I cannot believe it has actually been that long, since I have last put up a post. I am very sorry, if I haven´t been on track in these fast running times. Sometimes I guess you just have to slow things down or you do get to slow down just because life happens. But foremost I probably just have to get rid of my love for perfectionism. I simply should not expect writing long blog posts and always writing about the utterly important stuff.

Anyhow, lately I have been up to a lot of projects, sitting at my computer and hacking in several ideas for new companies and creative concepts for others. I have kept my time deciding on what I want to do next, listening to my heart and my what my gut is telling me. I have made a decision for now and cannot wait to share the news with you once I am ready and all set up.

Also I have been preparing my daughter´s birthday and as I haven´t shared the pictures from my son´s 1st birthday, I will add a post about his birthday shortly after. He turned one in February and our daughter turned 4 end of July.

As I love sewing I sewed all those little swords, costumes for the little fairies and Peter Pans. I also made the costume for my son, by using a green shirt and cutting it into leaves. The Peter Pan hats are made out of felt. I also got my own logo for the stuff I make - maybe one day I will open a little shop for party supply?!

A big thank you and shout out to my friend Yany, who took the pictures from the party, which I would like to share with you. If you live in the Germany and need lovely pictures for your wedding, birthday, from your family or portraits for yourself: she is your girl!
Check out her page: I SHOOT PEOPLE.

Besides planning my kids birthdays, I love seeing them grow up. I feel very privileged being able to spend that much time with them and seeing their every step in development. Our son is able to talk and walk and his sister started writing and reading. Time flies by so fast. I think our daughter has well adjusted to the fact she is a big sister now. She does get jealous once in a while but she will never put her anger towards her brother. She loves her brother dearly, although he is not always allowed to play with her things. We figured it was important that she does not always have to share her things, as we believe there are certain things that she has to be able to keep to and for herself in order for her individual development.

Our son has become a little boy and he is very independent. Both of them are able to play together now and also on their own. It has however been quite a challenge with both of them. As they are not that far apart age wise, both tend to have their tantrums. Zoës have become fewer but Jarle has just been starting. So there are times, both of them want different things and will scream until they achieve it. Fortunately these are only phases that come and go, but they are part of development.

Organizing myself, work and the kids around my husband´s schedule has been a challenge but I believe we have finally come to a good routine.

In my opinion a routine is everything for a child. When coordinate the time for the meals, playtime and bedtime at the same time everyday , the kids seem to be more balanced and they go to bed at a (more) reasonable time. When we recently had our vacation, the routine got a little out of hand and therefore bedtime for our big girl was not before 11 pm. Therefore we barely had any time left for us as a couple! Well, we still do miss out on a lot of time for US, but eventually we will get back to the point, where we will also be able to go out for dinner or to the cinema without our kids. 

But enough of that. Below you can find the pictures from the preparations for the Fairy/ Peter Pan Birthday Party and the party itself.

I sew little swords for the "lost boys".

And made Peter Pan hats.

And I sew little Unicorns for the babies.

I got lovely tutus for the girls, as well as matching fairy wings.

I made a Peter Pan Costume for my son out of an old t-shirt and used green stockings and prepared fairy dust for the kids.

I made a crown.

And a rainbow cake.

Here are pictures from the party, taken by Yany. We had a troll parcour race, a treasure hunt, fairy houses and treasure boxes to paint and build a fairy garden, lovely food and drinks, a troll throwing game, magic bubbles and other games for the magic guests.

We had a lovely party and our kids were thrilled, so were the guests about the details.

