To sing this song meant having to step outside of my comfort box, a step I became more familiar with during my stint in The Stonewall Sensation (the American Idol-esque competition I was in this past fall). Singing to/at bar people - who were barely listening to me squeak out what I could of a pop song (all I could do was try to incorporate any kind of belt I could fathom within the wispy chords of radio's candy) - was a HUGE challenge I was only slightly staying above water for. Now here I am, posting to the world another moment of stepping from the box into the "pop" category. I almost didn't post this: "It's not perfect, really weak at times actually. I can't have that on the internet!" But I'm gonna put it up. I'm proud of the few baby steps I've taken to launch off of the setting laurels of belting my face off in gut-wrenching songs. This video is up to remind myself that easing up a bit and being relaxed is bringing a whole new quality to my voice I didn't know was there. Here I am singing Jay Brannan's "Housewife". This is my theme song, and has been for a while. I think it explains a lot about me as a human. Happy watching!
Matt Gregory is a genius. Hands down. When I brought my ideas for FRESH PRODUCE to Matt, he provided the perfect advice on how to make this a concert series that will inspire and highlight. I had WAY too many songs, and with Matt's help, we chose a smart and fabulous selection of lesser known contemporary musical theatre and other songwriters' songs. But we were missing one piece to our puzzle, one song. As we racked our brains for other songs, Matt suggested "Say the Word" by Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk, a fantastic song that everyone knows quite well and in turn has been down countless times (an aspect I was truly trying to stay far away from). Then Matt suggested, "What if we make it into a duet?" I let Matt at it, and he created an arrangement truly worthy of standing ovations all around. Not to mention our two gals, Melissa and Emily, nail it out of the park, blending beautifully while bringing their hearts to the table. Happy watching! And remember: You can always pull strings to make a new twist for a fresh take.
A couple weeks ago I had the great opportunity to teach a mini-lesson about writing for Raina's 4th graders. I brought these young minds the knowledge that came to me within my recent years, knowing though that these young ones would connect, find validity, and grow.
The education system unfortunately instills regiment when purposing a productive and flowing piece of writing. Introduction, three supporting ideas, conclusion. Each paragraph 5 to 6 sentences. Sentence structure itself. Words to and not to start sentences. Etc.
Sometimes though, you just gotta write a sentence that feels right even though it may not jive with the "rules". And that's okay because that's how you can best express yourself.
Okay, so I didn't share those specific ideas with the kids because they should learn the basics... BUT, I did share that writing comes in all forms. I brought in some journals and shared bits and pieces, stories and poems, so they could see that writing not only came in many forms, but it ultimately comes from the individual soul who is brave enough to share.
Raina then segued the lesson into having the kids write true stories of something that had happened to them. The story that Raina shared was one from Bobolinks Fall Tour, when the entire a cappella group was at my parents' house in Guilford; Raina and some other gals decided they were going to make Butternut Squash soup. When the beautiful, golden-yellow concoction went into the blender, a push of the button flew squash around the kitchen, blending with our already golden-yellow walls. Followed by a laugh, we decided to order pizza.
As I listened and laughed along with the kids, I couldn't believe I had forgotten this epic Bobos tale.
When the kids left for music, Raina and I got to chat about the morning and how shocked I was that I had forgotten all those details.
"Well," she said. "I had to amp up some of the facts so they could better see the writing tools we're trying to use (onomatopoeia, a "hook", etc.)."
Sometimes fact becomes myth, and myth becomes fact. We get to the final, rudimentary emotional values and educational victories, no matter which journey we take.
Here's Raina singing "Brave Enough" from Shaina Taub's mythologically based musical, THE DAUGHTERS. Be sure to go to her website and download some of the songs from the musical for FREE; I love "I Sing of Artemis"!
January 2009. Middlebury College Music Department's production of "Gypsy".
Role of a lifetime, with the best scene partner anyone could ever ask for.
"I need a haircut so badly..."
I had just been down in Florida with the swim team for our annual training trip, and the combination of chlorine from double practice days in addition with my daily application of Sun-In (to achieve a balanced perfection of the sun-kissed look) had completely fried my hair.
Just straw.
"I cut hair!" Emily piped in. One of her clients, Dave Birr, had considerably the best "flow" of campus...
Hair dresser found! AND, we could catch up before rehearsals started.
"Just cut off the dead stuff." I still needed length on top for the classic musical theatre side-part, aka, a gel-helmet.
Chop.
Inches of frayed gold fell from the front of my head to the floor. With a gasp, I knew immediately I'd be going through a bottle of Hair-Net a night to keep down my "freshly mown lawn" length hair down as I twirled around the stage.
"I cut all the dead stuff off like you told me too!!!"
And that she did. Goodbye blonde... I guess I am supposed to be brunette.
This is just one of the many adventures I've journeyed with this gal. I know there are going to be so many more, and I look forward to every time we can get together, expecting and knowing hilarity to come, intertwined within our expeditions.
Here's Emily singing "I'm So Happy" by Jill Abramovitz and Joy Son. Enjoy!
Soldiers coming home from war has been on my mind recently. Maybe it's the commercials for those TV shows about this very reconnection of fighter and family, protector and protected. Whatever it was, the soldier was a "human" I wanted to represent here in this concert. Ryan Scott Oliver's "Odyssey" was the first (and best) choice for us. It's not of present times, but it is, in its own way. There's no reason to go into why we take for granted what we have; we all know we do in some way or another. Then the added aspect of these men and women coming home with memories never to be imagined by so many of our society. That is why they serve, to keep those memories away from those they cherish, both literally and symbolically. Here's to the braves of America this holiday season. Thank you. Thank you.
Melissa was the first person that I ever would call to chat even after an entire high school day together. She was my first friend for that. I'll always remember coming out to Melissa. I was a sophomore at Middlebury and we were chatting on AIM (oh the days). We had kept in reasonable contact post high school, but not as much as we had throughout. We talked everyday during high school, then suddenly our new lives just took over. And we were fine with it. But there was still a tie, a tie that truly held me to only two people in high school. I wish it had been more, but 'tis the way the cat catches the yarn tip. (I just made that up; make of it what you will). "Melissa, I have something to tell you." "Ok." "I'm gay." "Great Sky." Or something like that... You get the point. I think my favorite part was when I saw her over the next vacation, she told me that she thought that it was gonna be either that or I hooked up with a girl, finally. I'm so happy that we've reconnected after our college days. We've changed immensely, yet we still find our same banter atop our new groundings. That's true friendship. Here's Melissa, the IBM Marketing gal, singing "Your Girlfriend" by Katie Thompson. Happy watching!
