I am well yonderway into the world of speaking Haitian Creole and because it is one of my goals for 2019, I have this yird-hunger to conquer what I can of my family's language.
I am done with the yesteryears of hearing people tell me speak English because my Kreyol speaking is not on point. This year is the year I will yauchle as a Kreyol speaker. And so, crazy me coming up with new ideas like I always do, thought it would be easy to learn if I try singing in Kreyol and I attempted to translate a Michael Jackson classic, "Heal the World," into my translation of it from English to Kreyol.
I am thinking I am getting a better grasp at the pronunciations of the words but that is to be determined. Hopefully I will be even better as the days of 2019 roll along. But it sure is fun yiddling my vocal cords to better my understanding of this language and I feel yagiment because of it! LOL! Tell me what you think?
“Speak
life into your vision by dressing for the vision”
–
Valorie Burton
I have been on this earth for
about a quintillion of days and just thinking back is almost like looking at picture
after picture over my experiences that laid the groundwork to this moment.
I can’t say that I have
treated every moment with gentle care. Some days I fell totally short of being
in control of my responses to the world around me. I won’t claim that I had to
hurdle over many hardships, but the foolish mistakes that I was able to overcome gave me all the ambition in the world to
continue on this interesting journey, one step at a time, with my head up.
I was raised around a circle
of strong women. Seeing my mother and two sisters in action always filled me
with hope. I knew that I’d one day root out of the dirt of my parent’s little
garden with much creativity because of them.
I loved music ever since I saw
Michael Jackson moon-walking across the television. I got so excited that the
orange juice I had in my sippy cup jumped out of the container into the
television my mother had propped in front of us.
He knew how to croon a tune from the heart. Him and many other artists gave me a good dose of feeling and I continued to listen out of love.
Whitney Houston made me want
to sing to the four corners of any room I was in at the loudness of the music
that was playing on my little boombox. I guess that is why today I can sing so
loud, I don’t really need a microphone to reach anyone in a room that could
even seat about 5500 people.
I used to love New Kids on the Block
and started collecting their trading cards to share with my elementary school
friends that loved them just the same. I knew every song they had, watched their videos on VHS tapes my parents got me and could sing all their lyrics word for word. I even
had their poster on my wall.
The same happened when I
started to like Basketball in high school. I still get chills reminiscing over
the exciting games I used to watch the NY Knicks play. That was my team. Watching them made me feel good; especially
John Starks. The more I watched, the more he became my favorite bball player.
He had this loose, flexible
style when he played. He would sweep down the court like a tornado and make the
most incredible perimeter shots and I loved that. But I won’t lie, he was a great player but was was kind
of good to look at too.
So good that I started collecting basketball cards and
had a poster of him on my wall dunking over Michael Jordan. I hoped one day to
meet him in person and never thought that quenchable moment would ever come to
satisfy my hunger for it.
A few weeks ago, I had the
privilege and honor of performing with the Bartlett Contemporaries at Pat La Frieda’s
Chop House at Citifield in Flushing, NY. It was a cool night in a great place
with some of the most beautiful people. The night like any other night where
live music is involved, took on a life of its own. Music cut through the silence
and the band played to a room of people who were receptive, singing along and
dancing. I always have fun when playing with this band because they really enjoy doing what they do and get crazy; so crazy that they don't want to stop. Just play and play and play on.
I felt really positive that
night because I was about to usher in to the 2020th chapter of my
life the next week and it left me with this mature and powerful aura. So positive,
that I decided to wear these quippy four-inch heels which I never do because, I’m
getting old and my knees can’t take it. LOL! But that night, I did. I guess it’s a Queen thing. I used to dream about wearing heels and twitching with this confidence like my mom used to do. I was
feeling the 2020 coming over me and it felt quite Queenly.
That’s when it happened. John Starks
walked across the room and my eyes couldn’t help but wander behind him as he
walked past us to the other side of the room and I hadn't seen him again. But then as the night went on,
there he was standing at the bar, watching us musically do our thing. That is
when the band leader Carl Bartlett Sr said, let’s do Natalie Cole’s “Inseparable.”
