like I will be speaking and singing at some exciting Women's Month events in August. It is awesome to meet like-minded women who are dedicated to uplifting women in this country through enterprise and innovation and I think there is going to be wonderful synergy between my music and message and the various iniatives they organise around South Africa. This is what it is all about at the end of the day - networking with people who share similar visions for themselves and this country and then seeing how together you can do more. Next month is going to rock!!!