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Goodbye to the Nation of Dreamers

1/26/2014

As I sit next to the iStore in the Tom Bradley International terminal at LAX, I remember everything I've done in this country in the past month. Today alone I visited the historic Grammy Museum and was enthralled by the extremely realistic looking wax figures at Madame Tussauds on Hollywood Boulevard. Although there were many times I wished I had someone to share all these amazing experiences with, I can't help but think that I wouldn't have achieved half as much if I wasn't on my own. I've learnt how to catch taxi's in -16 degrees, how to makes friends with complete strangers who share the common interest of music and how to squeeze two weeks of activities into a 3 short days. Honestly I couldn't have asked for a better experience and I couldn't have met kinder people. I'm so thankful for this adventure I've been on, and as much as I want to go home, I know I'll miss hearing the constant music playing, even at 11am on Broadway in downtown Nashville and I'll miss walking on the street and wondering if I'll see someone famous. I can't wait for what lies ahead in Melbourne and I can't wait to see all of you that I haven't seen in ages; but I also can't wait to come back to this 'nation of dreamers' (to quote Amy Poehler on Parks and Recreation) and experience all that I couldn't in my short time here.

If reading my blog has done anything for you, I hope it has convinced you that as cheesy as the saying goes, you can do anything you put your mind to. After all, I'm pretty sure I was the only 17 year old girl from Australia living in Nashville by herself, and by doing this I got to meet people that I could only have dreamt of seeing.

So I guess I'll see you on the other side (of the Pacific Ocean to be literal).

And just because it's the last time I can say it in it's country of origin...
Y'all come back now, ya hear!

See ya Marilyn

Hey LA!

1/25/2014

So I've decided I'm the worst blogger ever.... but for some reason you are reading this now!

So as some of you know, tomorrow I'm heading home to Melbourne for uni stuff. But on my way home, I've stopped in LA. Yesterday I went to Universal Studios and had an awesome time seeing a commercial being filmed in the Universal backlot in the New York area. And I decided to be really smart and walk through the House of Horrors by myself. Wow was that fun (and by 'fun' I mean incredibly horrifying where the actors all decided to attack me, probably because everyone else had dark hair and I was the only one they could see...) Anyway, I did pretty much every ride and had an awesome day in sunny LA. A nice change from the snow and rain in Nashville.

Today I went for a walk around Los Feliz where I'm staying and found that every shop in this area was a vintage clothing store. Afterwards I went on one of those celebrity house open-top car tours. It was incredible seeing the houses in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. We took a short stop on Rodeo Drive, (the most expensive shopping strip in the world) where all the celebrities shop and I'm pretty sure I saw Katy Perry driving with her dog on her lap. I was gonna say hey but her hair looked kind of messy so I didn't want to embarrass her. She still hasn't sent me my Grammy invite... Maybe Taylor can get me one.
The houses we saw ranged from about $2 million to $100 million. Can't wait to move there (I just have to wait until I get my first few million). The fire hydrants are silver! If I name a few of the people's houses we saw: Katy Perry, Adam Levine, George Clooney, The Playboy Mansion, Michael Jackson, Simon Cowell, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, Christina Aguilera, Ellen DeGeneres and we also saw The Beverly Hilton Hotel where they film the Golden Globes as well as the hotel where they have the pre and after party for the Grammy's which are tomorrow night!

The Chateau Marmont (the hotel where people stay like Lady Gaga and Leonardo DiCaprio)

So hopefully I'll find something to do in Melbourne when I get home on Tuesday, but know that there will be heaps of new music arriving on this site soon which I'm really excited about. See you soon!

Michael Jackson's house

George Clooney's house

It's a small town

1/16/2014

HEY!
Sorry I haven't posted much, turns out Nashville can keep you busy.
Ok, well I'll go from where we left off. Saturday night I had the opportunity to go to a CD launch. It was at this cool place called The Stone Fox. I got to meet a bunch of cool people like Jesse Leary who wrote the Tim McGraw hit Where The Green Grass Grows so you can imagine how excited I was to meet her. Like so many people here, Jesse was soooooo nice. I couldn't believe that you could just casually meet people who had penned #1 hits and who have toured with people like Faith Hill and Reba McEntire. It really is a small town.

On Sunday I helped out again with the ABC Nashville tour at the Bluebird and I stayed to watch a spotlight show with Adam James performing. He was such an awesome performer and writer. Almost everyone I see play here is incredible.

