One Year With Home Free!

Happy Anniversary to me! One year ago today my life changed. A Facebook friend of mine posted a video on her time line that showed up on my news feed. At first I ignored it, even though it caught my attention, but the third time it showed up a friend of my Facebook friend had commented on it saying that it looked like one of the guys from Home Free, the guys that had won the Sing Off the year before. To this day I still have no idea why that comment had me look closer at the video, But it did.

And I was hooked. As so many of us have done I spent the next few days and nights, watching everything I could find with this amazing bunch of Guys. I hardly slept, but I still had so much energy. I felt like I had found my one true love, and in a way that was exactly what I had done. I'm sorry, did I say "the next few days and nights"? I meant months. Heck, I'm still doing it; just not every day and night. 

A few days later I joined Patreon to get access to this gem (below), and a few days after that I joined one of the fan groups on Facebook. And I haven't looked back.

So what has this past year brought me, how did finding Home Free change my life? 

First of all; I have made a whole lot of new friends, and even though I still haven't met any of them in real life I know that I will when I get the chance to attend a show, or even just go for a visit anywhere near where any of them are located. I could probably sofa hop around the world staying with other Fries. How cool would that be?! 

Home Free fans are not like any other fan. They are loving and supporting, and they help each other out with whatever needs being helped with. They will give away a ticket to a show, or pick you up at the airport, or even do your grocery shopping if you can't do it yourself and they are in the area. They will send you gifts, and they will pay it forward (or Fry it forward as we like to call it). There are support groups for Fries that struggle with weight or that need emotional support, or prayers, during hard times. And they will support and encourage your creativity. I have seen so many Fries pick up their long lost passions of writing, drawing, singing, you name it! And they are all being cheered on by other Fries! Isn't all this what a friend should be all about?! At least it is to me! This is the feeling that the Guys of Home Free spread around them; the feeling of great friendships!

It also brought back my love for music. Before I would listen to music on occasion, but now not a day goes by when I don't listen to some type of music, and I listen to Home Free every day. I love music that makes me feel love and happiness, music that makes me smile and want to sing and dance. That is one of the reasons I love Home Free. Their music makes me feel all that and more. 

Thirdly it made me start writing again. I am one of those Fries that picked up my passion. Mine wasn't a long lost one, it was still present, but I was in a state of giving it up. And then Home Free came in to my life, and watching them, reading about the hard times and the struggles they went through to get to where they are today, following them, seeing and hearing how they grow and evolve, knowing that they never gave up no matter how tough the times were. THAT keeps me going when I lose my ground. And with all these happy feelings inside from listening to their music inspiration is growing and flowing more and more by the day. The belief in myself is increasing. And I know that everything will be OK. 

Finding Home Free did change my life, I am a happier person today than I was one year ago.

Thank you, Home Free!

If you have watched all these videos right now I bet you have a big goofy smile on your face. If not, go back and watch them again! 

Love//

Carina

The Thinkin' Glue

As you might know I am doing a mini-series about the members of Home Free, a country a cappella band that is in the process of taking the world by storm, step by step are they building up to full strength. Today’s post is about Chris Rupp; the group baritone, the lead arranger and the glue. Chris is together with his brother Adam Rupp, the beatboxer, the founder of Home Free. 

Chris doesn't stand out as much as the rest of the guys in the group, at least not at first listen, but without Chris and his extremely smooth voice Home Free’s music would sound quite empty. Chris is the one that in most songs holds it all together, he’s the glue that connects the beatboxing to the tenor, and the bass to the high tenor, and he does it brilliantly without having the need to stand out on his own. But when singing on his own, you realize he's just as talented and great as the rest of them are. When I listen to Chris singing it feels like perfect temperature air touching my skin, or like drinking freshly squeezed mango juice on a hot summer's day. Smooth, and clean. Perfection.

Chris might not be the one that stands out in the songs, but he stands out outside of the singing in the way he interacts with the fans of the group. All of the guys are pretty active on different social media sights, but Chris takes it a step further. Not only does he post daily thoughts called Thinkin' on both Facebook and Twitter, allowing his fans to see a bit of who he is (some of these thoughts have stirred up some interesting discussions), but he is also a member of most of the fan groups on Facebook, where he from time to time will answer questions, or just leave a comment to someone’s post. And that is quite amazing. Not many artists will take the time to do that.

