Can You Hear Me Now

What in the heck in the world is going on? Greek girl is posting another blog not even a week after the last one, when for the last several years she is lucky if she writes one a year? No, your eyes do not deceive you, yes I am here with another post.

So, what is the breaking news? Remember my last post about my song “We The People” being promoted to AC & Rock radio stations… Well, that is not the only one of my song now available on the radio, yup! My song “Can You Hear Me” is also being promoted to radio stations. It is now available on AC (Adult Contemporary), CCM (Contemporary Christian), & International Christian Radio stations, both traditional radio as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice and more. 

This is the first time my songs are being promoted to radio, and it is very exciting to put the music out in a broader form than we have ever done. Why “Can You Hear Me” to radio? Why now? Just as in choosing to promote “We The People”, it’s timing. It’s all about what is going on in our world and the days we are living in. 

There is just so much going on, it can be very overwhelming both mentally and physically. So many people are going through hard times. From wars and rumors of wars, to (natural) disasters, to politics, to technology invading daily life at a terrifying rate, to everything else that seems to all be happening all at once. The world although still filled with tremendous good is more chaotic than ever. 

Just like when I released the song, I felt that it was time. “Can You Hear Me” is a letter to God. With everything that's been happening in the past few years, have you ever wondered if anyone is listening... 

Everyone at some point in life finds themselves broken. "Can You Hear Me" is for anyone who has ever been in that place. Life can be messy, it's OK to be there... Beautifully broken, perfectly imperfect. Messes can turn into messages.

I thought it to be fitting in this time we are living when so many people feel hopeless, that it could be a little glimmer of hope to bind us together in a common thread. That we are indeed heard, that we are not ever broken beyond repair, and that we are never, ever alone. 

So thank you for taking the time to not only read this blog, but also for supporting my music, and most importantly contacting your local / SiriusXM Christian and Adult Contemporary radio stations to request the song “Can You Hear Me” by Ava Aston. Oh, and if you have not done so already, download it and share the video with friends! Thank you again! 

Blessings, Love & Music ~

Ava xo

www.avaaston.com 

Another Go-round

Hello everyone in the blog sphere. Is there anyone even here anymore? Or, has everyone flown the coop to Substack? Call me old school, call me old fashioned, but seriously there is just too much technology, and too many platforms to switch every time the wind blows. 

I have written many a blog about this topic, too much technology, and too much screen time changing society, and not for the better. Of course, that is just my humble Greek opinion. So anyhow, for those reasons and more I’ll just stay here. 

Moving along. Has anyone noticed that it’s that time again? What time, you may be wondering… election season, of course. Having recently transplanted to a quaint little town in the battleground state of Pennsylvania (just on the border of New York and New Jersey) my television set is flooded with political ads 24/7. Which at times, has my inside voice using words that would definitely land me in a stint of Facebook jail should I ever choose to post them there. 

Which leads me to the topic of this blog post. Now, it’s no secret that Greek Girl rolls to the right politically. Actually, for most of my life, I had not been a fan of musicians weighing-in on politics. Personally, I am the kind of person who can get along with anyone, even people who do not agree with me on hot button issues including politics. However, back in 2009 I saw a change coming that terrified me. So I did what all songwriters do, I wrote about it. I wrote a song called “We The People” on a cocktail napkin while I was working my pay the bills job as a cater waiter/bartender in NYC with my Mr. 

Most everyone who has followed my music knows I only have one “political” song and that is it. So why the change in my thought process? Why did I release that song and weigh in on something that could alienate music fans? Well, because it was not about left or right, it was about right and wrong. It was about individual people waking up to what was, and is going on around them, and getting involved in making a change. So many people like to sit around and armchair quarterback what is going on in the world. My one “political” song was written to remind people that the government works for us, and not the other way around. 

That being said, I wrote it, released it, and did some pretty amazing things with it. I have performed it all across the country at various political rallies, met some fantastic people along the way including the legendary Andrew Breitbart while singing it at a rally at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and even sang it on the Capitol lawn way back in 2010 with the Tea Party Patriots. I was invited to join a political commentary website called Politichicks, and made many like of mind friends in the entertainment industry including my good friend, the very talented commentator/musician Alfonzo Rachel (formerly of PJTV).

