We got a 'green light' so to speak on a job doing music supervision to a feature film. This is not only exciting because I love both film and music (thus making this job a perfect marriage of my pleasures) but because we are working with a long time family friend of mine, Josh Vancil. I must admit, having lived in NY, LA and Seattle, and with many family members in the film industry, I know what a potential snake nest a film production can be. Yet, knowing that we will be working with someone as solid and sound-minded as Josh, makes many of my worries fade away. I can handle the difficulty of creating illusion on a massive scale (something that goes rather unrecognized to those that have never done it), but I do not care to tangle with insanity and massive ego dictating from the leading position. This is not always the case in film by any means, but rather, almost always the case ($ people etc.). So I am happy to get the opportunity to work with Josh, as he is true blue. :)
Another happy thought, is that this coming new year will be bringing us lots of friends and visitors! All on the creative front at that! Our friend, and brilliant producer, David Hauser will be coming up to work with us this January. The details... well, I can't go too deep into them at present, but it should suffice to say that we will be working on our upcoming album (which has been a long time in the making, but when you hear it, hopefully you will agree that it was well worth the wait) as well as an original musical penned by Mr. Hauser, with yours truly singing the lead. I don't know if I have ever mentioned this on here before, but I fairly cut my teeth on stage by working in musicals for several years straight. While I am a staunch skeptic of the genre itself (I can't say that I like the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, even though I have performed in it...) there are some true gems in it as well. I would also like to add that it was the BEST training ground possible for performing. To put it simply: if someone has just payed $50 to see your show, it is a Sunday matinée, and the house is less than full of geriatric patients; you still have to give every single audience member their money's worth and more. Even if you think that the music, story, lyrics, etc. are ridiculous. If you can still manifest enough energy to pull off a successful show under those circumstances and to get everyone in the audience jazzed, even a tough audience in a club with your own music seems a lot more enjoyable! But enough about me, the point of this paragraph is really to tell you all that David's musical is NOT terrible, in fact, I quite like it. And I quite like the fellow as well. So look forward to the new year with posts of our happy progress with him-
In another vein of thought: I have taken on several jobs as a free-lance writer. I have discovered the perfect day job!!! (not that it is my only day job...) And so for these last few weeks, I have been working daily on that. These jobs have been mainly scripts for screenplays and television shows, which is right up my ally of training and preference. And through them, I have also come to realize a strength of mine that I hope to develop further into a job skill in the future. I am good at (and enjoy!) helping creative people get their ideas on to paper in an organized and timely manner. And then also being able to help them hone their ideas further through feedback and editing. Basically, while I now have a new part time job, to be added to the plethora of other part/full time jobs that I have (RTB being the fullest of them all) I am excited because I feel that this job could grow into a fuller job as well, thus perhaps cutting a less desirable job out of the picture... Hey, a gal can dream, can't she? And if it can be dreamed, it can be manifested.
Lordy! I could probably wax on further as to all of my exciting new ventures and adventures, but I run the risk of writing a short novella in the process. But one other VERY EXCITING bit of news that I would like to relay to everyone is the growth of our band. We now have live saxophone and guitar, amongst other instruments to be shortly added on stage. These are thanks to Brett and Luke who have joined harmonious forces with us. And of course, to top it off, we have Heidi and Marcia dancing with us, the little foxes that they are! Our production side of the show is also growing by leaps and bounds. Hair and makeup is all done by Marcia Burgess (this is her true art form!! Believe me!), and we have further fashion developments (as in costumes) coming our way thanks to Jennifer Charkow. We are looking to keep things growing, and to hit the road for some long awaited tours this coming year.
In short, I'll try and keep this short- so stay tuned for further details and developments!
p.s. Here's a shot from our last show :)
xoxo
-Dion
