Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Obsessing

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Yesterday was a full day: coaching all afternoon, taking notes on the performance at night. I can’t complain – I’m working and I have a nice apartment to stay in.

2-19 apt

I’ll only show this view, as this is someone’s home and I don’t feel comfortable showing anything that would be too personal. That table is the dropping off point for all of my stuff; books, hat and gloves, glasses, theater ID, water bottle, sunglasses. The sunlight pours in the windows. Not bad at all.

The other night at the theater I ran into one of the young actors I coached last summer in A Raisin in the Sun, as well as a former student from my Old Globe days. It was so nice to catch up with both of them. This play, The Octoroon, is selling well; every performance is packed and the audiences are loving it. The play is very, very powerful and I find I’ve fallen in love with it. It’s always tricky coming in late in a production, which is the position I’m in with this show, but the cast is very talented and welcoming. I’m doing what I can to clean things up vocally.

Do you ever obsess about a piece of music you hear? I do that frequently. If I don’t know the title, I’ll search high and low until I figure it out. Well, I’m a huge fan of 80’s era R & B – Earth, Wind & Fire, Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, James Ingram, Stevie Wonder, Jeffrey Osborne, Chaka  Khan, the young Whitney Houston…. I love the sound, the lush arrangements, everything. A lot of the music was produced in Philadelphia and that sound is very distinctive. I also lived in Philadelphia in the eighties, but that’s neither here nor there. Or is it?

There is music playing throughout intermission and the other night I heard a piece that I loved. It sounded like the great Deniece Williams – one of my favorite R & B singers, with the voice of an angel and a vocal range that would put Mariah Carey to shame, sung cleanly and honestly, without Ms. Carey’s need to perform vocal gymnastics. Last night, I heard it again, so I pulled out my iPhone and recorded it via Voice Memo. When I came back to the apartment, I stayed with my instinct that it was Deniece Williams and started to search for the song on iTunes.

Bingo. I hadn’t listened to more than 3 songs when I found it. It’s called Silly  and was recorded in the early eighties. I immediately downloaded it and now I have it playing on an endless loop on my earbuds. Love, love, love it. Love that time, those arrangements, the incredible voices, the romantic, lush quality to all of the songs.

So if you’re wondering what I’m doing, I can be found listening to Ms. Williams. If you’re unfamiliar with her work or think you’re unfamiliar with her work, think of Gonna Take a Miracle, Free, and her duets with Johnny Mathis, including Too Much, Too Little, Too Late. She also had a big hit in Let’s Hear it For the Boy.

I already have Gonna Take a Miracle  and Free on my playlist. Why do I have a feeling I might be adding even more?

The cupcakes, the cupcakes – I don’t remember the flavors, my friends. I am not one that likes to sample a lot of different flavors. I like a basic yellow or chocolate cupcake with the frosting being the thing. Let’s face it, that’s where the fun is. So the cupcakes I picked that day? Three were yellow and one was chocolate.

Okay. I just looked up the names: Yellow Daisy Cupcake and Classic Chocolate Cupcake. I have one more left. Will I have to get some more? You tell me.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Comments

  1. Good Morning Claudia, I am glad work is going well. The apartment you are staying at looks very modern. Doris

  2. Gosh Claudia, I had forgotten all about that music era! Once a friend and I went to the Valley Forge Music Fair (don’t know if you were ever there when you lived in Philadelphia, but it was a great, small theatre in the round…not a bad seat in the house…and then they tore it down!) and saw Jeffrey Osborne. Whitney Houston was the opening act – this was way before she was famous. And, she stole the show. Amazing! Also say Yul Brenner in “The King and I” at the Valley Forge Music Fair and that was AMAZING. Definitely yes to more cupcakes.

    • I saw Yul Brynner in The King and I, too. Can’t remember where – somewhere in the Detroit area. He was a powerhouse!

      Why oh why did they tear that place down???

  3. O’ your post took me on a musical trip down memory lane – such amazing music and sweet memories of that time in my life. Now I must go and download more songs to play here at the office to the amusement of my much younger co-workers! I prefer to call it an education in how to appreciate music that will touch your heart (and you can actually understand the words). And, as always, thank you for inviting your readers into your world – you are my first read each morning.

