Keepin' It Real

Not much new has happened lately around here, but we're both keeping very busy with our new responsibilities. Joseph opens at the Garden Theatre in less than two weeks and it's been incredible to watch it all come together!  I'm very excited to share that the role of Potiphar, my on-stage spouse, will be played by a local celebrity each night.  The list of names is shaping up to be very impressive from what I hear, so I'll post as soon as everything is nailed down, and I'll have ticket information too.  I'm also playing a gig at the downtown branch of the Orange County Library again this year to celebrate National Music Week.  If you're free around 11:30 on Monday, May 3, come on by to hear a song or two!

I had an amazing opportunity during the Easter season.  A friend of mine, to whom I am very grateful, recommended me to fill in with the eight-piece professional choir at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe for their Holy Week services.  Performing with such an illustrious and talented group was a very fulfilling experience for me, and I hope I get the chance to go back and sing with them every once in a while. 

Eric is adjusting very well to his new surroundings.  He's closing tonight for the first time in this role, so I'm holding down the fort here at home, just bloggin' and having a relaxing night in to prepare for the intense rehearsal process resuming Monday evening.  It's gonna be a great show!

What's New with You?

The Time and Music Cabaret, a fund-raiser for Encore, was a major success last weekend.  I got to sing "To Keep My Love Alive," a darkly humorous Rodgers and Hart tune which was an audience favorite.  You may also remember from a previous post that I was cast in a production of Joseph... at the Garden Theatre.  Yesterday at our first rehearsal, I was promoted to the role of Potiphar's Wife!  I will still be singing with the ensemble, but I'll also be featured in the Potiphar scene in addition to my chorus duties. 

As for the house hunt, we decided to put in an offer on the Model Home.  We really liked it and feel it fits our needs best.  The offer has been approved by the seller, but since it's a short sale, we're still waiting on approval from the sellers' bank, which could take up to 90 days.  If we're approved, then we would have 45 days to get our loan and then hopefully we would close! 

Carmen has Carmen gone

Last weekend we opened (and closed) the collaborative production of Carmen with the Orlando Philharmonic and Mad Cow Theatre.  It was a wonderful experience!  My first time visiting the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center was as a performer on the stage--I got a major kick out of that.  It ended up being a really fun venue to perform in.  Exploring the backstage area was a total adventure.  Stage stars had autographed the walls when their shows came through town so I lingered quite a bit gawking at our heroes' signatures. 

The show itself seemed a success and the house looked full on Sunday afternoon and Friday night.  My folks--the very educated and cultured parental unit of three professional musicians--have sat through a lot of boring musical performances in their lifetimes, but they both geniunely enjoyed every moment of a three-plus-hour evening at the opera, even the parts where their kid wasn't onstage.  And the Orlando Sentinel's theatre critic even noticed that we received a pretty lengthy round of applause at the end of the night (read the review).  That could have been the result of the lengthy, non-underscored curtain call, but who knows?  I can say that between my first rehearsal three weeks before opening night and the interminable final bows, I made some invaluable memories, contacts, and friends.

Gigs Galore

Since this new year began, I have been blessed enough to be just about in constant rehearsal for gigs from the start, and there are no signs of my slowing down any time soon!  First was the latest in a collaborative chain of performances for the Orange County Library System.  Last year around this time--when I had just bought my equipment and gotten my act together (literally)--I answered a post on CraigsList seeking musicians for Music in the Library, a celebration of National Music Week, at each of their branches.  I did a set in the study room at the Southwest branch in Dr. Phillips (kind of ironic to have some lady banging on a piano and screaming into a microphone in a library at all, much less a study room, huh?), and then another at the downtown branch on Central Avenue.  Jimi (spelled like Hendrix), the library's incredibly friendly and fun Community Relations liaison, recommended my services to his college roommate, who just happens to be Chef Chris Lacey of Jack's Steakhouse in the posh up-and-coming neighborhood of Baldwin Park.  As a result, I have gotten to play several sets at Jack's, enough, in fact, to cover the cost of my entire system--speakers, stands, mics, table and all!  So anyway, Jimi was nice enough to recruit me for another gig at the library, Dr. Phillips High School's Art Expo.  There were lots of nice comments and even a booking for a Friends of the Library event this December.  Mark your calendars!

