It's not perfect, but "Smile", it's fun.

If you're on Facebook, you may have seen this impromptu video from the bus.  I'm posting this here as well.  Another flawless performance with tons of rehearsal! (yah, right)

It's not perfect, but "Smile", it's fun.

My Audition for the "The Voice"

Let me start with the end of the story. 

No, I didn't a call back.  Nevertheless I was amazed I even had a voice at all to do the Sunday audition!  We (Hotel California) did two nights of shows Friday and Saturday at the very smoky Ak-Chin Casino in Maricopa, AZ.  On top of the bad inside air quality, the desert climate is very dry.  I usually come away from this weekend with a very ragged voice.  But I went crazy with the water drinking and Throat-Coat tea and was able to do some sort of vocalizing for one of the "The Voice" show producers.  (Kudos to those keeping me in your prayers!)

There were times I wanted to say, "No way, impossible - not going to have a voice after this!(gig)"  This was indeed a journey of faith and courage for me. The slight bit of rejection, getting a "no", still stung a little, but "live (or, sing) and learn"!

Slept on the bus on the way back from Arizona.  In the
morning, while waiting to be picked up, here I am warming (buzzing)
up what voice I had left.  Silly photo for your enjoyment.

The Rest of the Story

Okay, the "process"!  My audition time was 2 PM.  Got in a line that was, I don't know - half a mile long(?) - snaking around the building. It was huge.  Got into the LA Convention Center (see photo below) after 2 hours of waiting outside in this line.

Up the stairs, ID check, bag check, scanned by hand for any weapons (or bombs?)...then I was sent to a large holding room with scores of other hopefuls.  I was impressed that every member of the casting staff was positive, energetic, and did there respective cattle-call jobs with a sense of encouraging humor.

Up the stairs to the "no photos" zone.

Next, sent to another room!  This is where everyone is broken up into groups of ten and informed that these are people you were going to an audition with.  I was called along with 9 others, and we all stood in front of one of two "The Voice" banners in the front of the room and waited once again.  This is where I was quietly starting to get the pitch pipe, my first note of "Heart of the Matter", ingrained in my head.

Then...escorted for more waiting in the hall outside where the audition would take place.  I saw a few singers with the coveted "red paper" call back award walk by being personally escorted by a head-set wearing crew member.  More waiting meant time for a bathroom break.  I belted out the first few notes of my song in the reverberating tile "warm-up room".

Then in we ten audition-ees went to our doom into the room!  It was a large room, good for singing.  We discovered one table in front of the room with a producer from the show and an assistant.  She was positive, had a great attitude, put me at ease for sure.  The producer explained the rigorousness of the whole process from first audition to getting on the show.  All ten of us sat in chairs and listened to each other sing a verse and a chorus from our chosen numbers.  The producer kept her head down so as to focus on our voices.  THAT made it easier!  We all applauded for each other after our respective turns.  After all of us had our turns we were informed that she wasn't advancing any of us through to the call backs.

NOW, read above!

In cathartic summation:

Yes, I was nervous; but relaxed at the same time.  Yeah, my voice maybe could have been better had I not had the high-energy, second-hand smoke-filled "workout" of the previous two nights in Arizona.  (Specifically, I remember, the notes "Even if, Even if" at the end of the chorus of "Heart of the Matter" being quite a challenge as my audition came to a close).  I really wanted to experience the live audition and, I'm thankful I DID! :)

My Audition for the "The Voice"

Reflections on New York City - Part 1

Looking out the window to my right, I see the corn fields, suburban movie theatres, and other swiftly moving scenes fly by as we bus up and through Illinois to our final stop in Minneapolis before a flight home. Farther and farther west we go from what may be my all-time favorite place to visit, New York City!
Please allow me from time to time on this blog (and probably expect it!) to share with you, as I'm about to do (whether anyone reads this or not) some photos and accompanying poetically drippy thoughts.  If it made me think, or inspired me in some way, that made it worth while enough for me to wait on my...."smart" phone until it was good and ready take the shot.

To many a brave soul  a sign like this may mean drudgery + paycheck, but to the eye of a tourist-ically inclined fellow such as I, it means adventure. Let's take the bus into the city, shall we?

"Interior with a Girl Drawing"


Made it over to the Museum of Modern Art. I stared at this portion of a Picasso painting for a good long time...close up, than far, close, than far...Thought, "What inspires a painter to put the colors where they do?"  It made me think, so I took a picture of it to remember my...thinking.
Think he was thinking outside the box (or...face) with this one?

Ya, think? (Okay, enough!)

"Bicycle Wheel" by Marcel Duchamp

I quote from the MoMA website: "...Duchamp’s first readymade, a class of objects he invented to challenge assumptions about what constitutes a work of art...By simply selecting prefabricated items and calling them art, he subverted established notions of the artist’s craft and the viewer’s aesthetic experience."


I walked around this, chuckling to myself, lest I be booted out of the exhibiit.  But then again, maybe that's the reaction good 'ol Marcel wanted.  The audio tour said he wanted people to "ask questions".  Mission accomplished!




BONUS READING! (for those with more time):
"The 1913 Bicycle Wheel was lost, but nearly four decades later Duchamp assembled a replacement from newly found prefabricated parts and affirmed that the later version is as valid as the original.


Sure would have.....,liked to have seen.....,the.....,"original" one...


Stay tuned for Part 2 and beyond!

Reflections on New York City - Part 1