That is a song I really love, and I thought to myself, why not walk over to him
and say hello. And I did. While Carl Bartlett Jr quadrated to the beat with his
saxophone solo, I asked John Starks to dance and there we were on the dance
floor in the midst of my song and I got to sing to him and everything.
My voice rang with confidence
while my favorite basketball player from childhood was dancing in my arms and I
was tall enough to talk to this 6 ft 2-inch man that I had admired since I was a teenager. If anything, to say that 2018 was a good year for me,
that moment was the quintessential. My hope went from being propped in
front of my television watching him through a tube from the confines of my
bedroom to in real time where the opportunity presented itself to actually say hello in person. I couldn’t help
but to capture the moment and to frame the keepsake for my mantle.You can check out the full video on YouTube here if you are interested: https://youtu.be/dqf-BVutH2w
I laugh it off now, but I never
thought I’d feel nervous meeting someone famous but during our little exchange,
I felt like I was back in my little high school uniform and was almost too shy to formulate my request. But thank God I rose
above my fear though because that earth moving moment is a moment that I’ll never
forget. Still brings me chills now. It may have been just a dance, but the
memory will forever remain in the clutches of my heart.
I can’t believe that it is the
unofficial end of summer.
Someone said to me that there is no more wearing white after today. Already?
School is back in session in just a few days and in a few weeks, the autumn
equinox will make its way into the days of our lives. But to think of the fact that
I took full advantage of the summer makes me happy.
I was surrounded by warm,
genuine and kind people, and I was able to seize every opportunity of enjoyment
that I could possibly have. And though summer is about to part ways with us, I
can honestly say that I had a mighty good time and the positive memories of it
will remain.
The love that lingers is like
a souvenir. My heart still skips a beat for every sunset that I captured and for the day when I was sitting on the bus and saw the actual glimpse of the sunrise with my own eyes
for the first time.
And I still feel so
blessed for seeing the result of the hard work of my friend who uses her
beautifully landscaped garden for planting and shared a bit of her plentiful
harvest with me. And I can’t help but have
this look of delight I have on my face from meeting the smiles of my family in
person as opposed to on Facebook or Instagram, and being liberated by every
second spent in conversations and good times during our reunions. Getting together with family always leaves a good feeling in my heart.
And I still get butterflies
when I think of the touch of God’s ocean water on my skin as I took a dip in his
ocean all the many times I went to the beach and washed away the weariness of the first half of the year that I was
carrying on my back. Nothing like the beach to get me in a somber mood. Something about just letting your foot touch the sand that changes everything.
And it still knocks me off my feet for all the awesome stage
performances that I got to have that were different for me and very much built
up my present level of vocal performance expertise a bit more.
And I still burst into laughter when I think
about the medical physician telling me that I am getting old which is not a false
statement at all, but something that makes me know that I have to prioritize making it a
thing to seize more life events that leave fond memories.
And then I still feel bouts of
sadness for the people I have lost to heaven which had me feeling emotionally drained; some even changed my way of thinking about how to approach what is there for me on the road ahead. But,
thank God that he always provides shelter from the storm.
And here we are at Labor
Day. It is September; already. Where did
the time go? Am I the only one who feels like time is like virtually flying?
Did somebody say that the first day of school will be 94 degrees? Can I go to the beach instead of to the class room?
I guess the change of pace is
not a bad thing at all though. But while we have an extra day to let summer out of our system, lets embrace it with our whole hearts.
Today
is the day to take a pause, relax, relate and ease up off work mode for a day to prepare ourselves for all the many tasks that are about to lure us into being buried under piles of things to do. But let's not think about the clutter of the work pile on our desks. It's Labor Day. God bless the child who let’s go for a day and let’s God
direct the sails into a moment of rest from the 9-5 environment.
And God bless the child
that can’t get the day off, has to go to work on Labor Day anyway and still has to
wake up early in the morning to be to the office at 9AM. And God bless the child who still has not started doing the summer readings and homework that is due when you enter into the class rooms during the first week. Hopefully you will get it together and be prepared for the tests that you might be given based on your summer assignments. And God bless the child who will enter into the new
school year as a teacher or a student with a revivaled interest in participating in the educational process.
Whatever it is that will be your
experience for the rest of 2018, God bless you!