  5. You brought back a great memory, Claudia…years ago, my headlight lamp went out and needed replacement. My brother just happened to come by and said he’d do it for me if I bought the lamp at the local auto parts place. His labor saved me a few bucks. It was when CDs were just coming out as the new music format. So I went out and bought every EW&F CD I could find to pay my brother, who was and still is a huge EW&F fan.

  6. Put on those gloves and hat and head on over to Billy’s ! I suggest another chocolate cupcake. Also I would like a review on a lemon one.

    • No lemon for me, Tana – sorry. Not a huge fan of lemon cake. No time to go to Billy’s til later in the week, I fear. It involves a subway trip into Manhattan and I’m working all day!

  7. Yep, I remember her. Thanks for the memories! Too Much, Too Little, Too Late was one of my favorite songs way back when. I haven’t heard it in a while but it’s playing in the background now. :) I only eat teeny tiny cupcakes when we go to Dubai as there is a Magnolia Bakery there. I think there’s one here now, too, but just not the same ambience. Best wishes, Tammy

  8. Claudia, I have Spotify on my computer (the free version), and Deniece Willams has songs and albums on there! I don’t remember her, but I like her now :) Thanks for sharing that story. The cupcakes? Of course you need more! Do they deliver to Indiana?
    Hugs,
    Deb

  9. You have great taste in music. I LOVE Earth, Wind &Fire, too, and everyone else you mentioned. I saw Jeffrey Osborne perform, either in Tahoe or Vegas. So long ago, I can’t remember where it was, but his voice is fabulous.

    I think I would have to taste a carrot cake cupcake. Would just have to. Other than that, yellow and chocolate would be just dandy.

  10. I love Earth, Wind & Fire…Luther Vandross, and of course Stevie Wonder…did you see the Grammy salute to him? Great music! I’m not familiar with Deniece Williams…but then the 80’s in general past 1982 are sort of a blur. I was too busy raising 3 boys…Sesame St., and Mr. Rogers seemed to occupy all my waking moments.

    We’re any of the cupcakes cream filled? Those are my weakness…no matter the flavor! Enjoy your day! ;)

    • Didn’t see the Grammys, Donnamae. I don’t know if any of the cupcakes were filled – mine weren’t, but they may have some filled cupcakes. If I get back there, I’ll look.

  11. Have loved her music since the 80’s as well,,,, also EW&F! Do you have another week there remaining? Certainly time for a cupcake or 2. Sounds like your work is going well. Stay warm. It is stupid cold here.

    • I’m not sure how much longer I’m here. Til Tuesday at the latest, but I may get out of here on Monday. It’s unbelievably cold here – Don says there are wind chill warnings of 27 below zero for tonight! And here in NYC the warnings are for at least 18 below. Yikes!

  12. I keep trying to be all serious and listen to “Lucia di Lammermoor” in the car so that I’m better acquainted with the music before we go to see it in April, but Bruno Mars singing “Uptown Funk” keeps sneaking in there.

    I’m intrigued with your work on what must be a challenging production. Do the actors use strong regional dialects? I have a friend from Alabama and (although I love his accent) when he speaks quickly, I always say I need subtitles!

    • I like Bruno Mars a lot. The actors use dialects but are completely understandable. I didn’t have anything to do with their dialect work because I was brought in late in the game. What they are doing is just fine and I’m not going to mess with it.

  16. While driving home from work on Tuesday night, I was listening to NPR and they were interviewing the playwright of The Octoroon. It was a fascinating interview. I’ll try to find it online and come back with a link.

    Music from the 80’s is the soundtrack of my young adulthood. I also loved Sade and heard her playing over the speakers at the Goodwill last night. Funny I asked the man at the checkout who he thought it was and he said Deniece Williams and I said I thought it was Sade. He said I was right and we shared how we both loved her voice.

    As to cupcakes I vote yes!

    • Brandon is brilliant. The play has been produced three times and he keeps writing and re-writing. I really, really love his work.

