I had forgotten....
Category: Music

....how much I loved Sammy Davis Jr. as a kid. To me he was SO cool. Some kids I know found him kind of scary cause of the eye, but to me he was just the most "radicool" (as we said in the so-far off time of the 1980s) person alive.

I actually, in a way, have Tommy Dorsey to thank for helping me rediscover Sammy.

See, like I've said before, I LOVE big band music - however my collection is rather poor. After all, I mostly focus on Glenn Miller when it comes to big band cause he's my favorite, but the majority of my CDs are people like Barry Manilow, Michael Crawford, Neil Diamond, and "Weird" Al Yankovic. (Plus some Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Brent Spiner, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Mel Torme, Louis Armstrong, various Broadway soundtracks - but those four are are the ones I have the most of.) So I decided to fix that whenever I had a little extra cash. (Still got to get some Cab Calloway.) This included buying some Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Dorsey, and Tommy Dorsey.

Well, the Tommy Dorsey CD had two songs on it sung by Frank Sinatra. To be honest, never been a big Sinatra fan. That's because I was used to Sinatra the way he sounded in the 80s and 90s, after he basically lost his voice due to smoking and drinking. He sang as my vocal coach Mr. H puts it "in the cracks." Not really on any key, but somewhere in the cracks between the keys.

But OH MY GOD the Frank Sinatra on that Tommy Dorsey CD blew my mind. He was just SO incredibly good. His voice was so smooth and beautiful. I can't help but think that he should be used as an example to today's performers of what not to do to preserve your voice. *coughAmyWinehousecough*

Anyway, that made me pretty much a Sinatra fan. Still wouldn't want to own his CDs of when he was older, but the younger days when his voice was still in tune, definantly.

So last month I was in Borders which happens to have a pretty decent CD selection. (Went to two different ones however and neither carry any Mel Torme! I am SO disapointed!) Amongst what I picked up was a CD called Eee-O 11: The Best Of The Rat Pack. Not the whole Rat Pack, mind you, no Joey Bishop or Peter Lawford, just Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and of course Sammy Davis Jr.

Any songs with Sammy I've played so much that it's amazing the CD doesn't just skip to them automatically. My favorites actually being duets. Me & My Shadow with Sammy and Frank and Sam's Song with Sammy & Dean.

I've also added a few songs to my sheet music wish list from this. Ain't That A Kick In The Head, The Birth Of The Blues, You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loves You, and Sittin' On Top Of The World. I'm thinking of also adding Too Close For Comfort, I'm Gonna Live 'Till I Die, The Lady Is A Tramp (honestly Frank could be singing about me in that one), and maybe A Lot Of Livin' To Do, but the offical list is already two pages long. *blushes*

Oh, and if you ever have the chance, wander over to YouTube, there's a clip from the tv series Batman where Sammy pops out of the window while Batman & Robin are climbing a building and invites them in to watch him reherse.

Currently listening : Eee-O-11: The Best Of The Rat Pack By Frank Sinatra Release date: 2001-11-20

10:01 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Happy Halloween!
Category: Life

Normally I try to avoid non-music related blogs. However this is the first Halloween I'm dressing up since the death of my best friend, Erin, in 2005. Halloween was a special time we shared together for several years and after her death I just didn't have the Halloween spirit anymore.

Then one of my mom's friends gave her this monsterously ugly housedress and suddenly I felt like dressing up.

So I give to you my Halloween costume!

I'm feelin' groovy!

And to give you more Halloween spirit, I present to you - Morgan Freeman as Count Dracula (on the children's education show The Electric Company.)

As usual, YouTube videos refuse to embed on my blog. So until someone tells me what to do I'll just have to give you the URLs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyoaaxYsB9s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zm5QAYbSVw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDIK1uZwX5Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp0-yDJAtWQ

5:03 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Ah, the joys of modern technology.
Current mood: grateful
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

So Monday I went to pick up my cellphone off the charger and noticed I had once missed call and a voicemail.

