Rosie's Cruise Journal Part 3: My Lip Gloss is Poppin'

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Diary Entry #3:

Can we talk about Shoshana Bean? Why this girl is not already on the Billboard Charts is beyond me. She sang last night at the piano bar, and was incredible. Shoshana riffs her way through everything, which is delightful. Watching her sing, riffing more intricately the longer she went, the higher the song, I actually continued to remind myself to relax my jaw and drop my larynx, which were tight out of awed confusion – like, how is she making that sound?

When I was about twelve, I was obsessed with "Suddenly Seymour," and sang it basically around the clock. I was like a party trick, because I imitated the recording exactly, and adults were impressed. I decided I should start taking voice lessons, and my mom took me to a woman in Atlanta, who heard me sing, and told me I was doing everything wrong, and if I continued singing that way, I wouldn't have a voice soon enough. Being entirely good, controlling, and panicky about that thought, I stopped singing almost entirely, opting to only sing very legit, and mostly classically. As the years have gone on, I am shifting that, but sometimes, like last night, watching Shoshana tear it up, I think, "what would have happened if I hadn't ever gone to see that woman?" She shut me down, and I really believed something awful would happen to me if I kept simply singing that way. She could have been right, and I do believe classical training is the way to go, but with that must come a balance of freedom and fun! I was paranoid to even sing in the car without engaging my lowers abdominals. Seriously. Whenever I teach master (mistress?) classes now, I try to insill confidence, because conifident people are so much hotter. You know?

Anyway, I digress…Shoshana is a helluvan entertainer. Among the tunes was a Whitney Houston duet with Gavin Creel and a medley of songs sung by "characters I'll never play," including selections from ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, DREAMGIRLS, and PORGY AND BESS. My personal favorite was an original song, which sounds like could have been written for Alicia Keys, called "Naomi." (Download this asap, for reals…it could be a top 40 hit)

Two days to go, I'm having technical difficulties with cameras and uploading, but I promise there will be more words and lots of fun vlogging upon my return to the mainland.

Also, Danny Noriego told me I remind him of lip gloss, and therefore, my new nickname is "Glossy." I love this, and have been substituting "I'm Glossaaayyy" for that "Bossy" song. It's hot. It's gloss. It's FLIRT.

...stay tuned for more!

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