After I “came out” I then noticed something weird started to happen… Facebook, Google and Big Tech started to make changes to the algorithm, they started what has now commonly become known as “shadow-banning”. Now, hear me out. I am not complaining, but it happened slowly and started to hit most everyone. That is unless you were hugely famous, or of a particular political persuasion, if you know what I mean. They got so bad that they all but erased my friend Alfonzo from the internet. This is a guy who used to post a YouTube video and within hours it would have hundreds of thousands of views, and millions within weeks. If they can do it to him, they can do it to anyone, and that is exactly what they did. 

We all saw what they did in the name of “misinformation” during covid, and it has only gotten more partisan as the years have gone by. This phenomenon has in turn, made it quite challenging to promote my music & message. 

Nevertheless, I have stayed on social media despite the big tech shenanigans. I just do what I can and sprinkle my music and message, and hope in some small way that I can be an alternative to the ROT that has become mainstream “entertainment” today. 

So here we are, another election season upon us. We have made several video versions of my song “We The People” and uploaded them to YouTube. Youtube has left a few of them up, but they have also removed several. The most recent one they removed was literally a lyric video with the American Flag backdrop with the lyrics. Mind you there are no explicit lyrics, no cursing, nothing of a sexual nature, nada, nothing. As many who know me, know I tend to dress more like June Cleaver vs. Beyonce. So, it is really mind-blowing to me that YouTube who allows songs like “WAP” and all kinds of other explicit and offensive content to remain there, yet gives my channel a strike, and removes my song because they said “it promoted a dangerous conspiracy theory”. Someone might want to give YouTube the memo that they are a company based in the United States of America. Not sure how anyone could find the American Flag and the words “We The People” (which are in our Constitution) offensive… but then again, what do I know. 

So I uploaded the "offensive Video" to Rumble, and here we are, back to election season. We the People have two choices in this election. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. No person is perfect. We have seen life under both choices, and all Americans should take a good hard look at what life has been like for the last four years, and what is was like before. They can then decide how they want to vote. For me, as the daughter of a legal immigrant (from Greece), the choice could not be clearer. This is literally the most important election of my lifetime. I feel compelled to get my song out to try to inspire people and make a difference. 

So, despite the minions at Big Tech working overtime to bury my content, the Mr. & I have decided to go around them. We are launching a radio promotion for the song. Hoping to take it directly to the people, and hopefully, God willing, get the song out to the masses. Of course, I have to get it by the program directors. Hopefully they will like it, and play it. 

How can you help? Well, you can download the song wherever you like to download music: iTunes, amazon, etc., add it to your Spotify, subscribe to my Rumble channel, share the video, and you can call you local radio station and ask them to play “We The People” by Ava Aston. It would sure mean a lot to me. I am very appreciative of the time it took to read this blog. I know the world is busier than ever and everyone has a lot going on in their lives. Taking the time to listen to the song and share it can hopefully help to waken the masses to this do or die decision that is upon us all. Thank you again so much! 

Love, Music & Blessings -
Ava xo 
www.avaaston.com 

Can You Hear Me

“Dear God, can you hear me? It’s just me again. I know it seems like, my prayer list never ends. I know you’re busy. You’ve got lots of things to do, but right now I really need to hear from you. 

Can you hear me, let me know. Can you hear me, won’t you tell me so…”

Have you ever been there? Been in a place where you felt like asking that question. 

After the last three years we have all lived through, I know I cannot be the only person who has ever felt this sentiment. We have seen the world change in ways that were in my humble Greek opinion, just unimaginable. I never thought I would experience so much loss in so little a period of time. 

My new song “Can You Hear Me” is a letter to God. It was not written about this tragic time in our history, or even during this time actually. As many songwriters and artists, I have a plethora of songs in my song books. I write about things I experience as they happen, or as they come to me. 

This song in particular was written during a difficult time some ten years or so ago when my Mr. & I were in two close dated car accidents, together. Yes, both times. I know, what are the odds? Besides physical injuries to all the usual suspects that happen in a car accident (back, neck, etc.) we also both sustained a brain injury. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but when someone is dealing with an “invisible” injury, it is difficult for others to understand. You “look” “normal” on the outside, so they can’t seem to understand why you make errors, or have difficulty processing things, etc. Anyhow, this song was written during that period in my life. Recovery and in the process of building back up from being broken. 

As our social society and norms began to change over the past few years I began to feel a nudge that it was indeed time to share this song with the world. We have seen a propaganda campaign the likes of which we have never seen in history. There has been bullying, medical discrimination, people losing friends and even family members over differences of opinion about medical freedom, to people losing their jobs, discrimination in schools, the work place, censorship on social media, basically every part of life has changed since before March of 2020. 

