“Ah. You haven’t gotten over the fact that it’s you doing it, have you?”

It was 2007, and I was sitting with my cello while Greg Newlon adjusted the baffles and microphones around me. It was one of my first times recording anything, and I was understandably nervous.

I started as a classically trained pianist, cellist, and vocalist. I had never considered doing anything but classical music until Greg asked me to write and play a cello line on “Eloise,” a song on Bev Barnett & Greg Newlon’s 2007 CD Any Doorway Will Do. That was the first in a series of adventures that brought me where I am now.

I have fallen into a few pretty significant ditches – there were a few months when I considered never singing again – and had some pretty crazy times – while I was on tour, a police officer who pulled us over for speeding at 4:00 am (I was not driving) asked if we had “any drugs or guns in the car.” We didn’t, but I nearly burst out laughing at this fantastic moment of insanity in my otherwise fairly ordinary life. In these last few years, I was kicked out of a praise band, wore fabulously over the top costumes as a lead singer in a crazy cover band, went on tour with a name artist, began writing originals, launched and saw crash an original band, then spent more than a year playing and singing only for my dog, who still howls miserably when I play.

Putting myself out there has brought intense and lasting pain because I suck at rejection, and there is a lot of it if you try to be an artist. On the other hand, putting myself out there has also brought me the chance to jump on the better end of the dichotomy in the internet meme “It’s better to look back on life and say, ‘I can’t believe I did that,’ than to look back and say, ‘I wish I did that.’”

I released my first EP at age 50; in fact, it is my 50^th birthday present to myself. Some people might wrinkle their noses, sniff “mid life crisis” under the breath, or assume it’s trite and horrible because it comes from someone who only got up the guts to put herself out there in this way when one kid is launched and the other is on the doorstep. I would ask them to listen, just once, to all 4 of the songs, because they might be surprised. Then if they like them, I would ask them to spend $4 (less than a Venti latte!) and please buy them.

If you have any interest in seeing me play live, my EP release show at Art Boutiki on Saturday, November 12, 2016 is the best chance to do it; please click the BPT icon to the right for tickets. I don’t play out often, especially with a full band, and your help filling the venue will go a long way towards supporting me, live music venues like Art Boutiki, and local musicians including Dave Maurischat, Chris Lanier, and Will Diamond, who will join Kenny Schick and Sabiné Heusler-Schick of ArtemesiaBlack in backing me.

Speaking of folks who haven’t played out recently, I somehow managed to talk ArtemesiaBlack into opening before they back me up. This is a rare opportunity to see and hear the magic they weave. Please take advantage of it.

Show time is 7:30 pm, and advance tickets are available here for $10 plus a small transaction fee. You can also buy tickets at the door for $10.

In the meantime, I’m well on my way to getting over the fact that it’s me doing it. Putting out this EP helped a lot (more on that in another blog post), but I am definitely not done. I’ll keep working on it, and invite you to listen, buy, download, come to a concert, and see what it sounds like.

Thanks for reading.