Meanwhile, Eric and I were both tapped by Encore to perform in a small group of singers for Transitions Optical's annual international Academy at Disney's Yacht Club Resort.  The performances was for their 2009 Lab of the Year Awards ceremony, with a theme of "Never Lose Sight...of the Possibilities" (Get it?), so we were asked to sing a few inspirational numbers to open and entertain throughout the show: a Queen medley of We Will Rock You and We are the Champions, Power of the Dream from the 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies, and a beautiful part-a cappella arrangement of Go the Distance from Hercules.  Our final selection was Defying Gravity from Wicked, and I was so excited to sing a solo!  Transitions Optical was nice enough to provide a costuming and cosmetology team for us, so I had a beautiful costume, amazing updo, and incredible make-up to wear!

Me as Glinda with Beth Neel as Elphaba

Then, just about the day after that event, I received a phone call from Mad Cow Theatre about a callback I had attended in December.  I was on their alternate list for the chorus of Bizet's Carmen.  Someone had dropped out at the last minute so they invited me to join the cast!  The performances will be Friday, February 26 at 8:00pm and Sunday, February 28 at 2:00pm at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center, which means I will be learning the entire role in less than three weeks!  I consider the entire experience to be a very exciting challenge, and I am thrilled to have my first theatre contract!

Coming up next will be the second annual cabaret featuring singers from Encore.  Like last year, all the proceeds from this year's show, called Time and Music, will go toward our budget for the summer production.  The goal is to keep making the summer show bigger and better so we can raise more and more funds for our selected charity recipient, which this year is the Make a Wish Foundation of Central and North Florida.  The cabaret starts rehearsal the first of March and goes onstage on March 11, 13, and 14 at the Odyssey Restaurant at Epcot. 

Finally, to keep me booked until May 16, I have just been cast in Garden Theatre's community production of good old Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  Back when I was a big fish in a little pond, I played the Narrator in Ware County High School's production, so it'll be a fresh and new experience this time since I'll be playing one of a few wife-y type chorus members.  Hopefully in the meantime I'll get a chance to be a judge again at East Ridge Idol, the annual fundraiser for my friend Gretchen's chorus program.  I'll have to double check my schedule.

As always, you can get the latest updates about my career by visiting my website.

More Singing with the Stars

'Tis the season! With the Disney parks nearby, it begins to look a lot Christmas right around November 1st, but it never feels like Christmas to me until I get to sing some Christmas music! In college, I always had our candlelight concerts to look forward to and to generate holiday cheer, and now we have Epcot's Candlelight Processional to take its place. This week Eric and I sang in the cast choir in our first show of the season with John O'Hurley as the celebrity guest narrator. He interpreted the Christmas story wonderfully. By the end of the show, it really felt like the holidays were on their way!

Then last night, we got to see the Singing Christmas Trees at First Baptist Church in Orlando. My friend Rachel was playing the part of Mary in the show so she graciously invited us to the opening night! It was an amazing spectacle--literally two 40-foot tree-shapes full of hundreds of choir singers and thousands of twinkly lights!

Tomorrow I'm attending my first holiday function of the season, a brunch with the ladies of Alpha Chi Omega, and we'll be stopping by a few other soirees throughout the season and probably even hosting one of our own. Then the next two Sundays will be the Christmas cantata at my church. And, of course, today we had the filming for the (newly renamed) 2009 Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade with Celine Dion! Rainy weather forced us out of the Magic Kingdom, but we ended up at the beautiful Grand Floridian hotel for the performance. Everyone involved really came together (and quickly!) to make everything go smoothly. Celine (we're so totally on a first name basis now) was amazing and totally gracious--she even gave Clay, our director, a much-deserved shout-out at the end of the shoot. Plus she looked fabulous!

