Channel Z and Friends

My band, Channel Z, had another great gig at the Canyon Inn last weekend. Saturday night we had a lot of people there just to see us play. We had that same large group again, that have come to see us, both at the Canyon Inn, and at Club 90.

Amy and I had some friends there too. Perry and Cindy were there, who come to see us a lot.  Larissa, who has been to see us a couple of times, and our friend Stephen, who has never been. They also came with our friend Kristen and her boyfriend. They seemed to get a kick out of watching all the freaky-ness on the dance floor. We really appreciated the support.

My alter-ego Roxxi Heart, Larissa, Stephen, Kristen, Mr. Wonderful, and Amy's alter-ego Violette Femme

My friend, Jenn, surprised me by not telling me she was coming. She brought two friends with her. This is the first time Jenn has come to see my band play, and she seemed to enjoy herself.

Mr. Wright's friend, Eric, and his wife, Syd also came to our show. They have been longtime fans of Channel Z, and have been to several of our shows. They brought five of their friends with them too!

As usual, I love it when my friends come to see my band play, and I love it when we have repeat fans come to see us.

Winner(s) of the 10000 Page Views Contest

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for, I will announce the winner(s) of the contest.

I noticed that some people wanted to enter the contest, but for whatever reason, did not want to make it official by following my blog, even though they are frequent stalkers. Others did not want to comment on my blog, but were willing to do it on Facebook. Many of you are already fans of my band, Channel Z, but I was glad to see that a few more of you "liked" us.

I decided that since I had such a variation in how people entered the contest, that to make it more fair, I would handle the entries in true Hunger Games fashion. For each item completed, your name would be entered into the drawing 1 time, with a maximum of 5 entries.

The Gift-Card Blog-Contest Games

I mixed up the name slips well, then had my co-worker Ebonie draw a name at random. May the odds be evah in your favah...

The first winner was...

Doesn't she just look good enough to eat?!

Jeanette Thacker Pack

You may remember Jeanette from previous posts such as, Chaperone, and What the Phó. I have known this beautiful lady since Kindergarten, and we are still good friends to this day! Jeanette had 3 entries in the contest for 1-Liking my Facebook post, 2-Commenting on Facebook, and 3-Liking my band.

On a whim, I mixed the bowl, and decided to have Ebonie draw a second winner...

Love this girl!

Amy Dalton

You may remember Amy from previous posts such as, Earnest, Arsenic, Rock and Roll, and Magnolias. Oh yeah, and she's also in my band, Channel Z. She always has so much energy! Can you believe she has 5 kids!? Amy had 5 entries in the contest. She 1-Liked my Facebook post, 2-Commented on Facebook, 3-Liked the band (duh), 4-Follows my blog, and 5-Commented on my blog.

Thank you to everyone who entered! Thank you for reading/stalking my blog! The majority of you said my Bad Babysitter series was your favorite post. While I won't be able to blog about something like that in the future, I hope you will continue to read about my adventures. I hope my stories are engaging, inspiring, funny, and interesting to you.

And I plan on doing more contests in the future...I've got my 1 year blog anniversary coming up, and my 100th post. Thanks for sticking with me! And I LOVE your comments!

10,000 Page Views CONTEST!!! YOU could WIN!

I just passed a HUGE milestone on my blog. Over ten thousand page views!

 

 

Living Vi-Keri-ously

 10059 pageviews 

I currently only have 15 official blog followers, but it's obvious WAY more than 15 of you are reading my blog, so the rest of you are just stalkers. ;)

To celebrate, I'm having a prize giveaway! You could win your choice of a $25.00 Barnes and Noble gift card,

or a $25.00 iTunes gift card.

To enter the drawing, all you have to do is

1. Follow my blog, either publicly or privately. (Don't worry, if you already do this, you're still eligible.)
2. "Like" my post on Facebook
3. Write me a comment, either here, or on Facebook telling me
• which blog post is your favorite
• what kind of stories you're interested in hearing about in the future
4. Go to my band page, Channel Z, and "Like" us. (Again, you're still eligible if you've already done this.) 

 (Here's a little hint...#3 is the most important one.)

All names will be entered into a drawing. The drawing will be held April 26th. Winners will be notified by email, and gift card mailed April 28th.

Happy blogging!

