Buried Treasures

December 31, 2016 4 Comments

Happy New Year!

2017???? Are we ready? What will it bring? Joy? Terror? All of the above? Who knows? What a carnival ride 2016 was! Shock and awe all over the place! And wonderful times too. I call last year “Oh, my flaming passport!” Between New Zealand and two trips to London to sing, my passport pages are STAMPED! This second trip was truly heart warming. My favorite female singer on the planet, the divine Ann Hampton Callaway and I performed an entire week of duo concerts at a wonderful place in the heart of Chelsea called The Pheasantry.

Our brilliant musical genius pal Michele Brourman was our orchestra and trio harmony partner. We had great fun. We did some major healing. (We opened the day the U.S. election was decided. THAT was a challenging evening! Trying to be wise, entertaining, and calm, while our hearts were in disbelief and despair. Somehow we succeeded in bringing joy to the audiences and each other. May that be the pattern for the year!)

AND Michele and I were taken on a private tour of Stonehenge

and the Salisbury Cathedral

to see one of the original Magna Cartas…the document on which our current democracy is based. So much wisdom and power on ONE sheet of parchment in such teeny tiny script. I learned that parchment was EXPENSIVE, which is why the lettering was so small. That was a deeply moving experience.And then dinner in a pub built in 1385! If that Pub were in Ojai, I would be there every night sitting by the fire drinking wine and eating curry. I LOVE GREAT BRITAIN!!!!!
The other huge event since last I blogged, (and boy, have I been remiss,) was the recording of my new CD, “VOICES”. Leaping into the exciting, intimidating world of Kickstarter…achieving my goal through the amazing generosity of so many friends, old and newfound…traveling to Nashville, where I had not been in more than twenty years, and spending ten days with some of the most brilliant and lovely musicians, under the watchful eye of a brilliant producer, my pal Fred Mollin…creating something so beautiful that I am so proud of…and then the enormous cherry on the top…the duet of THE ROSE with my vocal hero, angel-pipes Vince Gill…well, who could ask for more???

(And then the bittersweet note at the end…the song that started it all is one I wrote long ago with my dear pal Gordon Hunt, called VOICES THAT COME THROUGH THE WALL. He co-wrote my song ERROL FLYNN with me. And passed away just days ago. Fortunately, I was able to send him the rough mix so he could hear what he created and I gather he was really happy with the result. That makes my heart happy.) The CD should be out in February at some point. A Valentine’s Day gift! Hooray!
Then we adopted a new pup for Thanksgiving. I went to the humane society looking for something in the world of pit bull and came home with a 7-year-old half-blind cocker/maltese mix named Rosie. My friends call her a cock/tese. I say she is a Malta/cocker. She fit right into the house and feels as if she has always been here. End of this month we find out if she can have cataract surgery to have some sight restored. That would be a New Years miracle!

I am writing this on Christmas Eve, as a cold clear wind rattles the leaves off the trees. We had a beautiful, much-needed rain last night, and the trees are dancing Hosannahs as I type. The sounds of football from the living room, the smell of a fire in the fireplace, the promise of homemade Christmas tamales… the presence of several dear friends. A perfect way to end tumultuous 2016.
CULTURE CORNER:
TV: MOZART IN THE JUNGLE… humor, music, and no explosions!
BOOK: THE ROAD TO LITTLE DRIBBLING by Bill Bryson. I laugh so hard I weep whenever I pick it up!
FILM: MANCHESTER BY THE SEA. Oh, the humanity!
MUSIC: YOU WANT IT DARKER…Leonard Cohen’s last. Brilliant!
What is to come, who knows? I refuse to fall victim to terror. I will acknowledge uncertainty. All I know for sure is that we must cling to each other and keep our hearts open, our minds open, and sharpen our determination to do what is right for the world.
Here’s to beautiful sunsets, glorious mornings, your good health and happiness.
Love, Amanda

October 26, 2016 1 Comment

Happy October!!!

Fall is finally, truly here.

I can see it in the forests and hills of Nashville where I am this very moment recording my new CD, “VOICES”…my first CD in 8 years!

What an astounding ride! I’m with my dear friend Fred Mollin who has been my producer and pal for many years. He has produced such amazing folks as Johnny Mathis and Jimmy Webb and even Miley Cyrus! And now me!!