    • Thanks so much! I’ll give it a listen – He’s an amazing young talent, that’s for sure. And such a nice person.

  19. Had the same problem myself yesteday. For the life of me I couldn’t remember the name, how/where I’d first heard it etc. This happens to me often and until I CAN remember, makes me positively mental. I’ll find myself needing to mute everything else so all I hear is what’s in my head. Anyway, I finally remembered after about 10 min [quickly for me]. Henry Mancini’s beautiful theme from the soundtrack to “Two for the Road.” No one – NO ONE – could write a melody as lushly-beautiful as Henry M. A grand master. He was one of the first names I put on my own personal “Geniuses” list. My own tastes run to what my sibs/friends have always called “old people music.” I was never much of a fan of my generation’s “tuneage” [my brother’s term]. My dad said I was born 20 years too late. For me it’s the music from the golden age of songwriting and singers. The Big Band era. Broadway shows. Film soundtracks. Rodgers & Hart/Hammerstein. Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett. Frank Sinatra. Johnny Mathis. Michael Buble. Linda Eder. This is what my parents always listened to when I was little [so I figure I was indoctrinated early on]. We even played a song from “The Quiet Man” at my Dad’s funeral because he loved it so much…

    • I love all of those musicians as well. I’ve loved Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein and on and on, since I was in junior high school. I know a whole lot about the history of the Broadway musical since I was enthralled at the age of 12 and read and listened to everything I could get my hands on. (And of course, musicals are where I got my start as an actress.) I have lots of Sinatra, Bennett (saw him live) and Streisand, John Gary, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, etc., many, many cabaret artists, all the old standards, and lots of great crooners. And then there is classical music! Don and I like all kinds of music – we have a very eclectic collection. I suppose the only thing I don’t like is Rap.

      Also love Motown (I’m from Detroit, after all,) lots of folk music, jazz, and pop music of the sixties and seventies.

      And the theme from Two for the Road is one of my favorites. Just listened to it about a week ago. Hauntingly beautiful. Mancini was a genius, for sure. No one writes like he did.

      • Totally agree, Claudia. It’s just my opinion of course – and I know I risk offending a lot of people – but I don’t think rap IS music. It’s just talking. Or as I heard someone once say, “rap is ‘music’ for those with no real musical ability…” It does seem as though anyone could do it. And the lyrics are for the most part, well… so different from nearly all other music. I don’t know… I do know I’ve come to appreciate more music as I get older. I did enjoy folk music when younger. And I’m beginning to truly appreciate bluegrass, country and jazz as well. Loved the Ken Burns’ series on jazz, which is what first made me sit up and take notice…

  21. I listen to Earth Wind & Fire a lot as well, my favorite R&B band. So many great artists from that R & B era, Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack for her love songs, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, loved Luther Vandross and so many more. I remember Deniece Williams too, she has such a pretty sunny voice, since you mentioned her I’ll have to look up her music again. So much great music and I have an eclectic mix of CD’s, and playlists… everything from Classical to Country. I’m close to your age and the youngest of 3, so I listened to a variety of music and learned to appreciate many different styles.

    I wanted to mention your adventures are very Mary Tyler Mooreish to me, visiting bookstores, eating yummy cupcakes, apartment living and exploring and working in New York. How exciting!

  22. Anyone like Randy Crawford too – her song Almaz is beautiful (and sad) as well. I bought Deniece Williams Free on 45rpm vinyl back in the day, still got it. I’m glad some of the new girl singers have gone away from the musical theatrical nonsense. I like Lorde, Rebecca Ferguson and Florence and the Machine, and Amy Winehouse, KT Tunstall (Joan Baez too), I could go on and on), better not or I’ll be here all night. x
    ps Boy singers, – Darren Hayes, Simon Webbe, John Denver, Danny Williams, Jimmy Somerville Nat King Cole, Andy Williams (oh dear I need to go to sleep now) zzzzzzzzzzzzz
    pps and Linkin Park (what, I’m 53!!). It’s the emotion in the voice every time.
    enough now good night

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