Monday night I went to an artist workshop at Two Old Hippies. I got to meet Doak Turner and Rick Barker (Taylor's old manager) who have been helping me out heaps. I also got to meet a few other girls who are writers too and they even drove me home! (it was raining and cold). Oh and also on Monday, (i think it was monday), I got a new guitar! As you probably know (because I complain about it a lot...), I don't have a car. So it's a bit hard to walk for ages and bus with a full sized guitar in a hard case. So I bought a Breedlove passport guitar (which as you can probably guess by the name, is a smaller guitar). It sounds amazing and is super light so I'm very excited about it.

On Tuesday after my songwriting class I got a really cool poncho. Just thought I'd let you know. Oh and I also think I had my first celebrity sighting!! I was waiting for the bus and I think I saw Karen Fairchild from the band Little Big Town jogging on Belmont Boulevard. Being the totally cool person I am, I didn't chase her to say hey. I probably wouldn't be able to run that fast anyway....

Wednesday I spent 5 hours at the Bluebird office rolling t shirts. Woop Woop!! So much fun!! hahah but no it was actually not that bad. I got to hear a bit about the Grammy Party on Sunday night so that was cool. Oh and on Wednesday I took my first trip to Whole Foods, the famous grocery store. They have every healthy food you could imagine and apparently you always see famous guys there. I ended up staying at the Bluebird and went to an In The Round that night (that's where a small group of 3 to 6 ish writers sit in a circle in the middle of the room, tell the stories behind their hit, or nearly hit, songs and play them for the room.) It was great as usual.

Today I went to the famous Nashville Cafe, Fido, and had a very physically painful writing class. It was physically painful because we had to write in 7 minute periods, where we were writing as much as we could, so all of our arms were pretty much falling off at the end. But it was a good class. Then I went to The Mall at Green Hills and went to the Venetian Nail Spa. I've been wanting to go there since I arrived here. They do really good nails in a cool venetian style place and all the celebs go there. After an intense #130 red gel manicure, I decided I needed to get an early dinner. So I walked across the parking lot and went to another place I've been wanting to go to since I got here, The Cheesecake Factory! Delicious food and unlimited refills = happy Jazzy.

Tomorrow I'm going to visit the NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) headquarters for the first time on Music Row. I'm really excited because I haven't been there yet. And on Saturday I'm actually 1000 times more excited because I'm going to my first Grand Ole Opry show at the Ryman Auditorium, and Clare Bowen (the Australian actress from the show Nashville) is performing! I can't wait!!

I think I'm also going to start a video blog thing, so stay on the look out.

I'll be back in a few days to post again, so make sure to check back on jasminbadeboon.com. And also, if you want to sign up to my mailing list, that would be cool too.... (The link is at the top of the page and saysSubscribe).

Y'all come back now, ya hear!!
(Can't believe I said that...)

At the Stonefox

FOOD, FRIENDS and FAME

1/15/2014

Well hey!
Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, I've been a bit busy lately.
Well where do I start. Ok so...

On Tuesday I started my songwriting course at Vanderbilt University in the Blair School of music (Gossip girl much?). Although it was about -6 that day, class was still on. The lovely Deanna Walker (she runs the course) picked me up from my house, we went to this awesome health food cafe where I got this amazing smoothie with coconut oil, banana, chia seeds, spinach, honey and all these other amazing things (Georgia and Tegan, you should be proud). Then we went to class and it was so fun. People in the class varied from guys who had never played music before or written a song, to those who are advanced in music theory and study creative writing. After class I walked to Hillsboro Village (one of my favourite places in Nashville) and went to Fido, a fantastic cafe ( Taylor said it's her fave). And after some much needed shopping with half off sales, I got this amazing fro yo from Sweet CeCe's and Deanna picked me up and took me home.

Well the next day I had nothing planned, so after waking up at about 12pm (I'm still jetlagged) I ventured out to Burger Up, the famous restaurant on 12th Ave South. I had the BEST burger I've had in my entire life, it had truffle aioli. And if I could give you one piece of food advice, if a place has sweet potato fries, GET THEM!! They are so much better than normal fries. Seriously, this is a must. Anyway, I met this cool bartender guy who I found out toured with Missy Higgins! Hopefully you know who she is. If you don't, she's a really famous australian singer-songwriter, who my aunty actually taught at school! Then we got talking about the TV show Nashville and this bartender (I think his name was Peter), told me he is good friends with Hayden Panettiere who plays Juliette on the show and has been in countless other films and shows. So I was a tiny but starstruck, but don't worry mum, I played it cool.