I truly believe this period will go down as a very dark time in our history. But… there has also been good to come from it. New friendships, new information, and a huge learning experience. We sure did learn a whole lot about people, didn’t we? As in everything though, in life after the dark comes the light. I want people to understand that when they are broken and are crying out to God that they are not alone. Further, that is it is OK to be broken. 

Social media is a blessing and a curse. The blessing is connecting with people far in distance, and I for example use it to promote my music. The curse is, it is in many cases, just not real. Anyone who has read my blog since the beginning knows I have written about this topic on many an occasion, but social media can be very detrimental to ones mental health. It lends itself to comparison, which we should all know by now is the joy thief.

There is no such thing as “perfect” people. No matter how “perfect” ones life may appear on social media, it is not. No one has a perfect life. This is where the beautiful part comes in… God loves to use "imperfect" and broken things. He specializes in turning messes into messages. 

So, I felt the time was right to share the song on my heart to let others out there who may be feeling broken for whatever reason, physically, emotionally, financially, whatever it is; that they are not alone. It is OK to be there - in the broken place.

A Pearl is considered to be a valuable treasure. Pearls can not be formed without an irritant getting trapped inside of an oyster. In an effort to protect itself over time, the Pearl is formed. Yes, that is my second grade non scientific explanation. You get the drift though I’m sure. The “Pearl” a beautiful treasure would not come to be without the irritant. 

God uses broken things all the time, beautifully broken, perfectly imperfect, messes into messages. 

The song comes out Friday April 7th (Good Friday). I did this because it is always darkest before the dawn. I thought it to be fitting in this time we are living when so many people feel the same, that it could be a little glimmer of hope to bind us together in a common thread. That we are indeed heard, that we are not ever broken beyond repair, and that we are never, ever alone. 

I hope you will download it and share with friends and family. The official music video, as well as a lyric video will be released the same day on my YouTube page. I am trying to make the iTunes Charts with the song. Your downloads and shares can help make it happen. Below is a one page site with most download options. When the song is live the links will appear, in the meantime it serves as a short promo for the song. 

Thank you for listening and sharing. I hope it helps to heal some hearts. 

https://avaaston.hearnow.com

For a “sneak peek” of the song click here: "Can You Hear Me" 

Blessings, Love & Music ~ 

Ava xo 

www.avaaston.com

You'll Meet Me In The Light

I really don't even know what to say. Where does one begin to capture the feelings when a beloved pet passes? It is hard enough when it is one, but in the last fifteen months in our house we have lost, not one, not two, but three of our senior dogs to Rainbow Bridge. That is a lot for a heart to handle. 

In March of 2020 Pepe; our eighteen year plus old rescue Tibetan Spaniel went to the bridge. Many who read this blog already knew that, if not (see Pepe blog here). He was rescued at the age of ten plus and lived with us for eight years. He was a special dog who had many issues, and taught us so many things. Most importantly, he taught us that love can conquer almost any amount of abuse and neglect. 

Then unexpectedly in May of this year our rescue Japanese Chin Yuki went to the bridge. We knew he had some health issues and we were treating them, however his airway disease got really bad, he also had CFH, he was struggling and went downhill very quickly. So again, we had to handle a terrible loss. In Yuki's case it was really sad for us, because he did not have a good life before he came to us. He was a little over ten when we rescued him, and we were his third family (that we know of). His last people smoked and that did not help his lung issues. He lived the good life here with us and it was like he had always been here. He fit in so well immediately, and he was such a light in our home. He always did "Chin Spins", he was so happy. I loved that little dog to the moon and back. I still remember going to get him from the Bronx. He was looking out the window, I have an image burned in my brain of him leaving that life and starting fresh in the country, in a home and a yard with grass. An end to apartment and city living, and off to a place where he could enjoy his golden years. I still remember him in the carriage at Petco getting his new name tag, and he was so happy. Which is why we named him Yuki, because it means "happiness" in Japanese. Little did we know it would only last two and a half years. Anyone who has had a Japanese Chin knows they are very special little dogs, like love with legs. I will forever miss that amazing creature.

