My pal K. called me about a week ago. “You gotta learn to play this song,” he said. I was kinda ambivelent – my original ambition had been to learn a good classic Hannukah song for the Seattle Ukulele Player’s Association holiday party. I started fishing around for music and everything was minor key and somber and not in Hawaiian so much. Or, just kind of dumb, I mean, “I had a little dreidl’ is not a particularly clever bit of songwriting.
So I caved. I’ve spent the last week hashing through Santa Baby in my kitchen. And today, I put on a red dress and my black cowboy boots (“Now that’s how I like MY Santa!” my friend Pat said to me) and headed over to the SUPA open mic. I played Mark Erelli’s Call You Home to warm up and then, I stood up, took a deep breath, and launched into my best Eartha Kitt.
Which wasn’t very good. I stumbled in the middle. “DOH! I lost my place!” I said, while the three smart alecs in the front row kept singing. “I really do believe in you…” “ACK! Okay.” I started again at the beginning of the verse. I made it through the fancy chord progression bridge I’ve been working on, though, even after my mistake – I think they’d call that a “nice save’ in sports – and I got a mid-song round of applause!
Angela, who played a sweet and soft version of Starry Starry Night right before me, talked about how great it is to play in front of this group. Everyone loves you, no matter what you do. You can’t help but love them right back.
We had a terrific potluck lunch with several kinds of delicious chicken, salads, and many varieties of dessert. Almost everyone got a raffle prize and then, we sang. A good time was had by all. Whos in Whoville, we challenge you to a cheerfulness smackdown.
So. Here you go. Imperfect, like me. Folks with sensitive ears for things like “key” and “timing” may wish to skip the audio link. Also, keep in mind that I’m both better and worse in person.
Sidebar note: File under podcast tips for intermediates – I had a fantastic interview recording session today with the most wonderful woman. Don’t tell me I can’t learn from my mistakes! Everything worked beautifully. Score.
VERY impressive! I so admire your guts!
I’m pretty outgoing, but much as I’d love to, I’m not sure I could muster the bravery to sing in front of anyone but my family! (And that’s with my headphones on so *I* can’t hear myself sing and *THEY* hear me sing w/o accompaniment… poor souls!)
Carol
Pam, baby! I’m going to be smiling all day after listening to that. Fabulous.
SWEET!
Ok…so, now that I’ve listened to your triumphant performance, I must ask the following question: What are you afraid of when someone in the airport asks if that’s a uke on your back?
The song sounded pretty damn killer to me.
Sal
C1: See, she admires my guts. Note the lack of commentary on the quality of the performance. 🙂
C2: Christina baby…
V: You’re a pushover. But it’s what I like about you.
S: Was that enormous cat of yours yowling in the background while you were listening?
You rock. You have quite the sexy breathy voice going on. Well done.
Your outfit is very Santa sheek!
I think you mean Santalicious, right?
hummmm I loved your “Santa Baby” at SUPA…. but I don’t remember you doing the ‘chipmunk’ voices at the end… maybe I was clapping too loud to hear it. ‘You were mar-vel-lous baby, simply mar-vel-lous’.
By the way – you DID rock the house (as you generally do.) In case you didn’t pick up on it, I was nervous about performing that day, too – not really sure why (you know me: big ego + no shame = spotlight hog.)
I love the fact that you don’t pick easy material, either. When you face that fear, you tackle it to the ground, you hog-tie it, you stand it up in the corner where you can keep an eye on it while you sing and play, then you dump it by the curb after you finish and you walk away from it, never looking back.