Verity's Blog

Weekend Live Interview (SABC News)

I was interviewed & performed live on SABC2's Weekend Live in March 2009 by a fantastic presenter Masechaba. Can't tell you how intimidating performing on live TV is - especially when they want you to sing your heart out to three cameras whizzing around on booms & no audience in sight except for the millions of people watching it at home. Quite a learning curve but awesome to have had such a great opportunity!!!

Top Billing gets my bag...

Yesterday was quite a day! I started off by rushing to Reto to have my hair and make-up done and managed to screech home just in time before the Top Billing team decended on the house in full force. It was awesome to have them spend the morning with me and to reconnect with Nico Panagio two years after we worked together on Ella Blue!

The insert they are featuring me in, is for the D&D Charity Auction to raise funds for Journey To Life - a charity aimed at building a research centre for cancer and other terminal diseases. The idea is that various celebs donate a handbag to be auctioned off and that Top Billing will cover the story behind each bag that has been donated. I chose a  beaded bag that I picked up for an absolute bargain at an Indian tradeshow at the CTICC a few years back and that has travelled with me around the world to London, Nashville & New York. We included an autographed copy of Journey as an added bonus to the bag so I hope it helps them raise a lot of money!

If that wasn't enough for one day, after the team had departed I had a quick telephone interview with Kathalijne Van Zutpen for an article that will be appearing on porfoliocollection and then rushed off to get ready for my speech at the opening of local artist Cathy Layzell's exhibition DUENDE. Her exhibition is breath-taking and it was great to stretch myself with something completely new by giving the opening address to a room full of art lovers! It seemed to go down really well and I had the curator of the gallery (Irma Stern) threatening me that I would be in great demand by artists needing a speech to open their exhibitions. Who would have thought!!!

By the time I got home I had a feeling of satisfied exhaustion at the end of a jampacked day doing what I love. Can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings!

 

 
 

Finding My Inspiration...

On Saturday I was up bright and early to make my way to the Old Mutual "Find Your Inspiration" Womens Day, where I was one of the speakers in a jam packed program. They gave me a stand to sell albums from and it made for a wonderfully busy day chatting to all the women who were there. After my talk and performance, my stand was inundated with people and we nearly ran out of albums - always a good problem to have! I was blown away by the over 400 women who stayed for the entire seminar and gave so much energy back to the speakers and were so clearly there because they wanted to be inspired and work on living their best life.

One of the highlights of the day for me has to be the talk by Donna McCallum (aka The Fairygodmother) who shared so honestly with the audience her own journey of having the courage to live the life of her dreams and now helps thousands of people to do the same. I was pretty much Donna's first 'Cinderella' when she helped manage the Lucky Packet Project from 2006-2007 and it felt very fitting to be sharing a stage together and seeing people walking away from her stand with her book (Getting What You Want) - ready to tackle their dreams head on! Nikki Jackman was another big wow of the day as she took the women on a journey of giggles and laughter with her awesome Joy Session presentation. After she finished her slot the audience was so revved up it was amazing to hear them giving each speaker 110% of their attention and energy!

And this is my day job... Bring it on!!!

    

 

Putting on our dancing shoes...

For a while now I have realised that I need to up my game when it comes to "shaking what my mama gave me" on stage and call in the pros to show me how its really done. As the band continues to grow and shape the music in a far more afro-pop/rock direction, our shows are increasingly becoming a celebration of this amazing continent - the rhythm, the colours, the sounds & the textures of it.

The idea of bringing more dancing to our shows has been perculating at the back of my mind for a while now, and a few weeks back I met two gorgeous, dynamic young women - Kea & Lerato - who attended the talk I gave at the Nedbank Student Evening. They resonated with my story and music and we got chatting, only to discover that they are both singers & dancers! We have kept in touch since then and yesterday I met up with them at Zula Bar to give them a CD to listen to so that they can start working on harmonies and dance routines! It is going to be an experiment in motion and if all goes well I can't wait to have them join us at our next rehearsal so we start incorporating them into the band and putting together a live show that will rock people's socks off!

Watch this space...
     

ZIMFEST gets some international exposure...

Last Saturday morning, myself and Zimfest organiser Magdalena Zukowski, headed off the SABC studios in Seapoint to be interviewed for 'Youth Expression', a current affairs show broadcast on SABC News International to the world’s 16-35 year olds via the Vivid Satellite platform, to Africa and other parts of the world such as Europe and Washington. It was an amazing opportunity to gain international exposure for this years Zimfest and to talk about why Verity & The Shades are so excited to be performing there!

As always TV interviews are a learning curve, and we found ourselves in a remote studio doing the interview with the crew up in Jozi - us talking straight into a huge camera with their questions coming through earpieces and a massive delay on the sound. Everytime I answered something I could hear it coming back at me while I was trying to make out their next question - very disconcerting - but in the end it was a great interview and we celebrated with coffee at La Vie when we were done! I have to say I can't wait for the festival - it is going to be incredible so save the date - 20 - 22 November!!!

     


  

Innovation in banking...

Last night I was the guest speaker at the Nedbank Student Evening that was held at their Rondebosch branch. I had spoken at a Business Network event the night before and the branch manager - Naeem Cassim - asked me if I would come along and inspire his guests. I have to say that when I arrived I was blown away. Not only is Naeem the youngest branch manger in the country by 4 years - he is only 22 - but he also has incredible vision and foresight into the fact that banks need to think out the box when it comes to catering to students.

