Darkness Falls... and the Uptown Girls Creep Out

This morning I got up with "Thriller" in my head.

That's not surprising. HUGE Michael Jackson fan, here. Was studying the lyrics to it yesterday.

But here's where I try to explain my weird brain...

At the very end where Vincent Price is narrating (At around the 5:13 mark) there's a weird flexitone/synth thing happening - it sounds like the effect that is always used for ghosts... or a wobbly saw. :) The first 7 notes of that melody in the background of his narration sound like the "Whoa's" after the chorus in Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl".

That's how "Uptown Girl" was stuck in my head for the majority of the day.

Tonight I have "Chasin That Neon Rainbow" by Alan Jackson in my head.

That one's because I saw a rainbow earlier. :)

What you got in your head?

Peace. Love. and Fiddle.

~natalie

This Is It

Miguel, James, and I went to see "This Is It" - the Michael Jackson movie tonight.

It was composed of footage from his last rehearsals right before he died. The man is incredible. It is such an interesting look into his artistry. And he continues to inspire even though he never got to perform those final 50 shows.

He holds back a lot during the rehearsals. You can tell he's mostly marking, and trying to save his voice (which he talks about a few times). And even though you aren't seeing full fledged MICHAEL... is still pretty remarkable.

I remember watching Thriller and being scared every time. I remember singing Man In The Mirror with my sister in our bedroom as a child. I remember choreographing my own dances to his music... dancing around my room singing with an "air mic" and visualizing hundreds of thousands of people in the crowd. I remember waiting and waiting for "Scream" the Janet/Michael duet to come out... and standing in my kitchen listening to it on the radio.

SO MANY of us have those memories. He just makes me want to get up and sing and dance. The people behind us in the theater couldn't help but sing along. :) He was the first person that inspired me as a little girl and one of the reasons I knew early on that THIS is what I want to do... forever.

Nick Bass, who was in the Opryland Kid's Club with me, was chosen as one of Michael's dancers. It is inspiring to watch someone that I have performed and worked with on THE ULTIMATE STAGE with Michael. It's funny. We did "I Want You Back" for another show we were in together.... man... he's come's a LONG way since we were 12 and performing that song for the NFL Player's Party!!! I still can't believe it when I watch him up there.

James and I came back to the room and both sat down pondering different parts about our own show. I was inspired on a visual level and scouring the internet for ideas. And he was coming up with more ideas and transitions within the music for our show. We do that a lot. But tonight was different. We couldn't HELP it after watching 2 hours of one of the greatest performers of all time.

James made the comment on the way home that "It's a shame that our last vision of him will be at half speed" I agree. But I hope that most people understand that if THAT is what he looked like at rehearsals that weren't even in front of an audience or full dress... I can ONLY IMAGINE how spot on and old school Michael he would have been for the real thing.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Hurry Up And Play Michael Jackson!

This is the blog I tried to post the night of the crazy thunderstorm!!! It's the first time I've had internet since then... I had to come all the way to California to get it ;)

Today I was contractually obligated to "sing my way into the hearts of the students". Seriously. That's what the contract said.

At both shows today, we were the entertainment during the big club/organization sign-ups for campus.  The first one was Miami Dade Kendall and it was a giant party in the cafeteria! We had a blast at the show. Everyone was dancing and jumping around and made it seem like a night-time stadium show :)

The second show was at Palm Beach Community College in Lake Worth, FL. It was a little crazy because our first show ended at 1:15, we got packed up and out of there within an hour. It took about an hour and a half to get to the next campus. They wanted us to start at 4:00, but we didn't get there until 3:45 going as fast as we could! They knew there was no way for us to get there on time and it even stated in the contract that we could start at 4 or as soon as we got there :)  I felt bad because our sound guy, Milton, wasn't actually a sound guy. He was the tech guy on campus that was the "most able" to run the sound. Don't get me wrong, he did a great job. But there were a lot of problems getting rid of feedback, getting the vocals and instruments balanced so you could hear everything, etc. Those things are difficult for ANY PROFESSIONAL sound man! I mean, when you're in a hurry like we were today, the event coordinator is yelling at you to get started, and you don't even have everything plugged in yet... it is REALLY stressful. I was VERY impressed with Milton though. He worked with us every step of the way.

The event coordinator kept requesting that we hurry up and do Michael Jackson. I LOVE me some Michael, and if you've seen our show, you know that we do a bit as part of our finale. But even after we'd played some, we got more requests for MJ! I'm a little blonde fiddle player, people!!! I can rock out with the best of them... but it's hard to pull off Michael Jackson well with a 3 piece band, big blonde curly hair and a fiddle. But they asked for encores! So I guess we did alright ;)

We capped off the night at a Brazilian Restaurant (I'm not even going to try to butcher the name for you). We found one that was playing the Chile vs. Brazil soccer game!!! Miguel hadn' gotten to watch one in forever. It was so fun, but we were the ONLY ones in the place cheering for Chile. Had to be a little careful on that one ;)

This sweet guy had $10 he was supposed to spend on getting his hair cut... but he bought a cd instead! Nice.

More awesome peeps!







Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

What a day... Right Lego Michael Jackson?

There have been few times in my life I have ever felt this sick.

It was so hard to pull out of the show tonight. We love the Rathskeller, Dan is so great to us and we had been looking forward to playing outside again there for almost a year now.

Plus, my parents, Tim's parents, James's mom, Grandma and Grandpa, and his Dad were all going to be there. And worst of all, since James's Dad lives on the west coast (where we never play), this was going to be the first show he had been able to see in almost 4 years. How crazy is that? Of course it was this weekend. In a strange way though, I'm glad the decision was easy... It was a heartbreaking show to have to cancel, but there was just no way...

For now it's medicine and bed. I wish I could type more but I can't... so I'll let Lego Michael Jackson do the talking for me...

It Don't Matter If You're Black Or White

James, Cinnamon, and I spent the day in the studio with the Sonic Fedora. We're so close to having this thing done. At least the sonic part of it. Everything's coming together. And I'm getting anxious! :)

Today is one of those days I will never forget. I will always remember exactly where I was when I heard the news that Michael Jackson had died. I just can't believe he is gone. He was such a huge influence on me. As a child, I was obsessed with his videos - especially the Making of Thriller and I'd learn the choreography to everything (but who didn't???) And I still cite him as a huge influence on my music, even though I usually get a laugh or a weird look when I do... especially since I'm a country girl. But I don't care!!! He was such an incredible artist.

I'm so glad he was in rehearsals for his "comeback" shows, and was at least gearing up to what he loved most in this world.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Awesome Video from Cameron University

I have something I want to share with everyone. :)



I want to say a HUGE thank you to Ryan Faucett for posting this video!!! It made my day!

Peace, Love, Fiddle,