Hi. This is my First web page. Thanks for dropping by.
I'll be honest, this is mostly a test page. An HTML experiment, if you will. In spite of my short sojourn into computer programming back about 2000, I've forgotten most everything I learned in that time. How exactly I've forgotten it all, I haven't a clue. Maybe it's like a foreign language, if you don't use it you lose it. So that leaves me with a desire to build a great website, both a personal one and one for music, but mostly stumbling around in the dark online trying to do that. Thus this page. I'll practice here.
You never know what you'll find here as this is a 'work in progress' progressing and changing as I learn new tricks about building a site.
I'm currently trying to link this into my favorite sites, Bookins.com, librarything.com, pandora.com and a more in depth profile on Yahoo 360! My user nick is willful_filly on Yahoo 360. I'd also like to add a few RSS feeds but I still haven't reliably figured out how to do that.
I've added an emailer below, if you want to shoot me a message, just type it in the box where it says
Talk to me. What's on your mind?" I hear that it doesn't give you any kind of confirmation but I have received emails from it, so it works. At least for some of you. If you've sent a note through this and haven't heard back from me, well, it might not work for you. You can always leave a note on my guestbook.
As you might have determined from my calendar, I'm a musician and I'm currently studying jazz, blues, opera and classical vocal music. I'm also a pianist, a neophyte guitarist and am slowly learning composition using PrintMusic! software. Hopefully I'll be able to post some MP3's of my stuff, or at least some MIDI files of my compositions...of course, I've got a way to go before I know how to combine all this technical stuff. Whew...I'm almost pining for the days of parchment and quills.
Okay, back to attempting to add some meaningful content.
Here's something worth watching:
Latest News:
Christmas gig went well however the first big storm of the season, which the news had been warning would be a massive 'blizzard' started the same time we did. Needless to say, it was small house. Oh well...better to learn on a small, friendly crowd than a huge, hostile one:)
I'm currently working on the Vagina Monologues, the local production in conjunction with the VDAY international. An organization which raises funds and awareness to end violence against women and girls globally. This year, the proceeds go to victims of Katrina. The show is March 8th at the Hochstein Theater. Email me for ticket information.
Lastly, I haven't mentioned but I'm a writer. I also edit and do research for other writers and I'm actively involved with the fledgling "Early Reviewers' Program on LibraryThing. We receive ARC's of books in exchange for our review and a byline. I'm attempting to upload a widget today. I'll see if this works. I received my 4th book through this project today, one I'm quite excited about. More on that next time.
I've been out several nights a week at jam sessions and finally meeting and connecting with musicians again. It's been so long since I've been in the world of people who live and breathe music for the love of it, it's like coming home. It's great cause I can try out things I'm working on and get feedback from a musician's perspective and I'm finding the congeniality and warmth of these people is amazing. Why did I ever leave?? And I have to tell you, when I wrap my arms around GypsyBird, my sweet little guitar, it's a feeling of completeness more wonderful than anything I've imagined. It's like my voice and my body have been waiting my whole life for me to realize that what was missing was a guitar.
Talking with Joe, we've determined that the frequency of the strings is a wavelength of a good 5 - 8 feet, which means the vibrations do move through my body, and when I sing my body vibrates with the resonance, so that may explain my addictive love of playing and is a good explanation of why it feels like I am a completely electrical circuit when i play and sing. (Oh what a feeling!)
I've got a second guitar now, a much bigger body with brighter, louder tones and more appropriate to playing acoustic in a small cafe setting. I admit, at first I felt disloyal to GypsyBird, but she is and always will be my first guitar love, she's almost feels like a part of my body when I hold her. I am warming up to this new instrument, though I doubt I'll be nearly as sentimental over him.
I'm also looking to try a nylon stringed, classical guitar on the advice of my great teacher, Steve Greene, since my tendency is to practice too much and I've lost almost all sensation in the tips of my left fingers as a result of the heavy, metal strings on my two instruments. He promises it will return but I need to learn discipline of not practicing, too. Sigh...what we musicians do for love of our song.
After 7 weeks of playing I was ready to try my first 'band' experience and joined in the beginner jam on my guitar in the tradition Irish Folk Jam at Johnny's. Thank you Jane for the invite and all your help rehearsing!!! This was my first time with a band experience, playing an instrument in a room full of them, everything from banjo, violins, flutes, Irish drums, accordians and other things I couldn't name. Wow! It was truly a power session, that 2 hours cemented things into my muscle memory that I spent 4 weeks trying to master on my own! And the energy! How did I miss this all my life only doing solo instruments or singing with the band??? Was I nuts?
But I'm thankful that it is new to me because how many people get to discover a joy like this so late in life? And it is a joy, beyond description. I LOVE, LOVE IT! I could do this everyday, all day, over and over and never bore of it...which is good, considering this is how I want to earn my living:)
Okay, news out for now! Ciao bellas and ciao bellos!
Any fellow musicians in the Western NY area want to get together, talk music, play music or listen to music, give me a shout out!
Be a book trader at BookMooch.com
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