Channel Z Builds a Following

Before I left for vacation last week, my band, Channel Z had another gig at the Canyon Inn. We play there about once a month, and it's always nice playing there because people are there to DANCE! Plus the waitresses take really good care of us by bringing us the yummiest pizza and making sure we are well stocked with waters and diet Cokes. (I have actually been feeling guilty, because we never tip them, even though our food is free. They're still serving us.)

Lately it seems the Canyon Inn has been very slow, in terms of turnout. Not that we're playing to an empty bar, but it's been less people than when we first started playing there. It's mostly due to some changes the bar has made in their business practices.

This was the crowd back in November 2010

But finally, we started playing to a bigger crowd again.

Here is how it looked the last Saturday we played there...
Not quite as many people as before, but we usually have less that half of that on the dance floor,
so this seemed almost like old times.

The really great thing is we are staring to connect with our audience more. We are starting to get a following. We've always had groups of people who will come to the Canyon Inn whenever we are there, or groups who will always come see us at the Filling Station.

But this time, I realized that we had people who came to see us at the Canyon Inn, specifically because they are our Facebook fans, and knew we would be there. There was a guy named George, who said he hit on Dana (a friend he was with) there at one of our first gigs. She passed  him off onto her daughter, Summer, who then introduced him to one of her friends. But now they are all still friends, and hanging out together...and it was all because of us! How awesome is that!?




This little group came to see us, because they saw on Facebook that we'd be there.
They met at one of our first gigs, and are STILL friends.

There were also people there who had seen the old members of Channel Z play at a barbecue in Layton, and had also come to see us play at Club 90. They brought a HUGE group of  15 or 20 people! I LOVE that they love us enough to keep coming back to see us, no matter WHERE we play!



This isn't everyone.
I think some of their group had already gone home, or didn't want to be in the picture.
They had A LOT more people there than this!


There was also another big group there on Friday night, that I neglected to get a picture of. But they started dancing the moment they arrived at the club. There were at least 6 or 8 of them there, and they were also our Facebook fans.

We currently have 385 Facebook fans. The Facebook fan thing perhaps seems rather arbitrary...but I think it helps us get the word out. Maybe not all 385 are coming to every gig, but I think it's really encouraging that we are getting SEVERAL Facebook fans coming to every gig.

Excuse Me, Ma'am, Your Confidence Is Showing

Actresses, singers, and performers are notoriously insecure, as evidenced by this post.

Part of that is because we have to deal with rejection on a regular basis when auditioning. Even if you have a fantastic audition, the director may choose to cast their sister-in-law. Or you may not look like what the director sees in their head. It can be very cut-throat, very dog-eat-dog.

Everyone is always replaceable. Even in my band, Channel Z, we've had to replace both a singer, and a guitar player. And Channel Z has been around more than 10 years, with several different female singers, different drummers, different players altogether. I was worried that I would be replaced when I got pregnant. Luckily, that didn't happen.

Recently, after only one show, a cast member in my play was replaced. It made me really nervous, because I have NEVER had a director do that after opening night. I could understand the reasons behind it, and that it was a business decision. And the new replacement is doing a fantastic job. Still, I couldn't help feeling that maybe none of us were safe.

Sometimes as a performer, I hear little niggling voices in my head. Several years ago, I did an impromptu song recording, with my Aunt Zombie's studio equipment. I was listening to it, and mentioned to Mr. Wright that I thought it sounded like bad Karaoke (I'm my own worst critic). Mr. Wright, (who hadn't even heard it), said, "Yeah, it never sounds as good as you think it does."

I was crushed and completely devastated. I mean, I had been singing my whole life. I had been told my whole life I was a good singer. Did that mean everyone had lied to me to spare my feelings? Was I like one of those poor saps on American Idol who think they're good, but in fact, really suck? Was I completely delusional? Did I only THINK I was good?

It took me a really long time to get over it. Mr. Wright apologized, and said that he didn't mean it that way, that it came out wrong. What he meant was that our voice sounds different on a recording than it sounds in our head. But he didn't use the word different.

My confidence was so shaken. I didn't even sing in the car after that, and it took me a long time before I was willing to try singing again. When I finally enrolled in voice lessons, I cried nearly every time I sang, because I was so unsure of myself. Luckily, my voice teacher, Ginger, was very encouraging, and believed in me until I could believe in myself again.

It's nice when you can get some validation that you ARE actually good at things you think you're good at. I've recently gotten a lot of confirmation. I hope you won't think that I'm full of myself for sharing.