This time we are recording some of my favorite songs that have never seen the light of day or echoed in anyone’s years but mine. Working in Nashville with these astounding musicians and engineers and deep-fried everything has been such a treat. It’s also nice to be somewhere green and moist for a change! (Let’s not even talk about the barbecue)!

Somehow I have to prepare myself to be able to get back into my concert togs for my trip to London in November where I will be singing with the divine Ann Hampton Callaway and my musical partner in crime, Michele Brourman.

(Will I be able to fit into my black silk show pants, ladies and gentlemen???)

The summer was truly astounding! Spending time in the green, green Berkshires at Barrington Stage singing with Michele and Ann Hampton was such a treat .I have to admit I was intimidated to be on the same stage with the greatest jazz vocalist of our time, dear Ann Hampton. You’d think by now I would be over being star struck, especially with as good a pal as Ann. But the more I think of it ,God forbid we should get over being star struck! Anytime we can be in a world of wonder we should try to stay there as long as we can. And learn!

August was an amazing month as well, when I gathered my courage together and decided to go on the adventure known as Kick starter, to raise the funds for this new CD. Many a sleepless night I suffered as I tried to get my confidence up…to commit to the 21st-century and social media. And I am so glad I did.

I had no expectations of anyone becoming a contributor, so everyone who did was a new and joyful surprise. Just to spend an entire month in 24 hour gratitude is a fabulous meditation. I hope I can continue the practice.

I have to tell you about an afternoon in the studio in Nashville last week. We were recording a gospel choir that was going to sing behind one of my new songs, a song I had written in remembrance of my beloved mother- in- law Margaret, who was one of my best friends.

Six absolutely wonderful singers came in to the small recording studio and stood in the recording area while I stood in the booth and listened in awe as they sang the most beautiful music, blending and weaving these gorgeous tones all around my words. I’ve never felt anything quite like it. I was speechless at the wonder of it all. Being bathed in such pure sound, I feel as if my soul has been washed really, really clean.

Blessings on all their heads!

And when the session was over, Fred told them that I had written the song “The Rose”. They didn’t know that. They were so loving to me. And one of the wonderful men, Jason I think his name was, put his arm around my shoulders and sang it to me ala James Ingram. And I was toast! Happy, happy toast!

So now all the recording is done on my part. The songs have been sent to a wonderful arranger named Matt Macauley who is going to put luscious strings on a few of the tunes. And I am headed home and happily so!

So now we watch the madness that is the circus of American politics as it comes steamrolling across the land. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, which I’m sure is the emotional state of at least three quarters of the country. I can only hope that bringing to the surface all the pain and anger and confusion of this last election cycle will, as it were, pull the scab off, and let the sun in to heal all of us. I try to remember that we are all human beings, all family, no matter our differing opinions and we should have sympathy and respect for each other. Sometimes that’s hard to do. But I sure am trying.

CULTURE CORNER

Visual: “WEST WORLD” on SHOWTIME. WOW!
Michael Crichton would be proud!

Literary: “SLADE HOUSE” by David Mitchell.
Another winner by the author of CLOUD ATLAS.

Musical: SAME TRAILER, DIFFERENT PARK”-Kasey Musgraves-
The girl can write a story!

I wish for you a lovely October, with many pumpkins and golden leaves falling softly upon your shoulders.

Here’s an Autumn poem for you.

INDIAN SUMMER

Fooled again

By the teasing taste of autumn
The first crisp night
The last fig falling
The sound of football
Through the weekend windows

As frisking dogs are walked
And sweaters softly shaken
From their slumber
In closets sweet with cedar
As the last tee shirt is folded
And the pool is covered over
And the tongue is set for cider

The sun reappears
In his Fahrenheit fury
Like the face of the lover
You thought you
Buried deeply
In the camphor  And the lilac
Of your heart

Indian summer
Fooled again

And don’t forget to vote!

Love,
Amanda

June 21, 2016 5 Comments

JULY!!!

Well, the season has finally arrived. June is waving a fond farewell, taking with her the glorious morning mists so spuriously called JUNE GLOOM around here. I guess that means we are about to experience JULY FRY. Get out your flip flops!

It has been a while since my last report. Spring was just squeaking in. And a lovely on it was too. A joyous reunion with the amazing Ann Hampton Callaway, the 21st Century’s answer to Ella Fitzgerald. We (Michele Brourman and I) met at her home in the Hudson River Valley and gorged on music for 72 hours straight putting together a duo concert, our first in many years.