​As I always end my posts with a little musical goodie, I would like to share this tune with you. Since June I have been listening to a wonderful tune that suits my ears very well. I love listening to this song with my headphones on and watching my little ones sleep! I don´t like most of the tracks of this duo, but this track has it all in it for me. I love the break, the chorus and the classical parts of it. Musically it just warms my heart.
​

As I love pinterest and as I call myself the google queen (because I find whatever it is you are searching for), I have recently come across many dolls and lovely art pieces, I just adore. I am a huge fan of "Frida Kahlo" and love her art and now I came across this wonderful artist "Cara Carmina", a mexican artist from Canada, who makes all these lovely dolls representing "Frida Kahlo" by hand. So each one is an individual art piece and one-of-a-kind. She sews the hair streaks and face with a sewing machine. She also prints these wonderful leggings for kids and grown-ups and makes dresses as well and her illustrations are just so cute as well. Her dolls sell out after a couple of hours only, so you have to be quick to catch one. She will be making new ones just in time for Christmas. Make sure you check out her homepage, follow her on her Facebook page and etsy shop.

 Additionaly I also already started looking for presents for Christmas for the kids and came across these wonderful dolls by "Mizy,Me", which are also handmade. They are so adorable, but the kids will have to wait for them until Easter.

Moreover one of my worst habits is buying books for my kids. I could open my own book shop with the books we already own. Some of Zoë´s favorite books are (sorry for the German titles, but the translation of the title is right underneath the pictures with a description of the book):

"The Happy Lion" by Louise Fatio & Roger Duvoisin
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Everyone loves the lion at the zoo, the people from the town come by everyday and greet and feed him. One day the door of his cage is left open, so he decides to go visit everyone in the town and return the favor. But this does not turn out as expected. The whole town is in fear of the lion and runs away from him. Except for one special person. This book is about friendship and it warms our hearts every time we read it.

"Sam Who Went To Sea" by Phyllis Root and Axel Scheffler
​
​Sam is a little rat, who has the dream of going to the sea. He does everything to pursue his dream, although his neighbors try to convince him, that there are more important things in life than going to the sea. But Sam is persistent until he follows his heart and his dream becomes reality. The book is written very lyrically and has been illustrated by Axel Scheffler, who also illustrated "The Gruffalo", which we can also deeply recommend.

"Sam and Dave Dig a Hole" by Mac Barnett

Yes, another Sam. Sam and Dave dig a hole in order to find something special. They dig deeper and deeper and further and further in order to find this one spectacular thing. They make decisions on where to dig next, not realizing that they almost found a treasure. The illustrations show the reader that they are always so close of finding their treasure, but miss out, due to the fact that they are heading in another direction. Funny wise the dog gets to find the treasure and all of them suddenly fall down, further and further until they land in a place that looks like home, but is it home? Zoë and I started discussing where they could be now, if it is really their home and we make up great stories of how this story could end.

We have many other books, that I would have loved to show you, but apparently they have not yet been translated in english. Just write me a message, in case you want some more German tips. I would also like to recommend you my friend´s blog about lovely illustrated and just special German books:" Miss Mimzy"

And last but not least, our door has to be remodeled, so we got an awful looking white door and would have to look at it for months, so I decided to change it into something cute for Zoë´s birthday but forgot to post about it. Please meet Aaron the Dragon from Helsinki. The shop is called "Made of Sundays" and they have so many lovely wall and door decals, If we had plain doors for the kid´s rooms, I would definitely get some more! Alba is also super nice and when she sends out the box with your decal, she writes really cute messages on them too.

So, please enjoy reading, One more thing, please watch this great choreography!

This post took me a while to write, I guess partly because I just wasn’t ready for it emotionally. You might recall me saying I grew up in the music industry. My parents owned a well-known concert promotions agency and have been in the business for more than 35 years. They took me to concerts and on tours even before I was born, and I’ve toured all over the world with artists such as Phil Collins, Marillion, Luciano Pavarotti, and The Three Tenors. I even played backstage with the crew of Genesis and had dinner with Peter Gabriel, just to do some name-dropping. Phil Collins sang Happy Birthday to me on my 12th birthday, and Pavarotti on my 13th. We grew up together. Many artists grew big with us and I grew big with them.

Although I did enjoy life on the road, I did have my regular life at home as well; I was just taking a little more time off from Kindergarten or school than other kids. And I was able to see the world. I have travelled to so many places in the world - something I am glad I had the chance to do. But sometimes, I guess, I wish I had a more regular life as well.

