Month: August 2008

I live now in Washington Heights, near Fort Tryon in the upper Manhattan island area. It’s informally called Little Dominican Republic (the Tony-award-winning musical “In the Heights” is based on this area of the island). I feel like a white girl, but know that there are a lot of other artists who choose this area to make their home. The rent is cheap(er) than normal, there are parks, I’m right near both the A and 1 train lines, and there’s a great community/family feel. I wish I was a little closer to Midtown, but all in all it only takesContinue readingMy Neighborhood

sierrarein.com/sierra/audio/mp3s/sreinvocaldemo.mp3 Experimenting with a vocal demo – comment away! I want to know about bad notes, redundancy, and length. I put this together with audio previously recorded from other projects. Eventually, I want to go into a studio and really RECORD a vocal demo – but I need something in the meantime to send to people as a suggestion of my vocal range, prowess and personal energy. It’s currently 3’44” but I’d like to get it down to 2’30” or less. -Si

Quote from E.B. White I’ve noticed several times on the billboards within the subway trains: “There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter–the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these trembling citiesContinue readingE.B. White – “Here is New York”

My mom emailed me after I wrote an entry about finding a lot of talent under the streets of New York, within the subway system’s many train stations. She noted that the MSG Network was hosting a talent competition, trying to find the city’s most talented Subway musicians. As they put it on their website: “Five Boroughs, 16 Musicians, One Superstar. We’re looking for the best sounds from the underground — and you will be the judge. Join the search for New York City’s greatest subway musicians, Sundays at 8PM on MSG and MSG.com.” Round 1 starts August 10th SundaysContinue readingNYC Sound Tracks – A Talent Competition for Subway Musicians

Most of our anniversary was spent apart, it being a work day. Pete was able to record this 12seconds.tv clip, unfortunately I couldn’t hear the audio at work, but I got the loving point. We met at The Hummus Place a little after 7:00 (Pete found me reading a printout of the second draft of “PSW,” his space adventure novel). I had gone to the Jack’s 99cent store and bought a small vase and bag of marbles, then got a $2 rose…placed them on the table for him to see when he arrived. We had hummus and pita bread, andContinue readingAnniversary Date

08/08/0508/08/0608/08/07 –> 08/08/08

This is me and Michael Kostroff, who is an actor/singer with many credits under his belt (both on stage and screen). However, he stresses that he is not any more talented than anyone else – he attributes his career to the psychology he applies to his auditioning process. Yesterday, I went to a free seminar he held at Actor’s Equity (the first one he’s done in New York, although he originated his career in New York and has been in Los Angeles for 18 years). This is/was a great seminar – he opens with the fact that he is incrediblyContinue readingAudition Psych 101 by Michael Kostroff

An interesting new law in New York is quite suddenly apparent now: food chains, restaurants, even coffee houses are now required by law to include the calorie content of all menu items. My hubby and I first came to this realization when we went to TGI Friday’s for a splurge dinner very early on in our residence here. We suddenly had to come to the realization that one meal here would constitute the equivalent calories of an entire day’s worth. I opted for the lean steak and vegetables on the side, but didn’t hesitate to help myself to some ofContinue readingNew York puts calories in your face

One sees the oddest things in New York subways. Like this group of strapping, young, fit, uh…let’s just say easy-on-the-eyes men walking around in a group, dressed only in boxers, robes, and footwear (and the odd hat & sunglasses, as you can see). Pete was talking to me (we had just went to Trader Joe’s) and my mind suddenly went blank as I saw these gentlemen come into view over Pete’s shoulder. “Sorry, I’ve suddenly become very distracted” I told Pete, who then began to noticed the be-robed adonises (adoni?) walking by. He took this picture with his iPhone andContinue readingYes, I’ll have some of that, please

Anyone who’s reading this: a favor – email jrbkaraoke2008@yahoo.com with the subject MELISSA LYONS 🙂 I’m helping a friend win a contest: www.jasonrobertbrown.com/weblog/2008/07/contest_update.php No spam, I swear.