I dedicate this song to you. It’s
a rendition of Billie Holiday’s and Arthur Herzog’s God Bless the Child performed
with the New Rochelle Jazz Orchestra at the Hudson Park Band Shell Summer
Music Concert Series in New Rochelle and featured me on vocals. Please check out a clip of our performance here: https://youtu.be/bcrKRwO9TGM
The weather forecast had called
for rain that day which would have cancelled our performance but
luckily, God had a different story to tell and it turned out to be the most beautiful evening
with this gorgeous breeze that just made everything great.
And so, under the
summer night sky, we got tofill the
park with orchestral sounds and I can still feel the excitement that took over me as I got to sing with with this big band again.
I had a mighty good time starting my Labor Day weekend off performing with them. What are your Labor Day plans? Whatever they are, I hope you have a wonderfully blessed day. Thank you so much for reading my blog post.
Two of my favorite singers in the world share
the same birthday. There has to be some irony in that!
Both put their entire body and soul into
everything they sang and made me want to work hard to not only sing songs I
love, but to understand some of the methodologies and theories behind music and I
am thankful for that.
One of the two is Mariah Carey. She came into
my life when I was in the fifth grade and I became mesmerized with her
instrument. At one point in my life, my entire repertoire was comprised of Mariah
Carey songs. I love her voice and her music. The second is Sarah Vaughan. Her
timbre is amazing, and she just has this incredible way with her voice. My Ipod currently has more Sarah Vaughan tunes in it than any other artist and she is who I listen to the most. Happy
birthday to Mariah Carey and to Sarah Vaughan.
Stephanie Jeannot as Sarah Vaughan
Earlier this month, I wrote a short one-act play which
I entitled “And Then There Were the Ladies of Jazz” which went into production
as a women’s History Month tribute at the Roosevelt Public Library in Roosevelt, NY. I played
the role of both Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan which for me was wonderful
because I was happy to be able to honor two jazz vocalist who I absolutely love
while also sharing some historical data with the crowd before me that I felt
was important for people to know; especially for those who did not know about
the identities of these international women in jazz and how their roles in
music played a role in the racial order or the time.
I want to share a short video clip from the
show, where I rendered a cover of the song that Sarah Vaughan sang which was
somewhat of the Genesis to her career entitled "Body & Soul" which
she sung and won the Amateur Night at the Apollo contest and became who the
world came to know as The Divine One. Hopefully you will watch it and enjoy
what you hear as much as I enjoyed embracing it on stage with Charles Bartlett
on trumpet, Daniel Dalelio on piano, Herb Lewis on Saxophone, Napoleon
Revels-Bey on drums and Rachiim Sahu on bass.
Thank you so much for checking out my blogpost.
Have a phenomenal day!
Since I was young, there are two things I just love!
One is Christmas. I always loved the lights, the caroling, the decorations and the family gathering we have had since I was just a little thing. To me in truth, Christmas truly is one of the most wonderful times of the year.
The other thing is the movie, "The Sound of Music." Every time I see it, it is like the first time. I can watch it at anytime and on any day and the love for it just continues to grow. I love Julie Andrews and all the singing she did in the film. I think the songs from it are probably what made me love singing so much.
Christmas is here everyone and I would like to wish to you and to yours, a very merry Christmas and a fantastic new year. That you might be safe, prosperous and joyous through every moment of it.
The following song is a song from my favorite movie that many consider a carol from my favorite holiday by Rogers & Hammerstein entitled, "My Favorite Things." This is a cover version by Stephanie Jeannot & the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School Alumni Band featuring Everette Wilson on keys, Jacob Briggs on drums, Jayden on guitar and Mark Payne on bass; performed live at Bishop Loughlin's 2015 Christmas spectacular.
Lately, I have been feeling a bit misty, watching the news and seeing different events occurring all around the world and this here is my prayer for peace.
May peace dwell in our hearts and in our homes and in our paths and communes with one another and that your peaceful walk might inspire mine. May peace flow evenly all around the world and touch the hearts of each and every individual on this earth. Peace be with you!
Inspired by the hope for world peace, I performed a Cover of Jill Jackson Miller's and Sy Miller's 1955 tune "Let There Be Peace on Earth" with pianist Danny Dalileo, and would like to invite you to watch it here: http://youtu.be/SXwg5nlMT74