A few months ago, I was put on a callback list for a play that I didn't audition for. This has actually never happened to me, and while it bugs me when I find out that other people have been cast, who were never at the audition, I like it when I am on the receiving end. 

I know this director (she is a friend of mine), and she has worked with me before. I had expressed an interest in auditioning, and then decided at the last minute to NOT audition. She put me on the callback list because she knew I had been interested in doing the show.  She thought I had forgotten to come to the audition. She didn't want anyone giving her flack for allowing me to come to the callbacks, without being on the actual callback list. Being put directly on the callback list was very flattering, so I showed up to the callbacks, and did my due diligence in reading sides (lines) for the show.

I felt FANTASTIC about the audition. I felt that I had nailed the character, and found interesting ways to differentiate myself as an actress. I was excited because my friends, Larissa and Megan were at the callback too. I have been in a show with Larissa, but it was in a role that didn't really show what I can do. I have never been in a show with Megan. I was excited to show them at the callback, that I can create a character, and use playing the opposite, and comedic humor.

Afterwards, Megan said the nicest thing to me via Facebook message. "Larissa and I agree that you were the best (Character name) there--so vivacious and engaging!" And Larissa sent me a text saying, "I looooved your (Character name) and will be SHOCKED if you don't get it. You are so talented." By the way, I did get the part!

A few months later I was asked to be the romantic lead in a show that I did not audition for at all. There was one other girl they had talked to about doing it, but decided to use me instead. I had never worked for this director before. I felt very flattered that she felt she knew enough about me and what I am capable of bringing to a show, to cast me without an audition.

This current play I am doing, the composer (who has perfect pitch) was present at the dress rehearsal. After watching the show, he paid me the biggest compliment. He said that the love song (sung by me and the romantic male lead) was perfect, and that it was the highlight of the show. He also said that he loved the pep song,  (sung by me and another fellow actor), and that it was really fun.

On opening night, the director's sister was sitting at the same table as my parents. She is a Jr. High Theatre teacher. My parents overheard her tell the director that I was the strongest in the show! SO nice of her to say!

Then, after a gig with Channel Z one night, Band Leader text messaged me to say, "#Youguyskickedf'nasstonight'nufsaid. (The hashtag and the 'nuf said are sort of inside jokes we have on Facebook.)

These compliments mean the world to me! But don't think I'll be letting it go to my head. I still second guess myself, and I will always appreciate any positive comments I receive.

I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night...and Party Ev-er-y Day!

This past weekend, my band, Channel Z,  played for the second time at the elusive Club 90. To read about our first time, click here.

Friday night was a slower night, but I did have several friends come to see me perform. First were my friends Pattie and Mike. Mr. Wright and Pattie have been friends since Junior High. Mr. Wright and I visited Pattie and Mike in Texas, when we were first married. We also spent New Year's with them seeing the Disco Drippers, when I was pregnant with Spitfire.

Pattie brought another friend of Mr. Wright's, Monica, to Club 90 with her. I was nervous about them hearing me play, since they are fans of both the Disco Drippers, and the Spazmatics. However, Pattie was on the dance floor all night. And she told Mr. Wright, that she couldn't believe I could belt out Axel Rose one minute, and then Madonna the next.

My BFF from Kindergarten, Jeanette, was also there with one of her friends. She was relieved to see Mr. Wright there. They sat with him, because they kept getting hit on by creepy old men. Gotta love Club 90. My friend Michele also came with her husband, when she was done with her rehearsal. It was SO nice to have their support!

Saturday night at Club 90 was kick @&$! There were several people there who dressed in 80's attire!

And the crowd was going nuts for us!!

The club even hosted a costume contest, with $50.00 cash for both the male and female winners! Awesome!!

The male winner...

Sorry for the blurry pictures...my flash was off.

and the female winner.

She was a riot!

We hope Club 90 will have us back soon, but we are excited to be playing for TWO corporate fundraiser events in the next few months!

Steel Magnolias at Draper Historic Theatre

Saturday night, I decided to go see Steel Magnolias at the Draper Historic Theatre.

I didn't want to go alone, so I asked my friend Michelle to join me. We tried to have dinner at Texas Roadhouse, but on a Saturday night, it was an 80 minute wait to be seated. We didn't have time to wait, so we went across the parking lot to T.G.I.Friday's, where the wait was only 10 minutes.

