Great Weekend!

Even though I came home early Friday sick from work, went straight to bed for 17 hours sleep, and was shaky all Saturday, it was a blast!

First, performed at MacConnell Arts Center in Worthington with Honk, Wail, and Moan. We opened for Planet D NoNet from Detroit, another Sun Ra inspired group. At the end, both groups TOOK the stage, and played together, and THEN I joined them for the very last tune, Love in Outer Space!

After the applause, hubby & I dashed to the Short North and 83 Gallery to see the opening of this month's show, where I'm one of the featured artists. Lots of people, a blue grass band playing, and my work looked great, although there was a lot of really killer art there.



That's baby brother Mike and girlfriend Cathy checking out the exhibit, and Hubby on the bench, watching my coat!




A little more resting Sunday, then Monday I drive to Flint, Michigan to pick up art for the museum; we're switching shows again, people!

Yay! my First Red Panty Etsy sale!

I'm so excited....I woke this morning to find that the Appletini Top had sold on Etsy! Very thrilling, although now I will bite my nails until the lovely person who purchased it has received it, and told me if she's happy with it. What a great Easter gift! This weekend has been very positive! My baby brother Michael came to my gig with Lucey's Maze last night and brought his girlfriend and work friends, and guess what?? The work friends thought I was the youngest! What a hoot - I'm 9 years older than Michael! It tickles me, and of course is a huge ego boost!

Columbus Jazz & Rib Fest - Me! Singing!

So, I've had a few requests for photos of me with Honk, Wail and Moan at the Columbus Jazz & Rib Festival. Of course I didn't take them, but my good friend Lydia did. I didn't post them earlier, because frankly I look ridiculous!! But hey, all in good fun, right??

Sun Ra Costumes at Columbus RibFest!!

So, I sing a little with the great local band Honk, Wail and Moan, which is a jazz band doing about half their own original compositions, and half Sun Ra compositions, with a few Mingus tunes thrown in for good measure. If you look up Sun Ra, he was a crazy composer, used a B3 organ, wrote poetry, totally cool!

Anyway, this time of year, HWM always does a birthday tribute at Dick's Den (local Bar) but the Columbus Jazz & RibFest was the night before. So, in honor of the event, I made psuedo-Egyptian collars for all the band members! I used a LOT of lovely trims, and finished them out with old CD's, they reflect the light in a beautiful way, and then added beads and stuff to embellish them.



I wasn't at all sure the guys would be into wearing them, but to my surprise, they were like little kids: "I want the blue one, I want the red one, no that one is mine"


Here they are on the big stage at Bicentennial Park; don't they look great?

Lucey's Maze: the Acoustic Ladies!

Last night the three ladies from Lucey's Maze played at Espresso Yourself Music Cafe in Powell, Ohio. It's sort of an acoustic version of the group, in that there's no electric guitar, no drums or bass. But we do still use the electric piano, and a pick-up on the harp, and microphones!! Anyway, it's a lovely combo; we still do the original songs that Michelle (center, keyboards) wrote, but it's lighter, more delicate, and you can really hear all the wonderful passages coming from the harp!! (Trista, on the left)

That's me on the right, adding some quiet harmony to Michelle's haunting lyrics.

Stop by the Espresso cafe in Powell sometime; it's a great place, and you might see me there!

new Band updates!!

So, I am singing backup for a band called "Lucy's Maze", featuring Michelle on lead vocals, Brian on guitar, Doug on percussion, Trista on harp (yes, harp!), and Stephen on acoustic bass.


It's nice to sing backup, and not be stressed out at all! Michelle writes all the lyrics and music for the group, and is really very talented!

You know you want to come see us, right?

Feb. 29th: Rhumba Cafe, Columbus (Hudson & Summit) around midnight
March 7th: Espresso Cafe, Powell 7-8pmish

Other gigs coming up:

Honk, Wail and Moan on April 27th at Dick's Den, and again on May 30th, Dick's Den (High Street, Columbus)

Love to perform, hate to rehearse!

It's Tuesday, which means rehearsal. I hate to practice, always have. I can clearly remember taking piano lessons at age 5, and trying to fake my way thru because I didn't practice the week before!

I'm practicing this evening with a folk-ie, pop-ish, modern group. This isn't so bad, I'm just the back-up singer. That's always fun, a lot less pressure on me. I sing every weekend at church, and when I'm up front I do have to behave.

I also sing a little with Honk, Wail and Moan, a FAB jazz group influenced by Sun Ra and Charles Mingus. They write over 50% of their sets, then do great renditions of classics. The bass player (behind me singing) was part of the trio that won the International Blues competition last year in Memphis! He's got wicked licks! He plays acoutic bass normally, this pic is from a Tom Waits-a-thon where 12 different bands all did a 3-song set of Waits tunes. We totally rocked it, with the largest band, and the only one with girls!