American MusicFest & FREE TICKET GIVEAWAY!

I can hardly believe it’s almost the Fourth of July! Hope you have lots of great things planned for your holiday, including packing up the family and coming to Harrisburg, PA for the American MusicFest where I’ll be performing on the Main Stage at 5:30 PM THIS SUNDAY, JULY 5th.

And hey kids, right after us on the Main Stage is BEATLEMANIA – followed by FIREWORKS! What could be a better ending to your patriotic weekend?

I’ll be the opening act for THE GIN BLOSSOMS on Friday, July 25 at 6:00 p.m. at the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Readington, NJ. – around 40 miles away from NYC in Central North Jersey. (Click HERE for directions.)

The Gin Blossoms are the group whose hits include “Hey Jealousy”, “Til I Hear It From You” (which appeared in the film Empire Records), “Follow You Down” from the box office smash “How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days”, and the Grammy®-award nominated “As Long As It Matters.”

I have THIRTY FREE TICKETS to give away to the first people who write to me at deni@denibonet.com and ask me for them! They are general admission tickets worth $25 EACH. General Admission tickets are good for the full day of the festival and include lawn seating for the concert.

Experience the spectacular mass ascension of up to 125 hot air balloons, take a balloon ride yourself, or stay on the ground and enjoy amusement park rides and other exciting attractions. And following the Gin Blossoms concert, there will be FIREWORKS!

I could use as much support out there as I can get, so I would LOVE to give these tickets to YOU if you’ll come and clap real loud for my band and me. Just ask and you shall receive.

Hope you have sparkly, fun-filled Fourth, and I hope to see you at a live show real soon!

I Needed This Like A Hole In My Head

My youngest stepdaughter is visiting for a couple of weeks. It was her idea to officially declare today “STEPMOTHER’S DAY”. I was totally touched, as so many Mothers’ Days have come and gone since I’ve known the girls, and never a mention to their poor, little ‘ole stepmom. (Me!)

First I was presented with my favorite flowers first thing this morning, and then we had a terrific brunch at Deborah’s on Carmine St.

Since I had such a wonderful bonding experience in 2005 with her older sister, (click HERE to read about it), we had a repeat performance this afternoon when LG and I took the LAST KID to get her ears pierced. We took her to Maria Tash’s posh piercing parlor, VENUS, on Broadway. This is the celebrity parlor in NY where stars like Cynthia Nixon, Christina Aguilera, and even Britney have been pierced. It was certainly NOT the typical Claire’s mall experience where you get pierced by someone named Tiffany who hasn’t graduated 10th grade yet! And Maria Tash herself waited on us and helped us pick out our jewels.

I held her hand while Rob, our expert piercer, got LK ready. It was over before she knew it, and she is now sporting a lovely pair of snazzy earrings.

But since I wanted to REALLY bond with the kid, and after much urging from LG and LK, I went ahead and had my NOSE pierced! I figured that if it was good enough for Christina Aguilera, it was good enough for me!

LK was going to hold MY hand, but she started jiggling her leg, and couldn’t look when she saw the long needle that was about to make its way into my right nostril! So I kicked her off the table so that I could get into the “zone”!

Don’t let anyone kid you. It hurt like hell for a few minutes afterwards! And by the time I got home, it was throbbing quite a bit, but after a couple of Advil, and a few hours, I can’t feel it at all. I’m now sporting a lovely diamond stud in my nose, and I feel like a million bucks!

I’ll always remember the first ever Stepmother’s Day!

Mom and Yves Saint Laurent

Majorelle Garden, Marrakesh.
Photos by Deni

Today, Yves Saint Laurent’s ashes were scattered in the Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh. Coincidentally, this botanical garden was one of the stops on my recent trip to Morocco. As a matter of fact, we were there on March 27, which happened to be my birthday.

While strolling through this very beautiful place, I was suffering from a lousy cold, and feeling a little emotional as this was the last day of our organized two-week adventure, and we would be parting ways with all of our new travel buddies.

At some point in our walk, I happened to spot some intensely fuchsia bougainvillea on an arbor above the walkway. Whenever I spot this flowering bush, I always think of my mom. Two years ago, while she was slipping away in the hospice, the grounds of the building were covered in bougainvillea. Everywhere you looked outside the hospice was awash in pink. It was spectacular to look at, but now, I can’t help but get a lump in my throat whenever I see this hot pink flower.

So here we were, walking about the garden, when I started to think of my mother, and how I missed hearing her voice first thing in the morning whenever I had a birthday. No matter where I was in the world, she’d call me as soon as I was awake and sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU in a slightly giddy voice. I started having “a moment” there in the garden.

And a soon as I felt the first tear fall down my cheek, I looked up and saw this…

I totally believe my mom came to visit to wish me a Happy Birthday. I could hear her voice in my head and for the rest of the day, and I knew she was hanging out with the crew and me.

When I was growing up, Mom would often walk into my room and ask my opinion on what she was wearing. She’d want to know how her dress looked, or if her shirt worked with her pants, or just general “How do I look?” questions. I know it may be kind of dark humor, but it makes me giggle to think of my mom and Yves Saint Laurent hanging out in Morocco. She can get all the clothing advise she needs now from the master. One thing is for certain. I know that Yves is in good company, and my incredible wacky mother will keep him highly entertained there in his beautiful garden.

Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head

A couple of days ago, I was walking down the street where I live and some guy had not one, but TWO Mastiffs on a leash. It’s not every day that you see two dogs the size of horses hanging out on a NY city doorstep. Since this was close to my apartment, I ran upstairs and grabbed Rosie. I can’t resist a good photo op - even though I don’t think she was too thrilled about me sticking her close to an animal who weighed around 250 pounds!

This guy’s tongue was almost as big as my whole, seven pound wonder dog!

Good thing they were friendly!

Sign Sightings Around the City

Spotted today while shopping downtown.
Their spelling really “sucks” along with their vaccums!

YUMBO!
Axtail & sare ribs. Them’s good eatin!

The sign says it all! I’m SO there!