EDIT: Here is a link to a post on the official Disney Parks blog about the taping. You can't see us in the picture, but it still looks cool!

If you're looking for us on Christmas morning, we're the very last number on the program, O Come All Ye Faithful. Nick Cannon--who's co-hosting the parade this year with Kelly Ripa--even announced the name of our group, Encore Cast Choir! The whole choir is in gold robes, and Eric and I are on the far right side of the group when you are looking at the whole group on the screen. I'm the one with a giant grin on my face! Hopefully we'll get some face time on ABC--we were all feeling very Hollywood today. The most ironic thing is that we don't have cable so I hope they put the video online so we can see ourselves!

All in all, it's been a very eventful (and exclamation point-worthy!) week and we're definitely in the holiday spirit now. The house is decorated, the shopping is underway, and, of course, there will be lots more singing. Here is our tentative Epcot Candlelight Processional schedule for this season:

• Monday, December 7 at 5:00pm with Anika Noni Rose
• Sunday, December 13 at 6:45pm and 8:15 with Vanessa Williams
• Tuesday, December 15 at 5:00pm with Abigail Breslin
• Friday, December 18 (Eric's Birthday!) at 5:00pm with Whoopi Goldberg
• Monday, December 21 at 5:00pm with Brian Dennehy

Entertainment is subject to change. While supplies last. Void where prohibited. All rights reserved, y'all.

Our 15 Minutes of Fame!

There haven't been many posts lately because since we got back from vacation, we've basically just been settling back in and catching up on real life...until we got an email from Encore, the charity choir we sing with during the summers. We've been asked to appear in the Christmas Day Parade being filmed at Walt Disney World and airing on ABC! The coolest part is that we'll be singing in the finale as back-up singers for a famous singer! The celebrity's identity was very hush-hush and we were all trying to guess who it might be until our first rehearsal last night when it was revealed to be the fabulous, the incomparable, the outrageous...Celine Dion!!

She's just as shocked and excited as we are! We are taping our segment this Friday on the Cinderella Castle stage! So if you have a DVR (or if you have nothing better to do on Christmas morning than to watch TV), tune in to the 26th-annual Emmy award-winning Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade to spot two of your favorite Browns!

The End of a (Different) Era

I talked about the "end of an era" when our contract at Kimonos was underbid as a result of the economy. Now another one of my performing arts employers has fallen victim to the financial crisis. Four Corners Academy of the Arts, the performing arts studio owned by my friend and bridesmaid Gretchen, has permanently closed its doors.

It is bittersweet to think that if the year-and-a-half during which the studio was open for business had existed in a different time, things probably wouldn't have turned out this way. Gretchen and the rest of the faculty are dealing with this sad turn of events in our own ways but also taking comfort in knowing we enriched the lives of artistic young people, and even some not-so-young. Even though 4CAA has gone out of business, it's hard for me to think of the entire venture as a failure; I know we taught and touched a lot of people within and beyond those walls. Planting or encouraging a seed of creativity, learning, and confidence in another person can only be called a success.

At any rate, now I have openings for private voice and piano students to take lessons here at our house, so if you know anyone who is interested, please pass my information along!

The Day the Music Died for a new generation

Today on the way to Encore rehearsal, someone sent me a text that read, "It's official. Michael Jackson is dead." I felt for sure that it had to be a hoax. I didn't recognize the phone number, and, besides, Michael Jackson is only 50. Eric switched on the radio. The sounds of "Thriller" immediately blared out of the speakers. I've never heard "Thriller" on the radio, except on Halloween; it's almost six minutes long. Eric turned to another of our programmed stations, and we heard "Bad." The next station played "Beat It." I kept switching from station to station to station thinking, "It can't be a coincidence." I cried thinking about how his music affected the entertainment industry and pop culture as a whole, about how, at the peak of his career--and even after his popularity waned--he was such an incredible performer, entertainer, innovator. Eccentric public personality aside, Michael Jackson was undoubtedly an icon in the industry; he embodied his nickname "The King of Pop."

