2008 has been a year of ups and downs, but it's been a year that's taught me a lot.  However, I'm ready to be done with it...hahaha.  The year has had a lot of challenges - both personal and professional, but I figured I'd take a look back on 2008 and remember some of the awesomeness that went down...

In January, I emceed a Teens Making an Impact concert in Woodstock, Georgia with Chris Fedun, Joey Page, Zoe Myers, and Taylor Reid.  It was just a small theater show, but it was sold out and the crowd was great.  Georgia is beautiful, and one of my favorite places to perform and visit, so we had an awesome time.

February was awesome because I went to Florida to hang with my buddy Joey Page.  He was performing at the AKA Lounge, and I got to emcee the show and open for him.  We also spent some time rehearsing the Soulja Boy, and performed that as a surprise, so it was pretty hilarious.  It was my first gig ever as an opening act, so it was definitely a cool thing and an honor to perform with my friend.

March was my birthday.  I was sick, but I got a really cool scrapbook with messages from friends and fans who have been really supportive through the last couple years, so that was a big surprise!  Also, I made my first trip out to Hollywood, and hit up Pinkberry and In-n-Out.  I also got to be a guest at the Hollywood Knights charity basketball performance, so that was really cool.

In April, I went back to LA for my first red carpet event for my friend Monet's birthday and video premiere.  That was so cool, but really nervewracking, walking my first red carpet.  It was a lot of fun though and Monet did great.  After that, I emceed the Rock for a Cure charity benefit for diabetes in Chicago.  Phil Bensen and Push Play performed, and then I did a performance for VIP ticketholders.  That was also sold out, and we raised a lot of money for a great cause!  I also emceed Khalidapalooza, which was a benefit concert for kids in Africa.

May meant another trip to LA for a couple meetings to line up some acting stuff I was going to be doing.  And of course, the obligatory stop at In-n-Out Burger...haha.  Shannon, one of my friends from back home, is a HUGE Yellowcard fan, so we went and saw them perform too, so that was fun.  They were great live.

June was a busy month for me!  I performed at National Cancer Survivors Day, a cause close to me, obviously because of my grandpa.  I also did a charity performance in Indiana with my friends Katelyn Tarver and Farebridge.  I went to see the Verizon VIP Tour in Ohio and got to meet Natasha Bedingfeld briefly as well as say hey to the Veronicas, who I hadn't seen since 2006!  (Their record is INCREDIBLE, by the way!)  That was a lot of fun too.  I also performed at a private event for a family in Chicago, who were amazing.  They were so great to my family and I, and it was so cool being able to meet such a sweet family.  Then after that, I flew down to Florida to celebrate Joey's 18th birthday.  It was awesome to be down there to celebrate, and to get to perform at his party too.  I had a blast!

July was a month of catching up with friends and enjoying summer!  I hit up a few of the Burning Up Tour stops (Jonas/Demi/Avril) in Detroit, Indianapolis, and Cincinatti.  It was probably one of my favorite tours the Jonases have ever done and it was so unbelievable seeing them live their dream.  It definitely made me proud.  I also went to two of Joey's shows - one in Indianapolis (where I danced onstage to "Who I Am" hahaha) and one in Chicago with Corbin Bleu.  Then, it was back to LA because I got booked for a promo for ABC with the casts of Grey's Anatomy, Lost, and Desperate Housewives!  The Grey's cast was hilarious, and everyone was really nice to me.  (Not to mention the best banana pancakes I've ever tasted!  The catering trailer was AMAZING! hahaha)  I also got to hang out with my friend BooBoo while I was out there, so that was a lot of fun.  It was a HUGE learning experience, and I really hope that I can do more acting in 09.