 

That brings me to the third and probably hardest loss to date, my Punkin Pie. Unlike our other dogs, Punkin Pie was not a rescue. We got her as a puppy and she lived with us her entire life. Which makes me happy that unlike so many other dogs in the world, she lived in the same house her entire life, had the same people, and never had to endure the trauma of being rehomed or in a shelter. 

 

Happy for that yes, but sad that I will not have that little face looking at me every day. She had such a personality from day one. She was the most photogenic dog I ever knew, and it was literally like she enjoyed being dressed up in silly costumes for Halloween and Christmas and any other time we felt like as she would say "exploiting her all over the inter web".

 

In fact she had so much personality that we literally had conversations with her, and as many who read the blog or follow me on Instagram or Facebook saw that personality in her Caturday videos. It all started when she was little because she was so animated that she would sit there looking at you like she understood what you were saying, and then would respond with her stomping her little paws on the ground to get what she wanted or her vocally demanding her way (which she of course always got). 

 

Most of her videos are loaded to my Facebook page or to my Instagram. I will admit I have not been good about loading to YouTube. She has a playlist on my YouTube channel, and I am slowly uploading as I have time. There are however, many older videos of her there from when she was younger, like the "Halloween Atrocity" parts, one, two and three... where she explains the horror of having her parents dress her and her fur siblings up in costumes. 

 

Looking back now, I am so glad we did this, as it is a way to get to see her face and remember the good times we had with her. (See Punkin's YouTube playlist here). I changed the title of the playlist to "Conversations With My Furkids", as her little fur sibling Lulu is going to try to carry on her legacy and continue with the videos with the wisdom imparted to her by Punkin Pie.

 

Anyone who has cared for an ailing senior pet with multiple serious medical conditions requiring literal round the clock care can tell you that when that pet is gone, there is a terrible hole. Going from every minute of every day making sure all of their needs are met, medical, physical, etc., to them "not being there" is really quite an adjustment. I am lucky as I still have two other dogs, and four cats, so the house is not totally empty. It is not the same though, and it never will be. Time will help, I suppose.

 

One thing I do know, is that there will never be a another dog like Punkin Pie. There are so many funny stories I could tell about that little character, but that would not be a blog, it would be a book. Truth be told, she really did not mind the cats at all. Except that one time when Jaxson our first cat had been here a few months... she walked into the office and one side of her face was totally puffed up. It looked like all of the sudden her face doubled in size on one side. We rushed her to the emergency vet, and lo and behold... they found a little poke hole under her fur. She had an allergic reaction to the cat poke. So apparently there is truth to what she always said, "cats have poison fingertips".

 

When she was little, she liked to eat baby carrots. We used to give them as treats until we discovered that she like to swallow everything whole... one time she was out in the yard as a little girl and she was struggling to do her business. My husband was with her and watching her, and she was looking at him like she needed help. There she is, she's trying to do her business, and a little carrot end keeps popping out, and then going back in, then out, then in, and to hear him tell it, I die laughing. Anyway, after watching her do this for some many minutes and clearly she couldn't get it out, the next time it popped out he reached down and yanked it. She ran away from it, and then looked up at him and barked as it if it were a "thank you daddy". From that moment on, she always ran away from her poops. It was really funny. For all of those years she never forgot it.

 

Then there was the time she choked on a tiny piece of an apple, and ended up in the emergency vet for two days. So many memories, and so much of our lives spent with her. It is hard to imagine we will not have her around anymore, or singing her theme song to her all the time. Each of the furkids have their own theme song, and much to Punkin's destain, yes even the cats. 

What I do know is that she is now in Heaven with Jesus, and with all of her fur siblings who went before her. She is reunited with her original pack, Pookie, Bobo, and Itty Bitty. She is also reunited with all the foster failure dogs we took in that also went before her, that she never minded sharing her momma and daddy with; Pepe, Yuki, and Gracie. She can run and play, and breathe easy, free from the terrible awful disease of Collapsing Trachea, and Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome and all of the debilitating medical hardships that come with it. She can breathe easy and rest until that one day when we will meet her in the light. 

 

Hug your furkids and cherish them while you have them, because one day God will want them back. When it is time, remember to please "Don't Shop Adopt", there are so many animals who need a second chance. Dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, nearly every breed there is. Simply visit petfinder.com and you can find practically any one of God's little creatures your heart desires. 