Michelle ended up recognizing the manager, and he comped her whole meal (how lucky!). If I was the manager of a restaurant, and I comped everyone I knew who ate at my restaurant, they would go broke. I teased her he probably has a crush on her. And really, why wouldn't he? She's gorgeous!



Look at all that hair!!!

My friend, Amy, met us at the theatre. This was the play that I was originally cast in, but then had to drop because of my babysitter drama. My other friend, Michele, was directing, and she graciously allowed me to step down. She had to step into the role that I left, but was the perfect Truvy!


Michele and I

It was a lot of fun to see how everything we had discussed during rehearsals eventually came together. The set looked just like a beauty parlor! I LOVED all the outfits worn by Truvy (played by my friend, Michele Rideout, who co-directed) AND her wigs. Michele was an excellent Truvy. 

During the first scene, I probably paid more attention to what Truvy was doing to Shelby's hair, than I was to the actual dialogue. While we were in rehearsal, we learned that a hairstylist would come by, to show us some basics on how to do hair. Truvy actually does a Princess Grace updo on Shelby, right on stage. Michelle did a fantastic job! It looked beautiful!

My other friend, (and director of the new play I am in for Poison Ivy Mysteries), Annelise,  played the part of Annelle. I laughed out loud at a couple of her outfits and hairstyles. It was SO funny when she came onstage eating a hot dog! It was interesting to see her transform from an intelligent capable woman, into her simple innocent character. And she was adorable pregnant!



Me and Annelise



I tried my best to be a good audience member, by laughing at all the funny parts. I didn't think I was laughing all that loud, but maybe the audience was full of quiet laughers. The cute gal who played Shelby, Amanda Adams Wright, (no relation, I don't think), said she knew I was in the audience, because she could hear me laughing. This play is full of funny one-liners.

Amanda was a vivacious and likable Shelby. Her real-life mother, Denise Adams, played Shelby's mother, M'Lynn. The mother-daughter dynamic was both realistic, and touching. Rebecca Martin was delightful as the sarcastic Clairee. And Claire Spencer was funny as the crotchety Ouiser. Overall, it was a very strong cast.

I honestly didn't think I would cry, since I already know the ending. But when the time came, I admit it. I shed a little tear.

Michelle, me, and Amy (hamming it up for the camera)

This is definitely a show you should see with your sisters, mom, or girl friends. There are two more shows, this Friday and Saturday night, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $9.00.

After the play, Michelle, Amy, and I went to Club 90. One of our guitar players (Jeff) from Channel Z, plays in another band, the Hard Rockin Johnsons. They play (you guessed it) Hard Rock.

Jeff is on the far left

Turns out it was Mardi Gras. Jeff let Amy and me borrow some stuff for pictures.

We didn't even have to flash our boobs for these beads

And much to our delight, we saw our Channel Z posters all over the place. Can't wait for our gig there on March 2nd and 3rd!



Nobody recognized us



I Heart my fans

Last weekend my band, Channel Z played a two-nighter at the Canyon Inn. We had a great weekend, and the crowd both nights was fantastic.

I was very pleased to see my friend Gina was there for the first time, and she brought her husband, and several friends. My friend Kasie was also there with her dad, aunts, and uncles. Her dad even asked if we had a CD! :) I also reconnected with someone from Jr. High,  Brian. One of my biggest fans, Shane was also there. He has come to see us several times at the Canyon Inn, and he and his mom also came to see us at Club 90. He's a HUGE Roxxi Heart fan (my stage name).

I even got to slow dance with Mr. Wright

Saturday night was packed, and we had even MORE familiar faces come to see us. Some fans we haven't seen in a while were there, and it was SO good to see them again! Mr. Wright and his friends had a boys night out. His friend Roc was there, of course. He's actually a pretty big fan, and comes to see us often. Hopefully some of their other friends are now fans, and will come see us again too!

Channel Z at Club 90--update!

In a previous post, I talked about how exciting it was to play at Club 90, because they are one of the biggest and most popular clubs in Salt Lake. The people there also LOVE to dance, and are right in the demographic of people who used to listen to the awesome 80's. It's also VERY hard to get booked on their line-up, since they book out months in advance.

When we played there, everyone LOVED us. They said they wanted to book us next year, and have us play every 3 months or so....

Guess what?! My band Channel Z was booked to play at Club 90 in March! So excited to be on their rotation!

