Famous comedians held an Oscar at a show

Saw the legendary comedian Russel Peters at the bar PigNWhistle. We talked to him afterwards,I thanked him for his joke on Icelanders "what do you get when you mix a Cuban and an Icelander= ICECUBE" while Dan was impressed with his Michigan knowledge. Apparently he had been there several times and knew a lot about the area. great to meet him. My friends were so jealous since they love the guy.

We came also across another talented comedian Eleanor Kerrigan, she was so nice. She invited us to see her at the legendary Comedy Store the following friday. We mentioned her name at the front and were seated in our own booth by the stage. A comic came on stage and joked about Dan looking like the bassist from Soundgarten, Dutcher (Dan´s friend) being Dan´s younger brother and since Dutcher studied psychology and Dan music he said "who would have thought that Dan was the one getting work." Eleanor was great as usual , we talked to her afterwards and she said that she laughed so hard when they mocked Dan, she was like "i know that guy". We talked outside Comedy Store for hours to Eleanor and co, including Don, the warmup guy from Jimmy Kimmel. I of course remembered him and thanked him for doing a great job. He was so grateful for the compliment that he gave me a hug. Great guy!

-got to hold an Oscar....now i can check that off my bucket list. I was going down my street when a man looking like the oscar statue (normal in hollywood) and a guy with a video camera came up to me and asked if i wanted to hold a real Oscar statue. I was sceptical at first but thought "sure...why not, when will you ever get a chance to do that". I got a photo with the statue and the guy. I looked it up and he actually won an Oscar for best documentary in 2005, then lost everything so he dressed up as Oscar man and has since then given people a chance to hold an Oscar and get a picture of it. What a great concept http://www.facebook.com/OscarmanHollywood?ref=ts&fref=ts

-got great news...was name dropped in my favourite music newsletter Hushhushattack

-helped out Miss Bloom with her Artist Development showcase. I played one of the dancing munk in her song sleeping with jesus. Ironic that i was asked to do so (since my boyfriend looks like jesus). Such a fun show and it paid off because SHE WON!!!

-Am blown away by the talent at our school. Some of my favourite musicians at school just released EP´s...check it out Missy Hellstone, http://missyhellstone.com/#606/bandcamp

The Evening Guests http://eveningguests.com/#fa1/custom_plain

Raihanna Estrada http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/raihannaestrada

Mr. Cordero http://mrcordero.bandcamp.com/

Jonina http://youtu.be/tx63Bgv2HVE

for those who want to check out my music, it´s http://annaclaessen.bandcamp.com

I´ve been working on my voice a lot and singing songs I have a hard time with, like the song "Savior" by RAGE AGAINST



Grateful to meet so many great people, to get to know people I admire, do things I never dreamt of and have a chance to work on my voice in a great school in the city of my dreams. Most of all grateful to share it with a man of my dreams.

School, Voice Over workshop, The Police, Roseanne Roast and parties

Back in Hollywood after break and straight back to school. Missing 1 week feels like missing a month between semesters, amazing how fast they go in the Associates program.

Ear training and sightsinging are tough for me but otherwise i´m liking the rest, Harmony&Theory, Art of Success, Vocal Technique, Vocal Performance, Keyboards, Vocal Interpretation and Artist Development: The Songs. I´m learning a lot as usual but feeling overwhelmed. That´s what i find tough with school. Enjoy school without getting overwhelmed.



I love LPW, Live Performance Workshops, each week there are different songs in different genres and you can sign up for them and play with other students from the school. It´s really cool, especially when you can perform with people you like, like

I sang "Somebody That I Used to Know" with my best friend Bunny



and Dan and I sang "Wonderwall" when i was sick.....i just put on a "It´s gonna be LEGEN...wait for it...DARY" and sang best to my abilities at the time.



Dan also challenged me to sing the intro to South Park so I couldnt resist.



Speaking of voice-overs we did  a voice over workshop with Kate McClanaghan and to top that day off we went to a clinic with Stewart Copeland, drummer and founder of The Police. Gotta love MI!

Outside of school, i mostly hang out with Dan, friends and study. I managed to get a tickets to Comedy Central´s "Roast of Roseanne", man Dan had a blast, i however did not have as much fun because the workers there were insanely rude to me. But the show was awesome. Really cool to see Jane Lynch, Carrie Fisher, Roseanne, Seth Green, Wayne Brady, Jeff Ross, Ellen Barkin, Amy Schumer and the stage in person.

Met a group of Icelandic girls. We were hoping to make it a monthly thing, so nice to feel back at home just speaking your language and to people from there who have been here for a while. Great group of girls and i had a blast. Look forward to the next meeting.