 

Blessings ~

Ava xo

www.avaaston.com 

 

 

You Can Keep It

Hello, it’s been quite a long while since I have posted a blog, I know. But hey, I mean 2020 was just, well, we know… it sucked beyond words. Not to mention the last blog I posted in 2020 was about losing my beloved Pepe to rainbow bridge. But, hey it’s a new year, and no matter what is going on we have to keep on trucking right? So let’s get to it, my big fat greek opinion about what is going on in the world.   

So, how about those Grammys? I mean the costumes, the talent, the amazing singing… Hold on, cue the coming to a screeching halt music, no that description would have to be a throwback Thursday memory referring to a Grammy production from probably a few decades ago. You know back when music was about music, and concerts were not so easily confused with a rated X movie.  

Now call me crazy (and I know I have blogged about this before on many an occasion) however, what took place Sunday evening was just beyond words. Well, there is one word that comes to mind… Debauchery. Complete and utter debauchery. Gosh, from just watching a news snippet alone, it feels like I need to wash my eyeballs out with bleach. 

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary the word means:  

Definition of debauchery : 

extreme indulgence in bodily pleasures and especially sexual pleasures : behavior involving sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. that is often considered immoral. 

Did anyone at the Recording Arts and Sciences stop to think for just one minute that there just might little eyeballs watching the production? Nah, probably their virtue signaling politically correct masks have been on too tight, and the lack of oxygen has gotten to their noggins. Because, anyone with half a functioning brain cell, and even a teeny weeny shred of decency would know better than to glorify, celebrate and parade the song W.A.P (that’s Wet Ass Pussy) for those who have been living under a rock with me for the last year.  

Maybe I’m old fashioned, and maybe I embody a little bit too much June Cleaver, and possibly that might just be the reason I can’t for the life of me seem to get arrested in the music industry, (and trust me it is not for lack of talent). That is, if you call talent in music being singing, and writing songs… but apparently these days singing has nothing to do with the music industry. Instead, performing in a stripper outfit is what qualifies as talent regardless of the shape of ones body (insert eye roll please). In fact it seems the trend is the bigger the body, the scantier the outfit should be.  

It’s really sad too because ever since I was a little girl and I started to talk, I started to sing and then as I grew write songs down in my journal. I started recording them at local recording studios, singing at local talent shows, and in school and worked my way up singing everywhere and anywhere that I could. Nursing homes, weddings, funerals, sporting events, local, college and even professional sports teams, Veterans events, Police and Firemen events, political events, and yes even the NY Mets where I inadvertently threw Willie Mays out of my dressing room one time at “The Greatest Day in Mets History Day”. My little tomboy sister was horrified when she asked me “um do you know who you just threw out of here” and I replied “no and I don’t care I have to change” she said, “that was Willie Mays”, to her I replied… “who is Willie Mays”. Definitely not one of my proudest moments, but hey I was concerned about my singing, not sports figures.  

I have worked and struggled and still after all of these years have never, ever given up on the pursuit of my goals and ultimate dream, to one day receive a Grammy. Heck I even sang at the White House Lighting of the Christmas Tree celebration a long time ago.  

However, in the last decade I have noticed a very rapid decline in the moral fabric of our society, and as mediocrity has been encouraged, and celebrated more and more, the obscene has grown to not only accepted as normal, but now it is called “talent”.  I find it sickening. 

We have awards shows in prime time broadcasting full on satanic imagery, rituals, and simulated sex that could easily pass off as a pornographic movie. It’s actually pretty hypocritical because anything having to do with Christianity must be removed because that is just too offensive and we just can not force religion down people’s throats now can we? Unless it is luciferian or satanic that is. 

This is talent? I’m sorry, can anyone, anyone really explain to me what in the heck in the world at all this has to do with MUSIC? Now I know it has to do with the lyrics of the song W.A.P. but REALLY?  How on earth is that GRAMMY WORTHY?  

We just literally cancelled Mr. Potato Head, Pepe Le Pew, and Dr. Seuss because they were too “offensive”, yet somehow the song W.A.P. is not, and not only is it not offensive to Karen enforcers everywhere and these lunatics, but they go ahead and give it a GRAMMY? 

I’m sorry, if that is Grammy worthy, you can keep your Grammy, I do not want one.  

 For those who are interested, here is the link to my latest music release "Pour The Light In" which DOES NOT need an obscenity warning label.  

https://music.apple.com/us/album/pour-the-light-in/1530315543 

Blessings, Love & Music ~ 

Ava xo 

www.avaaston.com