Permission to Scream Out Loud

There's a scene in Coyote Ugly that a friend once said reminded him of me.

Violet (played by Piper Perabo) is a songwriter with big dreams...and stage fright. But (naturally) the only way she can get someone to pay attention to her songwriting is to sing. Her waiter boyfriend works with her patiently to help her build her confidence. In the end--the genre being what it is--she overcomes her fears, belts it out, and lo and behold, her song is picked up by Leanne Rimes, and she and Leanne and Violet's dad, played by John Goodman, end up performing and prancing around together in the Coyote Ugly bar.

Me, I'm a pretty reserved person. In fact, when I was younger, I was shy to the point of being voiceless in a crowd. But this friend, and others, helped me come out of my shell. My own Coyote Ugly experience came one night at a local tavern when friends catcalled my name until I got on stage and did a 30-second booty shake in front of EVERYONE. It's a night that my now-husband, then-friend, says he still thinks about regularly. (Take that, Piper Perabo!)

But, I still get shy sometimes, feeling too serious and too grownup for silly fun. At concerts, I usually stand and do the body twitch in time to the music, along with all the other 30-somethings. So it's awesome when a band like Cowboy Mouth comes along, as they did during the recent opening of our local Kroc Center, and gives you permission to act out. Drummer, lead vocalist and band founder Fred LeBlanc won't let you take yourself too seriously. Right at the start, he jumped off stage and began cajoling, then ordering, "Come a little bit closer, come on, come a little bit closer. Hey you! in the Hawaiian shirt! Come a little bit closer!" until we were all moshed together near the stage. "I promise you, you will leave this concert feeling 100 percent better than when you came!" Then, as the thrumming of the guitars grew louder, "Come on, give me some rhythm, give me some rhythm," and once we were all clapping in unison, "Now, jump up and down and scream like you are five years old and you've had way too much Kool-Aid!"

I have to admit, I fell a little bit in love with Fred LeBlanc that night. He was brash, he was sweaty, he was loud, but he sure had passion for what he was doing. And for the hour and a half they played, so did we. Jumping up and down under the stars, screaming until we were hoarse.

Photo credit: allmoviephoto.com

Love, Loss of Innocence, Kidnapping, Murder...Dance?

This much we know--Marie, a beautiful blonde, is in an enviable position, loved by two men, Luca and Marcus. Her arms are exuberant, her legs passionate and her face alight with joy, as she pulls them to her, first one then the other, torn between her decision. Then she chooses. And that's when dangerous and dark things start happening. But no matter how bad it gets, the movements and the music are always captivating, emotional and enthralling.

Parsons Dance, together with the East Village Opera Company, both of New York, present "Remember Me," a modern dance ballet set to rocked up versions of recognizable opera arias and other compositions, as part of the Augusta Ballet's programming this season. With Abby Silva as Marie, Zac Hammer as Luca and Miquel Quinones as the dangerous Marcus, "Remember Me" shows us how dance and music can express emotions more raw and intense than words ever could.

A sheet, combined with choreography that makes the most use of the floor, shows Marie and Luca's new love, with all its fresh discoveries, through loving, flowing, giving motions. So what a harsh juxtaposition it is when two scenes later Marcus has abducted Marie and attempts to mimic the same choreography with the desperate, stiff and unwilling object of his affection.

Abandoned by Marcus after fighting off his advances, Marie is shamed and lost, unable to reach Luca and unable to be saved. She dies, and against a dark stage with a chorus of dancers circling in shadow, Marcus is killed by Luca after the discovery is made, only to have Luca kill himself at the horror of the murder he has committed.

The vocalists, Tyley Ross and Annmarie Milazzo, play the parts of an ancient Greek chorus in this tragedy, moving in and out of the scenes, at times a part of the action as Marie flirtatiously hides behind the male vocalist as Luca and Marcus pursue her, and sometimes playing their own separate roles in mimicry, as when the vocalists draw together into an intimate slow dance during Marie and Luca's love scene.

But there would be no satisfaction if Marie and Luca were not reunited, and the creators of "Remember Me" fulfill that satisfaction. With Marcus flitting in the background like an uneasy ghost, Marie and Luca spy one another across a room of dancing couples and joyously fling themselves together. And the emotional rollercoaster ends in their embrace and their love. And happily for the audience, they just can't stop dancing.

Photo credit: supportdowntownaugusta.blogspot.com

iPod Redux

Thanks to my gorgeous, easy-on-the-eyes, companiable, and oh-so-friendly iTouch (yes, I'm in love), I've been able to revisit songs I loved but almost forgot. Most of it's country--and no matter what anyone says about country, I think it has some of the prettiest, pull-out-your heart lyrics and melodies. Some old faves:

I dressed up and went out on the town, to places you'd never go. I always wondered what I'd do without you, Now I know.~Lari White

My love is deeper than the holler, stronger than the river, higher than the pine trees growing tall upon the hill, my love is purer than the snowflakes that fall in late December, and honest as a robin on a springtime windowsill and longer than the song of a whipporwill~Randy Travis

Saw your picture on a poster on a cafe out in Phoenix, Guess you're still the sweetheart of the rodeo. But as for me and little Casey, we still make the circuit, in a one-horse trailer and a mobile home. She still asks you about you all the time, and I guess we never even cross your mind. But then sometimes I think about you and the way you used to ride out, in your rhinestones and your sequins, with the sunlight on your hair. And oh the crowd would always love you, but as for me I've come to know, Everything that glitters is not gold~Dan Seals

A long December and there's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last~Counting Crows

Don't wanna be standing here, and I don't wanna be talking here, and I don't really care who's to blame. Cause if love won't fly on its own free will, it's gonna catch that outbound plane~Suzy Bogguss

She's says she's gonna leave me, momma, nothing on God's green earth will make her stay...But if I'm so much like my Dad, there must have been times you felt her way. So tell me word for word, what he said, that always made you stay~George Strait

I would have waited forever, if I'd known that you'd be here. We could have shared our lives together, and held each other close through all the years. But I met someone before you, and my heart just couldn't wait. So no matter how much I adore you, I've got to stand behind the promise that I made~Reba McIntyre