Apparently I got a call from America's Got Talent. Only problem is, I can't reach the guy who called me! For, oh lucky me, the voice mail went "Hi Jami this is Jerry from America's Got...." and then it cut off. The rest was all dead air.

I called back and got the production company of AGT. But the operator informed me that they just hired 100 new people for AGT and she couldn't find any Jerry on her current list. (Next time, Jerry, leave your last name too!) Her list hadn't been updated with the new people yet.

I also, even though I know it's not likely that the people running the profile even work in the same building, sent a message here on MySpace to the AGT.

So Jerry, if you're out there, I DID try to call back! Darn voice mail. Next time send me an e-mail at jamisings@gmail.com - WAY more reliable then my cell or my answering machine.

Oh well, maybe Jerry will try again.

3:07 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Don’t ever buy a Canon DC210.
Category: Web, HTML, Tech

It seems to be the only DVD camera out there that does not hook up to the computer. Not even by firewire. The DVDs I made on it will not transfer to the computer when in the DVD drive. (Some say it's because I have Vista.) I have not been able to do anything with them to make videos of me singing for YouTube.

I think I need professional help here. I've been told to seek out a Mac owner to do the transfer. All I know is that it's going to be awhile yet. Unless there's some sort of miracle.

It almost seems I would've been better off buying a $10 web camera from Wal-Mart and making some really poor quality videos with it in my bedroom. After all, there's a lot of popular YouTube videos that are done that way - or so it seems. But I really wanted one in front of a live audience.

What makes me sad was that there was one in paticular that has a story with it I wanted to share. See, the performance was outside in this fellow's backyard. He boards horses there. Plus his backyard comes up against first a bike path then a golf course. Well, every time I sang the horses would actually all come to the fence and watch - they all stood stock still and silent. And a few numbers got a few humans to stop riding or golfing. When I did Unchained Melody, however, not only did the horses watch, but several bike riders - and there must've been five or more golf carts that came up to the fence, plus several behind them where the golfers stood on their seats to see. It was quite thrilling. I'm used to, of course, the people who hired me paying attention, but horses, bike riders, and golfers too?

There's probably a good joke in there somewhere.

Anyway, if there's a DC210 owner out there who's actually satisfied with their camera, could you please tell me how you did it? Bet you own a Mac.

1:34 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Video Camera Blues
Current mood: aggravated
Category: Web, HTML, Tech

So last year I got a digital video camera. A Canon DC210 to be exact.

Last month, I finally got to use it to film a performance. Five little mini-DVDs. I plan on using the best songs on YouTube and here.

One problem.

See, my parents are remodeling the house. In the shuffle to move to the rental I misplaced the editing software that came with the camera before I could install it on my new computer. I bought Roxio. That's no help though. Because even though the discs did record and you can watch it on the camera itself, it won't play or transfer to my computer. In fact, the computer insists that the discs are completely empty. (Which they obviously aren't.)

I tried ISOBuster. It can find and extract the files, but they still will not play. I tried a DVDDecrpyter but it also says the discs are empty.

I've tried searching for help from Canon themselves but they don't have an e-mail address, just a 1-800 number and I hate dealing with live people. They never truely understand what I'm saying. I'd rather lay it all out in an e-mail to them so they can read and re-read until they see exactly what I mean.

Basically, what I could use here is some help. I'm looking for a free program (as I've already wasted money on both Roxio and ISO) to help me get my stuff onto my computer so I can then make some clips. *hopeful look*

7:24 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

If you’ve seen Wall-E but not Hello Dolly....
Current mood: chipper
Category: Music

....then you're missing out.

Some of you aren't aware I actually do like people besides Barry Manilow. For instance, since high school I've been a huge fan of Michael Crawford, who happened to be in the movie Hello Dolly. Two scenes from that movie are a reoccuring theme through out the new Disney movie Wall-E.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WbBnXryfjg4

http://youtube.com/watch?v=llLhpnN7-lo

(I tried to embed those, BTW, but it wouldn't work for me. I guess only Ralphy from Warm Milk Productions knows how to do it right.)

