Alex Rivers

Who served the most? Bridgerton Boozy Tea Parties by Epiphany Events 2024

Gurlz trip Seattle Summer I’ll never forget this 2024

Some more Ollie ❤️ 2024

Me drawn in various art styles by my talented artist friend Julian Castaneda. His only prompt being the fact I LOVE being a shape shifting alien 2024

Performance pics of me in McCafferty’s Seattle show at El Corazon 2024

My studio session as a feature on McCafferty’s song The Life of an Artist. The leads of the band are Nick & Emily (The two in blond and pink hair respectively). I remember busking like any other day outside when these two came across me and tipped me. Soon enough, Nick reached out to me and invited me to work with him on the band’s music after we chatted about video games & movies online for a bit.

I was shocked because I had never really considered doing that before. I’ve lived a pretty odd-one-out life and never felt like I quite fit in anywhere, especially artistically. My ideas seemed too out-there to so many people and I think lots of times people stop listening half way through the times I open up to them. So I’ve always been a solo artist. But Nick and Emily got to know me as a person first over dinner. They believed in me and they saw me as someone worth giving a chance to. That meant alot to me and I wanted to live up to the expectation especially with how McCafferty is already a very established band & I wanted to uphold that standard as a nobody lol. I also felt like it was alot of pressure & I didn’t know how the fans of the band would react. My writing style has always been to pop/electronic/dance music and McCafferty’s sound is more punk/raw/gritty.

I said yes to the offer because Nick was ambitious about the idea and it motivated me to try something new and I wanted to prove myself! I remember making several versions to the song we were doing to show him what he might like most and he let me pretty much give the interpretation that I wanted to on the song. Nick took us to Five Guys after we got done recording. Even though I didn’t personally know the band much yet, for a moment I felt apart of something like a “family” of sorts instead of an outsider. When the song was released I was so relieved that most of the fans loved it even though it was so different. I kind of wanted the music to feel cozy and warm as we made it in the Winter and I liked that the violin part conveyed that. I also LOVE the art for the song. (Thanks Emily!) The whole band are really kind and considerate people. 2023

The French violin I purchased while I was in Los Angeles by Nicolas Didier, made in 1820 in Mirecourt France. I also purchased a microphone to record it with! Being in a violin shop is like being in a candy store for me. Every violin has it’s own personality and it’s like speed dating. Some sound bright, loud, extroverted, feel responsive, and are full of horsepower. Some sound dark, quiet, introverted, feel like they’re in a slumber, and are more cozy. I think mine is in the middle. I played hundreds of them while shopping around in different cities. This process takes years. In the end it’s the instrument that chooses the player and this was the one for me. 2023

Julian and Eduardo, none of my friends know me better than these two twins. I was a Junior and they were Freshmans when I met them in my highschool days in Las Vegas in 2011. The 3 of us basically raised eachother and I remember their family couldn’t stand me because I basically lived at their house dyeing my hair in their mom’s bathroom all the time and I was considered a bad influence. 😂

We snuck out so many times that their family literally set up a motion alarm to catch us and we memorized where the lasers were to open the windows correctly. We grew up SUPER fast early on as we wanted to experience life SO bad and be around grown folk. Alot of places we shouldn’t have even been in. We somehow always got home in one piece before anyone woke up and then went to school the next day. They’ve been here through everything. Pics are from 2011-2023

Meeker Days Festival where I was the headlining act in Puyallup, WA 2023

My journey on America’s Got Talent Season 17. Firstly, I actually almost DIDN’T audition. The reason I decided to was bc I kept seeing the billboards in Las Vegas about it & I thought it was a sign. I was pretty exhausted in the heat from just busking every day & wanted my life to change SO BAD. I remember them rejecting me at an open call a few years prior where I had waited 10 hours to get in front of a producer. That affected my self esteem negatively for YEARS.

But this time it was a Zoom call because of the pandemic so I would be scheduled and not have to wait. Steve Harvey in an interview said that the only way something can be truly forever out of reach is if you don’t even try, then there’s NO way under the sun it can happen. So I booked the LAST day of the LAST time slot for the Zoom call to have time to cancel it.

For AGT you have to get through rounds of producers before doing a judges audition. I passed two producer rounds on Zoom and then I was flown out to audition a 3rd time in Pasadena CA; for the judges. You can’t undo TV so I practiced a ton in my hotel room. I was comfortable talking to a camera though bc I like to yap. When I got to the set I recognized the producer filming me. He was the one that rejected my in-person producer audition years prior! I didn’t say anything though obviously and he probably wouldn’t even have remembered who I was.

Anyway, the buzzers are super loud and you can hear them from far away in the auditorium. Eventually it was my turn and I think I did good but I felt like a deer in headlights. Everyone asks me if Simon was mean but he was nice and went along with my banter. When he sent me home over my song choice I was crushed, but I did come back the next day, & performed my new song. That is the part that aired. I was alot more confident when I came back to the stage cause I stopped taking it so seriously and had fun with it. In the video you can see me making joke after joke but the humor was kind of a way to cope and put me more at ease before playing so I’m glad everyone laughed. I got all YESSES and a standing ovation! 2022

CA

I wanted to dedicate this post to Danielle, my first and only personal dance teacher I had instructing me through many different routines for the preperation of AGT. That year was the most life changing year not just because of that TV show but because Danielle’s lessons made me evolve drastically in the span of a couple months.

Playing the violin and dancing simultaneously is really unnatural. Early on it felt like I had to re wire my brain to do both and when I’d try my whole body would lock up. It takes many years to make it feel natural.

Sometimes the lessons felt too demanding especially cause I don’t like to work out past cardio but she was making me do crunches and so much more on top of the choreo and everything burned so much. Alot of the time I wasn’t even mentally there but Danielle would give me talks and remind me that I’m capable. I was still super determined and got through this. My performances to this day still are a reflection of her teachings, her style, and her discipline.

I also was releasing my first original album that year and also was in the process of moving out of Las Vegas to Seattle. This was the last moments of my time in Las Vegas and honestly I was really overwhelmed with emotions and still going through trouble with the police while performing on the street.

Oh and that equipment on my back when I’m working weighs around 20 lbs. I had to wear it that way and play while I walked so that I couldn’t be cited by police for “obstructing traffic”. I even spray painted some empty plastic jars green and attached them to my hips to get tips in them!

Lastly, that is me in my house streaming my home performances to Reddit and TikTok in my living room, practicing scales on my acoustic violin in the mirror, and at the very end I work on recording and production in my apartment’s guest bedroom.

I always wanted to make a documentary of my work in Las Vegas before I left so James and I did that before we moved out of there. These are some images from it (Day In The Life of a Street Performer on my YouTube channel) 2022