I have had a very busy day with three gigs. In the third and final gig, I did a mini-preview of the upcoming Gatekeepers album. I must admit, I was a bit nervous about how it would be received, since some of the songs are explicitly sexual. Nothing pornographic, but one of them in particular definitely has the potential to make people uncomfortable. And about half the crowd involved my parents' missionary friends (who are all great people, btw, but I just wasn't sure how they'd take a rather graphic song about a woman who attempts to seduce a man and is flat out rejected by him. When I first rehearsed it, I even felt like it would be like performing naked, and it's my song...) But I said to myself, this is my music. This is who I am. This is what I am trying to say. I have no reason to be ashamed.
And they liked it! Whether it was because they couldn't understand the lyrics or they weren't as conservative as I thought or they realized I was no longer the 6 year old who used to play in their back yards and now all grown up and singing about sex, I don't know. But they liked it! And I'm glad they did, and I am glad I could share it with them.
But I must say, I never thought I'd be singing such a blatantly sexual song with my father sitting 20 feet away from me. I think if I could do that, there's not much that can phase me anymore. hehe
I also had the priviledge of having a special guest performer for the evening show: Sergey from the local Quito band Camaleon. I met him last week at one of his gigs, ended up singing with him for one of his songs, and to make a long story short, that was how I got the gigs in question. We did a jazz set where I played flute and he played keyboards and bass guitar. That was a lot of fun, and besides, it gave my voice a much-needed break.
The afternoon gig was fun as well, mostly singing Broadway and opera while my mom played the piano, and it was nice to see one couple from the afternoon show return for the evening show. But my favorite part was definitely performing my own songs. Hopefully sometime soon, they will be with a live band. (Sergey suggested doing one with Camaleon...We'll see about that!)
It sounds like you had a wonderful time, Cheryl, and I´m happy it was such a huge success. As you put it yourself : You have nothing to be ashamed of cause you have such a great voice - I hope I´ll have the priviledge of going to one of your gigs some day soon