I have to tell you though, I think Michael Crawford is a lot better looking and a way better singer now then he was then. Boy did his voice and looks mature in very good ways.

If you're curious about whom else I like BTW - the list includes but is not limited to Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Neil Diamond, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Mel Torme - and quite a few others.

Currently reading : Blues in the Night By Rochelle Krich Release date: 2003-09-30

9:07 PM - 6 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

Sheet music wish list....
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Music

Right now I really shouldn't buy any sheet music. I mean, I finally had to order So You're The One from an Austrailan dealer cause there was just no American ones that had it, and that one piece of music cost me about $27. But I thought I'd start up a list of what I want, copying the notes out of the CD liners so I might not have the composers' full names -

Recorded by The Glenn Miller Orchestra -

Moonlight Cocktail: Gannon, Roberts.

Imagination: Van Heusen, Burke

Elmer's Tune: Albrecht, Gallop, Jurgens

That Old Black Magic: Arlen, Mercer

Recorded by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra -

You: Harold Adamson, Walter Donaldson

All The Things You Are: Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II (actually I have a book of Hammerstein songs. I should see if that's in there before I go about purchasing this.)

In The Blue Of Evening: Thomas Adair, Alfonso D'Artega

Recorded by Artie Shaw & HIs Orchestra -

Deep Purple: Parish, de Rose

And of course there's a lot of songs Barry Manilow recorded - some he wrote, some he might not have, I don't feel like dragging out every single Manilow CD I've got, which believe me, is a LOT, to look at all the liner notes. There's so many, in fact, I often can't remember them all. Some are ones that were previously unreleased as well so I doubt I'll ever find sheet music for them. Some I understand were avalible in sheet music form at one time as music books were put out with the album that they came on, but searching on eBay has only turned up the sheet music book for the album, Even Now, which I bought. Some of the songs I can remember off the top of my head are Sandra (Barry Manilow II), No Love For Jenny (previously unreleased), Where I Want To Be (previously unreleased), Don't Throw It All Away (previously unreleased), Star Children (previously unreleased), and like I said, there's a lot of others, it's just that there's so many that I sometimes have trouble remembering that I'd love to attempt to learn to sing them myself until I pick up the album they're on. And I do mean "attempt." Barry Manilow songs are actually incredibly hard to sing. They combine all the elements I find the hardest to get right. I've seen arias from operas easier to sing then something Barry Manilow composed. He just makes is sound easy cause he's a genius. I'm utterly serious. Compare a piece of original Manilow music next to say - Andrew Lloyd Webber - and you'll see how complex Barry Manilow's songs really are. Which is probably why I love to try them. They present a real challenge for me. To date the only one I feel I sound halfway decent on and would actually consider performing is Singin' With The Big Bands, though I am getting a bit better then I was on I Was A Fool To Let You Go, but I still wouldn't perform it at this time. It's rough yet.

Oh, it's not like there isn't other composers songs I have trouble with. I still stumble over Burt Baccarach's Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head cause of those darn off-cord notes and I have trouble with Neil Diamond's Song Sung Blue. And yes, I actually, for fun, tried to learn to sing Weird Al's Jurassic Park, but I laughed too hard to get anything right.

I often learn songs just for my own sake. Not to ever perform them. Just as a personal challenge. And frankly, Barry Manilow's songs are the most challenging I've come across. Music Of The Night I can do easily. Don't Cry For Me Argentina, Memory - these just come natural to me. And Roger's & Hammerstein - with the exception of the songs from Sound Of Music that Julie Andrew sang, most of those I get so quickly that they're frankly way too easy. Some of Maury Yeston's stuff I have trouble with, mostly anything from Nine - and his Titanic don't really have any solos, though it has an AMAZING duet between Ida and Isador called Still. One I'd love to learn and perform with someone someday.

Anyway, expect more big band numbers to be added to the list. I ordered a bunch of CDs from Amazon as there's just a big shortage of places to actually go into and buy them around here. Unless I actually want to step foot into one of those snooty bookstores that has coffee shops and the employees treat you like you've just stepped out of one of Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be A Redneck" routines and they're the Queen of England. And I don't. Rather order them off the internet.