I love working with her, writing with her, listening to her amazing gifts…and all in pajamas! I remember one time a few years back, when she was in pajamas at my house, handing her a lyric. She immediately marched out to my music studio, coffee in hand, sat down at the piano, and proceeded to create a gorgeous song out of it (called ALMOST) in one pass! We will be performing it in this concert for the Barrington Stage in Pittsfield MA, end of July! Yippee!

And then to London for two weeks at the divine boite, Crazy Coq’s. We filled the room, killed the people, made pigs of ourselves at all the divine Indian restaurants. We were even taken on a private tour of Eton College AND Windsor Castle! (Nice little weekend getaway the Queen has there!)

I do believe if I had to live in a city again, it would have to be London. SO exciting…one foot in the past, one foot definitely planted in the future!

Then to Scotland to visit our wonderful pals Desmond Carrington (the voice of BBC2 radio for the past 50 years!) and his partner in music and life, David Aylott, to celebrate Desmond’s 90th birthday. AND the fact that he commissioned me, Michele B, and my honey George to record several Broadway show tunes for him to play throughout the summer on his program! SO we will be warbling through the airwaves of Britain throughout the summer. (I modestly say my SEND IN THE CLOWNS is pretty damned wonderful.)

Then home to hearth, home, and American politics. Two out of three were wonderful. The third is an astounding and appalling circus. (When I was in London I kept introducing myself to people as Canadian.) What a strange world it is these days. I remember long ago, in the 60’s…yes, I remember the 60’s…when everyone was predicting the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and saying the world would be going through troubling times on the way to enlightenment, I had no idea they would be THIS troubling. I find each morning’s challenge is to wake in gratitude and NOT succumb to the devil’s whisper of cynicism and despair. I think THAT is the work of a grown up, which I am trying to become.

So now I am facing the prospect of recording my next CD (MUCH NEEDED) through the auspices of crowd funding…joining the ranks of Indie Gogo and Kickstarter. It is a big old challenge for me. To learn the whole process, and then to implement, after choosing the right source. The songs I know already and am very excited to bring out of the closet and into the world. Some are brand new, some are old, all are my favorite stories. They deserve to be heard. So if you see me knocking on your computer screen, don’t be alarmed. Or obligated. Just know I am attempting to bring a little more musical light into the world.

Here are my culture corner picks:

Music: The score of HAMILTON (an absolute work of genius! I bow. I bow.)
Book: ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE (gorgeous!)
I thought I would share with you my poem for July, based on the truly hilarious event that is the Ojai 4th of July Parade.

THE CHAIRS OF SUMMER *
It starts with just one chair
Alone…aloof…
Astride a busy corner
By a bus stop
Under a dusty oak

From Costco or Target,
Viet Nam or Taiwan
Worn white plastic
Ragged rainbow webbed
A solitary chair appears
Suddenly, surprisingly
Like the face of Mary
In a taco
A miracle of
The mundane
Tomorrow it will multiply
Magically into four…
Fourteen…forty-five
By week’s end
Four hundred plus
Bound together by bungee cords
Of anticipation

Waiting for the large pink people
Waving small bright flags
Who will plant themselves
Like sunburned petunias
Listening for that first squeal
Of high school clarinet
That rat-a-tat of
Snare drum
The buzz of fifty
Kindergarten kazoos
Flinging John Phillip Sousa
To the summer skies.
The fire truck will pass by

The flatbed filled
With princesses
Representing various
Vegetables
Pious folk on hay bales
With banjos
A float or two of bunting
And bed sheets
All will wave and cheer
Rise and go

Leaving the chairs
To sit in silence
As the sun dips
Behind the crisping hill
The sky explodes above
The football field
Then one by four by forty
They will disappear
Back to garages, closets
Invisibility
The annual migration
Complete

Until next July
Calls them out once more
To unveil their
True selves,
Their sacred
Purpose
To be
The chairs
Of summer

Have a safe and happy summer!
Love, Amanda

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

March 13, 2016 Leave a Comment

Here comes March!!!

The waxwings have appeared in droves at our backyard fountain, in all their feathered finery. They always remind me of a bunch of tiny train robbers who have just finished a heist and have decided to hit the saloon for a bath and a beer. They are a harbinger of Spring and Fall. So welcome to our yard, James Brothers. And behave yourselves!

Spring has indeed come leaping into existence here. All it took was a few drops of rarified rain. The wisteria, the lilacs, and the orange blossoms are competing for Floozy of the Month. At night, you can faint from the battle of fragrances on the evening air.

