Karaoke in the 90's & some Girl Power...

I figured yesterday at Karaoke would have been slow because 4th of July landed on a Friday this year and every other year I've Hosted Karaoke it's been really slow during the week of the 4th.  I think people are usually just saving themselves for the 4th Festivities but that wasn't the case yesterday.  In fact, the past two weeks swapped and two weeks ago was really slow with just a few people in the rotation and everyone getting a chance to sing a bunch!

Last week at Karaoke I had my own little 90's theme going and started the night with Jewel's 'Who Will Save Your Soul' one of my favorites that I hadn't sang in a while as I like her slower songs more but this is still a good one.  Next up it was 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks that I followed up with 'Heart-Shaped Box' by Nirvana.  It's a lot of fun to change up the artists and genres and I hope it inspires people to try new songs and music because it just makes the Karaoke experience more exciting and challenging.  Another couple songs I hadn't sang in a while were Joan Osborne's 'One Of Us' and The Beatles 'Oh Darlin' which wasn't a 90's but I gave it that rock/alternative feel.  It was time for my new song of the night so I did 'Crush' by Jennifer Paige since Gail sang it a couple weeks ago and I remembered how much I loved the song.  It's not my favorite Karaoke song but it was new and nice to try!  It was a little duet of Justin Timberlake and Ciara with their song 'Love+Sex+Magic' which I sang back at Halloween this past year and was reminded why I haven't sang it since.  It's really hard!  I closed out the night with 'Try Again' by Aaliyah since I had worn some old school Adidas kicks :)  

One would think by coming into Gabe's this week for Karaoke I was going through a horrible break-up, I hated men, or something worse, but that wasn't the case at all.  This week was all about singing songs I hadn't sang in a while, new songs added to my History and of course, my new song of the night.  I opened with 'I Hate Myself For Loving You' by Joan Jett which I actually recorded in a studio years ago when a friend of mine and I were working on creating a new rock female group.  I actually have one of our songs up on my Myspace Page, and to be honest, I really liked the song, along with the others we recorded but unfortunately, that venture ended rather abruptly.  I'd love to do something like that again!  Continuing on for Karaoke, my next song was 'Missing You' by John Waite, and my new song of the night was Destiny's Child 'Survivor.'  Wow is that song wordy and difficult; I can see why they need all three females singing that song because it's so quick and if you don't know all the lyrics, you're going to miss it.  Lucky for me, I had practiced this one a couple weeks ago so I was prepped for it, and had a lot of fun with it.  Even if I was exhausted at the end ;)  It was a Heart super-set and my song was 'If Looks Could Kill' and Diana had me sing 'What About Love' with her so she could harmonize on the high parts in that song.  To close out the night I sang 'Keep Me Hanging On' by Kim Wilde, another strong female song! 

There were lots of songs last week and I was glad to take a little break from singing this week by just doing a few songs.  It's good to mix things up, and my acting even comes to play at Karaoke when I have a week like I did, just this past Wednesday.  We always have a good time!  Things will be back to normal next week and hopefully everyone has a safe and wonderful 4th of July!

*This brings back memories: 'Hurt Ya Just A Little' Song on Myspace

Weekend Auditions!

It's been a busy work week and on top of that this weekend brought my first two Auditions of 2013!  My first was on Friday morning for the new Myspace and the second one was this afternoon for the role of Mimi in the musical 'Rent!'

 

Myspace is doing a re-launch this Spring and it will no longer just be a social media platform it's going to be focused on Artists in all fields.  My Audition on Friday morning was in Hollywood at a Casting Studio and after filling out a long questionnaire about myself including my background, skills, aspirations, inspirations, and other fun info I was ready to do the on-camera Audition.  It wasn't actually an Audition, more of an interview from the questions I had answered, and like usual, I was being filmed and had to slate, but this video is actually going to go up on my new Myspace page once it re-launches this Spring!  Basically, they're editing the interview into a 1 minute video that will sell you and try to get sponsorship from producers looking for new talent.  I pitched one of my ideas for my own show that I want to film and put up on Youtube, and also talked about Hosting Karaoke, Cooking and making up Recipes, as well as Acting.  The interview seemed to go by quickly and about 10 minutes later they told me I was all set.  The totally random part of the whole thing was that the cameraman was from Wisconsin and the Interviewer's brother lived in Wisconsin and worked at Epic, which is where my brother used to work.  I love how small LA can be at times!

 

Today I had an Audition for the role of Mimi in 'Rent.'  I've been fighting off a cold for the past couple of days because everyone has been getting sick and to be perfectly honest, I knew I would catch it at some point because I come into contact with hundreds of people when I'm working at the bars or Hosting Karaoke.  I just hoped it would wait until Monday when the Audition and Call-Backs were over and as fate would have it, I woke up this morning and could barely speak.  I've been taking good care of myself all week, not drinking, eating healthy, and trying to get sleep even though I've been so busy with work.  So this morning as soon as I got up, I made this Immunity Boosting Tea, took a nice hot shower, had a healthy breakfast of oatmeal and tried to practice my two song selections which were 'Another Day' from "Rent" and 'Gravity' by Sara Bareilles.  I figured if I couldn't sing my absolute strongest at least I would look the part of Mimi and put on some patterned tights,  my combat boots, left my hair wavy, and did more Latin looking make-up, to try to look as close to her as possible.  There was a dancing portion so they had told us to dress appropriately for that and I was comfortable but still looked the part.  I grabbed some hot tea from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on the way and had a packet of Emergen-C in my bag for my water bottle when I finished the tea.  I prepared myself as best as possibly, trying to rest my voice and only sing when I had to.

 

Channeling Mimi from 'Rent'

When I arrived at the Audition it was in a 2 hour block and there were about 20 people that were auditioning for the Musical.  Everyone got to sing their songs first and then there would be a Dance portion at the end.  Most of the girls at the Audition were auditioning for the role of Mimi so I also said I would consider Maureen because it would give me another opportunity but I really wanted the role of Mimi.  We were told we only had to sing one song and to pick our best one and if they wanted to hear the other one they would tell you.  People went in one by one and I went outside to practice one last time before I auditioned.  I decided on 'Another Day' and when I got called into the room, the Casting Director told them my name and I went in with energy and smiles, got my starting note from the accompanist and sang my song.  My voice wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be but there was nothing more I could do about that and I had done my best to be able to make it through the song, so I sang with emotion, love, hopefulness, and strength as Mimi did.  I felt the part, I felt the song, and as they thanked me when I finished up, I knew that I did my best but that this time it just wasn't good enough.  Once everyone finished we went downstairs to learn the choreography and that was pretty easy and a lot of fun.  We got partnered up and worked through the choreography a few times, rehearsing it in front of the Directors and Producers and then doing it in small groups.  I felt a lot stronger in my dancing because of my theater background and my ability to have fun with the steps and add some flair to it.  I also knew, no matter how well I danced, they had already made their decisions for call-backs, so I had fun, smiled, and flipped my hair with sass.  

 

They announced the names of those who would attend call-backs tomorrow and I was not one of them.  I'm definitely bummed but there's nothing I can do.  I did my best and I got to Audition for a show that I've always wanted to be a part of and hopefully I'll get another opportunity when I'm not sick with a cold.  I'm proud that I went to this audition and gave it my all, no regrets, and they'll be more challenges and opportunities in the future!  As for my Myspace Interview, that'll be up in the next few weeks and I'll post that link as soon as I have it.  

 

Stay warm everyone and keep your eye on the prize!