My friend Carrie is a singer songwriter. She was classically trained, but her clear and pure voice makes her the perfect fit for Celtic and folk as well. She’s recently made a foray into blues and jazz and blew me away at the fall Blues concert I talked about a couple weeks ago.
I love singing . . . but I’m not a performer at heart. Or rather, I’m a torn performer. If you’ve been around this here blog for a while, you know that my parents were in a band for about 11 years and toted me around as a young thing to places like Japan and Daytona Beach, where the classic rock blasting through the speakers didn’t prevent me from going to bed on a blanket by the mixing board at the allotted time.
I’ve inherited my parent’s love for music, and once I get over my nerves I really enjoy performing. But those nerves . . . those nerves. They can kill it for me, and are one of the big reasons I decided to switch from being a Classical Guitar performance major to an English and French major the winter of my sophomore year. The way I explain it genetically is this: my dad is a behind-the-scenes guy. He mixes, runs sound, records, and has a fantastic ear. If he performs, it’s
Personality wise, that is–my Mom did not actually projectile-birth me into an aisle at a concert.
Right.
I may or may not hate being the center of attention–it gives me an unpleasant feeling deep in my stomach. This explains three things: why I’ve never been good in front of the camera, why my dreams of being a famous actress crashed around me at a tender 14 years of age, and finally the subject at hand: why doing back-up vocals is the perfect solution for me. I’m not the main act, so I don’t have to sweat it–but I get to be part of the amazing music that other great musicians are making.
It’s all coming together into such a neat package, isn’t it? It’s like my personality may actually make some kind of cohesive sense instead of being a riff-raff of sillyness, weird little dances, and this uncontrollable habit I have of spanking my loved ones.
Moving on! All of this has been a backdrop to the following: when Carrie invited me to sing with her for her gig at the Red Line Tap here in Chicago, I said ‘yes’ immediately. Carrie will be singing and playing the guitar, her husband Eric is on the piano, Petras is on the drums, and I’m the back-up girl. It’s a short set–about 6 songs or so–but it’s going to be be-yewtiful.
If any of you are in Chicago and want to come hear us perform some of Carrie’s beautiful songs, be there Sunday night with a $5 cover charge in hand–I think we’re on around 9pm. You can also listen to Carrie’s recordings online on her website, so even if you aren’t able to come see us in person, go forth and listen to her lovely, lovely songs.
Happy Monday everyone! And by the way, the theme of tomorrow’s post starts with a ‘g-‘ and ends with an ‘-arlic.’ Multiply that times 16 and you’ll start getting close to the wonderment of it all. I can’t wait to share!
View Comments (15)
that's such a nice invite, I hope you have fun singing with your friend
Hope you get a recording, would love to hear it.
Ah, the thousand-cloves recipe coming up?
Yes! The recipe with all the garlic is coming tomorrow. =)
It would be wonderful to hear you sing with Carrie. Wish we were closer.
Thanks for the link to your friend's site, I'll definitely check out her songs! Hope you have a great time at the performance :)
Awesome! I hope you enjoy the music!
What a sweet post! I feel I know you a little bit having understood something of your childhood. I love music, too. Enjoy your experience singing with your friend. Chicago is a magical place. Blessings to you between the mixing board and the stage!...
How fun is this post!!!! Have a great time at the performance, and I'll definately be checking out your friend's site.
I couldn't have asked for a better press release. :) Thanks for your kind words, Jenna! I think my music was written just to be heard as our two voices together -- You really make it so much more beautiful than I could have ever written it to be! Love you, friend, and I'm so glad we can share this!!!
(p.s. I just found out we'll be on at 10, but the live music does start at 9. :)
Sounds like fun! Wish we could be in town for it...break a leg!
This is major coolness. I wish I lived there so I could witness the coolness. Could your hubby perhaps take some video that you could share post-performance? And since you made the huge mistake of admitting you can sing, I think you should record a video of yourself singing, upload it to Youtube, and share it with us. At least when you're singing in front of a camera you can be alone and re-re-re-re-record all you need. :) I'd love to hear you sing! And just to be fair, and give you some extra confidence (b/c you have to be so much better by comparison--lol), here is me singing the Old Testament song that I sing with my Sunday School students: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2eWZJEHLb4
Last I heard, Carrie was trying to get someone to record it . . . I really hope that happens, because I'd love to share with you all. =) Though I had a nightmare last night that suddenly it was time to perform, and my throat was all scratchy and I hadn't warmed up, and I was quickly trying to rework all the harmonies into my lower ranges because I was squeaking and barely scraping by on the high notes. Yikes!
And I'll have to check out your youtube video when I get home from work tonight. Fun stuff!
No. Don't. You're probably not one of those people who do rash things like post links to embarrassing videos. I am. :) LOL on the dream--our minds always concoct the worst scenarios! You will do GREAT I'm sure.
1. Garlic, cream and... wine... looks mouth watering- the only thing it is missing is some BUTTER!
2. Good luck on the performance!
3. I know you have been super busy, but we are doing a holiday blogging event and would love if you could join! let me know if you are interested… i did a post with more details on Monday.
Thank you for inviting me to join! I don't know though--I'm scrambling just to write some 'regular' posts. Your blogging event sounds like a lot of fun and I'll definitely follow it though!!