There is no question that, as a public figure, Michael Jackson was misunderstood. Thinking about about his image today reminded me of one of my favorite compositions of his, a lesser-known song called "Childhood." It was written in 1995--when rock and hip-hop ruled over pop--for the sequel to Free Willy, but the lyrics unmistakably reflect Jackson's life. He was exposed to grown-up experiences before he was ready, and as a result, he lived a maladjusted and idiosyncratic adult life. Below are the words to a song that sheds light on the strangeness of Jackson's adulthood, a time during which his celebrity and outlandishness overshadowed the part of him for which he should be remembered: his musical contributions.

Listen to "Childhood"

Have you seen my childhood?
I'm searching for the world that I come from
'Cause I've been looking around
In the lost and found of my heart

No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities
'Cause I keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me

People say I'm not okay
'Cause I love such elementary things
It's been my fate to compensate
For the childhood I've never known

Have you seen my childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like pirates in adventurous dreams
Of conquest and kings on the throne

Before you judge me, try hard to love me
Look within your heart then ask
Have you seen my childhood?

People say I'm strange that way
'Cause I love such elementary things
It's been my fate to compensate
For the childhood I've never known

Have you seen my childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like fantastical stories to share
But the dreams I would dare, watch me fly

Before you judge me, try hard to love me
The painful youth I've had
Have you seen my Childhood?

My Jobs

If you're my friend on Facebook, you may have noticed that my Work section (below) is full of jobs. You might be wondering how a person can have four jobs at once, but it's not as difficult as it seems. I'll explain.

Employer: Our 365 Newborn Photography
Position: Photographer
Location: Celebration, FL
I just had my first day today, and I'll be working here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings taking babies' first photos.

Employer: Sherwood Comunity Chapel
Position: Pianist
Location: Kissimmee, FL
This position has given me a great opportunity to improve my sight-reading, accompanying, and improvisational skills. During the summer, I only play on Sunday mornings and for occasional other Sunday services. During the rest of the year, I'll also play for choir rehearsals on Thursday evenings. I get to sing sometimes too!

Employer: Four Corners Academy of the Arts
Position: Voice/Piano Faculty
Location: Clermont, FL
When my friend Gretchen opened this business in January of last year, I had the pleasure of opening the studio with her as the drama and ballroom teacher. Now I teach ballroom, voice, piano, and musical theatre on Friday afternoons.

Employer: The Walt Disney Company
Position: Photographer
Location: Lake Buena Vista, FL
My first day with Disney was in May of 2003 as an attractions hostess in Tomorrowland. In June of 2006 I transferred to Entertainment as a character attendant, and I started with Disney Photo Imaging in December of 2006. My status is seasonal, so I can have them schedule me weekly, or I can choose from odds-and-ends they have available on the shift board whenever I'm free (which is what I usually do).






So as you can see, none of my jobs ever actually overlap with each other, and I still get to have Monday and Tuesday free, which are Eric's days off, too! Also, for the most part, it leaves my evenings free for performing gigs. I have my own professional equipment and repertoire, so I provide live entertainment for hotels and restaurants, weddings and other sacred ceremonies, and private parties and special events. I'll be playing at the public library downtown on July 31 at noon if you want to come by!

Photography is fun for me, and I've always considered it more of a hobby than a career. My goal is to some day (soon!) have a full-time performing contract somewhere closeby, so I can still have most of my evenings free. I've gotten very close to where I want to be, and I'm not giving up on auditions and performing opportunities. Soon I'll really have a full-time career doing what I am educated in and what I love!

I Love My Country

This year, no one but I will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of Trapper County War, an alleged action-adventure film that features two songs--and a cameo appearance--by my dad, Terry Pinder. These tunes include "Certified Fool" and "I Love My Country," which I think is great title (the song features a clever double meaning).

In honor of this milestone, here's a collection of some interesting country song titles. Some of these may be inaccurate, but they're still worth reading if you're bored.

• All My Exes Live In Texas
• Bubba Shot The Jukebox
• Drop Kick Me Jesus (Through The Goal Posts Of Life) -- one of Dad's favorites
• Get Off the Table, Mabel (The Two Dollars is for the Beer)
• Get Your Biscuits In The Oven and Your Buns In The Bed
• Here's A Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)
• How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?
• How Come Your Dog Don't Bite Nobody But Me?
• I Bought the Shoes that Just Walked Out on Me
• I Can't Pass the Bar, and There's One on my Way Home
• I Changed Her Oil, She Changed My Life
• I Don't Want Your Body If Your Heart's Not In It
• I Gave Her My Heart and A Diamond and She Clubbed Me With A Spade
• I Gave Her the Ring, and She Gave Me the Finger
• I Got In at 2 With A 10 and Woke Up At 10 With a 2
• I Guess I Had Your Leavin' Coming
• I Still Miss You, Baby, But My Aim's Gettin' Better
• I Wish I Were A Woman (So I Could Go Out With A Guy Like Me)
• I Would Have Wrote You A Letter, But I Couldn't Spell Yuck!
• I'd Rather Have A Bottle In Front Of Me Than A Frontal Lobotomy
• If I Ain't Got It, You Don't Need It
• If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You
• If I'd Killed You When I Wanted To, I'd be Out of Jail By Now
• If My Nose Was Running Money, Honey, I'd Blow It All On You
• If The Jukebox Took Teardrops, I'd Cry All Night Long
• If Today Was A Fish, I'd Throw It Back In
• If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead?
• I'll Tennessee You In My Dreams
• I'm Drinkin' Christmas Dinner (All Alone This Year)
• I'm In Love With a Capital U
• I'm So Miserable Without You, It's Like Having You Here
• Jesus Loves Me But He Can't Stand You
• Legendary Chicken Fairy
• Mama Get The Hammer (There's A Fly On Papa's Head)
• Phantom Of The Opry
• Please Bypass This Heart
• She Got The Gold Mine and I Got The Shaft
• She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
• Tennis Must Be Your Racket 'Cause Love Means Nothin' To You
• Thank God and Greyhound She's Gone
• The Pint Of No Return
• Timber... I'm Fallin' In Love
• We Used To Kiss On The Lips, But It's All Over Now
• Welcome to Dumpsville, Population Me
• When We Get Back To the Farm (That's When We Really Go To Town)
• You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too
• You Changed Your Name From Brown to Jones, and Mine From Brown to Blue
• You're The Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly

The End of an Era

I keep using that (the above) phrase to mean my last night at Kimonos (which was tonight), but given that Webster's defines the ultimate word in that phrase as the following:

era: a stage in development (as of a person or thing), or a memorable or important date or event; especially one that begins a new period in the history of a person or thing

the term seems appropriate for this situation (and, yes, I did just use a dictionary definition to open my "five-paragraph essay" like a sixth grader).

The past year-and-eight months at Kimonos have been an amazing time of growth for my voice and performing skills. As a result of having this opportunity to choose whatever songs I want and performing them for an audience two or three nights per week, my repertoire, confidence, presence, and improvisational skills have grown immensely. Just last week, I got two--count 'em, two!--call backs from Disney, strictly by auditioning with songs I would never have in my bag o' tricks if it weren't for this job.

Although I am wistful for what I am being forced to leave behind, I am appreciative of what this opportunity has given me. I have a (precious) few prospects on the horizon, so who knows what's in store for me next? Hopefully, what's in store are bigger and better things which have even more valuable experiences and lessons to offer. But for now I am grateful for:

• the managers (especially Doug, Carson, and Andy) for being awesome at their jobs and considering helping and protecting we emcees a part of their jobs
• the venue - who could ask for anything more? An upscale, family-friendly venue in the heart of Walt Disney World, with an excellent sound system, 1000s of quality tracks, and pretty much the best guests we could ask for...
• the girls (our fearless leader, Madell, and all my other fellow emcees) who are handling this (decidedly crappy) situation with dignity. Here's hoping the economy gets better before it gets worse. Best wishes!

