To start off, before last night, I had only had one compliment on my voice, EVER. A really wonderful lady I met at Shambhala last year was talking to me and another person I had gone on a walk with. After conversing for a few minutes she said, "Excuse me, this is really weird but I really, really love how your voice sounds. I've never heard anything like that before." I was so taken aback that the only response I could come up with was, "Oh no, that must be the cigarettes!" Her response was, "No, no, past that, hah, I can hear how wonderful it sounds." I was completely astonished.
A month ago, I tried karaoke for the first time. Being with a group, there seemed to be only one person there that was taking it seriously, enjoying herself more than anyone I'd ever seen jam out live. Country singer superstar in her own backyard =] Truly, she sounded stellar. The two songs I tried, if singing alone, I would have tried to see if I could get the hang of it. I'd never spoken, let alone sang into a microphone before. But, I was not singing alone, thus I wasn't able to really hear myself or see what octaves I should be hitting, etc. Nonetheless, it lit a spark.
I ended up thinking this feeling over for three weeks, and mentioned it to one of my best friends, Keegan (he also helped design my logo, Sick Ego). Instead of looking at me like I was insane or stupid, he just said, "I'll introduce you to some of my musician friends and a singer who plays with them and you guys can talk or sing about it." Literally, less than a week later, enter last night:
Starting out, I was a bit stage-frightish. Alright, let's get use to how this sounds, what's this going to do, oh that was strange, oh no was that flat?! All these things going through my head. Finally I just allowed myself to let go a bit; Probably the wine kicking in ;] It started out with sing-songy stream of conscience comedy hour with Kat. Seeing my friends and some random stranger actually enjoy the random word splatter coming out of my mouth, I got a bit more comfortable. Stream turned into lyrics turned into vocal up and downs. Long notes, low notes, high notes. How high could I go? Really, really fucking high actually, and still sing while doing so. Roughly 2-3 hours of jamming out with my singsonger out. I think I found something. Everything.
It was some of the most fun I've had in Bozeman in a LONG TIME. No, that doesn't mean I don't have fun here all the time, with all of my friends. But never have I felt so center, so something I could do way more of. Since I was 14ish, stage performance, art, dance, etc, have been "careers" I have dreamed of; The dream job. Singer/Vocalist was never on that list, until now. Who knows what the future holds.
Special shout out to Keegan; Amazing person, artist, musician, friend. Seriously amazing individual. Let's fucking rock it again sometime dude =]
Get your goddamn groove on, and I'll see you all next time.