Losing someone to Alzheimer’s

 

We cannot stop time.  In my 30’s and 40’s I never thought about death and dying in the context that it would ever happen to me.  It was a thought in a far away place that was only going to happen in a different space and time.  As I just turned 50, which is old to some and young to others, I don’t look at it that way anymore.  I worry, which is something I never did before.  It’s inevitable that we will all get old someday.  I want to get older, but I want to be healthy otherwise what is the point. 

The people that have a naturel desire to be healthy amaze me. They do it with such ease, they eat right, exercise, limit their alcohol and they don’t smoke.  After spending years doing just that, they still may end up with Alzheimer’s.  If you did not know, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia.   It progresses leads to loss of ability to carry on conversation and respond to the environment.  It is a slow process, and it is an anguishing to have to live. 

I, in turn have seen the devastation that it can cause.  How an awesome caring man goes from strong, hard-working, reliable, and outgoing; to feeble, dependant, anxious, frustrated, and unhappy. If it can happen to him there is a chance it happens to me or someone I know.  There are over 55 million people worldwide living with dementia.  These patients are the most vulnerable. 

The next time you hear someone mention that their father, mother, friend or loved one has dementia or Alzheimer’s, read about it.  Take the time to understand what they are going through.  The 40- and 50-year-olds will see only see the numbers get worse and in the next 15 to 25 years, it will be our turn.  The younger generation will still be living in that far away place in a different space and time.  Hopefully your children will take care of you but if they don’t, we will be the ones that will have to deal with the situation.   I worry. 

Coming Up in September!

For those that don`t know, me and my husband have been in the entertainment industry for a long time.  I (www.femmechakra.com) focus more on the producing, singing, dancing side while he (www.francoquebec.com) has always focused on the producing, Disk Jockey, Sound and Equipment.  We are lucky to have done so many events.  It was rough year this year with the passing of his dad, but we will slowly get back to the beat of things for 2026. 

We will at 2 benefit shows in September for great causes.  You can join us in Acton Vale for the Casino Night benefiting the Centre de Benevole D`Acton Vale on September 20 or in Roxton Falls with the tribute band to AC/DC on September 26 with Christian benefiting the Project Espace Roxton.  

The CBAV in Acton Vale is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote volunteer action; to support and assist individuals and families in the community through assistance services, to meet essential needs, with the aim of improving their quality of life.  The Casino night on September 20, 2025, will be a fun night with some gambling (a lot of great prizes to win), dancing (DJ and live music) and you can come and listen to me sing! 

Project Espace Roxton is a non-profit organisation which aims at restoring the Saint-Jean Baptiste Church in Roxton Falls.  Christian will be doing the sound for the band Razor Back a tribute to AC/DC on Friday, September 26, 2025. Everyone is welcome! If you can make it to both or only for one night, then you are helping to support a great cause.  Hope to see you there!

I'm Back 2025!

Well, I’m back! I have been feeling a lack of motivation for a while and I think I need something new.  I opened this blog in 2010, and it has been at times, a great experience for me.  Some people are great at marketing themselves.  I admire the Twitters, the Instagramers, WhatsAppers, TikTokers and all the social platforms, I’m just not very good at it.  I’m a Facebooker and a You-Tuber at very best and I would not consider myself great at it.  Although I know that reading is not as popular as it once was, but I like writing.   Although I appreciate Facebook and YouTube for so many reasons, it does not let me express a story.  I miss being able to express myself properly.

Once I start talking, I never shup up but I figure if there are people that are interested in my knowledge, my ideas and getting to know me, then they can find me here.  Instead of wasting my time posting irrelevant stuff, why not take the time and be real. 

To all my wonderful French friends, I wish you could all read English.  I wish I wrote as well in French as I do in English, but I don’t.  I do not want writing to become a job, a responsibility or tedious and translating my feelings, thoughts and/or ideas it is just too hard. Maybe one day!  I do have the translate button if anyone wants to try it.

I want to post once a week and see where it will lead me. I want to find my discipline. I do hope you find it interesting but if you do not, that’s fine too.  I think I am interesting and maybe one day what I write may have a positive impact on someone else.  That would be wonderful!

As for my old posts, they are part of projects I worked on, things I did, my thoughts, shows I saw, artists I met, opinions, my music and parts of my life.  Please feel free to read them although they do not represent Anne-Marie in 2025.  I believe people do change; we can learn from our mistakes and grow.  With all my growth I am not the same person.  I’m stronger, wiser and I aim at being the best I can be.