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss one second of this part of my life. 

At the age of 15, I officially started working for my parent’s company. Before that I would randomly suggest several artists to my dad. Back in the day finding talent was just different. I was constantly listening to the radio or reading international magazines to help find the next hot act! Yeah – it was that long ago. One of my early suggestions for example was MC Hammer, but unfortunately my dad did not believe the hype and chose not to promote him. He was wrong. MC Hammer had quite a successful tour.

Looking back, I have no idea who ended up putting on the tour. At that age, stage, and time in my life, I didn’t yet care about that side of the business and I had no idea about the concept of “competition”.

As my dad wanted another tip from me when he saw how well MC Hammer did, I came up with Vanilla Ice. Unfortunately he was a „one hit wonder“ and that tour did not sell as well as expected. You can’t always be right and in the end, it’s sometimes the luck of the draw.

Interestingly enough my dad also asked me about which of the remaining artists from Take That he should be promoting. I suggested either Mark or Robbie Williams, he chose Gary Barlow. Gary Barlow is definitely a talented artist, but he has yet to achieve the same level of success as Robbie Williams.

Moving forward to when I finished school, my dad told me to study something solid and sound, and I decided it would be law. But this bored me to death. And as soon as I realized I only needed good arguments in order to win a case, regardless of how right/just or wrong/unjust the situation, I lost every single bit of motivation to finish my degree. Moreover, I had also started my own management company in addition to working at Peter Rieger Konzertagentur (PRK) on a more regular basis. So being that I was establishing my own company, building my client base, as well as developing the “newcomer” department at PRK, I couldn’t find the time for studying either.

My team and I started signing newcomer acts like: Maria Mena, Warren Suicide, Eli Paperboy Reed, Amos Lee, the Alin Coen Band, Terry Lynn, and Jarle Bernhoft and amongst others, in addition to later acts such as Tim Bendzko, Chima, Janelle Monae, Nikka Costa, Amanda Jensen, and The Pretty Reckless, just to mention a few more. I even got Westernhagen to work with us!

One would think that considering everything up to this point, that the rest of the story could have gone on like a fairy tale, with a “happily ever after ending”, but sadly it became more like a nightmare.

Last October, late into my pregnancy with my second child, PRK decided to unceremoniously kick my mother and myself out of the company. Through dedication, commitment, and hard work we held the company together and tirelessly nurtured what was essentially our baby all along. Although PRK has never ended my business relationship, they have simply decided not to pay my bills anymore, even though at that time I was still essentially delivering work in the form of new acts, artists, and contracts for them. Which is GREAT, considering you devote all of your available time working for a company, which does not honor your loyalty or pay you whilst you are pregnant! No…it doesn’t at all make you scared or worry about the future. It just leaves you having a blissfully wonderful and relaxed pregnancy without any complications. As if! I seriously hope, that other self-employed women or female entrepreneurs don’t have to deal with a situation like this!

So anyhow….after all this, I feel left somewhat with the feeling that someone stole my future from me, took away my baby, and everything that I worked so hard for and invested my life’s blood in. I dedicated my life, and my parents dedicated their lives to this company. At some point I was determined to take over this business.

But…it just did not happen. So. This is it. My mom and I are longer a part of PRK anymore. My father was not the reason and played no part in our leaving. The rest is up to your imagination to figure it out.

I was upset…I was sad…it was hell and what we went through would definitely make a great TV series.

But in the end, I am happy to be able to start fresh and am excited about creating something new without a listed company like CTS Eventim (Computer Ticket Service) and the politics that go with it. I think “ecstatic” is the word I’d also use to describe the feeling of FINALLY having the freedom to be able to realize my ideas, fulfill my dreams, and receive my due recognition, without having to fight for my dreams or validation. Ultimately I am looking forward to being able to be honored for my work and commitment, and not having someone else take all the credit.
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So…here’s to letting go of my childhood, my youth, and my past as I venture off to new beginnings, adventures, and challenges. I have numerous options on the table right now and I feel good about taking my time to decide which path I will follow.

