Shania Twain Back to Timmins and be Carrying the Olympic Torch

Shania Twain is coming back to Timmins this winter... and she'll be carrying the Olympic Torch. The news was announced this morning by Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren and the local committee overseeing the fact that part of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay will be coming through Timmins on January 1, 2010.
It will be 100 years to the day that Noah Timmins arrived to inspect the gold mine claims staked in his name.
The Timmins leg of the Olympic torch relay will begin in Porcupine and carry on westward through the city. The highlight of the day will be a community celebration that takes part on the evening of New Year's Day at Fred Salvador Field beside the Hollinger Park.

Today’s announcement was made at the Shania Twain Center.

I think people are going to be pretty excited with this announcement,” said Mayor Tom Laughren before a group of local reporters.

“The Timmins Olympic community celebration committee is elated to announce that the final leg torch runner … will be Miss Shania Twain,” said the mayor.

“Since her rise to fame, Shania has been a tireless ambassador for our community. She has taken every opportunity to expound the virtues of her hometown,” he added.

“With her generous participation, she will not only focus a wealth of attention on Timmins, but on the Olympic Torch relay and the Vancouver games as well,” he continued.

“And I know the committee, VANOC, is elated with Timmins being able to make this announcement,” Laughren concluded.

Timmins city officials said they were delighted that the country music singing sensation had agreed to come back home to take part in the event.

Twain, who is in touch with the manager of the Shania Twain Center on a frequent basis, also released a statement:

It's an immense honour for me to have been given the opportunity to be an Olympic Torch bearer of the 2010 winter Olympics being held in my birth country of Canada in Vancouver, as it takes its journey through my home town of Timmins. It is certain to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I am proud to have been presented this unique opportunity and privilege and look forward to sharing the pride with my hometown and fellow Canadians as we are all proud of our country's chance to host the upcoming winter games. I have a tremendous respect for the hard work, dedication and talent of the world's greatest athletes and will humbly carry and pass on the Olympic torch with a special pride for my country's Olympians. I am grateful for this special gift of participation in carrying the flame that represents such an incredible spirit of sportsmanship and excellence and wish ALL the athletes of the 2010 Winter Olympics courage, strength and triumph during the games. I'm sending my sincerest, best wishes to each and every one of you as you take this remarkable Olympic journey. Love, Shania

“The torch will wind its way westbound through our community to our Olympic flame celebration at the Hollinger Park,” said Timmins Police torch run organizer Al Richardson.

Richardson says the celebration will begin at 6:00 pm (gates opening at 4:30 pm). The extravaganza will feature displays and entertainment from RBC and Coca-Cola along with local performers, dancers and singers who will entertain in advance of, and in proud anticipation of, the Torch arrival.

Halfway through the two-hour celebration program, Shania will carry the Olympic Torch on its final 300 meters to the stage where she will light the 1.3-meter high celebration cauldron, in a move similar to the dramatic highlight of what will occur during the Opening Ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The celebration will end at 8:00 pm, culminating in a spectacular fireworks display.

By Lenn Gillis

Source : here and here

Message From Shania Twain "recovery and discovery" travel

Dear Friends,

First off, thank you for all the kind birthday wishes. I had a fabulous day with my family in Canada, ending with a surprise fireworks display.

I hope you enjoyed my "recovery and discovery" travel montage from the last several months. I took great pleasure in sharing it with all of you as a "thank you" for your support.

Now it's onto more excitement over the next few months, leading up to the New Year. I'll continue to keep you posted periodically on what's going on, as I continue to live and love each day, indulge in the joy of being a mom, continue writing, traveling, and keeping myself inspired.

The pic is from my recent trip to Chicago sitting in as a guest judge for American Idol. I had a blast and was touched by the warm welcome that Simon, Kara, Randy and Ryan extended to me. I can't wait for you to see it. I loved Chicago! So many fantastic buildings, it's super clean, has an interesting history, and the overall beauty of the place makes it very special. I also discovered "Frango" mint chocolates. Yum!

Again, sorry for the bad quality of the photo. I've gotta get Fred a better camera!

Love,

Shania

Source : here

A Personal Message From Shania Twain

Dear Friends,

I am so excited to be writing to you personally again after so long.

