Name: Erin Carere
City: Los Angeles, CA… Hollywood, baby!
Occupation: Singer, actress, writer. Imagine if Barbra Streisand and Andrea Bocelli had a baby who sang, acted, AND wrote! Most recently, I booked a principal role in Francis Ford Coppola’s newest project. I crashed the audition but won him over with my singing… I sang the Puccini aria “O Mio Babbino Caro.” I’m also currently writing a web series for me and my partner in life and love… it’s about two rival international spies who accidentally move in next door to each other and fall into a “will they/ won’t they” love/hate relationship a la “Moonlighting.” It incorporates our unique histories as people (I’m an opera singer, he’s a former Captain of the Carabinieri in Italy) and it’s really more of a sitcom, but in short digital format. COMING SOON!
Bio: Classically trained, hooked on pop, and schooled in soul. I am a singer, actress and writer who has performed across the USA as well as in Europe in many formats, most recently in a one woman show performed cabaret style. I was named Rockwired’s Female Performer of the Year, appeared at SXSW, attended Manhattan School of Music, and is most recognized for a role I played on “Sex Sent Me to the E.R.” as a ball-busting politician’s wife. In my spare time, I love spending time with my family, scattered in Italy, Minnesota and California; and also with her rescue dog, Henry, hiking the canyons of California and collecting four-leaf clovers.
Travel Style: Most often, I’m traveling for family or work, and many times the trips encompass both. For example, I was in Italy recently to meet a director for a film shooting this fall, in which I will appear at the end and sing the theme… but since I was in Italy, of COURSE I had to visit my family that lives in Rome and spend time with i miei nipoti (my nieces and nephew.) As a performer, I have traveled both in luxury and in its polar opposite. Once, I toured for months with five boys in an old Vanagon! THAT is certainly not my preference. ;-p
The best travel I have had allows a combination of authenticity with enough luxury to round out the edges. For example, in India, I stayed in a lot of ashrams, but ended the trip staying at the beautiful Taj Mahal hotel in Delhi. This way, I experienced many different beauties.
Favorite Destination: Hard to say! I love Roma, of course. That’s a very special city. I love Minneapolis, because my family is there, but when I go to Minnesota I LOVE to travel north to Duluth, where, just north of Duluth itself, on a highway that winds around Lake Superior, my favorite restaurant of all time, “Scene Café,” serves up amazing cuisine. One of my most magical trips has been to Torcello, and island very near Venice in Italy, where Hemingway spent a lot of time. I met the owner of Harry’s Bar there, the son of the man who was pals with “Papa” Hemingway, and we commiserated over cake and bellinis.
Necessary luxury: MASSAGES! I need them in general- who doesn’t!? – but I love trying them in different countries.
3 Travel Things You Can’t Live Without: My journal, my acupuncture bracelet for motion sickness, a sheet spray with floral essences of rose and lavender. I spray it on my pillow whether I’m at a five-star luxury hotel (unless they have done so for me with their OWN spray, LOL) or in an ashram… it beautifies any experience!
What does travel mean to you? For me, travel is a way to expand my love of humanity and the world. There is so much to see, so many people to meet, so much art and music and nature to experience! I learn about myself when I travel. It intensifies relationships. AND THE FOOD! Delish. I love trying new foods. You know, as a musician, it’s pretty easy to connect up with almost anyone via music. That’s something that is really fun to do.
One of your guilty pleasures? Sweets. Always sweets. Especially new sweets I’ve never tried before… I’ll find something new and get obsessed with it.
What does luxury mean to you? To me, luxury is about truly honoring myself, my body, and my time on this planet. As far as I know, this is it… meaning, I only get to be alive, at least in this body at this time, just once! I want to honor myself and the intricate web of humanity and nature, and luxury is one way to do so.
Your favorite luxury item: My beautiful fine china from which I drink my Italian coffee every day. I have these beautiful ornate cups that adorn my mornings.
Your favorite travel story: On one trip to Rome and Venice, before I ever met my sweetheart Carlo, I was writing love letters to my future husband (someone I had not yet met! Someone I was hoping to meet, not necessarily in Rome, but that’s where I was, in that beautiful, romantic city!) I started hiding these love letters everywhere…. In between mattresses in hotels, in boots at the Salvatore Ferragamo store by the Spanish Steps! In menus. Seriously, everywhere. By the time I got to Venice, I realized I was writing an album, and I started converting the love letters into songs that became my 2010 album, “poet’s lovely daughter.” A few years after that… I met my sweetheart, Carlo! He had been living in Rome, of course, at that time that I was writing those letters, having left the Carabinieri but now acting on a Television Show there. I feel like there was some cosmic connection and- by the way- Carlo wrote and also acted in a short film about Ferragamo….! He was working on it when we met.
Your best travel tip: Making an effort to try speaking the language, even just a little, goes far in almost every place I’ve been! I always try to learn a few phrases and I am never embarrassed or scared to try. I know I’m going to mess up, but I also know that if you try, most people smile and try to help you back.
To learn more about Erin, please visit www.WorldofErin.com.