Thursday, March 17, 2011

Jwheels Presents: Diva rides the roller coaster of a Broadway Pops Concert...

SL is full of musical talent, as you see right here each week. Some of those musicians have music careers in RL as well. I've been lucky enough over the past couple years to get to know a few of them.

One of the most successful is Broadway's own Tamra Hayden AKA Tamra Sands in SL. She also happens to be my friend I asked her recently if she might be willing to share her life on this blog and she agreed.

Today is our first installment. Today we see why a diva never sits still. This is a roller coaster play by play of her latest journey. See you right back here with more updates as soon as she stops to catch her breath.




March 15 (beware the Ides of March! lol)

8AM up and at 'em, a quick breakfast...eggs and toast

8:45AM start drive to La Guardia

9AM meet with unreal traffic on Harlem River Drive! o M G!!! and my radio doesn't work for some reason but GPS says I can still make it in time...

9:30AM starting to pray that the "parking lot" on Harlem River Drive traffic opens up to not miss the flight!

9:50AM heaving a huge sigh of relief to have made it to the Dollar Rent A Car where there is a discount for parking

10AM shuttle to terminal

10:10-10:20AM security

10:30AM board flight to Akron, Ohio

10:55Am doze off momentarily

11:10AM Take off! aWake!

during flight: look through material to sing that night. Drink water, listen to music and read through script for upcoming reading of "It's All About The Kids" that I do on Monday, and some of FunkyFreddy's tunes I will be recording with him for his upcoming CD...guy next to me keeps popping his gum, and I keep thinking of the lines in "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago, "and he was chewing his gum, not chewing, PoPPing... and I said, if you pop that gum one more time...and he did... so I pulled the rifle off the wall and fired 2 warning shots.... into his head.... He had it comin', He had it comin'! He only had himself to blame.... (chuckles to self... ah Musical Theater interludes of the mind...)

12:44PM touch down in Ohio!

1PM drive to hotel

2PM check in

2:15PM take a walk up the road about 1/2 mile to Applebees for a nice late lunch, early dinner - I had Salmon with broccoli and rice... a very nice meal right before a concert.

3:15PM stop by a grocery store for water and a snack for later (just in case) Blueberries on sale! yum

3:30PM back to hotel. Look over gowns to assess the wrinkles... baaaad wrinkles! I use the blow dryer to get them out (a little trick I figured out that works pretty well, since most of my gowns can't be ironed and steamers take up too much space)

4PM put feet up and rest

4:45PM light vocal warm up

5PM go to Theater for set up and sound check

5:30 - 6:30PM sound check

6:40 - 7PM meet and greet reception with donors in the lobby before the show

7-8PM makeup and hair / warm up for show

8PM Showtime! (This was a FREE for the public duet concert with Tenor, Craig Schulman, and Pianist, Sue Anderson) I sang many Broadway favorites: It's A Grand Night For Singing (State Fair), Wonderful Guy (South Pacific), Popular (Wicked), All That Jazz (Chicago), Don't Cry For Me Argentina (Evita), I Dreamed A Dream (Les Miserables), Someone Like You and In His Eyes (Jekyl And Hyde) and closed the evening with an encore of Almost Like Being In Love (Brigadoon)

10PM sign autographs and sell CD's in the lobby

10:30PM taken out to dinner (hehe Applebies again) by Presenter

12PM back to hotel to pack up... etc...

March 16th

4:30AM wake up call - eat the yummy blueberries... get some coffee in the lobby

5AM pick up to Airport

5:05AM spill coffee in my purse... lol I should know better when I am that out of it

6:45AM flight back to La Guardia - read USA Today about the travails in Japan

8:05AM arrive on time woot!

8:30AM hug Sue and Craig goodbye... meet with UN-Real traffic back across the

Triborough Bridge...

9:30AM HOME!

...Exit the ride and go straight back to bed! Most concerts, I do not fly the same day as the show... and I don't always have the first flight home... this was just one of those situations. Definitely a roller coaster ride... but, the community there was so appreciative and gracious to us. In situations like these, it really feels that I am an Ambassador for Broadway. The same goes when I sing Broadway Pops in Second Life. It Brings Broadway into an approachable space for anyone who cares to stop and listen. It is an art form that should be made available for everyone.

1 comment:

  1. wow! You are the Wonder woman in RL. I have been dumbstruck by your magnificent voice in SL only.. but that was delightful! Hope to see and hear you many more times Tamra ...
    Jnix Fallon

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