Saturday, Oct 13
Drove to Big D for my Poor David’s gigs. Wore my Carmen Miranda overalls that Linda Holt made for me…I love to swirl the bottoms of the oversized mulit-colored tiered pantslegs.
Walking into Poor David’s, a man with a cane (later I discovered his name was also David and it was his birthday) yelled from the parking lot, “HEY,” as he pointed his cane at my overalls. “What are THOSE!?” he finished.
The kids show was an utter delight, mostly children between 2-8, my favorite ages to perform for because they still have their wonder, they still believe in the magic of a song, a story and a smile. Kari Hirst and her husband, Eric, drove down with their sweet Elaine, who is two and has very straight, swingy hair! and I was thrilled to see them all. Also,
Amiti’s sister, Lana, came with her little baby boy and Diana, their mom. Wow! Always surprises me who shows up for the kids’ shows…Chris Conti brought snacks (cookies and juice boxes) for all the kids. Thank you, Chris! Then Kari and I caught up about our mutual forays into the world of creating children’s television….then Chris and I went across the street for dinner at Amuse 5 STARS REALLY AWESOME CHECK IT OUT!! and by then Kristin and Chip had arrived, so we had a nice chat/good eats with them.
Soundcheck: Chip and I ran through some songs after we stopped in at Bill’s Records next door to PD’s and heard a nice country western dude and his honey singing original tunes
(“….I don’t care if I don’t make money, as long as they comp my beer!”) and while Chip and I were getting set up, in walked Bill! I had never met him, which is odd since I lived in Dallas all those years years ago, but I was happy to finally meet another legend…as we were chatting, Bill told me he had lived with his mother all her life, until she had passed away 11 years ago, so I asked Chip and Kristin to help me give a private concert of “My Mama’s Hands” and it was hard not to cry as I sang looking in Bill’s eyes….Definately one of the moments where I am grateful to be a musician…
ADULT SHOW: Two whoops and a holler, if we didn’t have a blast. Cynthia and Kurt and Mike McGee and I’m not gonna remember everyone please forgive me but a great crowd and Carlos ran great sound and I even had a little Goldschlager towards the end (tastes like Christmas! with flecks of gold…) and asked the Ackermans up to sing on “Later Than You Think” and their own song, “Little Bird of Anger”….Then had EVERYONE in the audience come up on stage and we sang “Angels” to the twenty or so still seated. Nice to have a full stage of singing people! I looooooooooooove it!
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14
Played at Raven’s 5th birthday party in Frisco, Tx….Wowie Zowie! There was a red carpet lining the sidewalk, balloons with “HB RAVEN!” and black stars decorated with each child’s name on the sidewalk leading up to the red carpet….Inside, inflatable electric guitars and plastic microphones, a sno-cone machine, a popcorn machine, and out back a full stage with a covering, PA system and a 6 foot in diameter double lit circle that blinked on and off with HAPPY BIRTHDAY in the middle….tiny little tables and chairs of black and purple, set up in rows about five deep, three across, and a Moonwalk with lots of jumpin’ goin’ on!
I sang/told stories for an hour. Had Raven’s dad, Michael, up to dance, but he got cold feet, so his brother, Robert, came up, and so did little Raven in a shimmery, gold lame top!, and THEY danced and we all laughed and screamed with joy. What a fun, fun party!
SUNDAY NIGHT
Went out with Cyndy, Sara, and two of their friends to Alo, a delicious Tapas and Peruvian restaurant over off of Central and Knox/Henderson. I highly recommend it. I had a Fuzzy Navel to celebrate Cyndy’s birthday, and a taste of the homemade banana ice cream. MMM! Feng shue interior of browns and spring green…very calming and delicious.
