Tweet It’s not every day that a woman gets to return to the small town where she grew up and perform a jazz concert in the same theater where she watched movies as a child. However, I have the privilege of doing exactly that. One week from tomorrow, I am hopping on a plane...
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Tags: David Hardman, Jeff Johnson, Leslie Smith Schauvliege, May 11th, Michael Geib, Oklahoma Arts Council, Ponca City, Ponca City Arts & Humanities Council, Ponca Indians, Poncan Theatre, Randy Halberstadt, University of Central Oklahoma School of Music
Posted in My Blog | 29 Comments »
Tweet There was quite a flap last week over Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen’s remarks about Mitt Romney’s wife Ann. In case you missed it, here’s what she said: “What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country saying, ‘Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic...
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Tags: Ann Romney, Hilary Rosen, Mary Elizabeth Williams, motherhood, parenting, Salon, teenagers, working moms
Posted in My Blog | 10 Comments »
Tweet The inspiration for this blog post came to me while I was driving home from my yoga class last night. I have no idea where it came from or why. It doesn’t matter. The message is this: GET OUT THERE AND KICK SOME ASS TODAY. Actually, get out there and kick...
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Posted in My Blog | 3 Comments »
Tweet A few months ago, I had a gig at one of my favorite clubs. Leading up to the gig, I did all the requisite promo; I blasted through social media, sent emails to my distribution list, posted on my website and made sure the date was listed on all the local music calendars. Despite...
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Tags: Boxley's, cover charges, Darrah Parker, draw, fans, Firseside Room, Happy Hour, Hiroshi's, Jason Parker, Jazz & Sushi, Legacy Quartet, live music, Musicquarium, New Orleans, Sorrento Hotel, Triple Door
Posted in My Blog | 4 Comments »
Tweet The other day I was talking to a fellow musician who had recently experienced a disappointment on the career front. She was understandably upset and was deep in that very familiar pit of lamenting, second-guessing and self-doubt. She was questioning her worth as a musician and contemplating as to whether or not...
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Tags: Carmen McRae, creativity, Darrah Parker, disappointment
Posted in My Blog, Our Creative Lives | 4 Comments »
Tweet I can’t think of anything that would be more annoying than showing up for work in the morning and finding a bunch of priests conducting a vigil on the sidewalk in front of my place of employment. Equally annoying (and ridiculous) would be the sizable crowd of women, men and children holding horrific...
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Tags: 40 Days for Life, abortion rights, anti-choice, Congressional attacks on Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, pro choice, Stearns investigation, Susan G. Komen, women's health
Posted in My Blog | 1 Comment »
Tweet Many people will be come home to a bouquet of roses tonight or will gaze across a candlelit dinner into the eyes of that special someone. For these lucky souls, Valentine’s Day is cause for celebration and an excuse, as if one is needed, to throw a little kindling on the romantic fire....
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Tags: A Thousand Beautiful Things, Adele, Annie Lennox, Billie Holiday, Billy Strayhorn, Both Sides Now, Carmen McRae, Chet Baker, Deep Song, Everything Must Change, I Can Explain, Inside a Silent Tear, Joni Mitchell, Karrin Allyson, lovelorn, Lush Life, Rachelle Ferrell, Valentine's Day, You Don't Know what Love Is
Posted in My Blog | 3 Comments »
Tweet Courage According to the Cowardly Lion, courage is “what makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk.” John Wayne said, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” And the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere and withstand danger,...
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Tags: courage, Cowardy Lion, fear, Our Creative Lives, politics
Posted in My Blog, Our Creative Lives | 1 Comment »
Tweet “There are certain things that government does that gives people privileges in order to promote activity that are healthy for society and are best for society. And those things we promote would give people advantages or benefits, government benefits because we think that is healthy activity. Mothers and fathers coming together, forming healthy...
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Tags: 2012 presidential race, establishment clause, ethnic cleansing, evangelical Christianity, gay marriage, gay rights, human rights, LGBT, Rick Santorum
Posted in My Blog | 13 Comments »
Tweet As is sometimes prone to happen here on the bloggie, I sat down this morning with the intention of writing about one thing, but another subject kept pulling for my attention. The muse is funny like that. When she says, “jump,” I say “how high?” Next week, I will indeed resume with a new...
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Tags: Angelina Jolie, Annette Bening, anorexia, beauty, Calvin Klein, distorted images of female beauty, feminism, Golden Globes, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, media, Octavia Spencer
Posted in My Blog | 6 Comments »