Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Birdland

I just love serendipity. Last night I went to Birdland, the famous jazz club. Monday night is Jim Caruso’s Cast Party. It had been recommended to me by several people as a great open mic attended by a big audience and, often, celebrities and Broadway performers. I took a seat at the bar and the fellow next to me said hello. I learned that he, Roger Patterson, was from San Francisco and he always came to Birdland when in NY on business. He asked if I was going to perform and I said yes, a blues tune. He said “wow, I have a blues band!" They play in the wine country around SF and are called Chord on Blue (get it? get it?). Turned out he plays harmonica, so I asked him to perform with me. It took some urging — he had never performed there or anywhere in New York, even though he visits every time he is in town, but he went back to his hotel room to get a harmonica in the right key. I signed us up on the performance list and while waiting I learned he is married, has two grown sons and several grandchildren. He learned about my family. He bought a CD from me without hearing me first, which shows an awful lot of trust! Anyway, the performers were mostly incredible. Performances ranged from show tunes to pop and jazz, with some original compositions thrown in. Backup band was incredibly good. It took awhile before Caruso called us up. There were many fantastic regulars and we were, after all, a completely unknown quantity. Tommy Tune was in the house and the place was packed with people. When he got to us, around midnight, (hey, that’s a song title!), he did a little interview and I shared that Roger and I had just met and thrown together this act just for the show. So, I sang Built for Comfort and Roger did some fills and took a couple of solos; we got the house rocking and the audience participating and the band was having a ball. It was great fun and seemed very well received. After I sat down, the bartender told me the sound guy said “Go Bucks", so he and I did a silent O.H.I.O. across the room — him in the sound booth and me at the bar. The best part of the whole evening was how thrilled Roger was. For him this was, in his words, the event of a lifetime. After listening to a few more fantastic performers, Roger took off to go to Don’t Tell Mama (he is quite the party animal) to hear some more performers, but I headed home. Maybe he and I will perform again in San Francisco with his band some day. George and I can take a vacation and visit wine country! Here’s the link to Roger’s band: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chord-On-Blue/528745370509824 Check it out!

How Music Made the Monster

I just finished the run of Frankenstein at Hudson Guild Company. It was a fun experience playing “The Baroness" Frankenstein who is quite bossy and pompous (no type casting comments!). Jim Furlong, who runs the arts program at the Hudson Guild, wrote the original play, inspired by the two films ("Frankenstein" and “Bride of Frankenstein"). As we rehearsed, I have to admit I was kind of afraid that the show would end up being pretty campy. And, of course, you just can’t help having a little “camp" in Frankenstein. It’s such a cheesy story really! But I was worried for Jim that people might laugh in places he really didn’t want them to. Then, he made the brilliant decision to hire Daniel Bennett (http://www.danielbennettgroup.com/) to create a live soundtrack for the play. With the help of an interesting set and great acting, the soundtrack made a huge difference to the show. I have never been in a stage play that made use of this. It had the effect of helping the audience realize what was “scary" and what was “humorous", working exactly the way a film or TV soundtrack does. It was super fun to watch Daniel at work. He played five or six different wind instruments - bass clarinet, clarinet, flute, oboe, saxophone and maybe something else I’m forgetting at the moment. He basically composed the whole show himself. My favorite sound effect was the “electricity" hum he created with the bass (baritone?) clarinet on a steady tone. It was very hard on his lip, but it was super super cool in the scene where Doctor Frankenstein electrifies the monster. Daniel and I have become friends and he was sweet enough to invite me to sing with his fabulous Daniel Bennett Group at Tomi Jazz on May 25th. I’m pretty excited about joining him. And I hope this won’t be the last time a director makes use of a live soundtrack like this. I’m definitely going to keep it in mind for future directorial efforts. Check out Daniel’s jazz music at http://www.danielbennettgroup.com/ and I hope you’ll join us at Tomi Jazz 8-10:30 on May 25. 239 East 53rd Street, New York.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

How Do you Define Success?

Yesterday at my weekly workshop at The Complete Theatre Company, of which I’m a member, we had a discussion about success. As an artist, are you only a success when you make your living in the arts? By that definition, most of us are doomed. But, even more than that, I’ve found that focusing on the money does two negative things. First, it starts to make you cynical. You start feeling grouchy about how little you are paid and about how screwed up society is for not giving artists their due. Second, you have a tendency to start taking anything that pays, regardless of whether it is artistically fulfilling or even consistent with your goals. Since I moved to New York, many friends back in Columbus will mention how they are sure to see me one day “on Broadway". It is exciting to feel so supported and I love these friends! But… being on Broadway is not my definition of success here. And a good thing, too, because it is very unlikely to happen. It would require me to do certain things that, at this stage of my life, I’m not interested in, such as touring with a show. I just don’t want to be away from George that long and a life on the road holds no glamor for me. Instead, for me, my “success" is being busy with creative endeavors ranging from theater, film, singing jazz, singing with a chorus, writing a play (yes, I’m trying that, too!), working on my craft in my theater company, meeting people, seeing shows, hearing music, and experiencing New York with my best friend, George. By this definition, I’m a huge success already! Wow! I’ve decided I’m going to stop saying “none of it pays, of course" as some sort of apology, because, hell, is that really the point? For me, NO. We define what success is, so don’t listen to someone else’s plan for you. Listen to your heart and soul and follow your bliss.