I was in New York in August for the Jonas Brothers' CD release for their third CD.  Mandy and I both got to to go Madison Square Garden for the first time, and we got to sit in the second row and watch the show.  We were close to the stage and we had cameras right in our faces, so it was funny to see ourselves on the jumbotron in such a historic venue.  We were giants!  hahaha!  TONS of our friends were there from all over the world (Austrailia, Canada, Florida, California...), and it was so great getting to hang out and see everybody.  The yearly Jonas album release parties are one of the few times where we are all together, so even though it always goes so fast, nothing's better than celebrating in NYC with all of your best friends!

September meant another trip down to Georgia.  This time, I was asked to do another Making an Impact concert with Chris Fedun and Monet.  This was probably the most fun show that I've ever done!  We had a great time and Fedun asked Monet and I to learn his choreography to "Shining Star" and perform with him.  I had known Fedun's work growing up (from Jump5), so it was a huge honor for him to ask me to perform with him.  He's a great friend and really talented, so it was really cool, and the show was just a lotta fun.  It was great performing but we had more crazy memories from just hanging out than anything...hahaha.  I also met a ridiculously talented musician named Kyle Cruz (http://www.myspace.com/kylecruz), who is one of my favorite artists out right now.  Check out his music - the dude is incredible!

In October, we moved into a brand new house, and I went into rehearsals for some shows that I had coming up.  I also went to Columbus to see a couple shows - Josh Hoge, who I'm a huge fan of, and then the Veronica's were there with Hanson, so that was a trip back in time...hahaha.  Those girls are incredible live though, lemme say.  They rock, no lie.

November was a HUGE month for me and LOTS of fun, but not a lotta sleep...hahaha.  I was asked to join the Peace. Love.  Push Play. Tour with Push Play (obviously) and Phil Bensen.  It was my first real tour as an opening act, and it was great to be performing in cities I'd never performed in before.  We went to Fishers, IN, Green Bay, WI, St. Paul, MN and Chicago, IL.  As soon as those shows were over, I was off to Peoria, IL to serve as the Grand Marshall for the Santa Claus Parade, which is the longest running parade in the country.  I got to ride on a float and kick off the parade live on CBS, so it was sweeeeeeeeeeeet!  I also was asked to start blogging on TheOneLove, so thankfully I have a place to ramble about all this stuff, and help people while I'm doing it!  How sweet is that?!  hahaha ;)

December started with filming a Christmas special for WIPB-TV in Indiana.  There were around 5,000 people in the audience while we filmed, so it was intense.  It was really cool though, and everyone who performed did great!  I also found out that I was nominated for a FanGap choice award for favorite actor, which is my first award nomination as a performer!  I am so excited to be nominated, and I'm a fan of the other nominees, so I'm honored to even be in the category with those guys.  I guess I'll just have to wait till 2009 to find out what happens!

I guess, all in all 2008 was a groundbreaking year for me, even though sometimes breaking that ground feels like an earthquake, and you can barely stand up.  Now that it's coming to an end, I'm finding that I'm ready for 2009 full force.  Thanks to everyone who's stood by me this past year.  Here's to 09 and many more awesome times to come!

-KOON

Hey everyone...

Quoting the classic *NSYNC song (haha), I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday!!!

I'm at home with my family and this is the first Christmas in our new house, so it should be a lot of fun, and nice to spend a Christmas at home relaxing since the last two Christmases I've been out on the road.  We have a ton of lights up outside, Christmas cookies on the counter, and three trees up this year, so we're ready to go! haha

I hope you all get everything you wanted this holiday season and remember what's really important.  May you all have a blessed holiday season.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

One love,
CHRIS

Everyone has their story...

It's Thanksgiving day at two in the morning and I'm sitting here awake at my computer writing my first blog for TheOneLove. 

About a week ago, I was asked to be a part of the website, and for a long time, I had been looking for a way to tell my story.  I put it off time and time again, doing a lot of thinking, hoping, and praying about it, and I knew that when the time was finally right, I would speak about it.  And, to me, the time finally feels right.

