Friday, August 28, 2009

California Dreaming


Is there a better place to take a break from rehearsal than the Chinese Garden of the Huntington Library?

Mea culpa! Mea maxima culpa! Miss Laurel and I have been somewhat remiss this summer in our blogging habits. I can assure we had the best of intentions, but somehow life got in our way. We’ve managed to have a few adventures this summer, mostly career related. As you can see from the last post Laurel has been busily promoting a new CD with her trio JaLaLa, which we’ll have more on in the coming weeks. And me? Well, I have been working like crazy to get ready for my big Hollywood debut. I got to spend a marvelous week in LA collaborating and rehearsing with my pal Michele Brourman. Michele is one talented cookie with flawless musical taste and a gift for writing songs that cut right to your heart. When you put two women with eclectic musical tastes in a room with a piano, it’s amazing what comes up. We spent hours trying things out and bouncing ideas off each other, and even the bad ideas seemed to lead us to some interesting places. I am so excited about the set we’ve put together for our gig at the Gardenia. We've managed to combine our musical sensibilities in a really wonderful way, and have roped Amanda McBroom into our merry band for a number or three. I am a very lucky girl to be thus surrounded by talent. I was so busy working that I almost got to experience nothing of LA save the freeway, which should be no one’s sole impression of that part of the world. Fortunately my friend Glen saw to it that I got a little non-freeway driving tour of the surrounding areas and a wonderful visit to the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in Pasadena. I even managed to see the ocean once from the terrace of the Getty Villa in Malibu, after that and a beautiful drive on Pacific Coast highway I went diligently back to work. I’m LA bound again on Monday to finish getting ready for the gig which happens next Friday and Saturday. If you’re in the neighborhood I’d love to see you. If you’re not I promise to try to remember batteries for the camera so I can have a snap or two to post here.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

JaLaLa steps out!

JOIN JALALA AT OUR FIRST-EVER PERFORMANCE AND CD SIGNING TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF "THAT OLD MERCER MAGIC" on DARE RECORDS

WHEN: AUGUST 18TH, 2009 @ 7PM
WHERE: BORDERS @ COLUMBUS CIRCLE (TIME WARNER CENTER)
WHO: JALALA is Janis Siegel, Laurel Massé, and Lauren Kinhan
with Yaron Gershovsky, piano
Dave Finck, bass
Matt Wilson, drums
HOW MUCH: Free!

John Herndon Mercer, familiarly known as Johnny Mercer, was more than just a lyricist of popular song; he was a true American poet and THAT OLD MERCER MAGIC is an amazing new project from three equally amazing ladies who have come together to form the vocal trio JaLaLa: Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer, Laurel Massé, who was a founding member of The Manhattan Transfer, and Lauren Kinhan of New York Voices. Meet JaLaLa after their performance to have your copy of their new CD signed.



ALSO- catch us on WBGO SUNDAY AUG 16th at NOON
being interviewed by the inimitable MICHAEL BOURNE