Last time I shared a blog space with you, the year had not yet turned. And now it has and is spinning faster and faster. We spent all of January in our favorite escape pod, New Zealand. Gorgeous. Peaceful. We both caught that horrendous coughing bug that has been circling the globe and were down for the count for the first ten days.(NEVER get on a plane with a cold! For your own sake and everyone else’s. My new mantra.) The beaches were warm, the wine was cool, and the people were heavenly. I could not ask for a better way to start the year, after the phlegm departed. (Is that a song title? Probably not.

February was full of inspiration and discipline. I even gave up coffee, bread, and wine for the month. (My body had been singing “LIVER, COME BACK TO ME” all the way home on the plane.) Who knew that could be done without wanting to ax-murder everyone in sight????

I have been writing song lyrics like a mad thing, and flinging them at beloved Michele Brourman, who gamely picks them up off the e-floor and brings them to life. This is the year of the next McBroom CD. I am now debating whether or not to make this a crowd-funded piece of art. It would be interesting to learn the process that has done so well for so many. I am so into new, knowledge-expanding experiences this year. And in these strange days for the music industry, recording a CD, if you are not affiliated with a label, (and who is anymore except for Taylor Swift?) is not necessarily a profitable proposition. But it is still so important to me to get the musical stories told…let the babies out of the closet, to fly or fall, but at least to be in the SUN! So I seek to learn what I can. About damn time! Believe me, I will let you know what I decide, and SOON!

The immediate future holds a lot of delightful adventures. Heading to NYC the end of March to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Manhattan Association of Cabaret (MAC). I am deeply honored. Then to London in April for TWO whole weeks of warbling in my favorite boite, Crazy Coq’s at Brasserie Zedel. LONDON IN SPRINGTIME. Now THAT’S a song title! And Michele and George and I are recording a series of Broadway standards for the BBC which will be released on BBC 2 this summer. (Wait till you hear George Ball’s version of LOST IN THE STARS. My SEND IN THE CLOWNS ain’t too bad either.)

Later on there will be a week of teaching songwriting master classes with Michele B. in Telluride in July ( hurt me!) and then to Pittsfield, MA to perform a duo concert with the best singer in the US today, Ann Hampton Callaway. That is a dream come true! After that, who knows???

Something wonderful did happen, via the e-thers, this week. My fabulous friend, actress/opera diva, Lucy Shaffer, is doing a new play in which she stars as an actress who lost her actor husband when she was young. She let me know she is using an EARLY publicity photo of my father as her inspiration. This is her dressing room mirror on opening night. My dad would be SO THRILLED!

CULTURE CORNER:

MOVIES:
THE BIG SHORT ( should have won the Oscar) terrific!

BOOKS:
THE GOOD LIE ( about the boy soldiers of Sudan) terrific!

THE BONE CLOCKS by David Mitchell (absolutely fascinating!)

STATE OF GRACE, THE JOSHUA ELEGIES by Alexis Rhone Fancher (absolutely glorious poems about the loss of a child. I cannot recommend too highly!)

CATALOGUE OF UNABASHED GRATITUDE by Ross Gay ( poetry that makes your heart jump for joy!)

Speaking of poetry… I was sent a poem by the divine Rumi, with which I will conclude this episode. In these days of rabid political mayhem and confusion and anger, it resonates deeply in my heart. I hope it will with you, too!

Happy Spring to you all!
Love, Amanda

THE GUEST HOUSE

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

— Jelaluddin Rumi,
translation by Coleman Barks

December 15, 2015 2 Comments

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!

Tis’ mid December, 2015, amazing as that may seem. It certainly amazes me. This strange, tumultuous year has flown by, blown by winds of change, fury, exhaltation. Life on steroids! If this year was a cup of Starbucks coffee I would say it was a QUAD…as in four shots of espresso!

Since last I blogged (I still find that such an odd verb!), it has been such a dance! October in New York, singing a brand new show at 54 Below, filled with very new and very old song- children. I am always anxious when new musical children make their debuts. This was a whole schoolyard of new babies.

It was wonderfully well received, much to my relief, by the best audiences in the world…New Yorkers! They even sang along with enthusiasm to my (with Michele Brouman, of course) latest totally impolite political carol about all those running for office called “RUN RUN”.