There are actually two tracks, I want to include in this post, as they both fit for me at this time.

First of all: Delamere - Heart 

I chose this track because of the lyrics:

I've numbered for days
But day time boxes are moving
And I can't think the other way
To get from this all

Please come in this way
Another time but the one that is crushing
Me into the flood
The flood that surrounds me

I'm not moving
Just sitting and waiting
For my chance to come
Just wait for my heart
Wait for my heart

Wait is past on me
I've fallen apart from the incident
And I can't escape this fire
The fire from my head

I'm not moving
Just sitting and waiting
For my chance to come
Just wait for my heart
Wait for my heart
Just wait for my heart
Wait for my heart

And last but not least Flor - Let Me In

I also chose this song because of it´s energy and the lyrics. 
​
Under my skin
Not much feels like this
So cold it burns, soft spoken words
"All I need is you to let me in"

I don't know why
The bad tricks the good side
It won't let go
Innocent it may be, but it cuts deep and stays
It never goes away

And I'll be sorry if you leave me
I'll be sorry if you go
And I'll be sorry when you leave me
I'll be sorry when you go

You say you want me
You say you love my mind
Show it sometime
I know you know
You're never gonna get my heart
You're never gonna get my heart
Until you love in kind

And I'll be sorry if you leave me
I'll be sorry if you go
And I'll be sorry when you leave me
I'll be sorry when you go

Hold you close till I see you go
Know I can't hold on for long
Hold you tight till you need to go
Know you can't be still for long

Hold you close till I see you go
Know I can't hold on for long

And I'll be sorry if you leave me
I'll be sorry if you go
And I'll be sorry when you leave me
I'll be sorry when you go

Finding the inspiration or just the time for a blog post is not always easy with everything going on in life. Having a „threenager“ and a more and more demanding baby does not really help it either. But I will stop complaining, because I am having so many great opportunities at the moment. 

I have been invited by the „Initiative Musik“ and by our Minister of State for Culture and Media Prof. Monika Grütters, to be part of the jury for the German „Spielstättenpreis Rock, Pop, Jazz 2015“, an award that honors the work and effort of the live clubs throughout Germany. The clubs apply for the consideration of an award and the jury then decides by judging their program, special newcomer support, creative concept and the like. I love seeing so many people still being in this business for the right reasons - the passion of music! The winners of each category get awarded with prize money. May the best win! The winners will be announced on the 12th of October in Munich. 

Moreover I have also been invited by the „Reeperbahn Festival“ to be a panelist/ spokesperson on their panel „Agents Agenda“ with Christian Bilda, (Managing Director, X-Why-Z, Germany) Tobbe Lorentz, (Senior Vice President, The Agency Group, Sweden), Mark Löscher, (General Manager, Hörstmann Unternehmensgruppe, Germany) and myself. It will be about the old values in this business, that a handshake deal used to be firm, that loyalty was not only something you would dream of having, that people working in this industry were driven by passion and not by money. We will discuss how the industry has changed in these terms. The panel will take place on Friday the 25th of September 2015.

Additionally I am working on three other projects, two new business ideas and expanding my network. I will update you on my progress soon! 

Whilst searching for new bands, I came across about a very inspiring young singer, who will be releasing her EP on the 28th of August. Her name is Alessia Cara, she was born  in Canada in 1996 and is signed to EP Entertainment/ Def Jam Recordings. Her debut single „Here“ was called a "song for everyone who secretly hates parties" by MTV.

Life is on fast forward right now, time flies by and I cannot believe our boy is already 6 months old and our big girl just turned 3!

We gave a ballerina-themed party for Zoë and had a wonderful time in the garden, with home made lemonade, cupcakes, cake pops, chocolate coated marshmallows that look like tutus, spinach puff pastry and salads. 

