Just used a Neti pot for the first time — that was some weirdness. But I feel better already — have been sick again (wtf?! I need to take some vitamins or something) for a week now. I’m waiting to do some re-tracking for my record, so you can imagine how antsy I am!!!
Someday this thing WILL come out, I promise you. And you will love it. And make out to it. And cry to it. And rage to it. Please stick with me; Chevonne will never let you down!!!
Anyway…weirdly, my alma mater is the birthplace of some strange, fun, smart (Swat was HARD, people) original pop (more than pop…um, pop plus?) acts. I am lucky enough to know a few of them personally! And it just so happens that they have records coming out very soon, so I’m going to do some unauthorized (but completely well-intentioned) plugging.
—————
Newly celeb-ified country-soul/political-parody supergroup The Gregory Brothers (two of the three went to Swarthmore) have already experienced some serious fame action! Check out their Rachel Maddow appearance!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
….and here’s the newest chapter of their YouTube opus, “Auto-Tune The News.”
Andrew Gregory–middle brother–and I were in a Swarthmore Dramaboard production of “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” back in 2004; I was a freshman and he was a senior. We played Sally and Linus. After closing night, he donned my Sally dress and a ton of girly makeup for our hedonistic “boys wear a dress, girls wear less” Sager Symposium dance. I know someone’s got pictures of this; I wish I had some!!
Check out Andrew’s solo albums on his website linked above, and if you’re in the tri-state area, the Brothers have a show/release party this week, which you can find out about on their website — also linked above.
—————
Piano whiz and creative mastermind Joe Raciti, inventor of the new genre “popsical” (pop, blues, jazz, musical theatre), never fails to surprise with his works of musical and visual art. Here is his latest vid, “Life Of A Pig” and an older one, “Blue Umbrella.”
He does everything himself — he’s even fully produced his second album (I do some guest vox on a track! Stay tuned for sure), which will be out v soon. You can purchase his first album here; it is friggin timeless and just so magical.
I will not tell the gushy story about how during Orientation Week, Joe inspired me to perform at Swat and write better songs…or how Joe’s full-length, fully-produced original musical inspired me to write one of my own two years later.
But I will post this clip of a young, unfortunately-coiffed Yours Truly in a supporting role in his musical. It was called “Dance Dangerously” and I played a maniacal, slutty, rich-bitch dancer named Jennifer Jelly. Our school paper even put a super-skankalicious photo of me on its cover to promote the show!
In these particular performances (edited together from 2 nights), I was suffering from a bad sinus infection and did not yet know how to use my chest voice. These moments onstage were the first time I ever used it…because I had to! That explains the minor out-of-tuneage. Sorry!
I promise I won’t try and do pirouettes at my next show, whenever that will be.
But I just might straddle a chair…and not be shy about it this time. ;)
