Ease on Down the Road

Braving blizzards, transit trains and the New Jersey Turnpike we set off last weekend for my appointed gigs. First up was the Metropolitan Room in New York City. After spending the first half of the week in blissful rehearsal with Michele Brourman, I lay awake all Thursday night listening to the wind howl and the snow fall (yes, if you’re really listening you can actually hear it fall) and wondering who in their right mind would venture out in the worst storm of the year just to hear me sing. Ah, but New Yorkers are a hardy lot and we ended up with two lovely and enthusiastic audiences. We had a fine time delving deeper into the material that Michele and I had begun to develop in LA over the summer. The addition of Miss Laurel for two numbers was the icing on the cake. For me, there is nothing better than making music with people who are not just great musicians but also dear friends. The relationship the three of us have off-stage has only served to make the music that much better.

Miss Laurel, Me & Michele after the 10:00 Show at Blues Alley. Thanks Michael M. for the snap!

By Sunday morning the weather had cleared and we hopped into the car, pointed it south, and set off for DC. My friends Alex Tang and Bob Bagnall allowed us to invade their gorgeous historic house in the Kalorama section of the city. We were provided with comfy beds, vegetable frittatas for breakfast and all the Girl Scout cookies we could eat. I wondered if they’d notice if we took up permanent residence on their third floor. Michael Miyazaki and Ron Squeri provided us with a wonderful evening-before-the-show supper that included several of my longtime DC pals. Michael and another DC friend Matt Howe provided me with the only pictures from this run of gigs, for which I will be eternally grateful. It was wonderful to be back on the stage at Blues Alley. The audience was filled with many old friends, and some of my very first mentors. The whole experience was like coming home. It was difficult to leave, but we’ll be back soon!

Me on-stage at Blues Alley...Photo courtesy of Matt Howe

On Tuesday we staggered to the car and up the Jersey turnpike to home, slightly the worse for wear but thrilled at the work we did. Many many many thanks to the top notch staffs of the Metropolitan Room and Blues Alley, especially Ted Stafford (Met Room) and Robby Cooper (Blues Alley) who gave us great lights and sound. I am grateful to everyone who came out to cheer us one. Thank you! It was a delight to sing for you. We are making plans to do this again in the near future, so keep watching this space for dates. Some nice people even wrote a bit about the shows, you can check out their thoughts HERE, & HERE, & HERE.


And before I forget, I’ve gotten some requests for the song list so here it is:

I feel Lucky Mary Chapin Carpenter / Don Schlitz

Walking after Midnight Donald Hecht

I Got Lucky in the Hall Marshall Barer / Dean Fuller

Breathing /So In Love Amanda Mcbroom / Michele Brourman
Cole Porter

Round Amanda McBroom / Joel Silberman

Lucky Break Melissa Manchester / Beth Nielsen Chapman

Once in a Blue Moon /Night Ride Home Anne Caldwell / Jerome Kern
Joni Mitchell

It’s Never Perfect Shelia Rae / Michele Brourman

Monotonous June Carroll / Arthur Siegel

Silver Heart/ Shut Up and Drive Michele Brourman
Melvern Rivers Rutherford III / Annie Tate / Sam M. Tate

Sometimes More is More Michele Brourman

Ring of Fire June Carter / Merle Kilgore

Independence Day Gretchen Peters

A Mother’s Prayer Melissa Manchester

If it’s Tuesday, This Must Be Rochester

Your Redheads spent last week on a whirlwind tour of New York State; each day a different city with lots of driving through other cities in between. So what compelled us to spend so much time getting to know the parts of New York that aren’t of the five boroughs? We were part of a tour for the New York State Presenters Network . Spearheaded by impresario Peter Lesser, the tour was meant to bring artists and presenters across the state together to exchange ideas about block booking, community involvement and collaborations between artists and arts’ organizations. We came back chock full of ideas, and fired up. We'd met some wonderful new people, seen jaw-droppingly gorgeous venues in places you’d least expect, and and been inspired to think well outside of the box. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be bringing you many of those ideas, profiles of the places and organizations we discovered, along with commentary from some of the artists and arts supporters who were involved. But first…we just wouldn’t be your Redheads if we didn’t share with you our very own Road Trip Top Ten…

1.) Biggest Regret: Not stopping to have our picture taken with the taxidermied bear.

 2.) Culinary Highpoint: Kingston, NY. Pulling into our hotel and seeing a TGI Fridays, Taco Bell, and a Sonic Drive-In did not bode well for our gastric expectations, but a little expedition off the beaten path to the waterfront brought great rewards. This is where we found Ship to Shore Restaurant , and Richard, our charming and darn near perfect waiter who brought us one of our best meals in recent memory. Starting off with a soup of caramelized onions, cici beans and just a hint of curry and followed by a seafood risotto with rock shrimp and scallops that were beyond fresh we thought we couldn’t ask for anything more. Until…dessert! The vanilla bean crème brulée had us near tears. We felt we need never eat again, at least until the next morning when we made a stop at Adams Fairacre Farms market and picked up local goat cheese and apples and pears for that night’s automotive dinner. AND chocolate…which brings us to...

