Whew! What a night! Went to the 5$ soul/funk/R open mic at the Village Underground tonight, hosted by Grammy nominee Schon Jomel. The band there is tight. And they know like every classic soul/R song you've ever heard of, and most of the ones you haven't. So imagine my surprise tonight when I got up there tonight, all dry-mouthed and shaky, and they told me they didn't know Ordinary Pain. I mean, it's only the last song on the first disc of the best album by the most popular soul/R singer of all time! There I am, trying to figure out what the keyboard player and I both know while he's busy telling me I look like Justin Guarini, and having to tell a crowd of hard-core R heads that I'm from "Ridgewood."
But then I got to sing. I sang Knocks Me Off My Feet, also from Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, but for some reason they knew it. I don't think I sounded too great, cause I couldn't hear myself, and my throat was REAL dry. But they loved it. Schon Jomel let me scat with the band, and this singer/songwriter invited me to her concert on Sunday night. It was cool.
Why am I going on about this? Because it was my FIRST TIME SINGING SOLO IN NEW YORK. For a real NY audience, that is - rather than my high school. And I dare say, it went rather well.
:)