Backing at the Festino

Dick DeAngelis is a great friend of music in Fairfield and last December he hosted a party for musicians.   He said musicians support causes with free performances throughout the year, and this was his way to thank them for their generosity.   Dick cooked up some great Italian food, brought red wine, and collected the cool of Fairfield to evoke a special atmosphere for making music.   Several entertained us with solos and a few of us jammed with them as back-up players.   I did a few backing vocals.   Here's an 8-minute jam from that night ~ ~ ~



Players (left to right): Keith DeBoer, Christy, David Hurlin, Jon Estrin, Trina Neal, Tim Britton
Video posted by FairfieldRocksMe

Mike's Toon

Mike the guitarist

Mike's is the first caricature I made.   I like the transparent background and plan to do that to all the sketches.   Sketched so far:

     Christy's toon
     Mike's guitar

It'll take some time to climb the learning curve for the new software, GIMP, but I expect it to be worthwhile because it's in my budget (being free), plus being open-source appeals to my sense of amity and goodwill.

Christy's Toon

Christy the lead singer

Last March I created a caricature of my face to use in a poster for promoting the band.   I've been using as a facebook profile pic.   It includes my instrument, a microphone.   Haven't pixed a flute yet.

I gave Photoshop Elements a try-out for creating the sketches ~ Mike's guitar, my face, and Mike's face ~ and now I plan to use GIMP (free and open-source) to continue crafting the collection.

Shakin' All Over

lollipop (or sucker)
first & fourth verses
photo ~ Gregory Bastien

Shakin' All Over was the name of the first song we played for Open Mic last night  ~ Russ, Mike, and me at 8:10 pm.


"Shakin' all over" also describes my initial state of nervousness on the stage.   I put a positive spin on it, thinking, Well, maybe actual physical shakes might add to the emotional authenticity of the song.   I heard my voice shaking as I sang the opening lines, but it wasn't as obvious to other listeners as it was in my ears at the time.

chocolate
second verse

Burnt Sugar Blues was the second song we played.

The second verse was inspired by a headline: women say chocolate trumps sex.   Holy cocoa, Batman, not for me!

honey
third verse

Winnie-the-Pooh was my muse for the third verse.   Really.   The honey-lovin' bear inspired wonderfully wicked ways to indulge in honey.

Writing about honey and chocolate makes my sweet tooth ache.   Lucky for me I have a jar of honey in the cupboard, so I'm dipping in and trying not to get the keyboard sticky.   Mmmm, yum...