The Hills Are Alive!

If you were one of the cool kids last night...you were watching The Sound of Music Live!

If you have absolutely NO idea what I'm talking about, you are not only not one of the cool kids, but you are also living under a rock. #SoundOfMusicLife was blowing up all the social media networks last night! It was "it" social event to attend in the comfort of your living room. 

It was brilliant! 

First of all, I am a sucker for all things musical. There's just something about people bursting into song and dance instead of just talking about their feelings that makes me giddy. I sometimes wish real life was a musical. 

Second, I love live theater. Every show is different. You never know if they are going to trip and fall or miss their high note or forget all of their lines. Like last night when Carrie Underwood almost fell down the mountain! I literally gasped out loud! But thankfully Carrie caught herself just in time and the show went on! It's the suspense people!

Third, I love The Sound of Music. If you don't like it, I may be reconsidering our friendship agreement. Who doesn't love The Sound of Music? 

I knew it wasn't going to be Julie Andrews movie quality, but I went in with excitement and an open mind. 

And I loved every moment of it!

Well, except where they left out the young love gazebo dancing and the goat herding marionettes yodeling, but I can get past that. 

There was dancing and singing some of my favorite songs and the classic story we all love. It was wonderful! 

Some of the cast, especially Carrie, seemed a little nervous during the first few scenes, but they settled into it nicely. 

It wasn't the best live performance I have ever seen, but, if you know live theater, I would attribute this to an opening day performance. Everyone's nervous, it's the first time in front of their audience (in this case being broadcast live on TV) they don't have all the kinks worked out yet. It's not like you would see a few months in where they are a well oiled machine. 

That doesn't mean it wasn't amazing or worth watching. It just what live theater is! 

Mona and I were singing and waltzing around the living room and reading the hilarious #soundofmusiclive twitter feed along with the show. 

Afterwards, it wan't enough, we cranked the movie soundtrack with Julie (yes, we are on a first name bases) and kept the party going. 

Mona recorded me a vine of Climb Ev'ry Mountain to help encourage me this week. 

And we ended the night singing So Long, Farewell, as Mona walked out the door. 

It was an all around magical night! 

(yes, that last line was over the top cheesy, but I warned you from the start that musicals make me giddy) 

THICKENING SKIN

Mona is a wonderful singer, songwriter, and guitarist. I am her lyricist and manager. 

And since I'm not working we actually had time to write a song today! 

We were just hanging at the coffee shop working on the song this afternoon. As Mona was running through it a lady came in and asked if Mona would be interested in performing at her dance studio sometime.

We exchanged businessy information and everything!

I would say that it's a successful song!

We are still working out some of the little kinks, but here are the lyrics to the song. I will try to record it sometime this week to share with you all! 

THICKENING SKIN

hidden in the corner 4th G D

holding tight onto my tongue

thickening skin

only covers from the outside in

It feels like

daggers to the heart

leaving no scars

pulling me apart

as it goes on

overcome then drowning

always worsening the feeling

clenched jaw

can only hold on for so long

It feels like

daggers to the heart

leaving no scars

pulling me apart

as it goes on

overgrown and overthrown

long past time is overdue

ancient and buried

long ago

It feels like

daggers to the heart

leaving no scars

pulling me apart

as it goes on

as life goes on

Karissa LaRen

As I mentioned in my SHARK WEEK post, I have a sister, Mona, who is also my roommate. Mona is a singer-songwriter with a decent voice and okay skills at the guitar. I help her out quiet a lot, I'm really the glue that holds her together. I'm the person who tells her when she sucks and needs to do something differently, because everyone else is too nice to tell her the truth (Disclaimer: I only talk about her this way because if she reads this blog and I'm gushing about how awesome and wonderful and talented she really is, she will get a big head and she won't let me live it down...I have my reputation to hold up).

Anyways, Mona was playing at Mocha (a local coffee shop) last night. They have an open mic there every first and third Wednesday of the month. Mona and I go almost every time and are friends with, or have at least seen, all of the people who play there. But last night there was this new girl, Karissa LaRen. She was walking around joking with people, bantering back and forth with Mona, and what not. Little did we know that she was going to get up and sing. And when she did, she blew the socks right off. She has the voice, look, and stage presence of a star, and afterwards she was all anyone could talk about, she was literally the talk of the town. 

I even received a strange call from a couple of my friends who weren't there. They called to ask me if I thought she sounded like "an old mother soothing her child to sleep". I can't say that those were the first words that came to mind when I heard her rapping out B.O.B lyrics, or even after listening to a few more of her songs. I can't say those would ever be the words I would come up with to describe her, but to each their own. 

If you wish to judge the motherliness of her voice yourself, I posted the link to one of her music videos below (this one might sound a little more motherly than B.O.B, but I highly suggest you check out the rest of her music). Let me know if you would describe her as "an old mother soothing her child to sleep" or something similar or something completely different.