Now I'll jump forward to Thursday, I had songwriting class again. We got let out a bit early and I hadn't even had breakfast yet (it was 2pm...I'm still not quite on top of the whole buy food or you'll starve thing) so I went back to my fave place, Hillsboro Village, and went to the Pancake Pantry! Oh. My. Gosh. I got the sweet potato pancakes, because everyone told me to get them, and I know they sound gross, like sweet potato in pancakes... However, these were amazing, they had this creamy cinnamon sauce and powdered sugar on top. And ahhh I can't even explain. Just get them.
Well that day, I ended up walking 6km in jeans and new boots. Not the most comfortable thing ever. But as I've said, not having a car in Nashville is not the easiest thing ever...

So today I went into the Bluebird and worked all afternoon wrapping things and sorting things out in the office, but I decided to stay for the early show that night. And wow was I glad I stayed. I got to meet the wonderful Phil Barton (he wrote the number 1 country hit A Women Like You), and he's actually from Melbourne! So it was so awesome to talk to someone from a minute who said jumper instead of sweater. (that's meant to be a joke). He was playing In The Round with Jeff Cohen (he wrote with Laura Bell Bundy on Giddy On Up, as well as writing for Josh Groban and The Band Perry), Bruce Wallace (AMAZING) and Carly Pearce. Now Carly Pearce has given Kelly Clarkson some SERIOUS competition. As soon as she started singing I was speechless, she was sooooooo incredible. Seriously, please look her up. I love this girl. Her songwriting and singing is top of the top.

So tomorrow night I'm going to a CD launch and I'll be sure to keep you posted on what I'm up to!!
Hope you have a great weekend and remember to sign up to my mailing list by clicking the subscribe link up top. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE!!

Open Mic at the Bluebird

1/6/2014

Hey!
How are you wherever you are in this world?
Well I'm great, thanks for asking. On Sunday I had my first afternoon at the Bluebird. Erika (she's the president of the Bluebird), got me to help out a bit with the people on ABC's Nashville tour. Basically a bus drives people around taking them to places where they film the TV show. So, obviously they come to the Bluebird. Erika told the story of the cafe and how it didn't even start out as a place for music and how it transformed into the legendary place it is. I sold a few T-shirts while struggling to use the cash register and had a fantastic time.

I actually just got home from the Bluebird where tonight was open mic night. (If you don't know what that is, it's where a bunch of unsigned songwriters line up and if they are earlier enough, they get to play a song at the cafe. This is where many stars of today started playing). So, because it was -15 celsius outside, there weren't as many people as usual. However, there still was a line, so I waited in the line, made some awesome friends with a family from Dallas (big hi to the Robbins, thanks for the coke) and I got a slot to play. Because there weren't as many people as usual, I actually got to play 3 times, which is really unusual for open mic night. It was so fun and I met 2 other Australians from Sydney too. Everyone was so lovely and kind and left everyone who played feeling like a superstar. One thing I must mention is this adorable Japanese duo that played with a melodica and guitar and sang in Japanese. I'm not sure what their names were but they were so cute.

Tomorrow I start my songwriting course at Vanderbilt University with the fantastic Deanna Walker (look her up, she's had a bunch of hits). I'm so excited to actually have some formal training in songwriting and can't wait to meet all the other aspiring songwriters!

Hope this excited you half as much as it excites me!!
Be sure to come back soon to see what I've been up to :)

Life on Broadway!...no, not THAT Broadway...

1/4/2014

Hey!!!
I hope you've been enjoying the start of this wonderful year, 2014. This has been the most exciting start to a year I've ever had.

So in the last few days I've been going around town seeing what Nashville has to offer. A street near the one I'm living on called 12th Avenue South has all these cute vintage shops. Apparently lots of the guys from the show Nashville go to these shops a lot, so hopefully I'll see some of them.

I had a lot of trouble finding an ATM, as it seems you need a car in this town to almost do anything. As well as this, I'm starting to realise I probably need to learn to cook some things... as yoghurt and cheese sticks can only take you so far.

Anyway, today I decided to venture out to Downtown Nashville where Broadway is, with all the Honky Tonks and famous landmarks. The Google Maps application, which had so far been amazing in showing me where to go, seemed to lose it's sense of direction today (which is not exactly what you want in a directory app...) It said that the bus stop was in the middle of a park. Really google? However, I found a bus stop a short walk away and I was about 50 metres away from it when the bus came, so I started running with my bag falling off my shoulder and my hair flying into my mouth as I panted running up the hill, probably looking like a maniac to everyone else, and guess what?! I MISSED THE BUS. Normally in Melbourne that's no big deal. But here... Well let me say, waiting for a bus where there's no seat or shelter for 50 minutes in 4 degrees = not so fun. But Broadway was calling me (as theatrical Jazzy would say), so I stood and waited and waited and waited and eventually it arrived. As soon as we reached Broadway there were tourists everywhere. So me being me had looked up everywhere I wanted to go beforehand and knew Broadway like the back of my hand. I was practically a local (apart from the fact that I'm from a different continent).