Thanks for listening and please feel free to comment.  I would love to meet similar people that may have the same interests, ideas, or projects.  See you next week!

 

 

 

 

2020 The Covid Year

It took me a while to decide how I was going to start this blog as it has been so long since I have written that I did not want to start on a negative note.  That is a little hard as this year in particular has started out not like any of the others.  Myself and Franco Quebec Productions worked really hard in the last 2 years to produce and create a business that we thought would amount to something great this year.  We had bookings (weddings, corporate events, festivals) planned this summer as well as a 7 week run (14 shows) in Rougemont in September to promote the show Cabaret Pastiche. We had worked hard to promote our classes which in turn were also cancelled. Needless to say, we are rather disappointed that it did not work out.       

To all the artists that participated in the Cabaret Pastiche in February, we thank you for all your hard work.  That show in particular is on my list of one of the top ten shows I have done in my career.  It represented a small version of a grand plan that I believe would have led to the type of production I hope to one day achieve. If you missed it you can take a look at https://www.youtube.com/femmechakra . I know this year will be hard for all the artists that rely on their art to survive and I can only hope that you are all finding creative ways to keep busy as we all know that life without the arts is intolerable.  Be safe and my thoughts are with you. We are still working hard to promote and hopefully 2021 will be a very different year. 

On a positive note, the website for Franco Quebec Productions ( https://www.francoquebec.com/ ) is finally done! We are still looking for talent so if you are a band, duo, singer, dancer or have a distinct talent we want to hear from you.  We are hoping to evolve and promoting great talent is one our goals.  Please don`t hesitate to contact me femmechakra@gmail.com. 

Although 2020 did not start well I am grateful that I am healthy, safe and sane.  This is just another diversion from the route that I set sail a long time ago to journey.  Hopefully the rest of the year will be smooth sailing.  I wish you all good health, love and happiness.  I missed so many of you in the last few months that I cannot wait to finally see you.   

  

Looking for Talent / Recherche du Talent

Hey everyone, hope you are having a wonderful summer as of date. Not that I did not want to write a blog in the last 6 months, but I figured if I have nothing interesting, educational or positive to say, what would be the point! Between the winter blues, the battle of the wits and working hard, I`m glad the summer is finally here.   I have no plans this summer except to relax, get back some Zen and hopefully enjoy Montreal and it`s surroundings. 

As September will eventually arrive, I wanted to mention that I am looking into doing something different this Fall.  In conglomeration with others, we are looking for Montreal and surrounding talent: *Singers, dancers, bands, troupes, comedians, DJ`s and MC`s, all ages are welcome.

If you have talent I would like to know.  Please send any promotional clips, videos, CV`s or if you don`t have any promotional tools please contact me as we may hold auditions.  There are no costs involved, the focus is to build a new show as well as to help local talent with booking opportunities.  You or your agent can send all material to femmechakra@gmail.com.  We are looking for both English and French performers (SVP me contacter si vous avez besoin l`information en Francais) and/or if you have any questions. If there are any artists that I have previously worked with that would be interested, please feel free to let me know.  This is a great opportunity for upcoming artists as well as professional artists as the aim is to promote and support Montreal and surrounding talent.  Please share this if you may know someone or a group that is looking to join a great team of dedicated artists.  Applications will be taken until August 20, 2018.

I hope everyone has a great summer and that the weather is beautiful.  I will hopefully be next to water, enjoying the fresh air and/or enjoying great company this season.  Cheers to you!

*Qualifications:

Singers: Looking for solo lead male and female lead singers, cover or original.  Style may range but at this time we are not looking for hard rock or metal performers.  For cover music artists, we are looking for Pop, Hip Hop, Latin, Jazz, Blues and/or 50`s to today versatile artists.  For original music, please be sure you have all the rights to your music and/or specify what studio, producer or agent you have.  Auditions may be open for beginner singers, but you must have photo and CV. 

Back up vocalists: Looking for female back vocalists preferably with some dance experience. 

Dancers: Currently, we are only looking for solo male and female dancers with a background in ballet, jazz, tap, Latin, social, swing, and/or couples dance. We are also looking for solo Oriental and Belly Dancers. Couples and Oriental/Belly Dancers must have 3 to 4 choreographed routines already prepared. 