Channel Z at Club 90

Last year, my band, Channel Z auditioned to play at Club 90. Club 90 is one of the biggest and most popular clubs in the Salt Lake valley, and what's more, the people who come there LOVE to dance! They let bands audition for them on Wednesday nights (free entertainment for them). Their weekends are booked out months in advance.

The audition was pretty difficult, as they don't have much of an audience Wednesday nights, and we were also pretty new. They said they really like us though, and would call us to get on their schedule. Despite following up with them several times, they never got back to us.

Fast forward about eight months. Our Lead guitarist, Guitar Hero, plays at Club 90 with another band. That band was scheduled to play, but then had to cancel at the last minute. Guitar Hero suggests they book his other band, Channel Z, instead, as a fill in. They called us, and we were booked for a two-night event!! I performed just three and a half weeks after having Sunshine.

The club was really great about promoting an 80's night. All the staff dressed in their 80's attire. There were several birthday parties being held on Friday night. The crowd was really responsive to us, just as we knew they would be. The dance floor was as packed as we've ever seen it. The Friday night crowd was BIG on dancing to nearly every song!

I met a lady in the restroom who said that she and her son always go hear us when we play at the Canyon Inn, and saw on Facebook that we were playing at Club 90. I LOVE it when we have fans that follow us from one club to another! We posed for some pictures for them.

Saturday night, there were even MORE people than Friday night, but they weren't as big on dancing as the Friday night crowd.  Still everyone seemed to LOVE us!!! At one point, while I was singing onstage, I looked around and saw people filling every corner of the club. The whole place was packed! Not a table or corner were empty. I asked one of the managers how many people there were. He said there were at least 300+ people there! AWESOME!!!  

The manager of the club said he had received more compliments on our band, than he had in many years, even among their regular line-up! They were so impressed with us! They said they would like to put us on their schedule for next year, about every 3 months! This is SOOO exciting!! I think this will give our band a lot of great exposure!

He did suggest that we throw a few heavy metal songs into the mix, and in fact, we had several people request Whitesnake. We have now incorporated several metal songs in our set list. Our versions of "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "You Shook Me" are fantastic (if I DO say so, myself)!!!

The bar manager had alot of good things to say about us too. He felt we brought a lot of good energy to the crowd. He liked that we went down to the audience to sing to them, and dance with them. He felt I had improved my stage presence A TON, since our audition.

He asked if we had a regular gig at a bar, and said if we didn't, we COULD easily have that somewhere if we wanted it. He said with a little experience we could be as good as the Disco Drippers, and that we have the potential to charge as much as we wanted!!

Overall, it was a dream come true. We hope they will call us to put us on their schedule next year, and that this will open up many new opportunities for us.

Rock on, Club 90!

Channel Z at Daybreak Summer Block Party

Last Friday, my 80's band, Channel Z played a short, two-hour gig at a neighborhood block party in Daybreak. Not only was the gig outdoors, but it was also during daylight hours. Luckily, the weather wasn't too hot, so everyone could enjoy themselves.

This was a fun little place to play. We had several friends and family come who have never seen us play, and also got to play for a bunch of little kids. The kids loved us, and it wasn't long before they got their parents up and dancing too. Of course our songs are very nostalgic for the over-30 crowd. There were even a few grannies in the audience! Rumor had it, we had over 200 people there!

Initially, we had some sound issues. At first, I thought my ear receiver was cutting out, because sometimes I couldn't hear myself. But then I noticed people giving me strange looks. My mom came up and said that the mikes and speakers were cutting out.

All of our equipment was being powered by a generator, and when we turned our lights on, it messed with the power. Once we turned the stage lights off, we were A-Okay.

My sister made the comment afterward that she thought our sound was a bit unbalanced. She said either our mikes needed turned up, or the guitar needed turned down. She could hear me and Frankie Hollywood on our solos, but on the harmonies, she only knew that I was singing because she saw my lips move. She could barely hear Violette Femme.



Violette Femme

Since Violette is our newest singer, she is still learning how far away from the mike she needs to sing in order to be heard well. Plus in her defense, she was nervous because her very religious parents were there.

Also, even though we did a sound check prior to starting, we are usually able to go out past the speakers. However, this being an outside gig, during our sound check when Frankie went out to listen, his receiver had feedback, making it impossible to hear anyway. Hopefully we can make some adjustments before our next gig there.