There was so much to see on Broadway, but no doubt I'll be going back before I leave Nashville. I saw Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, the world famous Honky Tonk bar, I saw several boot shops that sold hundreds of different cowboy boots (y'all know I'll be going back there), I saw Bridgestone Arena, home to the CMA Awards and where all the top acts play when they're in town, and my overall favourite was definitely seeing the Ryman Auditorium. This place is filled with stories from where Johnny Cash and June Carter met, to becoming the home of the Grand Ole Opry where todays stars from all genres perform. I took the guided tour which led us backstage (although we weren't allowed to take photos there). We went into the dressing rooms that Dolly Parton gets ready in and where LeAnn Rimes preps to go onstage. We even got to go onto the stage and see where the band has their instruments and what it looks like looking out into the audience. You could get a photo on the stage pretending to sing and play guitar, but I said I'd wait until I got to sing on the stage for real with an audience (which hopefully will be soon if you amazing fans keep supporting me like you are:D ). I can't even explain how amazing this place is. If you come to Nashville, it is the number 1 place you must visit. You have to see it to believe it.

Tomorrow I've got my first day at the Bluebird so I'm super excited for that. Apparently I'll be selling merchandise to the guys on the Gray Line tour. Maybe one of them will be able to drive me home so I don't have to wait an hour for a bus?

Now I think I'm gonna see if I can go to the supermarket, because my cheese stick supply is running low and my yoghurt supply is gone. Maybe I should buy some real food.... I'll consider it.

Be sure to come back to see what I've been up to (if you want to). This town is so exciting.

Finally Arrived in Nashville!

1/1/2014

Hi y'all! (just thought I'd say 'y'all' cause I'm in Nashville).
So after 23 hours of airplanes, airports and way too heavy luggage, I finally made it to Nashville. It was about 5 degrees celsius when I arrived so it was quite a shock from sunny Melbourne. One of my friend's dad's friend (hi Rosie and James) picked me up from the airport. Her names Anne McCue, she's an awesome musician (look her up), and she drove me to my homestay house. The couple living here are so lovely and the house is beautiful, decorated with christmas lights and trees inside. After de-airplaning, my taxi arrived to go to the Bluebird Cafe. If I haven't spoken to you recently or you don't know what the Bluebird Cafe is, it's this awesome little music club kinda thing in green Hills Nashville. Heaps and heaps of famous performers and writers have played there, and it's a well known spot for getting discovered by labels and publishers (Taylor Swift, Faith Hill and Garth Brooks were all discovered at the Bluebird).

Anyway, once I arrived at about 10pm, the New Year's Eve show was starting that I was thankful to get a seat at, thanks to the president of the Bluebird, Erika Wollam-Nichols who's helped me with my whole Nashville dream thing. The show was absolutely amazing with legendary songwriters Thom Schuyler, Fred Knobloch and Tony Arata playing along with award-winning harmonica extaordinaire, Jelly Roll Johnson. They played fantastic original songs that had the room nearly crying at times of both heart-felt emotion and laughter.

Today I decided to go for a walk to this awesome cafe called the Frothy Monkey. With a caramel latte in one hand and an iPhone with Google Maps open in the other, I walked down 12th Avenue South and made my way to Hillsboro Village which has all these amazing shops. Unfortunately, being New Years Day, hardly any were open, however I did get to see the famous Pancake Pantry (known for making Taylor Swift's favourite pancake). After walking past and admiring the beauty of Vanderbilt University, I decided to hop on a bus and head home at about 5pm (as it gets dark here at around 5:30pm). So although I actually got on the wrong bus and the driver had to tell me to get the bus that went the opposite direction, I had a fantastic first night and day in Nashville.

I can't wait to see what happens here in this amazing town. I think I'll head downtown tomorrow and I'll be sure to keep you posted as to what I'm up to, (as long as you come back to the Jasmin Now section of jasminbadeboon.com).
Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the right bus...

First Ever Post

12/20/2013

Hey!
So I've decided it might be cool to have a blog type thing on my website, where you'll be able to find out what I'm doing. So for that reason, I've called it Jasmin Now, so if you want to check out what I've been up to, just have a quick look at the page and you'll be able to see some photos of where I am and read some things I've written. At the moment I'm just getting ready to go to Nashville, so when the new year starts some more exciting things will be posted on this page because I will have arrived. Hope you're having a good day :)