 3.) Best Breakfast: Truffles from Adams Fairacre Farm! Don’t give us that look! Chocolate is loaded with good things that fill one with peace and good will towards one's fellow man, especially when the chocolate in question has been laced with brandy. Besides, isn’t it a vegetable?

 4.) Low Point: In a nameless city in a nameless hotel calling for extra blankets and receiving something called a blanket that seemed to have been fabricated out of melted cassette tapes. ICK!

 5.) Best In-Car Entertainment: Reading P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves & Wooster stories aloud. Musical use of language, great characters, and fall-on-the-floor funny. Just what the old onion needs while on the road.

 6.) Lower Point: The much-vaunted "Sleep Number" beds in our hotel rooms somewhere along the way. As far as the Redheads can discern, the perfect sleep number is the phone number you call to get a couple of Sealy Posturepedics delivered a.s.a.p.

 7.) Magic Moment: Stopping on a pitch black road in the Adirondacks and looking up to see that the lights in the sky were millions of stars. Millions!

 8.) In our Next Life: We want to be dancers with Paul Taylor’s Taylor 2 Company.

9.) Our Confession… There is no Ten; we got distracted by something shiny.

Girls’ Night(s) Out

Melissa Manchester, Michele Brourman, Me, and Amanda McBroom Post show at the Gardenia

The Gardenia gig was delightful! Michele Brourman and I put together a terrific set of songs from some of our favorite composers including Gretchen Peters, June Carter Cash, Joni Mitchell, Amanda McBroom, Michele herself and Melissa Manchester. Ms. Manchester even showed up at the club with her mother to hear me sing her delicious songs Lucky Break (written with Beth Nielsen Chapman) and Mother’s Prayer. If you think it’s daunting having one composer in the room try having THREE, but I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive cheering section. Amanda McB joined me for a duet on Michele and Sheila Rae’s tune It’s Never Perfect and a trio with Michele and me on Monotonous. Many friends old and new dropped by including composers Shelly Markham and Ray Jessel, singer Anne Kerry Ford, my very best friend from high school Cindy Banescu, and my newlywed cousin Elizabeth Mucci, who brought her new hubby along for my approval. Many many many debts of gratitude are owed to Tom Rolla and the Gardenia staff, my friends Jason Graae and Glen Fretwell who provided me with a lovely temporary home in the Hollywood hills, Miss Laurel back on the East Coast who is a never-ending fount of wisdom and sanity, Amanda McBroom who sang my praises and worked the phones getting people to come out to see us, and last but never least my partner in song Michele Brourman, whose awe-inspiring talent and support make me feel I can do anything! We’re eagerly anticipating our return.

Off to Philly

Rick Jensen Surrounded by our Philly vocalists Karen Gross, Rob Cox, Barbara Gurskey, Anne Ellithorpe, & Lorraine Barrett

Your Redheads had a grand time on Saturday teaching a fine group of singers in Philadelphia. This time out we were very pleased indeed to have one of our favorite piano men, Rick Jensen, along for the ride. The ins and outs of song interpretation, chatting with an audience, messing up
on-stage, and schmoozing gracefully with fellow artists were among the issues of the day.

Our students Lorraine Barrett, Rob Cox, Anne Ellithorpe, Karen Gross, and Barbara Gurskey, shared their talents with us most willingly. We were much inspired by their enthusiasm for the work.

Miss Laurel, Miss Wendy Lane and our Hostess for the day Anne Ellithorpe

Many thanks to Anne Ellithorpe who served as hostess for the event, graciously opening her home and her kitchen to us. She sings, she dances, she makes a heck of a peanut butter brownie! If you feed us we’ll always come back! An extra thank you is due to Mr.J who did double duty as pianist and official photog for the event.

Someday Soon

My people are not a portable people. A trip to the corner store requires an oversize tote bag containing at least two books, a spare pair of shoes, three shades of lipstick and two and a half pounds of loose change. I’ve come to accept this about myself, and I appreciate the lovely shoulder muscles that have developed from schlepping my paraphernalia all over town. My portability powers will be sorely tried this summer as I get ready to make a couple of trips out to the West Coast. I understand that Continental Airlines only lets you have one fifty pound bag and then they ask for a kidney and your first born child. Ah, but lest you think I protest too much…All this schlepage is for a good cause. I’ll be spending time on the Other Coast working on a brand new set of tunes to be debuted at the Gardenia in West Hollywood on September 4th and 5th.

I’ll also be working with a brand new set of collaborators. I have wanted to work with Michele Brourman for a very long time, and I’m thrilled that we’ve finally found the time and a venue to do it. Michele is an arranger, composer, pianist and vocalist with exquisite taste. We have been having a grand time pitching ideas back and forth. Right now we’re working whittling the song list down from the forty or so songs we absolutely love to an hour’s worth of material. Obviously packing light isn’t my only issue, although in my defense we started out with eighty.

Two of my other favorite Angelinos will be making guest appearances. Singer/Songwriter Amanda McBroom will pop in for a song or two, as will the insanely talented Jason Graae. I am a lucky girl to have such gifted and generous friends!

And now…back to packing and song whittling!

Once Upon a Summertime

Being languid creatures by nature, we redheads often dream of spending summer poolside, sipping exotic drinks and reading high-minded tomes whilst being waited upon by handsome (yet learned) pool boys. Alas, we burn at the slightest touch of sunlight, and have some serious habits to support like eating and paying the rent. Exit one fantasy, enter more fulfilling pursuits. We’re quite looking forward to spending much of the next two months teaching and coaching performers. Together we’ll be doing master classes for singers of all stripes in Delaware on July 11th and in the Philadelphia area on July 18th. Even better still Rick Jensen, composer, pianist, arranger, and mensch (that’s Yiddish for one hip cat) will be joining us in these excursions. We promise luculent and coruscating pedagogy for all. (That’s intellectual speak for we’ll be easy to understand and really funny. We just discovered Eric’s Lexicon of Obscure and Cool Words, and are dying to try out a few).

In addition to our joint pursuits we’ve got a few other things going on. For Miss Laurel that means her annual teaching stints at Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp and The Cabaret Conference at Yale University. While at Yale she’ll be sharing the bill with Amanda McBroom for an evening of great tunes on Saturday, August 1st. Miss Wendy Lane will be heading off in the opposite direction to spend some time in L.A. working on a new project, the details of which will be spilled in abundance very soon.

Along the way, we’ll be filing reports, posting photos, and sharing it all with you. You can always keep track of our whereabouts by checking out the “Where in the World are the Redheads” section of the blog, in its usual spot to the right of this column. Have a salubrious summer! (there we go again…)

XO

Your Redheads

PS The fabu photo came from another one of our favorite sites My Vintage Vogue. A great inspiration for stylish daydreams.

Making Music in Delaware

Our Delaware Group

( L to R WLB, Vivian Holfeld, Leslie Shapiro, LM, Jessica Cohn, Lily Ozer, Diane Tadlock, Patti Malatesta, Carol Cassarino, Katie Soukup, Tina Sheing)

We got up too early, slid around on the ice, and Miss Wendy lane ended up flat on her tuchus at the hands of Miss. Laurel during a particularly spirited re-enactment of the 6th of the 10 Commandments of Schmoozing …all in all, our Delaware Master Class last Saturday was FANTASTIC! Our host, the delightful Tina Sheing, helped us gather a great group of performers who put their hearts and voices into the work. Katie Soupkup provided support and encouragement from the keyboard for our singers who fulfilled our every pedagogical request with enthusiasm.

Many thanks to Tina, Katie, our students Vivian Holfeld,Leslie Shapiro, Carol Cassarino, Jessica Cohn,Patti Malatesta, Lily Ozer and Diane Tadlock. We’re looking forward to making a return appearance in the First State in the spring. Keep your eyes on this space for details.

A very special word of thanks to composer Larry Kerchner and Annette Costa who, among other things, kept Miss Wendy from sliding away on the icy sidewalk (note to self, put on the wildly impractical shoes AFTER entering the building, broken bones do not a graceful entrance make), provided a camera when ours was MIA, and fed us a magnificent lunch after class. Your kindness put the perfect grace note on a wonderful trip.

XO

The RedHeads

Words & Music & Pictures

As promised we remembered to bring out our trusty camera to memorialize our fabulous trip to DC for the Words & Music master class. Here are a few shots of the people who made it a memorable day...

Miss Wendy Lane with Tim Tourbin, her high school chum (and a darn fine singer himself) who along with his partner Jeff offered your Redheads his home for the evening before the class. Note the look of slight surprise on his face: who knew two redheads and their paraphernalia could take up almost on entire floor for on overnight trip!

Miss Laurel & Tim wondering if 8:30 AM on a Saturday is really the best time to take photos.

Class participant Maura Mendoza with our accompanist one of DC's best and best dressed Ron Chiles. (Alas, the tux wasn't for us he was off to another gig right after ours!)

Our DC Singers with Laurel: Left to right Maura Mendoza, Joanne Hyder, Christy Trapp, Laurel, Kathy Reilly, Chris Herman, and Terri Allen.

The moment we discover that we really could use a camera with a timer so that we can all be in one picture. Wendy Lane with the group.

We love coming to DC, and will be back for another class on March 14th. In the meantime big hugs and kisses from us to everyone who shared this experience with us. Special thanks is due to Tim Tourbin and Jeff Hamlin for housing us and feeding us a magnificent meal, to Terri Allen who takes care of all our class needs by booking our studio space, accompanist, and lugging and providing her sound system for our use. We couldn't have done it without you!!!!!

Our next class coming up will be on October 25th in New York City. If you want more details just click HERE and drop an email.

Kisses,

Your Redheads