Had rehearsal with Shelley this morning. Oh, it was great. Everything, including breaks, bridges, a capella parts, etc. fell into place. Plus we recorded everything on tape..which I listened to at work tonight to further engrain the songs in my head. Now doing 5 pieces in the service instead of just the original 3.

I'm still nervous though. It's a new group of people; I haven't rehearsed with the rest of the band yet; rehearsed once with Shelley on guitar/vocals or piano/vocals; just plain excited-nervous; it's a major celebration thing for this community so I don't want to screw up; plus Moe recommended me, so part of me doesn't want to screw up and make her look bad in a sense. ARGGGGGHH!!

After we rehearsed and recorded, Shelley took me out to Panera Restaurant as a treat. Mmmmmm, good hot sammich. Couldn't eat all of it; saved half for tomorrow's lunch. Then got this heavenly chocolate fudge-cake stuff. *drools*

Just spent an hour digging around all my clean clothes, stuff hanging in my closet, my laundry hamper, and the smaller dresser I have "odder" stuff in. Trying to figure out what to wear...
Normally I'm not like that (despite that stereotype of women). But sometimes, especially performance in a new arena, I fall into that category. Nothing quite works as a whole outfit, so I left several pieces out. Probably going to stop at Walmart on the way back from excercise class to look at stuff.

I'm currently bleeding to death, so that's another thing to throw into the works. 1st full day today. Ugh. Can't wear the light-colored muy bueno slacks that go really well with my black & red Indian blouse, for obvious-to-females reason. Especially because I'll be sitting and playing off and on for almost two hours.
No white pants for me.

And speaking of periods..can we say CRAMPS!!! Holy mother...today was BAD! I think I must have gotten spoiled..
This is the first time in over a year and a half I've gotten cramps like these in my lower back. Much of that I attributed to the core-strengthening from bellydancing, yoga, and other excercise.
Hmmm...considering I totally missed all of March's classes, about 1/3 of February's, and 1/2 of April's due to scheduling problems, me thinks there is a connection. M'abs have gotten a little soft on the internal side, and I be a-hurtin'!

Least I'm going to 11am class tomorrow. Wanted to do a double (yoga/aura), but too much to do & not enough spunk right now.

Nervy, nervy, nervy...can I harvest the butterflies in my stomach right now? And sell them, live of course, to greenhouses and living museums and stuff? :P

Everything went very well tonight. They had the service for Jonathon , the rabbi, because it was his 10-year anniversary. He seems to be a very cool guy. Very nice. Plus the choir people, the other band members (like Lonni the flute/soprano sax player) were all very cool. The music just flowed.

Did two pieces for the actual service, "Yism'chu"--a nifty medium-beat song (w/a walking bass feel, but done on djembe). Then "Oseh Shalom", more laid back and soft. Still played, with a pinch of spice.
Then the Cantor, she brought me into the one song from the Prayer book the congregation was singing. Between the particular rhythm of the sung Hebrew and people playing egg-shakers, it felt right, so I jumped in. The Cantor had a wide smile and thanked me afterwards.
The whole service was pretty cool. Only part that dragged a little--since it was a special occassion--was when maybe 8-10 people each got up to the podium to speak--for eons. :P

After the service was a nice reception. Lots of homemade baked goodies and coffee and such. They played a cute slide show of the Rabbi from his *earliest* days forward. Then our band and choir did three songs:
"Saalam", Arabic for peace. I started that one off and raucously brought the crowd into it. The piano player I think felt the *Ruach* (spirit) and pounded, Beethoven style, on the keys.
2nd, "Children of Freedom", more layed back. Nice.
3rd, apparently one of the Rabbi's favorite oldies/rock songs is "Louie, Louie", but the music group and the kids overlayed new words to the same melody "Rabbi, Rabbi". After Shelley's small speech, brought them in with a huge sforzando, crescendoing roll into the rock beat.
YEAH!!! Schweeeet.

:D


NOW, I'm tired.


And I've got to get up early! Arggggh!