This is probably the hardest blog I have ever written, but it is important to me that I speak out and tell my story of why I decided to be a part of TheOneLove.  This is probably also the most important blog that I have ever written because it helps a cause that hits closer to home for me than any of you probably know.  If you guys are new to TheOneLove (like me), here's how it works: Each blogger has chosen one charity to support. 100% of all profits collected from traffic to our blog pages, from banner ads, will be donated to the charity of our choice...my charity being the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

About a year and a half ago, a good friend of mine announced publicly that he had diabetes.  It was a struggle that he had to overcome and he's said time and time again that he wouldn't let it get him down.  Now, that friend has gone on to become one of the biggest stars in the world and is living his dream everyday.  Over time, I saw his story inspire so many others, and rather than keep quiet, he used his story as a chance to reach out and help people overcome their personal struggles, and inspire others to tell their story.  I'm one of those people that he inspired, and now it's my turn to tell my story.

My mom worked a lot when I was a kid.  As a single parent, she had to.  She and my dad split up when I was really young, so when my mom was working, I would spend most of my time with my grandparents.  I would stay at their house every Friday night and they would bring me back home Saturday morning.  This became tradition for years and years, even after my mom stopped working weekends and I was old enough to drive myself everywhere.  It was just something we did.  It made sense. 

My grandparents helped make me the person I am today.  We did so much together...we would watch Boy Meets World (my favorite show) together every Friday night, go out to eat, they would take me to the arcade, take me shopping, drop me off at friends' houses...they helped me memorize my lines to the first musical I remember doing...they helped me with SO much.

A few years ago, I got a phone call saying that my grandpa had been diagnosed with lung cancer and emphysema.  At first, I knew it was bad, but I brushed it off.  I mean, it couldn't happen to me, could it?  MY GRANDPA?  He couldn't have cancer...he was MY grandpa.  That happened to other people, but not me.  But it did, and he ended up getting REALLY sick.  This went on for almost two years.  It was the worst thing in the world seeing how much pain he was in.  Every Friday that I went over to my grandparents' house, it just got harder and harder for him, but he still held on.  He didn't let it change anything between us, and neither did my grandma. 

My grandma would usually go to the grocery once a week, always on the same day, but one week, my grandpa asked her to go and pick something up a day early.  So she did.  At the time, she didn't understand why, but she did it anyway, because she loved him.  When she came home that day from the grocery, she couldn't find my grandpa.  She later found that he couldn't deal with the pain anymore.  My grandpa had committed suicide.

During the next year, my grandma did everything possible to make Friday nights the same for me.  My grandma and my mom were two of the only reasons that I made it through the way I did.  Nearly a year later, my grandma couldn't deal with the pain of the loss of my grandpa anymore, and she too, committed suicide.  I didn't believe it.  I still don't want to. 

To this day, it is still one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with, and for a long time, I didn't deal with it.  I clammed up, pushed a lot of people away, and kept my guard up.  Sitting here, writing this blog, it just feels like a lot of words and not much sense being made, but there isn't a day where I don't think about my grandparents, and in a lot of ways, that friend I was talking about earlier helped save me, whether he ever knows it or not.  One person speaking out about their struggle can change the world, and I've been silent too long.  It is time that we all speak out and make the world a better place.

And I'm trying...but I guess, today, Thanksgiving day, it's all hitting really hard, but today is about being thankful, and so for that reason alone, I'm thankful that I ever had those experiences with my grandparents.  I'm thankful for those memories...those Friday nights...I'm thankful for my family, and for overcoming everything and becoming a stronger person.

I never thought this would be how I would tell my story, and this is just a small part of it all.  Not every blog entry will be like this...but it was time for me to finally speak out. That is why I've chosen to support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as my charity here on TheOneLove.  Now you know the reason behind the blog, and the reason why I've chosen to support the charity that I've chosen. 

There's really no good way to end this, but I do want to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING.  Just remember we all have a lot to be thankful for...I love you all.

CHRIS