3:58 PM - 7 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

I have an idea.

I'm too old for American Idol - the age limit is 29. I've tried sending in an application and a file of my singing to America's Got Talent, but they never called back.

Now I know what I really need is shows where I can get reviews that I can then send out along with my demo CD. However because I don't have a band and do covers of old songs rather then what's popular I'm having trouble convincing people to let me perform. It's not their style so they won't even entertain the idea. I'm not talking about nightclubs, etc, I'm talking about things where they have adult programs like libraries - and yes, libraries have adult programs where music is performed.

So here's the idea - I need to get as many people as possible to e-mail or snail mail the Ellen show.

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/show/

I'd prefer it if you said it wasn't my idea. Though they could surely find my blogs and find out it is my idea. If you think I'm talented, then I ask you to do so. Tell them you think I'm talented. Tell them you think I should be on the show. That I'm a resident of Costa Mesa, CA - those of you I really trust e-mail me and I'll provide my address and phone number to send. Others can tell them my e-mail address JamiSings@gmail.com

When you write them send them also the following URLs -

www.jamisings.com

http://www.myspace.com/jamijr

http://www.reverbnation.com/jamijoannerussell

http://audiojolt.com/members/386/blog.php

I figure after five letters/e-mails they'd start to notice a pattern. After ten they'll recongnize the name. After twenty they might actually want me on. And so on.

However, I only ask that each person who thinks I'm talented only send ONE e-mail or letter apiece. No more. I don't want you to SPAM them.

All I want is to make a living singing the songs I love. I don't care about superstar fame. Just famous enough that I can get consistant gigs.

BTW - I'm going to turn off comments to this because I know some of my friends are going to poke fun of this idea or say discouraging things. It's not a stupid idea though. It would work provided I get enough people to do it.

Edit: So some people have said discouraging things anyway. But look, while I know that this is a slim to none chance, I'm GOING to TRY anyway. So stop trying to talk me out of it.

My uncle George died recently. He lived a life I now see was unfullfilled and lonely. He lived in a house he built for a wife who left him. Turned down the chance to marry a woman who loved him dearly because cigerettes were more important to him. I'm going to take this chance. I am. Sure, I might not get on, but again, at least I can say I tried. So please stop trying to talk me out of it, cause you won't.

7:30 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos

Anyone care to help feed my sheet music addiction?
Category: Music

I'm trying to find sheet music for a song Glenn Miller performed. I've searched myself and found ziltch. I even tried the library which usually has just about any song including out of print ones. But no luck.

The song is called So You're The One. According to the liner notes it was written by Hy Zaret, Joan Whitney, and Alex Kramer.

I'm looking for a vocal score, obviously. I want to learn to sing it. Not for any paticular reason. Just cause I like it.

Like I said, I tried searching myself. Didn't find anything. I think it's likely the song's out of print.

10:40 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

So....
Current mood: artistic
Category: Music

Have I ever mentioned I love Big Band music? I probably have in passing, but I really do.

Oh I don't pretend I'm an expert. I couldn't tell you right off if something is Les Brown & His Band Of Renown or Benny Goodman, but I do love listening to big band and singing big band. Glenn Miller is my absolute favorite, with Chatanooga Choo Choo my all time favorite song.

I just wanted to say that.

On another note, finally got a new computer! Bigger monitor for one thing. Another is that it's faster. It has Vista which isn't too bad. Reinstalling a number of my programs was a pain though. However, this means I'll finally be able to use my video camera, which means I should be able to make some videos of me singing to show I'm more then just a voice, I've got stage presence too. I'm actually hoping to have one before that. I sang in a little varity show at this year's TOPS convention again - I did That's Amore, one of my favorites to do cause it's such a lively song. A woman filmed it, I haven't seen the video yet so I don't know how it turned out. But she's going to send me a copy. So cross your fingers that it's good quality. And that I can edit it properly. I hope the editing software that came with my camera is super easy to use. I'm not very tech savvy.

7:14 AM - 7 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment