We’d Rather You Didn’t

We’ve been bit harried these days and so have gotten away from some of our beloved regular features. But as we both have CDs nearing completion (and availability) we find we are beset from all sides by well meaning advice and analyses of How The Music Business Works. With this in mind, we have decided it’s time for another segment of We’d Rather You Didn’t.

All told Your redheads have been singing professionally for as long as Cher has been alive, and in that time we have picked up a few tidbits of information about the music business so we’d really rather strangers didn’t assume that we are lost little lambs in need of guidance. In fact, here are few things we’d like to share with you, especially if you are thinking of entering the business and getting rich by Christmas.


1.)The check is NOT in the mail.

2.)Though someone may have opened for Englebert Humperdink at a Muscular Dystrophy Telethon in 1978, it does not necessarily follow that he or she knows or, for that matter, even met said Englebert.


3.) In light of #2, therefore, said someone probably can’t get anyone a gig headlining Caesar’s Palace.


4.) Therefore, singing for free in his or her Greek restaurant in Lodi, NJ may not be the career move he or she is suggesting it will be, as no one can compete with flaming saganaki.


5.) The check is still not in the mail


6.) Though Hot Blooded was a big hit for Foreigner, it’s really not the right song for either of us.

7.) We know your friend Ace very successfully managed his local tire shop for many years, but that’s not really the same as managing artists.


8.) Giving “Power of Attorney” to a manager does not mean he will have the authority to get you an attorney should you need one. Indeed, it means something very different.

9.) Music actually is a “Real Job”.

10.) Check? What check?

Some of the spirit of this list is admirably captured in DC Anderson’s song Your Father & I Have Been Talking. It’s our Thanksgiving present to you. Scroll down to the next post and enjoy!

We'd Rather You Didn't

DC Anderson's Your Father & I Have Been Talking

Tuscany Ciao-down

We Redheads are not given to envy; we love all our performer pals and are never ever jealous of their success, but we do admit to just the slightest twinge because we can't be there when two of our favorite  people, Amanda McBroom and Michele Brourman, spend an entire week teaching, singing (and eating!) in Tuscany this June.  But YOU can go! Heart & Soul: The Art of Vocal Performance  will be taught June 11-18 at San Fidele, a twelfth-century monastery in the Tuscan Hills between Sienna and Florence. The class is for any vocalists who want to sharpen their skills and increase their repertoire while enjoying the beauty of Italy. In addition to Michele and Amanda, Gerald Sternbach (master pianist, arranger and composer) will also be part of the faculty.  It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with some of the finest musicians and teachers we’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. The program  is sponsored by Il Chiostro and you can get all the details on their site . Meanwhile, we have a sudden craving for pasta, and must dash! Ciao!

Music for a Monday

It’s Monday run amok! I’m throwing myself about trying to get ready for a photo session, meet nine or ten pressing deadlines and prep for an influx of houseguests. The glam quotient is sorely lacking, but the soundtrack is great. Cutting through the chaos is Cyndi Lauper’s At Last album, taking the sting out of an overwrought afternoon.

Wasted Words

Words, like hemlines, tend to fade in and out of fashion. Some words, such as holpen, an archaic past participle of the word help, are best left in lexicography’s dumpster. There are others though, that still have a lot of good usage left in them. I am embarking upon a personal mission to bring the word VEX back into everyday use.

Kicking around since the fifteenth century vex comes from the Latin vexare meaning to agitate or harry. To be vexed is to be irritated, agitated, puzzled, or provoked by the behavior of others. It can also mean to shake or toss about. Like it in a sentence? I am positively vexed that the word vex is so rarely used anymore.

Just saying the word feels good. Go on try it, I’ll wait. You start off with that yummy buzzy v and then slide into a creamy eee going into the stop plosive k sound and winding up on an ssssssssssssss. For a little word you get a lot of bang for your phonetic buck. Looking for more wordy fun? Try rolling vex’s variations around on your tongue. Vexation…vexatious…vexatiousness…vexedly…could be hours of endless fun for the whole family.

So go forth and use this word with abandon today. Extra bonus points if you let us know how and where you used it!

Back In My Arms Again

When I woke up this morning my inner DJ was playing the supremes. All in all not such a bad way to start the day!

I Think I Love You

I don’t know how to say this but I think I may be in love with Tim Gunn. Alas, it is doomed to be a distant unrequited sort of thing as I’m not exactly his type, and I’ve been married since I was a zygote, but still there it is. He’s been one of my primary reasons for watching Project Runway for ages, and I am an enthusiastic follower of his video blogs on Facebook. But now, with the release of his new book Gunn’s Golden Rules, my feelings have grown deeper and more ardent.

You see, in our classes Laurel and I always include a little segment that we call the Ten Commandments of Schmoozing, where we talk about the basics of navigating the world of networking in the arts. While there are ten very witty commandments (one day we’ll share them with you) they all boil down to this: “Be nice and use good manners”. Over the course of our careers, we’ve seen people behave in appalling ways when they are trying to make themselves known. We once saw an actress back a director into a corner while delivering a ten minute verbal resumé without once stopping to draw breath (she DID make herself known, but perhaps not in the way in which she’d hoped). We’re really disturbed by things like this because we feel that there are ways of networking and self-promotion that don’t make people run away from you in horror.

While Mr. Gunn gives fifteen rules for appropriate behavior in his new book, they are right in line with our Ten Commandments of Schmoozing. He doesn’t just give you the rules, but he backs them up with examples and names names! The tales of entitlement run amok in the book are enough to keep you up at night wondering what’s becoming of the world. The people he calls out in his book (Anna Wintour and several other prominent fashionistas are among them) are not people who simply don’t know any better. They are privileged souls with every reason to be grateful and gracious. Yet they seem to delight in being petulant and nasty. Anonymous makes a few appearances here too, doing things like refusing to give way to passengers exiting the subway before getting on (why IS that?), and causing scenes in various temples of retail. Not all of his examples are negative, there are enough random acts of etiquette in the book to give you hope for humanity.

It makes a redhead’s heart happy to know that there is someone else in the world who is taking up the cause of good manners. Instead of “can’t we all just get along?” perhaps our rallying cry should be “why don't we all just behave ourselves?” Maybe if we did, the getting along part would solve itself.