First I want to apologize for the delay in releasing new music. Music is the basis of our relationship, after all, and I realize I'm not holding up very well on my end of the relationship! But music has a mind of it's own, and is ruled by a writer's emotions and state of mind, not by a time frame or wishful thinking. I wish like crazy that I had new music by now since I dream of how fun it would be to see you all again out on tour with new songs to sing, but as most of you know, I have been side-tracked slightly over this past year.

The personal issues that took place just over a year ago have been well documented, and there's no need to go into more detail here. Since then, I've been inspired by my pain to write and use writing as a therapy through the suffering. I truly wouldn't wish this on anybody as a means to get inspired, but it's been a productive period with so much emotion trying to find it's way out. However, there is no telling how long it will take me to actually finish these songs and record them so they can get out to you.

As many things as there have been to write about through this difficult time in my life, healing is serious business and has taken a lot of the wind out of my sails, slowing me down at times. As you know, I am a mom and all my energy goes to making sure my little man is healthy and happy in every way. This is a full time job, as any parent understands, but especially difficult when you are battling your own personal crisis at the same time while trying to spare your child of being affected by your own suffering.

One time when I was having a weak moment listening to some sad music and sobbing and slobbering over my computer's keyboard, Eja walked up behind me and asked me why I was crying. He wasn't sad at first--just totally surprised to see his mom crying (he is seven and never saw me cry before), and didn't know what to make of it. During this intense period, I was managing to hide my devastation from Eja and cried only when I was alone; but this one time was just too hard for me to control and I broke down. I was quick on my feet to answer him though and told Eja that music was very powerful and can make people quite emotional. It can make you want to dance, feel angry, happy or sad and that THIS this song was sad and made me cry. He accepted this, hugged me and went back to what he was doing. Phew, that was tough!

The energy it has taken me to deal with my personal life and managing to still be a responsible parent has been challenging, and while I have been putting what energy I have left at the end of each day into my writing, it's been hard to put it all together into song format.

Please be patient and I will do my best to continue working on a finished album!

Each morning I put my son on the school bus, feed our two dogs Sony and Dolly, drink my orange juice and sit down at the computer to write. I spend most of my time working with lyrics right now, sorting thoughts, expressions and concepts. It often comes out in the form of poetry, diary notes or e-mails to friends. My friends are great listeners and are very patient and generous about it. I often go back to my e-mails for song ideas. When I write in letter form, I don't hold back. I just write it as it comes without considering format, topic, manners, etc. Some of my best songwriting ideas are coming this way.

Time has a way of making everything right, and it is my hope that good music will eventually come out of it. I say "good music" since I don't want to just throw anything at you, just for the sake of hurrying up to get it out. I want my new music to be something I'm personally satisfied with and proud to share with you.

I have friends and family around constantly coaxing me to focus on my music. "Your fans miss you. They want new music. It's been too long." They're all dying for something new too, so they are pretty relentless about it! I know you certainly all do deserve new music and tour dates; not only because it's been so long, but also because of the HUGE support you've all given me during this period. The many blogs and e-mails have warmed my heart, strengthened my confidence, given me courage, and have often even made me laugh out loud…in a good way! I know I am not alone and realize through your support that you are all routing for Eja and I, and our well-being. Thank you!

The other day I started writing a few pages about being hungry as a kid. Some of it was painful to think about but it also made me laugh at the funny times. Reflecting on that period of my life, I realize how true it really is to learn to take the good with the bad. To appreciate that you can't have one without the other. The trick is to give the "good" at least as much of your energy as the "bad" and not to get stuck focussing more on the "bad". I decided to start writing about other stages of my life to help take my focus off the current phase I'm going through. When I'm feeling down, I figured changing my focus to write about other periods of my PAST would help pull me out of the sadness and on to new chapters in my life. It works.

I will sign off now but I look forward to my next letter/blog to you. I just wanted to fill you in a bit on what's going on with me and music, as well as extend my thanks for all of the support that you have given me over this last year and for all these years; and to assure you that I'm fine and managing very well, in fact. I'm enjoying my child, friends and family like I haven't in years, and it's great. I've been experiencing and seeing new things every day, living life with a different and more optimistic attitude. I've jumped out of an airplane at 10,000 feet, I'm riding Spanish and Arabian horses, traveling to exotic places, I've been deep sea diving for the first time! I pull the odd all-nighter, read more books, listen to Eja's favourite music with him, LOUD [ironically his favourite band is ACDC] and basically I'm enjoying life.

Till next time, my friends. Be well, and peace and happiness to all of you.

Love,
Shania

Source : here