There were a few people who didn't make it to our gig until after we had finished playing. Luckily, we were able to tell them we would be back at Daybreak September 30th.



Can't wait to get my figure back once the baby is born!



Our lead guitarist, Brokk Lobbster



Our drummer, Nikki Stixx

This was my last gig before I have the baby. I will take a few weeks off, so if there are any gigs scheduled, Violette will cover my songs. But I'll be back to rockin by our next set of gigs, which will be at.....Club 90!

This is a HUGE deal for us. We auditioned to play there clear back in December! They said they liked us a lot, and wanted to put us in their line-up...but then we never heard from them. Club 90 has a tendency to be booked out MONTHS in advance. They had a cancellation for August 5th and 6th, and gave us a call!!!

We know we will go over VERY well with their crowd. I mean, let's face it, the demographic of people there were in their teens and twenties when 80's music was popular. Plus the Club 90 crowd just LOVES to dance!

Well, folks, I'm having my baby in 3 days! I got a new laptop and we just ordered Internet service at home so I can keep in touch while I'm on maternity leave. I'll blog again next week when I have the time, between diaper changes, feedings, and naps.

Big Kiss!

Channel Z Addendum

Okay, so after writing the last post, I went to band rehearsal and was teased relentlessly about how insecure I am.....and it's true.

I usually try to portray an attitude of confidence and that I don't care what other people think. But I feel insecure just as much as the next person. I could have made this blog all about how great my life is, and there ARE elements of that. But I also decided to show a little of my not-so-confident side.

Actually, Band Owner pointed out to me last night that I was the one who said I wanted to keep performing right up until the baby was born. (True). And he also said that if they would have told me to take my maternity leave, I would have thought they didn't need me, or that I was being kicked out of the band. (I had to admit he was right.)

Band Owner has also been really great about the whole 8-months-pregnant thing. He said I could do whatever I needed to do to conserve my energy, like not help with the load/unload, or even to sit down and take a break on songs that have a lot of other harmonies from the other band members. Even with him telling me to do theses things, I still feel like I should, lest they think I'm lazy, or that they don't need me. So as much complaining as I did in my last post about how tired I am, I put A LOT of pressure on myself to step it up. This is the same drive that made me walk 16 miles all over Central Park at 7 months pregnant.

I think I may bring a bar stool up on stage to sit on for a few songs, and I may really tone down or eliminate the dancing so that I have enough breath to sing. And I guess a little part of me is kind of hoping that these gigs will help my cervix dilate faster, so maybe I can have Baby Girl early. :)

Channel Z

And now a brief history of how I got my start with Channel Z.  In May of 2008, I answered an add on Craig's List needing a female singer for an 80's cover band. I had to learn "Love Shack", "One Way or Another", "Mickey", "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and "I Love Rock and Roll," and then go and sing with the band as an audition.

I was excited because I thought this particular band would be a perfect fit, since the other members were middle-aged, family men with careers, and I was a not-quite-middle-aged, family woman with a career. I felt that any other band would be the young twenty-something party crowd, whose career was "starving artist" and they just wouldn't understand that I'm not a heavy drinker, or a drug user, and that I can't stay out until 2 a.m. every night of the week.

Well, I didn't get in the band and I was VERY disappointed. But I decided that since I hadn't sung in a while, I should take some voice lessons to brush up on a few things, and increase my confidence level. Meanwhile, I focused on auditioning for some plays. I was cast in the lead roles in "See How They Run" at the Empress, and "Miracle on 34th Street" for West Jordan.

Lo and behold, I get an email from this band 2 years later, in April 2010. They are holding auditions again, and am I still interested? HELL yeah! I went and auditioned again, and pretty much nailed it! This time, they decided to use TWO female singers instead of one, so I had a second audition with the other female singer they were considering to see how well our voices matched. I was SOOO happy when I learned I got in!

I felt a little intimidated at first, because I knew that this band had had two female singers in the past two years. I wasn't sure what the circumstances were, except that this time, there was only one original member of the band left. It seemed as though the Band Owner just got all new members whenever it suited him. I also felt that the other female singer had more of a "rock and roll" voice, and I felt inadequate with my "bubble gum pop" sound.

