The Corner Store Gig

A little over one week after our performance at Blues Alley, the Capital City Voices sang at a cool little place called The Corner Store. This is a little neighborhood home/arts venue that used to be, you guessed it, a corner store. Since I only had my iPhone with me, and I was busy singing (and eating and drinking), I only got a few shots of our performance.

The first photo shows our musical director, Peggy Stern, playing the piano and our executive director, Jeff Antoniuk, playing saxophone. There is a drummer behind Peggy who pitched in to give all of us some additional rhythmic accompaniment.

Here's another photo of Jeff really getting into his music.

 And here's a photo of the Chamber Choir (I'm in the Jazz Chorus) singing.

The two choirs sang independently for a few pieces each, and we also combined for a few numbers. We also gave the audience some opportunities to join in a Christmas-themed sing-along. Our hosts provided great refreshments throughout the evening in a fabulous rustic kitchen and dining room. This was a great venue for meeting people and enjoying music together. I hope we get to sing there again.

UPDATE: I've got a photo of me singing (courtesy of the CCV Facebook group). I'm the 4th person from the piano - gray pants, red shirt, Santa hat.

Happy Boxing Day!

I'm obviously a day late with a Christmas post, so I'll trust that everyone had a Merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy Boxing Day.

Since Friday, Saturday and Sunday were very busy days - shopping, cooking, cleaning, walking dogs, etc. - I'm pleased to be spending today just relaxing. The only cooking I have to do for the next couple of days is to re-heat leftovers: Sausage & Cheese Breakfast Casserole, Chili, Turkey dinner, and make fresh pots of tea.

Joshua worked a day shift at Target on Christmas Eve. When he got home, we had chili for dinner. He left later that night to play in an ensemble at an 11:00 p.m. Christmas Eve service (not a Salvation Army event). He got home about 1:00 a.m. So he said. The rest of us were snug in our beds and didn't hear him when he came in more quietly than St. Nick.

Christmas morning was quiet at our place. We ate some of the above-mentioned casserole, then I got ready for Jonathan, Maggie and Ally's visit in the afternoon. I got ready by preparing food. Everyone else got ready by resting up for the big event.

Darwin, the Beagle who thinks he's a lap dog, began the day by sleeping on Dave's lap.

When he got tired of Dave's lap, he switched to Joshua's.

Hypatia, the Beagle who thinks she's a cat, slept on the back of the easy chair. 

She took a turn up there with Josh and Darwin down below, 

and she also took a turn sleeping solo.

The afternoon was not quiet. The menu consisted of cookies, brownies and wiener bites. Simple prep and cleanup. The afternoon was enjoyable. And exciting. The dogs had a great time opening presents, trying to eat the people food (Hypatia jumped onto the table once to get at the wiener bites, but Josh and I shooed her away before she got into anything), and gobbling down doggie cookies. They also got the last three wiener bites - one for each dog. The people had a great time visiting, opening presents and gobbling down food (minus the doggie cookies). Everyone was pleased with their gifts. Even the dogs, each of whom got squeaky toys and stuffed toys (from which they promptly began removing squeakers and stuffing). 

After Jonathan, Maggie and Ally left to have Christmas dinner with her family, I prepared our  dinner: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, gravy.

In the evening, Darwin, Hypatia and Dave napped on the couch, 

while I watched something or other on TV.

Now it's Boxing Day. I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday season: Boxing Day/After Christmas sales and, of course, New Year's.

"Twas a Week Before Christmas

I think I'm ready to start wrapping Christmas gifts. And I'm preparing a mental menu for Christmas weekend. I'll buy my turkey on Wednesday and get other groceries between Wednesday and Friday. I'll prepare my Sunday morning brunch casserole on Saturday night, then pop it into the oven on Sunday morning. After brunch, I'll prepare some hors d'oeuvres for Jonathan, Maggie and Ally's afternoon visit. I'll also put the turkey into the oven so it can cook while we eat hors d'oeurves (man, am I glad I don't have to spell that every day!). They'll  be eating their main meal with Maggie's family (they spent Thanksgiving with us, so it's only fair), so Dave, Joshua and I will have a small, quiet dinner on our own. Well, as quiet as will be possible with two Beagles wanting their share. Turkey is off-limits, per the vet's instructions, so I'll have to see what I can add to their kibble that night - maybe a bit of gravy.

Oops. I'm not quite ready to wrap gifts yet. I still have to get some things for Hypatia, Darwin and Ally! How could I forget them? I haven't taken Hypatia and Darwin to see Santa, and I don't think I'm going to do that. Lack of time is only one factor in that decision. But, I did take some photos of them to share with you.

First, Hypatia doing what she does best - chewing a toy. Well, actually, she's pretty good at eating too, so toy-chewing may be her second-best skill.

And I caught Darwin doing something he doesn't do very often. Sitting still.

Darwin is a pretty good eater, but not as accomplished as his sister in that department. But, he has her beat in the sleeping and face-licking categories. That boy can spot a lap before one sits down, then settle into that lap before the sitter settles into a seat! Poor Hypatia can't keep up at all and usually has to settle for nestling next to a knee.

I also took photos of some Christmas decorations.

The nativity scene doesn't actually live in front of the tree, but I thought the tree would make a nice backdrop for the photo. 

Our tree isn't complete without some White House ornaments.

And, I like the way these clear balls reflect the lights around them. They look different depending on the angle from which one looks at them. Simple but neat idea.

This final photo has nothing to do with Christmas, per se. I just wanted to add a photo of my favorite tea cups. Again, they don't normally sit in front of the Christmas tree, but I thought that backdrop would be pretty and I only get to try it out for a few weeks a year.

So, with one week left before Christmas, things are in full swing. Closets are overflowing with gifts and boxes. Prep time is running out and pretty soon we'll just be doing whatever we have to do with whatever we have on hand at the time. And that's okay. The best part of Christmas will be spending time with loved ones. All the other stuff is just embellishment.

Only on Faux News

I got this graphic via Huffington Post today. Can you spot the error? I'll understand if you miss it, because it's a mistake nearly any brain-dead person could have made.Click on the photo if you need to see a larger image.

Too bad Fox didn't wait a few months before showing this graphic; it would have made a great April Fool's prank.

LIVE...at...BLUES ALLEY

In less than a week (December 12), I will be performing a mix of jazz standards and holiday music at Washington, DC's coolest jazz club.

Blues Alley is a classic little jazz club - it seats about 120 patrons, max - tucked away in a corner in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC. It's probably safe to say that all of the big name jazz artists of the past 50 years have performed at this club. And I'll soon be able to say that I performed there, too. That is too cool for words.

Can you tell that I'm psyched?

Okay. Back to reality. The fact is, I will be singing second soprano as one of about 40 singers. Not as good as a solo gig (as if!), but pretty cool, nonetheless. Back in September I joined a group called Capital City Voices, a local jazz organization (housing two choirs) that performs at community events. This weekend we'll be singing at a nursing home. In two weeks we'll be singing at a local arts venue, and in January we'll be singing at a church in Maryland. Here's our PR poster for the Blues Alley gig.

Here's our listing on the Blues Alley web page (click on the events menu):

Dave will be coming to the early (8:00 p.m.) show. I will be performing in both shows, which means I'll probably get home sometime between midnight and 1 a.m. Yes, I've already scheduled time off from my day job (the one I get paid to do as opposed to one I pay to do) the following day.

The way the shows will work is that each choir will do individual numbers, the two choral groups will combine for three numbers and the instrumental quartet that will accompany us will also play some pieces without the singers. All in all, I'm expecting it to be a fun evening. I hope to see you there!