Operation TJBIZSM: The Saga Continues!

Bottom line:  *this little lady right here* is in the Bamberg finals. Our post will have its final round at our Oktoberfest celebration in 2 weeks, and I plan on tearing the roof off that place with my fabulousness... which shouldn't be too difficult, being that our venue will be outdoors.

For this most recent round, I ended up drawing #6 from the hat -- the final performer. I followed on the heels of 4 traditional ballads and a slow Alicia Keys number. And how did I follow? With my interpretation of an Alanis Morissette piece. Booyah, my friends. Booyah.

It's not my best performance by any stretch of the imagination, and I can blame only so much on the "German Funk" that is inhabiting my sinuses and throat this week, but still. I had fun, I noticed people grinning and singing along in the audience, and that's what it all comes down to. Well, that and that whole bottom line part -- I'm going to the finals.  And for my next 5 minutes of fame, I'll be giving the judges the ballad they've been wanting out of me.

Oh, and listen closely to the chatter at the beginning... shortly after I get the guitar plugged in, you can hear Liam say, "Mommy's going to sing 'Ironic.'" Such a cool kid. (I believe he also said, "I gotta go potty" shortly after he said, "All done" and folks stopped clapping. What a guy.)

Operation TJBIZSM

For an expansion of the aforementioned acronym, please see the previous post. I was trained as a lawyer and Zeke has given me the Army life on a silver platter, so there is no escaping acronyms in our existence... no matter how absurd they may be at times.

Long story short:  Round 3, here I come! Made it through the last round and had a blast. My dear friend Aimee flew in from Wales for the weekend and was able to be in the audience, playing with Liam and cheering me on. I told her she's going to have to return for the next round because she was definitely a good luck charm!

For this round, the audience was able to participate in voting and our faithful spectators put in more than 360 votes. Everyone seemed to have a really good time -- and I can't wait to raise the bar for myself even higher next week.

We were required to have accompaniment for this round (and all to follow), and I opted to play guitar instead of sing along to a pre-recorded track. I performed "Hallelujah," written and performed originally by Leonard Cohen but made more famous by the likes of Jeff Buckley... and the movie Shrek.

I think I got a nice boost in votes for doing a song from Shrek. Food for thought.

For a video of my performance (and the fun, constructive comments from the judges), here you go. Enjoy!

Operation Rising Star...

aka Operation Turn Jess Back Into Zeke's Sugar Mama

I made it through the first round, with three to go (in Bamberg, that is). We're looking at competitions every two weeks, and for the remaining rounds, I will be able to play the guitar for backup. SUPER EXCITED about this opportunity -- Operation Rising Star is the only practical way someone in our lifestyle can have access to such a venture. I feel good after last night, but it's a long road ahead and I'm going to bust my patootie and see where this experience takes us.

Here's a video of my performance. Feel free to tell me your thoughts, both positive and critical -- the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement and goodness knows I am sitting my butt on a stool smack-dab in the middle of that room right now.

I already have some recommendations for myself to start off the list:

1.  Push past the weird plexiglass throat-crushing device that tends to grab at me when I start singing in such circumstances. It's not real. So just get over it.

2.  Make sure I take time to let the phrases settle on everyone's ears. I don't know where the fire was last night, but I seemed to be running from it vocally. I don't want to turn it into a funeral dirge, but I shouldn't take for granted the time needed for the audience to care.

Now it's your turn. Be my Simon Cowells.  And Simon, if you happen upon my blog, be my Simon. Give me your worst. 

(Sidebar:  Who here thinks Simon Cowell might Google his name?  Don't we all?  And if, in fact, he does, what are the chances his Googling quest will lead him here? If all those fabulous little events transpire, how excellent would that be? A productive and inspiring insult critique from him would be like manna for this songbird's soul.)