Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed...

I just had a wonderful "Arts Professional" day, and wanted to share.

On Sunday, my friend and mentor Jen Burke - my freshman speech teacher and senior advisor at BoCo - messaged me and asked if I was in town. She mentioned she was going to be in the city to teach some speech classes to some high school kids, and did I want to come in one or two days and assist? YES, PLEASE! Speech nerdiness and Jen Burke, all in one glorious mess? Jubilation! Anyway, I came in this morning, helped out a bit, working with high school kids on sonnets, and generally enjoying being back in a Voice & Speech class. Giving slight adjustments and watching actors ten years younger than me at the beginning of their training. The classes are taught as part of The Arts Edge, which was devised by one of our Deans at BoCo. It is designed to simulate the conservatory experience for two weeks, to give high school students both a leg up on the audition process, as well as insight into whether or not they'd really be happy doing this all day every day. It was fun! I hadn't been on the instructive end of a class situation in a long while, so it was good for me to get in there! Going back on Thursday to hang out and dive in again, and hopefully spend some time with Jen afterwards. I haven't seen her in a couple of years, and I've missed her terribly!

After that, I had a coaching with my friend Adam Laird, which involved him chucking out basically half of my rep book and photocopying a ton of music for me to learn. It was painful at first, but OH, so necessary. Ultimately, I felt much lighter, and convinced that not only were the songs we'd left in my book really specific to ME (as is the goal), but that the songs we were adding were only going to make it clearer and clearer exactly who I am as a performer. Rock. Thank you, Adam, for your tough love.

Denis and I had a great rehearsal for reasons to be pretty (it is technically spelled with all lowercase, which I think is its own kind of grandeur), and I'm feeling much easier within the material. I'm breathing a little better, and with less effort. Sorry if that means nothing to you - trying to explain it more fully would take a bit longer than I care to at this late hour!

After Denis left, I had dinner and watched some Australian television to prep for an Aussie coaching I'm giving tomorrow (ahh, when watching TV counts as research, I feel so much better about doing it). A truly magnificent day, from my perspective!


PIMP YO FRIENDZ: Today, on Pimp Yo Friendz (as it shall be known for this post), I'd like to introduce you to Maddy Wyatt. Now, I've only met Maddy a couple of times, which may have you wondering what I'm doing claiming her as a friend, much less pimping her out for your listening pleasure. WELL, I went to high school and did a great deal of theatre with the rest of the Wyatt clan - her brothers Alex and Paul, as well as her parents Judy and Dan. Maddy is a singer/songwriter, and has been performing all over the city for years now. Her brothers sometimes play and sing with her (Alex on drums, Paul on any number of instruments, though most of them are some variation of guitar). They made their Joe's Pub debut last Sunday, and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend! The whole band was great (the bassist and pianist are not, in fact, related to the Wyatts), the show was so fun, and I can't tell you how great it was to catch up with everybody after the show. Anyway, she's fabulous - her songs are all this kind of lush, indie deliciousness (I'm really terrible at describing things, but at least it's clear I really dig the music, right?) with a sense of humor, which I appreciate. Check them out! Maddy's MySpace Music Page has a few more songs on it. Enjoy!