Came back to the very generous hotel room I had been given….a suite on the 8th floor of the Valley View Doubletree off 635….had to use my hotel key to get the elevator to even take me to the 8th floor! Whoo!….and my “room” was actually two bedrooms, a living area, a dining area, a kitchen, three bathrooms….a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine, compliments of the hotel manager….I called down to make sure they had me in the right room, I couldn’t believe it! They assured me I was in the right room (ok, the note from the manager next to the strawberries had confirmed it, but you know, there is the “Sara Hickman” who was on Barney and another S.H. who writes English instruction manuals…could have been for them!) I was SO wishing I had my family here to enjoy this with me. I felt very blessed and decided to just enjoy the sanctuary and quiet time of all……….this……………….space! Thank you to Chris for making this happen, and to Greg, the hotel manager, for making me feel very welcomed and loved.
MONDAY MORNING, OCT 15
Another Chris and her associate, Donna, picked me up and took me over to create a radio spot at KLITE/KVIL headquarters for the November 17th Dallas Help the Homeless Walkathon. I had a hilarious time in the recording studio with ANOTHER Chris and nailed the spot first take. I suggested we do two more, just in case….man, radio is a blast!
I started making goofy faces through the glass window at a DJ across the hall, live on the air, and he started goofing back, and when we were finished in our little studio, went over and realized it was Terry King, who I’ve known from Elektra days, and we hugged and kissed and then I was whirled away to lunch at Chuy’s (hooray! Austin in Dallas!) and
had superb conversations with Chris (her husband helps with a day worker’s program) and Donna (her husband, I later found out, works in video production…!) and then off we went to the United Way where I filmed a commercial….I’ll see if I can’t get some of the outtakes for you. We were cracking ourselves up, I tell you what.
After that, came back to the hotel, got caught up on emails (almost…if you haven’t heard from me, yet, hang in there! I’m almost to you!) Went downstairs to the gift shoppe to buy some thank you notes, and on the way up, discovered there is a secret NINTH FLOOR where my magical key would take me for hors-deurves and beverages…so, up I went and lo and behold! Stuffed, breaded mushrooms with a dill sauce and wine and beer and cheese and crackers and fresh veggies and….I sat and watched the news and relaxed and thought, “Is this how it is for wealthy travelers all the time? Secret rooms and tasty snacks that they rest of us never see….?”
So, this morning, I returned to the Harry Potter Ninth Floor of Yummies and had BREAKFAST, too….at least until I was reprimanded, politely mind you, for not having any shoes upon my feet. I was also wearing my pajamas and the cushy hotel robe. I figured they’d mistake me for some sleepy-eyed Greek heiress, but I guess having bare feet is tacky and heathenistic. Oops. I took my food down to the room and sat in one of the 80 zillion chairs under one of the 1300 lamps and enjoyed my peace and my paper.
I’d like to thank William Silver for calling me last night at 10:30 to share the method of EFT with me (Emotional Freedom Technique). It is a tapping and release method where one works through whatever is holding one back, in essence. We were concentrating on my insomnia, thoughts/concerns over my sister, thoughts on aspects of Super Pal Universe and thoughts on the a word I have carried all my life: “ugly”. I felt very good after our phone session, and was sleepy, and went to sleep. Woke up in spurts, but overall, it seemed like a
a worthy endeavor and I am glad to have experienced it with a teacher of the method! Thank you, William, for taking time out of your day and being a NECESSARY ANGEL!!!!!
Again!
Well, my family is driving up from Austin so we can all go see the exhibit by Ron Mueck, incredible testimony to the tug of art’s spell that creating something in a realistic way can bring thousands of people to see what they look at every day: each other. I am excited about today, just being with family and doing something around art. When I was a little girl, I used to love to go to the museums with my mom and dad…they knew so much about art, and hearing them talk about it, or helping me read about an artist in the bio on the wall, was really fun for me. And it has stuck with me all the years…art has blessed and enriched my life tremedously, so I am happy to share this tradition with my girls.
Back to Austin late tonight. Here’s the test you will love taking…Thank you to the Dalai Lama for all his inspiration and giddiness!
http://memoriter.net/flash/test.html
Ciao!