Best of St. Louis- 2005

I am stoked! I found out this morning that my band, That '80s Band, received the Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis 2005 award for Best Cover Band!

This is an award I have been wanting my cover band to win for years. I just want to say how fortunate I feel to be able to work with such talented and fun guys--Even if we are not world famous.

Here is the write up from the Riverfront Times, September 29, 2005:

2005: Music

Best Cover Band
That '80s Band

Who cares if the 1990s are the new hip decade everyone's mining for nostalgia's sake? Not That '80s Band, that's for sure; their high-energy live concerts/dance parties feel like the Aqua Net era never ended. Vocalist Valerie Girl and the rest of her decade-appropriate bandmates -- our personal favorite moniker is that of keyboardist/vocalist Mr. Hand (cf. Spicoli's foil in Fast Times at Ridgemont High) -- have an impressive repertoire that'll please college-rock aficionados (R.E.M., Violent Femmes, the Cure, Talking Heads), one-hit-wonder nerds (Tommy Tutone, Toni Basil, the Vapors) and retro-night femme fanatics (Cyndi Lauper, Bananarama, three Madonna songs!). Hit 'em with your best shot -- 'cause they got the beat, and their shows will leave you hungry like the wolf and walking on sunshine.
Readers' Choice: Hollywood 5



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riverfronttimes.com | Originally Published: September 29, 2005

My Karoke Contest Dream

I have been thinking about and several folks have been pushing for me to enter this $10,000.00 Ameristar Superstar karoke contest. The first prize is a $10,000.00 cash prize or a trip to Los Angeles to record a demo cd. Each week for four weeks, with October 4 being the last night for the preliminary auditions, fifty contestants sing acapella for three judges. Fifty are narrowed down to five each week. Then, twenty are narrowed to five and the remaining five remaining compete to place 1st-5th place.

Last night, I dreamt that I won third place. My prize was a check for $14.02, after taxes. How funny is that?

Work Is To International Flight

For me, working in a cubicle is like being on an international flight. These days it seems all I do is sit in a small space for eight hours, eat peanuts and drink Coke, and get up to pee every once in a while. The only difference is the lack of free cocktails.

Happy Birthday, Scotty

I just want to dedicate today's entry to one of my best friends in the world, Scott Mueller out in San Francisco, California. Today is his birthday, so...

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday, dear Scotty.

Happy Birthday to you!

I met Scott my freshman year in Drama class. There, we discovered that we both love Madonna and Scott would come over to my house on the weekends and we would make up dances to Madonna songs like, "Keep It Together." Neither Scott nor I had any fashion sense then. I'm glad at least Scott has impeccable fashion sense, now. Scott is a very talented actor/singer/dancer and his career is destined to take off any day now. Most of all though, Scott is one of the kindest people one could ever hope to know and I am a fortunate girl to have him in my life, if not just for his fashion know-how, but most importantly for his friendship. He always brings out the best in everyone he meets.

I love you, honey! Have a great day!

Wicked Tickets

My best friend Scott will be happy to know that I got tickets to Wicked in December. They are pretty good seats, orchestra center, about thirty rows back. It should be a great show, as Carol Kane is in the touring cast. I am totally looking forward to seeing the show. Now, I know there is no Idina Menzel in the cast, but I'm sure the entire company is wonderful anyway.

To you lovely Spammers: I will never click on your silly-ass link, so do piss off!

Thank you, Marissa, for the comment.

Not Much Going On

I suppose I do have a lot going on in my little brain, but little time to write it down. So, let's see, what is going on...

I started feeling sort of down and out around Labor day weekend. The band had to play at Ameristar's Bottleneck Blues Bar that weekend and there was a ton of hub-ub about the possibility of the band losing the house gig that we have there for the next three months over mis-communication, the stupidity and bullying of who I like to call a "C- class booking agent," and a promo pack that was M.I.A. I have to dog booking agents. The only agent I met and actually like so far is the booking agent who books That 80s Band, Dave. This is because, as Dave will tell anyone, he is not a booking agent, he is a musician who books bands.

The saga of the promo pack was settled by the time we played our Friday night, Labor day weekend gig at the Bottleneck. I was in rare form that night. I felt like I was going through the motions, probably because I felt like a flu was coming on. The bright spot of the night, thanks to the late Madelyn Khan's character, Lilly von Shtup in the movie Blazing Saddles, came when a drunk asshole decided to harass some girls in front of the stage. The dude, who was totally over-served, then proceeded to try and grab my leg. I was in the middle of singing a song, and although it is a known fact that performers have over-developed ears and can easily do two things at once, such as sing a song and listen to what people who give us the "come hither finger" or motion us that they have something to say that cannot wait until after the song is over, let alone the set; it is too important that it has to be told to the performer while she is in mid-song. I was in the middle of the song and they dude kept yelling "hey" and giving me the "come hither finger," which made me want to bite his finger off then and there. The dude then proceeded to mess with the bass player, guitar player, and then the keyboard player. I guess the asshole got tired, because he took it upon himself to half-way lay across the stage and make himself comfortable. I wanted to kick the guy in the head with the heal of my character shoe at this point, but instead chose to deliver my one of my favorite lines from blazing Saddles: I leaned down to him and said over the mic,"Excuse me, sir, but are you in show business?" The guy just looked a me like, "Huh?" I said, "Then why don't you get the fuck off the stage!" He got off the stage and I got an applause. I did think, "Great! Now they are really going to fire us." I never curse over the mic. It is not classy at all, but there was no security present at that bar and the dude was interfering with the other guests. The following night, there was a casino guy with a badge, watching to make sure no one got out of hand. No one said a thing to me about the incident.

I signed up for my cluster last Tuesday. I am taking the Natural Science cluster, which should be interesting, thanks to hurricane Katrina.

Whatever has been making me feel ill the past few weeks, finally manifested itself last Friday. We played on Thursday. The next day at work, I felt terrible. I could not keep my eyes open. We played a Matrix hair convention Friday night, so I was able to leave work early and catch a cat nap before I had to leave for the gig. It was a rough night. I prayed that my voice would last and it did. I did not have to work Saturday morning and the band was off Saturday night, so I slept all day Saturday. I still felt bad on Sunday and slept all day Sunday. I have been using homeopathic remedies, such as wine and hot toddies, along with vitamins, and you know what- I feel better today!

To Germany

I heard a nasty rumor that Germany denied any aid to hurricane Katrina victims, because Germany's leaders feel that our government policies are aiding in the planet's greenhouse effect.

I just want ask Germany's leaders please not to blame the helpless hurricane victims nor allow to suffer for the policies and errors made by the leaders of the United States.

Once again, however, the citizens of the United States do not need any outside help--We can take care of ourselves just fine.