And my name is on the flier and everything... how cool is that!?
It's a fundraising event for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Austin, so use that as your excuse to come eat dinner at Hangtown Grill!
It's sort of a weird deal where you have to print and take in this flier to benefit the BGC. The Facebook invite with times, etc, is here.
I can only play covers at present, but I hope that changes in the next several months. I'm taking Mandy's intermediate class with Girl Guitar right now, and she also offers songwriting, vocal harmonies, alternate tunings, advanced classes... I want to take all of them. I may take a break from guitar class after this session is over and work with a voice teacher, though. Despite doing choir throughout middle school and Jr. High, I can't remember when to breathe, how to maintain a key... you know, just the important stuff.
Anyway, here's a simple song I learned yesterday that I may play tonight, "An Attempt To Tip The Scales" by Bright Eyes, (although I don't think he even strums it when he does it, so this is the Amanda version):
I should really stop wearing pajamas all the time. Or, just record myself in the morning as opposed to midnight. But that would also require waking up for the morning. Dilemma.
How did February 1st sneak up to be right around the corner? Little buggar. I was none-to-pleased to find this email in my in box today from my teacher (who is awesome even though I'm not - it was a beginner class, cut me some slack!):
"hey pretty ladies! I'm super pumped about the big show monday night; here are some things to know:
y'all need to be there by 6:30, por favor. doors aren't officially open until 7, so unfortunately husbands, friends, adoring fans, etc. can't come in until at least 7 so if you ride together you may have to kick them over to lavaca street for a pre-show drink. or make them wait in the car.
if you click on "invite people to come" under the logo all your friends will pop up. if you click "share" it will post it to your profile. part of the fun of playing at a kickass place like antone's is the enormous pressure to fill the ding dang place up... [etc] ...also we'll be followed by guilty pleasures, a really fun all-girl cover band.
let me know what questions you have! you're all gonna rock and you're all very pretty!"
Fill the place up!? No siree! There are names for people like me:
1) She-who-needs-more-practice
2) Shake-n-Bake. (This is why I don't read at poetry slams).
What do you do when you're scared of something, especially crowds? I have prescription anti-anxiety medicine. Seriously. I used it on the few occasions I slammed/competed last year. But that's probably not the best solution.
Oh faceless internet anonymity, how I love you in terms of being way too personal. (Sometimes.)
Song #4 in the drive to become a for-real-for-fun guitar player. After making this video, I realized it was definitely time to utilize that box of hair dye I recently purchased from Whole Foods, (I'm convinced L'oreal fried my hair), and I am now a happy brunette again.
I have a month until the Girl Guitar recital at Antone's, and after seeing the stage for the first time Monday night, I'm already freaking out. It's one song, breathe, breathe...
Ideally, I won't lose the motivation to keep practicing after February's performance, so thus I resolve to keep learning at least one new song every two weeks. Luckily, playing guitar is way more fun than going to the gym, even if my fingertips suffer for it.
After Ladies Rock Camp, I signed up for guitar lessons with Girl Guitar Austin, per the advice of my co-worker, Julie. Girl Guitar is run by Mandy Rowden, who is the ideal example of a woman who has taken the thing she is most passionate about and made it her life in a positive way - and the benefactors of this, in addition to people who go to her shows - are girls like me who get to go to guitar class, play with other ladies, and drink wine, all at the same time! If you've ever been inside a rehearsal space at one of the Music Lab locations, then you're probably picturing a black room with lots of equipment, cords, and amplifiers strewn about in a hazardous-to-your-health-and-spinal-cord sort of way. Mandy has managed to make her space look like an apartment - complete with refrigerator, framed photos, fabric wall paper, lamps, mirrors, wine cabinet, and chairs with squishy pads for comfortable playing.
I've only been to one lesson so far, and our first song was "Get Right With God," by Lucinda Williams. It must be fated for me to be in this class, because Lucinda Williams is partly an Arkansas girl. Her father is one of my favorite poets, Miller Williams, who was a creaive writing professor at the University of Arkansas - which just so happened to be my major, and my alma mater. Go hogs.
Moving along, the above video is proof that I have, indeed, been trying to practice, unlike every other time I've started guitar lessons. I even got a little over-zealous this weekend....
Above is my attempt at St. Augustine by Band of Horses. I remind myself of a little kid plunking on the piano to find the right notes. My poor room mates; it's lucky they are heavy sleepers. Also, while I may be documenting my labored progress at learning the guitar, if anyone wants to take pity on me and offer up a lesson on how to sing, I'd gladly document that progress, too! Turning my vocals into something that actually sounds like singing would be a huge feat for any teacher - so please, use me as your before and after selling point! I've already got the "before" part recorded - see above.
I'd also like to add, as a foot note, that while I may be wearing a Save the Wild Things t-shirt and playing a Band of Horses song, I am not the pretentious hipster that this video makes me out to be... Or is the first act of being a hipster denying that one is a hipster? Crap. I bought that shirt in Baton Rouge in fall of 2008, pre-release of any movie trailor, and I discovered Band of Horses in the second worst way possible, (according to hipster theology, the first worst being to hear it on the radio), it was suggested to me by Amazon.com while downloading mp3s. For shame! I was also baking chocolate cupcakes in between songs - if you promise to forget this post I'll give you one. Although, I did make the frosting from tofu.
If you've been with me for a month or so, you'll know I abandoned trying to play guitar and sing at the same time during my weekend at Ladies Rock Camp, because it was too darn hard. Well, I've managed to learn a song! Sort of... if we ignore that I miss the very first chord, can't always match the tune to the chord that I'm hitting, have to concentrate really really hard on where to put my fingers next, and I don't deviate from the same simple strum pattern, then we can say: ok, I learned the song. I learned a song!
So, if I've ever given you crap about anything, I suppose this is fair turn around. My goal is to know a different song, better, by one week. And in this goal, I will actually practice, and actually learn to play, (ideally). Singing is another story - practice can't fix everything.