Decided to be social and a have a party for my schoolmates (mostly Vocalists)...I learned a couple of things after throwing a party in Hollywood. If you say invite your friends, they invite the amount of a football team, there is 1 girl to 5 guys, and i realized why we normally invite close friends over, so we dont have to deal with the landlord complaining because of noise, beer and cigarettes leftover on every floor. Yes, in L.A. they don´t come over and ask you to keep it down, they go through the landlord. Good to know.  What a party!

Now it´s 3 weeks left of school, can´t wait till it´s over!!! Have so much to look forward in Sept during break.....Vegas, Dan´s Birthday and his and mine best friends are coming. Can´t wait....

Dan roasted....

Comedy Central

"Jesus Christ, you look homeless"

 There is nothing like being roasted by the roastmaster himself Jeff Ross. My man Dan got roasted by him, Amy Schumer, JB Smoove and Ralphie May. It was way longer than shown in this clip, including JB Smoove saying he looks like Rob Zombie.

We went on the first taping of Jeff Ross´new show called The Burn, which airs on Comedy Central and what a treat. Highly recommend the show, it´s hilarious.

 We brought our friends along and had a blast. We were seated in the second row so we had a good view and were even shown on the show. The Pro´s of living in Hollywood :)

All my articles online

Wohoo! All the articles I wrote for The Vienna Review are finally online.... see http://www.viennareview.net/author/anna-claessen

My sister´s wedding :)

 

My Sister´s Wedding, Copenhagen, Denmark July 7th 2012

The day started with makeup/hair at a hair saloon in Frederiksberg (where Ásdís, my sister, used to live), where me and then her girlfriends met up with her and we got all dressed and ready to go while Ásdís got her hair and makeup done. Then we toasted champagne in her honor.

Instead of taking a taxi or limo my sister wanted us to take the bus. It was awesome, we took 2 buses to get us to City Hall.Once in city hall, we all went upstairs where the ceremony took place.

 The city hall in denmark is stunning, beautiful interior. Beautiful place to get married. We all got pulled into a little room with a city official who pronounced them husband and wife (it was in danish so who knows what really went on), took some pictures and once downstairs, the best man Simon made us all make a toast to the happy couple. then everyone went outside to the next stop.

It was raining on the way so my sister and her husband took a cycle rickshaw (or bicycle taxi). It was brilliant. What a way to go. Rain means good luck so they´ll have lots of luck

Next stop: The children´s theatre, which the groom´s dad owned. A perfect setting for such an intimate event. It was only the closest family/friends and it felt like it. The wedding reception was beautiful, there was quiz about them between food sessions, slideshow of them, then the speeches. That got me. They made a speech to one another, their parents made speeches and then her friends and us, her family all made one. I had a hard time keeping it together, i almost shed a tear. Then we ended it with a Zumba dance and in the end they danced a wedding dance. So cute! definitely a wedding worth remembering. Ásdís and Ragnald, TIL LYKKE! I love you!

Surprise trip

"What are you doing here? Aren´t you suppose to be in Hollywood?
There is nothing as fun as seeing your friends faces when you surprise them. A couple yelled, others were stunned (like they saw a ghost) and one cried of joy. Only my parents and best friend knew i´d be going home for the school break. The occasion: my sister´s wedding.

Thanks to all those who bought my songs on http://annaclaessen.bandcamp.com and my parents i was able to make it to my sisters wedding on time. And boy am i glad i was able to. I wouldn´t have missed it for the world.

It all started with a flight from LAX-Toronto-Copenhagen and finally L.A. If it wouldnt have been for my upset stomach, the flight would have been fine. I was happy that Air Canada gave us a chance to watch old films such as the movie Big (starring young Tom Hanks). Hadn´t seen that in ages. After layover in Toronto and Copenhagen, I can´t explain how happy i was that Iceland Express landed in Iceland on time (despite horror stories of late delays and layovers). My dad picked me up at the airport. So nice to see him. Also my bed!!! after hours of flying there is nothing as sweet as feeling at home in your bed. Sweet!

Next day my mom and I decided to surprise my sister and the twins.... my sister saw me and screamed of joy I KNEW IT! Then asked me to be by her side on her wedding day during makeup/hair. I was so honored she asked and said yes. I spent the day with my sister, seeing her kids off to kindergarten and one of the twins to the doctor for a checkup. It was cute, they checked how good she was with understanding and verbal. The funniest thing happened when she had to point to pictures and say what it was and pointed to a stove and said "Dad" (Pabbi). My sister went into defense mode and said she worked everyday until 6 pm. So cute! My sister is amazing mom! After driving the twin to kindergarten my sister took me to my old workplace NordicaSpa, where my friends work and boy did i come at a good time. Lára saw me and came jumping of joy, then Birgitta came out and was shocked (like she saw a ghost), then Ingunn came and screamed, she was so startled to see me.  Such fun! I went home between and rested and then saw my friend Kolla and her family and they looked so funny at me, like wait...aren´t you suppose to be in L.A.? The end of the evening topped it all. I had told my friend´s Guðrún´s boyfriend that i would be arriving and i wanted to surprise Guðrún. He told me they´d be barbequing so i came out back, in the garden and then he called her name, she came out and was so startled she cried of joy. I hugged her and joined them for dinner and TV time. It was soooo great. I had missed everyone so much and really needed the break.

