Linda Stout

Tomorrow, 2 gigs. Today, a visit to Grandma and errands -- and still reminders that hit me in beautiful surprising ways that I am a musician. Grandma is quite wonderful. I always feel like I am her favorite, and I am not usually narcissistic enough, can feel kind of shy for all my outgoing abilities. About being her favorite: I think my siblings and cousins feel the same way, and hence, Grandma's loving way. She is a very powerful woman. She might not think so as much because of the arthritis, but she is a force of nature, and I expect, always was. On the longish drive home, Fresh Air, and, oh sweetness, Shirley Horne, recorded live in the studio. She just died, rather young, 70s. What was said about her singing and what I heard in the studio performance was there was a lot of space, like Miles Davis. Now I am listening again to her on the radio. I heard Shirley Horne, so subtle in that particular setting on Fresh Air, and I knew, like when I saw one of my first musical theater performances, very young, this is what I do, singing, and I'm meant to keep at it. Also, if you want to hear some intricate singing, check out some artists who are my "friends" (well, some are in real life, too) at myspace.com. Check out Lily Claire, an NYC singer/pianist and Melody, a wonderful, wonderful singer from Philadelphia, and Matt Robbins, who does duo gigs with me and hangs out with me, and we play for each other. And others, roots and jazz musicians, the "friends" or "adds" (additions of friends) increase day by day. Speaking of myspace.com, out and about today on the errands, I ran into a real music friend from our Water Street Songwriters group, Sean Kobuk, who's a friend at myspace, too. In Ithaca, I have found, after five years here, intricate connections, mostly musical. I ran into Barnes and Nobles to see about a Shirley Horne CD, and saw about mine in the local section. They started playing it while I was there, which was nice, weird and interesting. We were talking about an "in store" performance and other music biz stuff. I hadn't exactly dressed for success as a sultry jazz singer. I was in an orange hoodie, short tank and orange sneakers, in honor of Halloween. I am sort of in that middle ground between alt rock/pop and jazz. I go both places musically and look that way, too. Then in the grocery store, I saw Irene, a woman who had observed me at the printer, came to an outdoor gig and bought a CD even though she hadn't heard me. This means a lot, and she said she liked it, thought it was pretty. Good new reviews are coming in, too. Dinner is waiting, sauteed veggies and fish, and a new red wine I'm trying, Keuka Spring Lemberger, a Finger Lakes red from Austrian grapes, decidedly black cherry, dry, just a hint of acid at the end, very nice, smooth, fragrant.