I definitely didn't want to be the weakest link, since I wasn't sure of my standing in the band, or for how long it would be. I really felt I had to prove myself, since they didn't pick me the first time I auditioned. I practiced hard on my own, learning the lyrics to the female songs, and the back-up parts to the male songs. Since I wasn't sure which part the other female singer would want to sing, I learned both harmonies.

After 8 months of learning songs and rehearsing, we had our first gig in November of 2010. I made sure to help with the loading and unloading of the gear, and to learn how to set up and break down. I didn't want the band to think I wasn't pulling my own weight. 

I was very nervous because our first gig was at The Filling Station, in the town where I grew up, and I knew I might see some people I knew there. I wasn't sure how well received I would be. At this venue, people come to play pool and chill, so there weren't very many dancers, but the crowd seemed to enjoy us. I DID have a couple of close friends come, but I was relieved that I didn't see anyone else I knew there that time.

At my second gig at The Canyon Inn, a few more friends came. At this particular venue, the people come to DANCE! The dance floor was packed, and people LOVED us. I was running a fever that night, but the show must go on.

I was annoyed that a theatre acquaintance who came to see the show commented that I needed to relax more on-stage and be myself. Excuse me?!? I didn't ask him to come and critique my performance. I didn't say to him, "So what do you think I could improve on?" I wasn't expecting any constructive (or un-constructive) criticism.

I WAS nervous, because it was only my second gig, and there were people I knew there. And I wasn't feeling well, I had a FEVER. Besides, I'm not supposed to be myself when I am on-stage. That's why we wear the wigs and costumes, to help us become a different person. To become a freakin ROCK STAR. Give me a break, dude! Ugh.

We gigged about 2-3 times a month, even travelling to Rock Springs, Wyoming. The more we gigged, the more my confidence grew. I genuinely felt like an equal member of the band.

Then the unexpected happened. I found out I was pregnant. I wasn't sure how the news would be received in the band, because the reason the last singer was replaced was because she had gotten pregnant. Did she leave on her own accord, or was she asked to leave? Would this mean that I would be kicked out of the band? Was my singing career over before it had begun? I kept this secret to myself for 3 months, until I could no longer hide it.

When I finally broke the news, it was with trepidation. I assured the band members that I wasn't going to let this interfere. I pledged that I wanted to continue to perform as close to the baby being born that I could. And that I really wanted to continue once the baby was born. I stated that I was okay performing with a big belly if they were. The news was actually very well received.

Incidentally, I didn't end up being the weakest link in the band. The other female singer didn't know the harmonies very well, and she didn't help load/unload and set up/break down very much. She also missed a lot of rehearsals due to illness, and even missed a gig! I had to fill in by singing her songs, as well as mine! We made a group decision in the band to let her go.

The last few times we played at the Canyon Inn, there have been some familiar faces. Apparently, this group of four friends saw us back in December or January. Since then, they have shown up to both our February and May gigs there. These are not the kind of people who frequent the Canyon Inn every weekend. We don't know these people at all in our personal lives. They were there just to see US!!! This last time in May, one of them said to me, "We come to see YOU, you know." I have my own FAN CLUB! Awesome!!

We just hired a new female singer to replace the one we kicked out. It's my friend Amy who I've done plays with. She impressed us from the get-go, by knowing the songs well, and she didn't have to look at the words. She had the harmonies perfectly. She had a good vocal range, being able to sing both low and high, like I can. She also blended really well with my voice. The guys in the band, said at times they couldn't tell who was singing which part. She did fantastic at her first gig, and had TONS of energy and stage presence!



She's good, I better watch my back.

Again, I find myself hoping that I'm not the weakest link. I'm finding it increasingly hard to make it through our gigs. At our last gig, I could barely breathe enough to sing, since the baby is pushing on my diaphragm. My endurance is also really low. I find I've got enough energy for dancing the first two sets, but the last two sets, I can barely move! The Band Owner commented that I need to watch my facial expressions, because I look like I'd rather be anywhere but there. Yikes!! No Bueno!

Honestly, I would have rather had my last gig be in May, but I'm afraid of coming across like a flake. I don't want it to seem like I'm pulling the same crap as the other female singer. I told the Band Owner that I was getting really tired and winding down, but that I would keep going as long as they needed me to. He wants me to do our June and July gigs, so I'll do my best. I feel frustrated, because I'm a perfectionist. I know what I'm capable of, and I know at 8 months pregnant I'm not able to give my best performance.

I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot by confessing this.

**Please read my addendum to this post.