I am still buzzing from my great night performing (with Raymond on solo piano) for the Women's Health Foundation at my all time home away from home: City Winery Chicago. It was a great party for a great cause: Women's Pelvic Health - (the party is cleverly called "Below The Belt") which offers education and access to health services and health options for all stages of life (adolescence, childbearing, menopausal and older women) They really encourage women to be proactive and act as their own …
Old Dreamers
This is a note to myself and others like me: underachievers, those with gifts who believe they haven't fulfilled their potential, those who have been writing a book, play, or dissertation, making a movie, recording a CD, going to a comedy open mic, opening a restaurant, going back to school and haven't done it yet. We know who we are. I have written about this shit for years: losing weight, writing my one woman show. And I reckon this is just another testament in a long series of promises I …
On Elaine Stritch
Elaine Stritch is a hoot. 89 years old and still making waves. A broadway diva, TV & Movie star, cabaret and now this Documentary feature. I met her while we both performed for an event in Chicago. She was writing her one woman show. I told her I wanted to do the same. she said: "It's the hardest thing I've ever done. Whatta pain in the ass!" I cried when I saw her perform her famous rendition of Sondheim's "Lady's Who Lunch" Of the audience (socialites from Chicago - ladies who lunch) she …
Haters are So Boring and So Obvious
Being older and wiser mostly means you have developed a thick skin. Being in show business requires this with all of the rejection and criticism you must face every day. But a recent experience just begs for reporting here on my blog. I did a very successful concert and afterwards whilst basking in the glow of a job well done, I was the recipient of a barrage of thinly veiled insults from a somewhat mousey and obviously envious young woman. It was a small matter from a person with a limited …
Performing for the Older Crowd
I had an interesting gig yesterday. I was hired to sing at a "retirement community" in the suburbs. Cast aside all of your normal visuals of a nursing home. This was a 38-acre compound that offers five levels of care (independent homes to full care nursing) a "town square, shops, library and a performance space that seats 220+ with a state of the art sound system. Initially I was going in with just a piano and then I figured why not take in an ensemble so that I could give them a "show" and I am …