His Student Evening saw the bank turned into a club - complete with dj, smoke machine, lights, a tellers desk serving as a bar and boxes of pizza on tap to fill everyone up. The objective was to get the students networking and have a chance to chat to consulatants in an informal environment and it worked! I gave a 20 minute talk on innovation and finished with "Shine" which had everyone singing along with me! Nedbank kindly bought a bundle of my albums and gave them away to students in the crowd and then the dj kicked in and the party started! It was a fantastic evening and really inspired me to see the financial community understanding the importance of connecting in a way that resonates. Well done Naeem!

Reaching For A Dream

The other day I was contacted by the Reach for a Dream Foundation to help a young eight year old girl Lize live her dream of being a singer. Having worked on the "Our Story, Our Voices" documentary for SABC1 back in 2006, I at least have had experience of working on a song and then getting some girls into studio to see what it is like to actually put a track together.

I immediately said I would love to be involved and set about getting some studio time sponsored. Amazingly, top producer Selwyn Shandel (Brenda Fassie, Hugh Masakela) kindly offered his studio and time to help Lize reach her dream. He also helped with the song we wrote for the 4 girls in the SABC documentary and it went on to be played on Atlantis Radio and gave the teens a voice in their community to say no to 'tik'. When you consider how much studio time costs it is fantastic to have someone of Selwyn's calibre just say "Yes!" and jump on board.

So - next Monday I will start the songwriting process with Lize when she and her family come to spend the day with me and turn one of her favourite poems into a song she can sing. Once that is done we will be heading to Selwyn's studio on the Tuesday and hopefully Lize can just love seeing her song come together. My sister has agreed to have her company Kayos sponsor the filming of the day so that Lize can always remember her dream being reached! Going to be teary eyes all round!

Joining the dots...

It struck me earlier just how many seemingly unconnected events have sparked amazing opportunities along my journey. Please bear with me as I try to connect a few dots...

In Feb 2007 I spoke & sang at The Womens Show and was spotted by Tanya Javonowski who headed up the Business Network South Africa. This resulted in my being invited to speak at numerous networks and go on to sell hundreds to albums. Once the album went to studio I stopped speaking at the networks and life continued as normal. Then in 2008 I was invited to perform at the Joburg Woman's Show and given a stand in lieu payment. Three days of telling people about my album resulted in close on 100 copies sold and the producers of Morning Live setting up an interview. This live news broadcast resulted in 60 albums selling on line within hours of the interview which led to The Argus contacting me to write an article. That article also appeared in The Star and IOL which got the attention of a Carte Blanche producer - Peta Krost-Maunder. After my story flighted on MNET I was flooded with emails and invited to speak once again at a Business Network Breakfast. At that event a photographer - Steve Bailey - bought my album. 8 months later Steve and his wife came along to our Kirstenbosch show & afterwards asked if I would speak at their Tokai Business Network. Along I went at 7.30am and after my talk not only sold quite a few albums but also connected with fellow musician Glen Robertson and met the new owner of the Business Network - Inshaaf Solomon. Inshaaf immediately invited me to speak at her Rondebosch meeting and at their student network meeting today. Once again I went along, met fantastic people, was spoiled with gifts and after the student talk I was approached by a Nedbank branch manager and will be speaking at an event there tomorrow!

So - looking back on the last two years I now can see a visible thread linking this all together but know that these opportunities are only possible because I have said "Yes" to them and as a result amazing things are beginning to unfold! The network is hugely powerful for connecting people in these ways so I am hugely grateful to be one of their chosen guest speakers. I am very excited to be speaking at Nedbank tomorrow as my journey is all about what is possible when we think 'out the box' and I love being able to share with the youth. Can't wait to see what tomorrow might hold!!!

Kicking off Spring with a FREE concert!

The guys & I are looking forward to our Spring Concert at Wembley Square this Friday with awesome afro-fusion band CODA! It is fantastic to be able to put on a free show for fans & get down to the business of entertaining Cape Town - not only on Friday night but then also again at 11am on Saturday morning at the V&A Amphitheatre for the Sunflower Fund's Bandana Day!

Hopefully we will see a lift in the weather and have loads of people out to enjoy the music with us. Going to be a busy week of rehearsals & working on a few suprises for the show with CODA on Friday. If you are in town - DON'T MISS IT! The concert kicks off just before 7pm so is perfect for after work drinks & getting you ready for an awesome weekend!

Kirstenbosh Katch-Up...

I know its over a week after the fact but I couldn't leave out a quick update on how our Kirstenbosch show went given that it is one of our favourite shows each year! This year was special in that we had a new guitarist Al Du Toit join us on stage for the first time. The band has been begging for a guitarist since we finished recording the album, but for some reason we haven't gotten it together until now. I think Nelson was relieved to finally just have to worry about his piano & keyboard parts after all the shows where he has been filling in guitar lines as well!

We managed to squeeze all of us onto the rather tiny stage and launched into our first set with gusto. Half way through Tony dashed off the stage & I was left adlibbing to the audience as the poor guy was violently ill! Somehow he made it back on stage & gave the rest of the set his all & we were hugely relieved that he was miraculously back on track for the second half. We showcased some of the new songs we are working on including a brand new floor thumping dance track "I Am Free" and the evening ended with the entire place up & dancing & calling for more. It was like a night at some of the biggest party hotels in manchester - great people, super music, wonderful atmostphere and dancing til dawn! I made my regular vow to go to actually use my gym contact so that I can dance like a mad woman & not want to collapse in a heap at the end of each big show - the queen of procrastination - hmmm!

Al played brilliantly and we are looking forward to having him join Verity & The Shades when we perform with CODA on Friday 18th September at Wembley Square. Bring it on!