Bands: Looking for cover bands. If you are a duo or trio, you must have at least 50-minutes of material already prepared.  Full bands (4 or more), a 2-hour full length show is required. 

Dance Troupes (Must consists of 6 or more dancers): Looking for International dance styles, Hip Hop and New Age troupes.  Must have 3 to 4 choreographed routines already prepared.     

Comedians:  Clean programs with a minimum of 15 minutes of performance. 

MC`s/Hosts: Experience in public speaking or MC work, very comfortable with small and large groups. 

DJ`s: If you are an experienced DJ (more than 3 years) having worked at weddings, corporate events, festivals and such, please get in touch.

 

 

Starting the year off with a smile!

Hey everyone! I was going to start the year off by doing a video for my Montreal Art & Fitness, but life can get busy quickly, so I decided a blog would be the best way to start 2018!!!


I`m feeling lucky this year as like everyone else I try and make better decisions for the New Year by setting goals and trying to obtain them.  I really think it is easier when you have something that helps you to stay motivated.   On January 28th I will be performing for Les Productions Pierrette Dubois along side Jacques Vallée for a cabaret show.  I have not done the whole cabaret thing with dancers and costumes in a while, but I thought it would be a challenge to change it up a little this time by adding some of my original songs, some back vocals and some fun new cover songs.  Never would I have thought I would be doing Cher but I`m excited to try something new and it`s great that it is in January as it`s usually a very quiet time for artists.  The show is a bilingual show and Jacques is doing some of his originals as well as some French classics like Les Classels, Jeunesses D`Aujourd`hui and Nuit de Montréal.  It is really nice to be back in a group setting and working as a team.  The show is in Montreal and if you are interested please don`t hesitate to let me know, the tickets are $20.00.

The great thing about it is that I am training again and hopefully this will set the tone for the rest of the year.  I`m not sure if and/or when we will perform again along side but it`s definitely motivating. I am hoping to film the show and if all works out it should be up in February on My Music YouTube Channel.  A heads up to all the artists I worked with, all my shows are now on My Music channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCabV75B6Jq_3mgSExrQIMBQ, check them out, it is super fun going down memory lane.

So that`s my update, I really do hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is starting the year on a positive note.  Again, I wanted to thank everyone that watched the latest interviews with local talent, it really was meant to help support and hopefully next September I can introduce you to a few new and creative hard-working artists.  Thank you for subscribing to My Montreal Art & Fitness  https://www.youtube.com/femmechakra and coming up, I am hoping to catch a few clips behind the scenes. 

I hope everyone has a great January, stay warm and see you in February!

My Montreal Art & Fitness 2017

I really hope everyone had a wonderful summer and that the school year has started out well.  I must say that 2017 has been quite rewarding as well as full of change so far.  It started with a well-deserved vacation to Cuba which was long overdue and quite the experience as it was my first time vacationing alone (You can check it out at https://www.youtube.com/femmechakra).  

I finally managed to upload a lot of my songs and old shows on my new YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCabV75B6Jq_3mgSExrQIMBQ which was fun and brought back many great memories. As I am the queen of the delete button and although it still needs some work, I am proud I put them up and will keep them up.

If you missed my last post, I did manage to take all my poetry and short stories and self-publish my book, A Life of Understanding.   It`s more of a memoire of thoughts that I felt would be something I would like to remember in my old age but you are welcome to read it and give me your thoughts (Link amazon on https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B072N3GPLL and on Blurb at http://www.blurb.ca/b/7998143-a-life-of-understanding ).  

You can of course keep up to date with everything I do on my website www.femmechakra.com which I finally changed from Flash so it is available on cellphones.  You can purchase my book and music, view my bio as well as other resources regarding My Montreal Art and Fitness. 

The last half of the year was focused on my artistic venues, coming up, I will be focusing on having you get to know a few new artists.  As October 31st will be the 3rd anniversary of My Montreal Art and Fitness, every Tuesday, from October 31st to December 12th please help support local talent by watching their interviews and getting to know them a bit better. One of the goals for me doing this project had everything to do with helping others and encouraging art in Montreal so I do hope you will find an artist that you can relate to or one that may inspire you.  You can view all the interviews on My YouTube Femmechakra. A huge thank you to all the artists that took their time, it was wonderful either seeing you again or getting to know you better. 

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fall season and a Happy Halloween, hopefully the weather will hold out as long as possible and the winter months will not start too early.  Wishing you all love xxoo.