Red Roses

Update: Jessica Fernandes is our big winner!

Jessica wrote: My favorite song by AJ is "When we say" because that was the first song I heard with him. It's amazing and it's actually one of the two and only songs I have ever cried while hearing. As far as my favorite craft I would say bracelets. Colorfull in everyway possible! By the way, sorry to hear about your mom. Hope you feel better, though it's always hard to lose someone. At least AJ's music will cheer you up!

Jessica.. email me at liacreates [at] gmail [dot] com to give me your contact info!

If you've been around here a while you know one of my favorite musical artists is AJ Rafael. AJ has been playing piano at my church since he was a child. He's incredibly talented and for the past 6 years has worked full time on his solo career. He's had a lot of success marketing himself on youtube and has used that success to spread the love. He did two VERY successful fundraising concerts at our church and has raised thousands for Autism Speaks through his series of concerts called Music Speaks.

This year AJ worked with some outstanding musicians and recorded his first full-length album in his friend's house. Still unsigned, his album Red Roses was picked up by a distributor & will be sold starting tomorrow in Target, Best Buy, f.y.e and Barnes & Noble nationwide! You can also download it on iTunes & Amazon.

There's really no way to express just how happy I am about this. I've been a fan of AJ's for a long time and I'm so happy to see him succeeding. On a personal level, AJ and his mom were a huge support for me when my mom passed away. AJ's mom is a surgical nurse at the hospital my mom was in during the last week of her life. Ms. Rafael would sit in the waiting room with me and just keep me company while I was there all night. AJ and his choir sang at mom's funeral and went above & beyond, even going up against the head of the music ministry when she didn't want to allow us to use some of the music we had selected.

To make this all the more dear to me, AJ's release date is June 7th... which is the anniversary of my mom's passing. I know if she were still here she would have made me drive her all over town picking up AJ's cd everywhere they'll sell it.

To celebrate my boy's success, I'm giving away one copy of Red Roses to one of you!* You can preview all the songs in the video below. AJ features a lot of other amazing talent on this album. It has broad appeal, strong lyrics, great vocals and you can play each and every song around your kids. :)

To enter: Leave a comment below telling me your favorite song and your favorite craft! On Friday, June 10th I'll randomly choose one comment & send you a free copy of Red Roses and a special treat selected just for you based on your craft!

Be sure to leave some kind of contact info! Email, twitter, whatever...

I'm so excited to share this great music with you! And for those of you who don't win... the cd is a bargin! Look for it!

*Open worldwide... but if you're in Canada I'll have to wait until the postal strike is over to send it out!

Edit: OK, worldwide assuming it's legal to ship there from the United States. :)

#TeamAndrewGarcia- Beatles

It's a scary day for Team Andrew Garcia. The consensus among Idol bloggers seems to be that it's either Aaron Kelly or Andrew going home tonight. My love for Andrew aside, I have no idea why Aaron is still on the show. He's been consistently awful and has no appeal whatsoever. People say it's the "grandma vote" keeping him in. I hope, for Andrew's sake, the grandmas have scooted on over to Katie.

I liked Andrew's performance of Can't Buy Me Love. It was fun. He didn't mess with it too much, but did put a little spin on it. The breakdown was fantastic. I do agree with the judges, though, that the band was just too much. He might have been better off with just a base and some drums. Overall I think performances that are more in keeping with his old youtube status have gone over better. Acoustic guitar, a little fun with the melody and timing... perfect.

So is Andrew going home tonight? I sure hope not. I think he's gotten enough exposure that he'll get really far in the business regardless. Honestly- I'm being selfish. I want Andrew in the top 3 because then we get a parade. :) Nothing happens in this town and we're JUST FINALLY pulling together for Andrew. It would be a shame for him to be off the show at this point.

In case you missed it, here's Andrew's performance and the judge's (as always) harsh critique:



I watched this episode at Shakey's with Andrew's family, friends & supporters. It was kind of fun and everything is better with mojos :) Post-viewing I went home (illegally redialing to vote as I drove!) and logged in to BlogTV to watch AJ Rafael's "virtual voting party". This has become a weekly ritual. There's nothing worth watching on tv after Idol and AJ takes the time to chat with fans & play songs while everyone votes for the next 2 hours. There were some surprises in the chat last night. There's a veil of necessary secrecy but let me say two things: 1) Andrew Garcia loves his fans and 2) assuming Andrew survives this week, you should really get in on the voting party next week. Hope I see you there.


Post-script
Once voting had closed I posted I'd listen to AJ sing one song & go to bed. He let me make a request and then sang a really beautiful version of his original "My Soldier" for me. That's been my favorite song for a while but recently (and for obvious reason) it's become increasingly touching for me. It was very sweet of AJ to play it. He's such a great kid. :)