My You Tube description.

Well, I get a call from my close friend and internet promoter, ie, the Kick My Ass girlfriend (to be known now as the KMA girl), and KMA-girl promptly kicks my butt to fill out my YouTube descrip... I figured I'd share it here with you all. A good way to start the year, I thought, as I look out onto the ocean from my new desk on the East Coast in Canada. Just got back from NY a couple weeks ago, and still am setting up shop in my new place, working on a new album, and still unpacking from my cross-country adventure. I will write on that more later - for now, here's my YouTube description, which I'm sure, perhaps 10 of my 33 subscribers will read there, and perhaps all 7 of you will read here. xox R


About me:

I come from a non-GMO, all-natural, working-class neighborhood on the east side of Vancouver, BC, Canada… I’ve always been proud of my little city, with all its flavours, sites, and most importantly, its people. Most (if not all) of my neighbors and friends came from diverse and unique places on our little blue dot in space… And somehow, we all managed to get along and lived (for the most part) as a peaceful little United Nations block. (I guess that’s why I fell in love with New York – simply a bigger version of my old unpretentious neighborhood. With more food-stands. And more cabs.)

And if only you could taste the food on my block! I’d regularly invite myself over for supper at our neighbor’s houses – I could hop across the street to have some homemade fresh Fijian food or down the street to the Slavic neighbors for some fresh sausage and bread, or maybe the Koreans were home and I could have some homemade kim-chi, or if I wanted Greek, Chinese, East Indian, Persian, Punjab, Thai, Ethiopian, Japanese or maybe some Filipino, or how about Italian, Austrian or French cooking – it was always authentic and always within reach. When I first moved away from Vancouver, I was severely culture-shocked – and as a result, this really inspired my own abilities to cook. In my university years, when I wasn’t skipping classes to play piano, air-hockey or pinball, I spent much time at the Museum of Anthropology (UBC) and I finally learned about some of our First Nations history and of course, their music and food – ever tried some pit-smoked sockeye and bannock? Yum. Ever heard their drums sound? Your heartbeat would inexorably dance along with.

Vancouver’s mix of cultural backgrounds, and consequently, it’s cuisine and music – were tucked away in her little neighborhoods and warmly presented to those who were interested. This is why I always wanted to write music for a global audience– I know nothing different. I always have many fresh herbs and spices in my pantry and can’t imagine a world with only one spice. Hence why I stayed Indie. Indie artists can do multi-genre, multi-character, non-manufactured craft – music is still an art, just like cooking. And if there’s a label out there that wants to support an oddball geek like me, hey I’m all for that!

I never fit into any genre – perhaps why I still don’t get much radio airplay – that, and the fact that any focus group would probably ix-nay me. I’m an indie anomaly, and I’m ok with that. If you like my music, that’s great. I just want to make sure you know that I don’t pretend to be anybody other than the oddball I am.

See, even in school, I never fit into any particular clique, maybe except the geek and theatre and poor-kids clique. I was always the theatre-could-quote-Python-freak-computer-nerd-ugly-duckling that wore the hand me down clothes and thick glasses. I suppose that’s really not changed either, except on photo-shoot days where I get to have a makeup artist and hair person. Really, you wouldn’t recognize me otherwise. I loved dying my hair red – occasionally still do. In fact, that started when I did so for the role of “Anne” in Anne of Green Gables in grade 10. Yes, my dreams of being on Broadway started young – much younger, actually. I was 3 when I started playing piano, no piano teacher wanted me, cause my hands were too small. They still are too small. But I still play anyways. Same with guitar. I typically have to contort my hands to shape chords, but hey, it works. Yoga for guitartists… hmmm…. Perhaps a new youtube video I will do for us laterally-challenged musicians.

My favorite songs growing up included: “Twinkle Twinkle little star”, “It’s a small world after all”, and the Passion album (Peter Gabriel).

I typically skipped most of my classes to find a piano. You think that would’ve been my first clue. Or perhaps my second. See, being that I grew up in a very fiscally-challenged environment, we were very creative with how I could participate in dance classes, music lessons, and since we had to sell our piano to make ends meet, I simply decided that I would “borrow” other people’s pianos until I could get my own one day.

AND guess what! One of my friends in Maine has offered me a real upright piano – WOOHOO!!! I’m going to pick it up in a couple of weeks. But my ultimate dream is to be able to have my very own Steinway 7’ grand. To that end, I recently purchased a large elegant rug. I call it the Steinway rug. Eventually it will hold a 7’ grand piano. My very own. Keep coming back here and I’ll keep you updated. Also, check out my blog on http://rosereiter.blogspot.com/ for more stories about me. Leo. Me. All about me.

Hey, did you know I love to dance? I still do, Ellen. Every day. If you put me on your show, I’ll dance. And sing. And play. And cook. I can cook.

Education:
Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary, St. Andrews elementary, various one-day stints at other public schools, then moved close enough to Sir Winston Churchill to get into their IB program, then went to UBC (to study theatre, music, english, history and majored in Germanic studies just to prove to my Dad that I could. ALmost failed. Twice. That's cause I was always skipping out to play piano, pinball, or air-hockey. I will challenge anyone to air-hockey. And I'll win.) BA. Eventually intend to get my Doctorate, simply to win a bet I'd made many years ago with Simon Pearson.

Interests:
Outside of music, writing, theatre, dance and food - well, I love animals, outerspace, stormwatching, neuropsychology, swimming, walking, thinking, warming my toes by the fire, watching my ocean, and drinking tea. Travelling. Quantum psychics and keeping on top of new theories. Listening to other people’s stories and then writing their lives into my songs. Watching people through a café window, making up stories about them and where they come from, as I sip my hot soy cocoa or chai misto. Dressing up in full costume on Halloween day, walking down 5th Ave in NY thinking that everyone else would be wearing their outfits during the daytime, realizing that I am indeed the only one in full costume. And being totally ok with that.

Movies & Shows:

Kung-Fu panda. All action flicks that involve hot babes and martial arts. Anything Sci-Fi, even d-grade movies, cause they’re still fun to heckle. Truman show. Animation flicks – especially Pixar flicks and shorts. IMAX movies of the earth. Historical theatrical dramas that involve lots of costumes and sexy scenes – such as the Tudors. Fresh new stories – good storytelling will always live on. F!*K the focus groups. I love movies with happy endings. Love Comedies and live comedy especially. Love British humour, python, Black Adder when I have had a couple of drinks. Hot Fuzz. Definitely Hot Fuzz. You Kill Me is also a nice dark funny comedy. Dennis Leary. Ellen D show, Oprah, - cause they actually make people laugh, think and be aware & neurons activate for a little while. I don’t have cable, except when I’m in hotel rooms. So, I catch what I can of TV shows or get them online.

Fave Music:

It’s a Small World After All, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, anything Peter Gabriel, - I have too many favorites to list. So I’ll stick to the above for now. Prog-rock. Electronica. Anything that makes me dance. Or feel.

Fave Books:
Currently reading: Blink (Gladwell), Conscious Universe (Radin), The World in Six Songs (Levitin),

Sounds like:

You tell me.