Here are some impressions of the food:

Besides that I also made the giveaways myself, that each kid could take home. I just used simple brown bags, stamps and sewed them together with little ballerina costumes for the girls and little ties for the boys.

For the girls I included a special beads bracelet, a bracelet that had each child´s name written in morse code.

I just wanted to make something special and to me it was easier to find something for the girls, so I took the effort and made them myself. Also I thought it would be nice for the kids to have their names on a bracelet, but in a secret message, so it would not be obvious to strangers. 

Moreover I included a little book and some sweets into the goodie bags.

We had a couple of games for the kids, water games like water bombs, soap bubbles and duck fishing, a table were they could design and paint their own kaleidoscope or a crown, a can knock down game and a „design-your-own cupcake“ station.

Our daughter and her friends had a lot of fun and far too much sugar. It was so nice to see all those happy faces and it made me proud, that we had been the reason for it. 

For the kindergarten I made a special cake for Zoë´s birthday also. It is called a „piñata cake“ and I gave it an pink ombre look. The special thing about a piñata cake is the hidden secret. I put pink Smarties in the middle of the cake and when it gets cut, the Smarties fall out of the cake. The kids were really surprised and loved the fact, that there were even more sweets for them to eat.

Creative work keeps my mind free, it is my personal meditation. 

Due to my job as a manager and concert promoter, I have been reduced to the business side of my character so many times, that I sometimes tend to forget about my creative side. Having children helped me to become creative again. Even more than before.

And so many times I have already said to myself, I should open an online shop, like on etsy or dawanda, where people sell their self-made stuff. This idea is growing on me and one of the things I will start with are probably party supplies, the bracelets and some children´s clothing. But I will get to that some other time.

Talking of business, after the last post, I ordered my new business cards and they turned out to be really nice! I love the feel and look of both of them. I ordered at "Moo" and got both the square card, as well as the mini card. I can really recommend them and I also love their blog as they are posting about other start-ups or interesting companies. So, if you need new business cards, make sure to check them out. It would be greatly appreciated if you could use my recommendation code.

The new generation is taking over the music industry, step by step, sometimes slowly, but very surely! Many of us are sons and daughters of the dinosaurs, that still reign over their empire and others have started like our parents did, from the scratch.

We all have something in common besides the passion for music, we had to build our own empire up from the scratch like the dinosaurs did - little by little, step by step. We have different parameters that tell us, if a show will sell many tickets, than they did. They could rely on record sales. We have different media to use, we communicate via so many different ways in order to reach potential listeners of our bands or concert-goers. They had a telephone with one line and a telex if they were lucky. 

Anyhow, to get back to the subject, some started with an internship, or studied something with media, others worked with some of the well-known companies or just had a run with the band they started with in the first place. One might think that if you are a child of parents who started this business, that you just get everything on a silver platter, but to be quite honest, I do not think any of us did. We probably had to fight a little more for it too, well, or maybe just differently, but we got always compared to our parents and had to prove ourselves to them, the staff and everyone else in the industry. And sometimes this never stops.

Today I would like to mention one of the new generation´s artist managers in my post, whose work I admire. He has discovered artists like "Chima", "Tim Bendzko", "Alin Coen Band" and "Lary" amongst others and 2014 he started the Label "Jive Germany" together with "Universal Music". I met him, because one night I was watching TV and there was this band "Alin Coen Band" on a tv show about the "Popakademie Mannheim" and I just fell in love with Alin´s timbre, while watching the little sequences of her sing. I then remembered an email from a guy, stating that he was an artist manager representing Alin and that he was looking for a promoter. The next morning, I called him right up and said that I had watched the show and remembered his email and that I would love to see the "Alin Coen Band" play live. Lucky for me they were playing a show at "TV Noir" later that week in Berlin, so I flew right in. I met "Konrad Sommermeyer"  from "Guerilla Management" at "Festsaal Kreuzberg" and we watched the show together. Whilst listening to Alin and the band play, I immediately knew, I had to promote shows with her, so I told Konrad that I wanted to work with him. 

