'One Night Stands'

A couple weeks ago I auditioned for Defiance Theater Company to do a show called 'One Night Stands' that would run for three weeks with a short rehearsal period.  Knowing I had 'Thenardier's Inn' starting up in a few weeks I couldn't commit to anything long-term and because of my work schedule I didn't have much availability.  This was the perfect project!  Not to mention, it was going to be a major role change for me and very challenging.

Thanks to Sam, Adam, and Rachel for coming to Opening Night and snapping some pics!

I don't want to give too much away, but the character I'm playing is empowered and fun, she's flirty and forward with just a touch of crazy AND I have the wildest prop.  One that I told my Dad, would be ok if he didn't come and see this show.  It's not that bad, but it's certainly not normal.  It's a very physical scene and required some choreography to get it just perfect.  It's the type of thing you have to see :)

Courtney and I at Idle Hour for some post-show celebrations!

The show is at the Avery Schreiber Playhouse in North Hollywood and consists of seven short scenes that are all about 'One Night Stands' and it's opened by Cupid.  It's an hour-long show and it flies by so quickly!  We've got one final show this Friday at 9 pm but I hope to do the show again in the future since it's been going on for over eight years now!  Let me know if you can make it on Friday, I'd love to see ya there!

'Hard Knocks' at Afterbuzz TV

I can't believe how quickly Football Training Camp came and went.  'Hard Knocks' focuses on those five weeks and specifically one team; this year it was the newly re-located back to LA Rams.  After 21 years in St. Louis, they came back to Cali!  This year I was Lead Hosting and Producing our segment with my new co-host, Joe Doyle.  We also had Throwback Joe join us for the first and last episodes to bring a little extra to our show!

Throwback Joe, Joe Joe Doyle and I Hosting 'Hard Knocks'

I am a die-hard Packer fan and will be for life; I've been on that season ticket waiting list since I was nine years old, thanks to my Mom.  They used to say by the time we were in our 50's, we would finally get tickets.  Now we'll be lucky if we get them in our lifetime, thanks to Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, along with the other greats, leading us to victory and winning the Superbowl many times over the last 20 years!  

One thing I've noticed watching 'Hard Knocks' over the last few years is that you get invested in the team they are profiling.  I was excited about the Falcons and even said Devonta Freeman would be a late draft pick-up for Fantasy and would yield high results and I was right!  Last year's Houston Texans got me excited about their team and made me a huge fan of J.J. Watt, who I should already have been a fan of because he's from Wisconsin and played at UW-Madison.  This year it was exciting to have an LA Football team and someone else to root for, and learning about the players, I really enjoyed watching Aaron Donald, William Hayes, Tavon Austin, and Austin Hill.

Over the five weeks, you get an inside look at practices, team camaraderie, the pre-season games, home life, and most importantly, cuts to the teams roster which ends with 53 players making the team.  I got Throwback Joe's contact info from my friend, Shawn, who's been a Rams fan for as long as he can remember.  Throwback Joe creates new Rams gear with that Throwback-style, and has some big time players on board, like Vince Ferragamo and Eric Dickerson.  He gets the new players to sign the gear and then sends it out the people who have placed their orders.  He's been a fan of the Rams and followed them wherever they've been so it was great having a true fan in to chat with us about the Rams.  Plus, he was gracious enough to give us some gear to do a Giveaway with and send to some lucky fans!

Episode 1 of our 'Hard Knocks' Aftershow

Joe and I had a really great season Hosting our 'Hard Knocks' Aftershow at Afterbuzz TV and I will continue to keep track of the Rams this season and hopefully get to attend a game as well!  Ram Nation...let's go :)

Always a believer in Mermaids!  Our final 'Hard Knocks' show at Afterbuzz TV this season :)

*You can find Throwback Joe's in the App Store which you need to check out if you want to get any LA Rams gear!

August Karaoke!

It's been pretty quiet at Karaoke this past month except for one week in August.  I've been nursing a cold for nearly a month (don't you just hate that Summer cold that sticks around) so I was trying to take it easy and one week I didn't even sing to rest my voice.  I've felt much better in the past two weeks so I'm just keeping it low-key and getting back into the swing of things!

Bush - 'Comedown'
Whitney Houston - 'Saving All My Love'

Duffy - 'Mercy'

Pat Benatar 'Promises In The Dark'

Aladdin - 'A Whole New World'

Peabo Bryson & Celine Dion - 'Beauty & The Beast'

Stone Temple Pilots - 'Plush'

Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'Dani California'

Garbage - 'Special'

Roxette - 'It Must Have Been Love'

Tom Petty - 'You Got Lucky' 

Alanis Morissette - 'You Oughta Know'

Britney Spears - 'Lucky'

Tracy Chapman - 'Give Me One Reason'

Bon Jovi - 'You Give Love A Bad Name'

 

Fleetwood Mac - 'Say You Love Me'

The Spice Girls - 'Say You Will Be There'

Christina Aguilera & A Great Big World - 'Say Something'

Allison Krauss - 'When You Say Nothing At All'

Weezer - 'Say It Ain't So' 

Destiny's Child - 'Say My Name'

I can always count on Adam to sing
some awesome songs at Karaoke!

That first week I thought I better protect my voice but as I was singing my first song I realized I had the Phoebe voice from 'Friends' when she sounds "so sexy."  I didn't sound sexy but the cold had cleared my sinuses so I was able to hit all the high notes that my deviated septum keeps me from singing on a regular basis.  I had to sing some Whitney, so one of my new songs (I think it was new) was 'Saving All My Love' which went really well and also sang 'Beauty & The Beast' with Ace.  Just in case my Whitney had been sang before I sang that second new song of the night and we kept the Disney theme going!  I kept it a little alternative and 90's in that second week and my new song was 'Dani California' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  For the third week of singing it was really busy but Adam gave me a great suggestion to do 'Lucky' by Britney Spears, and it was actually a lot of fun!  The last week in August it was much more chill and I ended up setting a little challenge and theme for myself after singing two songs in a row that had 'say' in the title.  That Spice Girls song reminds me of my 8th Grade Graduation when a bunch of us got on stage at the reception and I sang Sporty Spice's part.  It's actually a really nice memory.  I also realized that a year ago on that Wednesday I had posted on Facebook about starting college years earlier and my Mom had left a comment on it talking about the one time I told her to turn around and come back to spend another night with me in Winona after I had been cheering (I was a College Cheerleader) at a Basketball Game.  I got a little sentimental so I sang 'When You Say Nothing At All' which Mom had suggested I sing for a Cabaret my senior year in High School.  My new song was Weezer's 'Say It Ain't So' and I was able to keep my 'say' theme going all night long!  

I'm looking forward to school being back in session and hopefully Karaoke will pick up too!  Plus, I think it's time for another theme night.  I've got a new theater production opening this weekend and another one in a couple weeks so I'll do some prep for that too and get some of the cast members in to sing!