As I mentioned above Chris is also the lead arranger in the band and I love his arrangements, not that I don’t love the other guy’s ones, but Chris’ often have a smoothness to them, kind of like his voice. But they can also be surprising, and that is a trademark with these guys. They always seem to surprise.

Chris studied at Gustavus Adolphus College for 3 years before getting his degrees at Minnesota State in his hometown of Mankato, in music performance with emphasis on vocal and piano. He had his first paying gig at a wedding at age 16. 

This first video is of Chris singing A Little Bit of Everything, a Keith Urban cover with a Home Free arrangement, at the same show as the live videos I shared of Adam and Tim Foust, the bass singer. It is too filmed by HeidiRancour, check out her YouTube channel for more live videos. But before any song there has to be a proper intro, here's a derailment of it; 

And here is the actual song; 

The second video is one of Home Free’s most recent videos, it is a mash up about butt songs, done in a very tasteful way making sure not to exploit the female behind. They do, however, share their own butts in a humorous way. These guys know how to not take themselves too seriously. I’m sharing this video because it was arranged by Chris together with Layne Stein and Adam Rupp. This is different from what Home Free normally does, but still, they keep stepping out of the box. 

And here is a different type of arrangement by Chris, it is a Christmas song, and it is absolutely beautiful. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Chris is known as the "Home Free Hat Guy", as he's always wearing a hat. This video caused quite a lot of attention because of it. 

Can you see the diversity of Chris and Home Free? These are all reasons why I love them, and why I love being a huge fan of theirs.

Thanks again to Heidi for allowing me use her awesome concert clips, and thank you to Home Free for encouraging their audience to film them and put it up on social media. 

Love//

Carina

About Friends, And Something About Butts

One of the greatest joys of my life are my friends. I love having friends, and I've got quite a lot of them too. Sometimes I read about what people consider being friends or friendships and I get amazed by how many people that have a restricted, or even single minded, view of it. Here's my take on friendships;

I think friendships can have almost any shape or form, and I think friendships are not only the handful few that are closest to you. To explain I'm going to give you examples of friendships out of my life, without being too specific. 

I have some friends I consider being my very best friends, those are the people that have been with me through thick and thin, or I have been with through their sorrow and joy. These friends will be there when I need them, no matter how long it's been since I last spoke to them, saw them or was in any kind of contact with them. They are a part of me, and they always will be.

And then I have friends I can talk to about anything in my life. The already mentioned friends belong in this group, but there is a few that I can talk to in my day to day life that also belong in this group, but not necessarily belong to the first group. 

There are also friends I can talk about some things to, but not all things. These friends are just as great as the other friends, we just don't see eye to eye in every aspect and there is no point in sharing things from those areas of our lives. We are, after all, different individuals and there is no need to be able to discuss everything with everyone.

I have friends of all ages, from all sorts of different times in my life, and from all sort of different walks in life. I have friends that I have met in person a long time ago, that I currently see, that I will see in the future, and also friends I will never see. Either way, they are all my friends. 

I have friends I know almost everything about, and I have friends I know almost nothing about except for what we have in common. And it's equally important to me. They all have a purpose in my life. 

I have friendships that will last for a life time, and friends that have come and gone, and friends that will come and go, and I will keep making new friends for as long as live. Again, they all have a purpose, some are meant to be there forever, and some are meant to be there during a certain time or event in my or their lives.

I have a friend with a blog. She writes too, and you can find her blog in my blog list up to the right. Her name is Michelle and she writes song lyrics, poems and ditties. The blog is called "Life In My Words - by Michelle". Michelle wrote a ditty inspired by our friendship and what it means to her, and I love it, and it means a lot to me. I feel kind of the same way. On days when I feel like not writing I think of her, and I get inspired by knowing that she is waiting for something new from me. Anyway, thank you, Michelle, for giving me support, inspiration, confidence and a kick in the butt when I need it! 

You can find her poem here, it's the one called A Friend. Enjoy! I am very proud to have inspired it! 

And speaking of butts, here's a Butt Medley for you to enjoy. Seriously, it's all about them butts, but it's certainly not serious, but it is about butts. Just watch it. Butts!

Love//

Carina