The next days i took it easy, met some more friends, went with my mom and Hulda (my brother´s girlfriend) to see What to expect when you´re expecting, saw The Intouchables with Ingunn, wow that movie was amazing, will probably win Oscar for best foreign film and best film. AMAZING. Saw "How to become Icelandic in 60 min"...it was hilarious! Rules for foreigners about how to become icelandic including the phrase "Þetta reddast", i knew they´d mention it since i don´t know any other nationality that has that phrase "It will work itself out somehow". Very interesting and funny standup. Will buy it on and give to Dan :P

Hulda (Stefán´s boyfriend) graduated so we went to her graduation party. Her mom made lobster, which was delicious. My stomach was though still upset so i couldnt eat too much. Met my friends Þórdís, Maggi and Auður, so cute, they had bought cola and popcorn especially for me. Had dinner at Tapas with Birgitta, Alice and Lára and had ice cream with Þórunn. So great to see them. Saw my friend Auður (i hadnt seen in years) and we went to this new bar Lebowski bar. It´s an awesome themebar, in the style of the movie The Big Lebowski, you can play bowling on wii there (in bowling shoes), pictures from the movie but then they have a diner type diner (with jukebox, etc).  My favourite unique thing was the playboy magazine collection as a wallpaper up the stairs. The top was to see my best friend Frikki, which i hadn´t seen for a year. I missed him so much! So great to see all my friends. I missed them so them.

The weather was amazing in Iceland, I barely had to put on my coat. Sunny days spent outside with family, tanning in the sun, watching the kids play in the turtles kiddy pool and jumping on our trampoline. Got asked to teach Zumba to a bachelorette party. That was a blast, especially since i knew some of them from my dancing days. Talking about zumba, i went to my mom´s Zumba lessons (she´s a Zumba Fitness instructor) and she is amazing. Such a good teacher and her music was great. Highly recommend her.

The Iceland trip was very successful and it was so sweet to see family/friends. Best way to surprise everyone, makes you feel loved! and its always good to know...love is all around

These days

What i find similar to L.A. as well as Vienna, Austria is how international both of them are. But the bad thing about that is that people are always leaving.

We had BBQ, booze and guitar singalong saying goodbye to our awesome friend Jónína. It really felt like home, with a beer in hand singing with friends. Good times!

Reminds me of the Foo Fighters song "These Days" which i sang in LPW (Live Performance Workshop) at school. It was my favourite performance because i got to sing a Foo Fighters (my favourite band these days) with my bestie Bunny as a background singer. Such fun! I apologize for the beginning, can´t pull Dave Grohl´s low notes



Brendan Small (TV show Metalocalypse) and Duff McKagan (GunsnRoses, Velvet Revolver) came to our school. Kinda cool having met 2 of the guys from GunsnRoses.To top it off me, Dan and my best friend Bunny won Epiphone Beanies. We looked like triplets it was hilarious.

Saw Tom Cruise outside the Grauman´s at the Rock of Ages premiere, what a crowd he drew.

Also witnessed Gumball 3000, a major car road show

Saw Dan´s friends in Strange habits rock out at the Amplify theater and had dinner with them... Dan had been friends with them since middle school. So cute

Finals week was intense. My first quarter in Vocal Performance and i was dreading at least two exams. I tried to take it easy and enjoy studying for exams. It worked quite well. I had showed up for almost every class and done my work.







I helped my friend Bunny move. It was a lot of fun, met new fun people. She has been so amazing to me, i´ve been so lucky ever since i came here i´ve met some amazing people. She is one of them. I want to be with her in every class because she gets me through it. The program has been quite hard and she has really got me through it. Her and Dan. Dan went with me several times to the vocal labs where he sang and i did piano. It paid off, i got A- in piano. So far the grades are good. Thank god.



The best part of finals was the last day....i  rocked in rock vocals (sang Gavin Degraw´s I don´t want to be), had lunch with awesome people at Mel´s diner, shopped at H&M, met my friends and had birthday frozen yogurt and played mario party. Awesome end to a stressful week.

Break week started with a Champagne and a massage in a Beverly Hills spa (where Shakira/Katy Perry went) ending with a dinner at Eva Longoria´s restaurant Beso where me and Dan celebrated our 8 months together.... talk about a Hollywood treatment.