We then started working together, this was in 2009. On the 4th of November 2010, Konrad introduced me to "Tim Bendzko", send me his songs a couple of days later and I immediately fell in love with this artist too. His lyrics and his way of singing were something that was absolutely missing in the business and very special and German artists were still very rare. He did remind me of "Xavier Naidoo" at first, but he had an extra twist and he was still young. So, I signed Tim and introduced him to the office of "Peter Rieger Konzertagentur". We were happy to welcome this newcomer artist into our roster. A couple of years later, Konrad introduced me to "Chima", whom I had to sign for PRK as well after listening to his songs. When I listened to him, his combination of sounds and hip hop, his melody and rhythm triggered me. I love both of his albums and cannot wait for his third one to be released. After working with Konrad for many years, I can say: this man knows, if a band will become successful. 

Konrad has signed a new artist to Jive Records, who I believe will be very successful as well. Her name is "NAMIKA" and I just love her song about herself. And so did "Cro". Watch both videos here:

Her first Single "Lieblingsmensch" was released on the 10th of July 2015, the Album "Nador" on the 24th of July 2015.

Homepage: http://www.namikamusik.de
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/namikamusik
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/namikamusik
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/namikamusik

Don´t get me wrong, I love my life. I enjoy every bit of it, even when situations bring me to tears, I have lots of joy. Most joy because of my family, but there are also those little things, that bring you joy. 

In terms of work, it always makes me happy, if a band that I had discovered, found its audience. Lately „Sea + Air“ have started their campaign about the release of their new album. I have worked with them, since the band was still called „Daniel Benjamin“ and later became „Sea + Air“. They started out as a solo project and became what they truly were in the first place: a lovely couple in real life and on stage. 

Sea + Air are the German Daniel Benjamin and his Greek wife Eleni, who started making music together in the band „Jumbo Jet“ when they were still teenagers. They are both multi-instrumentalists, who play different instruments at the same time on stage. Their music can be described as pop with a Krautrock influence. Both have a very special timbre, Daniel has a huge range and Eleni sometimes sounds like Florence from "Florence and the Machine" or like "Marina and the Diamonds". They are not easily put into a category, their music can be soft and sometimes rough and at times even both at once. 

Moreover they state that their music is inspired by the melodic beauty of the baroque music by „Johann Sebastian Bach“ or the „architonic soundscape of The Scorpions“ and underline this by using a harpsichord on the record and on stage. But you will have to listen for yourselves.

In the past they have supported bands like the "White Stripes", "Flaming Lips", "The Soundtrack Of Our Lives", "The Devine Comedy" or even "Whitney Houston" and have started building their fanbase because of this. But also because of playing hundreds of gigs in front of small audiences. For almost 3 years, they had played any given opportunity, on weddings, in living rooms, on city festivals, supporting other artists, paid, unpaid, whatsoever. They cared about live experience and building a solid fanbase, one by one. And it eventually started paying off. The venues had gotten bigger and bigger and are still growing.

Recently being a couple with German and Greek roots, resulted into an article at the German newspaper „Die Welt“, which all of you German speaking people will understand, to the others out there, I hope google translate will help you here.

My work as a manager for them resulted in several support slots, like the one for Whitney Houston, or helping them to find themselves on and behind stage, guiding them by asking the right questions or answering to theirs. I put them together with the photographer „Tim Dobrovolny“ who also helped them finding their appearance. Every little step brought them closer to what they were in the first place, but sometimes it is hard for an artist to actually see, which potential lies within him, or what his true identity is for the outside. Probably just because they are just too close to everything and cannot step aside in order to look at themselves from another perspective. But I think this applies to everyone in their own special way. It makes me proud to see that artists, who have consulted me for advise, develop a career and stay friends all along this bumpy road of this music business.

Their new album „Evropi“ will be released on the 21st of August 2015 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and on the 4th of September in the rest of Europe via Glitterhouse.

http://seaandair.net
https://www.facebook.com/SeaandAir

Please find a video from their last album and their new album below.

and from their new album