Then to Town Hall, that grand old theater in the heart of Manhattan, to kick off the Cabaret Convention. And to be honored with the Mabel Mercer Award! I always say I am supremely blessed to be in that odd edge of the musical world where it is OKAY to grow older. At the end of the evening, this entire panoply of brilliant performers joined me onstage for a rousing, tear filled rendition of THE ROSE. Unforgettable!

And my favorite baritone on the planet, my husband George, made his Town Hall debut and tore the roof off the theatre. (This is us, the VERY happy couple, with the brilliant cabaret diva K.T. Sullivan, who invited us to join this stellar event. Bless her forever!)

And then home to wash out the pantyhose and one week later BACK to NYC to sing at the divine Ms. Barbara Cook’s 85th birthday party. What a room full of talent! I was especially thrilled to be in the same room as the great composing team of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams , David Zipple, JohnBucchino,and the divine Sheldon Harnick… heroes of the world of musical theatre, with Barbara as their heroine.

And then…home for the holidays!

I shared a lovely lunch with Michael Feinstein and his delicious honey Terrance Flannery at their avocado ranch up the road from us in Carpenteria. They are serious farmers, these two, when not in their tuxedos. Any day, I expect “George Gershwin Gentleman’s Guacamole” to hit the shelves of the best delis in New York.

That’s me helping Michael drive his tractor.

And then days and days of very little to do but walk the dogs, cook, write poetry, and keep the garden alive while we pray for the rains to come. My prayers wing ever skyward for the rain finally to make it to our side of the mountains!

We celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary…UNBELIEVABLE…in one of the most glorious spots on earth…Death Valley. Don’t laugh! It is a truly awe inspiring place…a bucket list for me. We had the most wonderful time. I find it a true miracle that with all the oceanic passages of married time, the ups and downs, the huge highs and deep lows, we are still very much in love. The trick for me has been to marry my best friend. I remember hearing an interview with two people who had been married for 80 years. When asked the secret of their longevity, the husband answered “every day of our life together I have left her a love note somewhere.” I thought, how brilliant! That means every day, no matter what happened the night before, you have to remind yourself of why you love your partner. It is a great exercise. I recommend it!

The sunset from the front porch on our anniversary.

Two concerts left in my 2015 calendar…Beverly Hills and in my own home town. Then we burn the eyelashes and get out the good wine!!!!

These past two months has been a view in miniature of this year to me.

Great joys…singing, anniversary, friends together…great sorrows…the loss of two of our dearest friends, Thom Thomas the brilliant playwright, and Michail Larry Haynes, my pal since we were 14, when we were in competing marching bands in South Texas. He played the clarinet, I, the snare drum. (He looked much better in his uniform than I did. )I was his date to the Junior Prom.He was a brilliant artist, singer, soul. He rides around on my shoulder many times a day lately. Hi, Michail. I miss you.

Lately, ostrich-like, I find myself not reading the front section of the paper, not watching the news. I hear enough to darken my heart, to challenge my understanding.
I have come to the conclusion that the one unanswerable question is WHY.
WHAT, HOW, and WHERE can somehow be grasped, often explained. But the WHY of it all is unfathomable to me.

So my Christmas challenge is to keep my hope rising, to believe in the light that will return. Isn’t that what this season is supposed to be about? To not just hold prayers and good thoughts in my heart, but to DO what I can in real time with real effort to heal and help.

And so, I send you all wishes for a great, peaceful, loving , ACTIVE holiday.

Here, from me to you, the gift of a new Christmas song lyric. (Hopefully I will be recording this before the next holiday comes around!)

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU
Scarlet ribbons…silver bells…
Rainbows on a string…
Icy windows and first Noels..
Songs the season brings.

Here we are again, my love,
Underneath a tree.
Time for me to let you know
Just what you mean to me.

You’re my Christmas angel.
You’re my silver star.
There’s a sweet warm light shining
Wherever you are.

If I had one gift to wish for
To last my whole life through,
All I’d want for Christmas is you.
All I want for Christmas is you.

In the hustle and the rush of the season,
Sometimes we forget why we’re here.
To love and to share, to show that we care.
It’s the loneliest or the loveliest time of year.

You’re my Christmas angel.
You’re my silver star.
There’s a sweet warm light shining
Wherever you are.

If I had one gift to wish for

To last my whole life through,
All I ever want for Christmas …
All I ever need for Christmas ..
All I want for Christmas is you.

May your greatest gifts be to and from your heart!
Joy in whatever you may be celebrating!
Much love to you.