Abby London

 The Abby London is Miss-Cheivous show last Friday went very well.  Let me tell you more about it.

 It was hard work preparing everything out and bringing life to my song creations by adding costumes, pictures, an amazing beatboxer and some glow in the dark baton action.  I had little interludes between each song while I changed my costume.  There were a few lighting changes that happened too.  These are the papers that I typed out so the show would go as smoothly as possible. 

Sammy, a volunteer at The Pocket for the night, ran the sound and lights and introduced me.  My boyfriend helped with equipment and videos and ran the audio interludes backing tracks.  He also helped me pick out costumes and came up with the name of the show. The Jackal helped me so the audio didn't need adjusting.  We practiced the cues at home every day the week before.  Brian Kirkness did beatboxing which we had rehearsed, he got an effects pedal to do the electric guitar solo (which sounded so cool!) on Rollercoaster, helped with equipment, opened and shut the curtains, and came up with the idea to do Time completely a cappella at the end of the show.  

I was able to get some photos courtesy of Christopher A.  He even let me take his phone home with me after the show so I could upload them.  

It felt so good to give a performance my all and be able to put so much energy into every aspect of the show.  I think the songs made more sense and were more impactful than usual.  I feel very proud of myself for putting this together and motivated to do more shows like this in the future. One of my friends sent me an email the day after the show and said she felt affected the next day as one does when seeing a good movie. What a great compliment! 

I had a bunch of help during the show and preparing for it but it would have been weird if there was no audience.  Promotions are such a huge part of getting an energetic performance because, of course, an audience is such an important part of the equation.  I emailed, I ran ads, I sent texts, I invited, I facebooked, I posted on various places online. When I learned I had sold out I was elated! Lots of people shared and commented about my event (before and after) which I am so grateful for.    

All in all, it feels so good to be dedicating so much time and energy to my art and to have it be so well received.  Thank you to everyone who helped me promote and who came to see me.     

I will be sharing more photos and clips online and am looking forward to getting the video of the event from The Pocket Theater sometime in the next week or so.  

'til next time ;) 

One of my missions this summer is to play music at art walks around Seattle.  I want to see more art, know more artists, and help each other out.  I've grown less keen of playing music late at night in a bar since giving up certain vices completely and have been yearning for a different environment.  After some careful thought thanks to a marketing class I took last quarter, I decided on some new avenues for my live performances and art walks is one of them.  My first one will be at Thread Church during the Capitol Hill Art Walk next Thursday, June 14th from 5-9pm.  When I visited the website of the Capitol Hill Artwalk the Thread Church location totally stood out to me as did the art from the photographer they were displaying.  His name is John Deleon.  I hit it off with John right away and also the pastor of the church Justin!  The artist featured this month is Ranan Itchon another super amazing photographer.  

If you know of any art walk locations that I'd be a good fit for please,  let me know!  I'm also interested in gallery openings.

Last year I was contacted on my Soundcloud by someone asking if I would be interested in singing on a song he wrote.  Initially I was like, who is this guy messaging me?  I think he had to contact me a couple more times before we ended up emailing and scheduling a phone call.  He sent me the song around Christmas time and I played it at my grandparents house.  Everyone who heard it liked it and said to go for it.  I wasn't sure I was going to be good at it, but I practiced a zillion times and eventually scheduled a recording session.  The day before I almost backed out I was so nervous but I'm so glad I didn't.  I did an amazing job in the studio giving take after take of options for the songwriter and engineer to pick from.  I had to go back multiple times because of allergies( I fixed them with the NEAT btw), to do harmonies and also oohs and ahhs.  The oohs and ahhs were in a choral register and I was so lightheaded from it that I had to take one tiny direction at a time.  I could not be more proud of my work on this song.  I later found out that the song was written with my voice in mind!  I have become good friends with the songwriter, David Nyro and am currently working with the engineer and producer for that song Jakael Tristam.  I was so impressed with the pro level both of these guys are at.  They really got the best possible performance out of me and I'm so happy to be working with Jakael now on my own stuff.  The Man in the Window is in a variety of places online.  If you listen to it on Indie Music People, you can contribute to the song winning an award.  You can also hear it on Spotify and Pandora, and buy it on iTunes and Amazon.  There is a longer version of the song on YouTube and Soundcloud.