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Okay, getting back to catching up on the winter events.
One difference in my winter season, as compared to last year, was my involvement in open mic nights. I have been tempted in previous seasons to do some small performances, play piano pieces, but I just never did. The nights would fill up, or I wouldn’t have anything practiced and ready to perform, or I would lose my nerve… for whatever various reasons, I’ve never performed at any of the various music events over the years, either playing piano or singing. (*Disclaimer: karaoke, of course, does not count.) Apparently, most people weren’t even aware that I played piano or that I had any skill to speak of – I was scolded afterward for not letting people know that I was able and available for keys in band projects. Oh well.
So my first milestone was putting together a last-minute song with Jen and Josie to sing at an acoustic jam/open mic night in March. We got a great response and it was a lot of fun to sing. Mark was our time keeper, slapping his knee to give us a beat. Way to be, Poobacca. 
It wasn’t a big deal, just one a cappella song, but it was the first time I made any serious attempt to sing in front of an audience.
Key of Q (as in "questionable") performing at Open Mic Night. (photo by K. Nelson)
The song was “Didn’t Leave Nobody but the Baby” (from the Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack). Sorry, I don’t have any recording of our version, but you can hear can hear Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and Emmylou Harris sing it if you’d like:
So that was the first step. The next was to polish up some piano-only pieces to play at the wine tasting (more on that to come), and then finally to put the two together – to play the piano and sing at (get this) the same time!
That’s right. It really took some crazy hand-eye coordination exercises to prepare, but in the end I came through and did my first play-and-sing performance for an audience. I was a nervous wreck, but I did it. I played the piano for “Hallelujah” (the Rufus Wainwright version), which the girls from Key of Q (Jen, Josie, and Emily) performed with me. I forgot to ask for a light to illuminate my sheet music, so I was having a hard time starting that one off, and in my squinty attempt to sing the first verse actually sang the word “hallelujah” promptly followed by the expletive “GODDAMMIT!” So, yes, I’m still a blasphemer. But immediately after that gem somebody brought me a light and I was able to read my music and made it the rest of the way through the song with fewer comic expletive stops. After that one, I did a Fine Frenzy song – “Almost Lover” – by myself, playing and singing. Like I said, it was nerve-wracking, but I had a lot of fun. Go me. 