Christmas in January

I've been clearing out space on our hard drive, so I finally got around to editing and uploading some video footage I've been avoiding. Here are three early (or late) holiday treats from the Pinders and Browns.

Above, a taste of our annual Christmas caroling tradition. Directly below, links to the outtakes of our attempts to recording the caroling tradition, and finally, our performance for the Christmas Eve service at FBC Waycross.

Christmas Caroling Bloopers

Rejoice with Exceeding Great Joy

Our Lives Thus Far

So you've read about the wedding and the events leading up to it. Now here's a quick update on what's been going on with us lately.

Eric moved to Orlando in June 2007 after resigning his position as a manager at the Herkimer Area Resource Center and selling his house in Mohawk, New York. Having earned his associate's degree from Herkimer County Community College, Eric had already begun taking courses online toward his bachelor's in business administration from Everest University.

He began his career with Walt Disney World as a front desk concierge at Disney's Boardwalk Resort. Very early on, he was chosen as a trainer for front desk cast and a facilitator of the training class for all new Boardwalk cast members. Soon after he was trained as an FSA (I don't know what that stands for, but basically it means you're in charge of the whole front desk), Eric applied for a management position and was chosen to be part of a pilot program designed for approximately 30 of the company's top management candidates. He completed the Emerging Leaders program two days before the wedding and, on that day, the official announcement was made that he had been permantently placed as a front desk manager for Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa and Disney's Old Key West Resort.

As for myself, after I graduated from Stetson, I secured a gig as a full-time piano player at the Marriott World Center for a while, and, until the show ceased broadcast in July, I also wrote for the online trivia game EAgameshow.com by EA Sports. I continued working for Disney in the entertainment department and consequently as a photographer up to the present. In January, my friend Gretchen open her own business, an after-school performing arts academy, and I joined the faculty as a part-time drama, piano, voice, photography, and ballroom teacher. I've also been performing at Kimonos at the Walt Disney World Swan since last May. It's a fun gig!

Outside of work, I sang with the Orlando Chamber Singers and the Orlando Chorale last season, and I also volunteer from time to time at Give Kids the World Village. My songwriting has been coming along as well. I entered a piece in the contest to select a new Florida state song, and it was one of the top 20 contenders. A holiday piece I wrote was premiered by Gretchen's massed choirs at East Ridge High School, and the Orlando Gay Chorus has expressed interest in performing it for their winter concert this year.

Eric rowed for a team from his work location for a regatta called Canoe Races of the World, held annually in the Rivers of America at the Magic Kingdom. The team didn't place, but he enjoyed training for the race and being in the park before opening!

We also both performed for the second straight year in Encore! Cast Choir and Orchestra, an annual charity performance put on by Disney cast members. This year's concerts raised $25,940 for United Arts of Central Florida. Also, we'll be performing as part of the cast choir for Epcot's Christmas Candlelight concerts.

We're keeping busy, that's for sure, but Eric secured vacation time for the week of my birthday in October, and we're going on a four-night Royal Caribbean cruise! 19 days 'til we depart! Bon voyage!

Granny

My paternal grandmother passed away last evening from pancreatic cancer. Eric has been asked to be a pallbearer, and we will be driving up to Georgia either tomorrow night after my classes at the studio or Saturday morning for the service on Saturday.

I am grateful to her for sharing her passion for music and teaching with me and my family. I began taking piano lessons from her at a very young age and built a foundation of piano technique on the skills that she taught me. Now I make my living doing the same for artistic young people, and I am appreciative to her for enstilling that passion in me.

She also gave me my dad, who is the most selfless, loving father in the whole world.

Shirla Ione Shaw Pinder

1930-2008