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The Cast => Musicians and Choir => Topic started by: CWazyTom on October 15, 2017, 08:27PM



Title: Amy Rivard: Interview on AM800 CKLW
Post by: CWazyTom on October 15, 2017, 08:27PM
Amy did an interview on AM800 CKLW, a radio station in Windsor, Ontario, Canada tonight (Oct 15, 2017)!

She was in the studio recording the segment last week.

Amy actual used to work in that same studio (and they're still using the same same sound board they used when she worked it).

I thought Amy did a great job with the interview (she always does)! The host remarked that Amy was hilarious, charming, and really talented. Some of the things she Amy said about her career and life in New York were really heartfelt.

Here's a summary...

Windsor and Getting In to Music:
- Windsor still feels like home to her even though she's been living in New York for around 8 years or so
- She loves the big flag they just put up downtown. So do I! You can see it from all the way across the river!
- Her grade 8 teacher got her into a musical
- She got involved in more musicals in high school
- When it came time to choose what to study in University, she chose Musical Theatre

Career:
- She sang with Tokyo Disney and was a backing singer Riverdance and Celtic Woman (the host called it "Celtic Women" twice)
- The culture in Tokyo / Japan was apparently very nice
- While she was with Riverdance, they left their suitcases in the hotel hallway and the valet took them to a U-Haul in the morning. It was a large cast / crew.
- Amy got a bunk on a out bus when she was with Celtic Woman. Some people slept on the tour bus, others didn't. They got to their hotel anywhere between 3 AM and 3 PM.
- Her most recent album (On Common Ground as part of Subject of the Queen) is available from a bunch of different places, but Band Camp is the place you can get it from that gives her the largest return (https://subjectsofthequeen.bandcamp.com/releases).
- She talked about Candy Canadiana and Candy's YouTube series What's Up Canuck
- She always wanted to live in NY
- It took her a long time (and a lot of legal fees) to get her green card. Her time with Tokyo Disney, Riverdance, and Celtic Woman helped her get her green card.
- These days, she performs in a number of different places in New York, including the Astor Room, at Kaufman Astoria Studios, in Astoria, Queens (6:30 - 10:30 on most Fridays)
- She talked about the history of Kaufman studios and the Astor Room
- That led into her song, The Three Divas, for which she did a music video this year
- She talked about each of the Three Divas:
* Betty Bronson ... played Peter Pan in the silent film version and that may be a contributing factor in why the role has been played by a woman ever since.
* Gloria Swanson ... apparently Gloria's ghost visited Francis Ford Coppola at least once
* Sylvia Sydney ... played a ghost social worker in Beetlejuice as one of her last roles

- They played The Three Divas
- I got an indirect shout-out as one of a pretty sizeable group of people that showed up a few weeks ago to see her at The Astor Room

Life in New York:
- She was asked how the New York vibe compared to her hometown of Windsor
- She said there was soooo much competition
- It's exhausting work
- She has to work jobs she doesn't really like just to get by so she can do what she really loves, which is to sing and write music
- It can be really disheartening in her line of work
- She has to remind herself that she's living her dream, that it was never going to be easy
- When you focus on the good things, more and more of those things happen
- She loves New York history. It inspired a lot of her songs, including Track 61, from On Common Ground.
- She talked about the 2 stories behind Track 61. It has a double meaning. You can Google the history of Track 61 if you like. The other meaning of the song is inspired by a time when Amy fell in love with her best friend and told him and got her heart broken.  :'(  :'(  :'(  :'(  :'(

- They played Track 61

I'm glad I was able to tune in online to the stream of this radio broadcast.