Time to get real with you. The Chateau de Blandy Les Tour was wonderful. The Opera "Don't Worry, Be HaRpy" was gorgeous and a great collaboration. I don't want to sound like a whiner but my last trip to France was tough! Heat, exhaustion, knee pain and obesity made it a real test of endurance for me. I KNOW that my fitness journey made it possible for me to persevere. Up until I started my fitness program, I was almost totally sedentary. All of the things that I mentioned above (except for the …
Celebrating the Life of Tahir Koylass.
I met Tabatha when she was a 20 year old college student. She was a beautiful aspiring dancer. She spent the Summer after her junior year as an intern at a prominent dance company in Chicago and she lived with me during that time in my studio apartment. Folks wondered how we managed: two women in a one room apartment. But we did more than managed, we thrived and became dear friends. After she graduated she moved back to Chicago, danced professionally with the Joseph Holmes Dance Company, met …
Paris and a Jazz Opera: Don’t Worry, Be HaRpy!
Happy New Year! I know it's been ages since I last wrote and to be quite honest there hasn't been too much new to tell except I did present a staged reading of one piece from my one woman show and it was well received. The response was almost overwhelming. I performed it during a cabaret show I did in late November. Since then I have mostly been scraping by as I experience some of the toughest economic times of my life. I have been poorer in the past, but I had no bills in those days. Yet, I …
Hanging With Macy Gray & The Women’s Health Foundation Party.
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 …
The New York Chronicles: From Panicked to Hopeful.
Last night I sang at Petterino's Monday Night Live which is a pro open mic night hosted by two dynamic women who happen to be my friends. Some of the other guest singers were from the touring casts of Broadway musicals playing here in Chicago ("Book of Mormon") and from the musical "Jungle Book" which makes it world premier at the Goodman Theatre Chicago. Most of the singers were from New York and their performances were breath-taking and awesome. It did my heart good to see them and to be …