The Ongoing Revelations of Kathryn Rose
What began as a personal make-work project while on Sarah McLachlan's 2004 Afterglow World Tour soon evolved into a popular online diary. People have enjoyed Kathryn's prose writing so much they've told her she should write a book, and maybe she will!
Feel free to read this Blog from the beginning:
(Feb. 10, 2004): "Entry #1: The Grammys".
Until You Find The Chick Peas
November 27th, 2006Miranda is clowning around in her crib instead of having an afternoon nap. I’m listening to her on the monitor kicking her feet against the rails and making her little scream or her gutteral old man noises.
She cut her second tooth yesterday. (Bottom tooth). Her first one came in on her dad’s 40th birthday a few weeks ago. It was his favourite birthday present. We had a big house party for his birthday. We used the party as an excuse to get to a million little unfinished projects around the house. Hard work but what a difference. It really feels like our house now.
KR KLEANING TIP:
Unscented baby wipes make amazing cleaning cloths for around the house. They work better than anything. Even if you don't have a baby, go get some!
Between the party, my recent live gigs, motherhood and few extra crazy projects (read on), I have been really busy. I feel like I’ve been doing an activity or task of some description almost every spare minute. Well, I probably have.
First I’ll tell you about "A Winter's Eve, my Nov. 7 triple bill with Emilie-Claire Barlow and Melanie Doane at Hugh's Room. It’s probably the only real "listening room" live club venue in Toronto. Turnout was fantastic. I was the first artist to kick off the night. We all played 20-minute sets of our own, and then did one longer finale set as a trio, backed up by a combination of our bands. So much fun!
I performed as a trio with Thomas Ryder Payne on guitar and Dennis Mohammed on bass. I recently took stock and realized I've been playing with Thomas since 1997 and with Dennis since 1994! Most of my shows these days have been just Thomas and myself, so it was really nice to bring Dennis in.
***
(Sidebar:
BUSY SINGER/MOM ENTERS THE TWILIGHT ZONE
While looking for pickles, Canadian singer songwriter finds herself in a bit of one
(Toronto) We know they’re out there. Like grounded UFOs honing their beacon upon an unsuspecting city, silently they sit, waiting to pull in the next human being in their tractor beam. We see their wasteful, lonely white light pouring out on our dark streets as we drive by in the midnight hour. But how many of us have actually availed ourselves of the embarrassing convenience of the 24-hour big chain supermarket?
We sent singer Kathryn Rose loose on the graveyard shift, in one such store that just happened to be under renovation while still being open for business. The result: an unnerving tale of the pale, ghastly underbelly of the nocturnal consumer.
***
A few weeks ago I had a rehearsal with Thomas and Dennis on the Thursday night before the Tuesday Nov. 7 show. David’s 40th birthday party was happening on the Saturday that week, and I had not had time to get to a grocery store to get what I needed to make chili, hummous and a cheese plate for the party.
When we finished our rehearsal, Thomas offered to drive me to the subway and I asked him to take me to the nearest 24-hour supermarket. I was already really tired but I figured if I could get the shopping done that night, I would then be able to just stay home all day the next day (Friday) to get the cook and clean for the party on Saturday.
Thomas took me to a nearby 24 store with the warning that it was under renovation and things were hard to find in there. He dropped me off outside the store and a huge part of me wished that I was still sitting in that car on my way to the subway, as his taillights disappeared. I went in.
There were about 15 shoppers in the whole place. Mostly men. It was very quiet in there. It felt like it wasn’t supposed to be open. Access to most of the aisles was blocked off by construction, making navigation difficult. A lot of the food bins were empty. Thomas was right. Finding the chick peas took half an hour.
Nothing was really where it was supposed to be. The store was dirty. Every once in awhile a workman would come around a corner, almost impaling you on a long copper pipe. Then you’d turn another corner and somebody would be sautering something, sparks flying.
I kept passing a rough looking biker. Then an older guy who made me think of the words “dirty business”. Later I saw the biker and mr. dirty business talking intently to each other in the ransacked dairy section. It was surreal.
I felt tired and lost and a little bit scared but I couldn’t abort the mission. I was committed now. I couldn’t go home until I found the chick peas. There was some sort of grocery store cop on guard at the checkout.
The store was nowhere near my neighbourhood and when I finally got out of there, I had bought a lot of stuff without thinking about how I would get it home. Thankfully I spotted a taxi and spent too much money to get home, but that’s the cost of convenience.
Back to our original programming.
***
At the Nov. 7 show, my trio played "Yellowknife", "Deepspace Satellite", "Low Flying Bird" and "One Person." We brought Melanie Doane's brother/drummer Creighton up to join us on his little cocktail kit for "Low Flying Bird", to hit that four-on-the-floor downbeat. Emilie and Melanie got up on that song too, to sing the "we shot down a low flying bird" echoes in the verses.
I was going to play a new song for the first time, called "Jingle Queen", but to keep the night moving along I cut it from the list. I'm going to premiere it at my "Sharron's Party" appearance on Dec. 4 instead. That's a cabaret style show, with lots of theatre people in the audience, and as it's a story song, I think they might like it.
I wrote it as a response to the way the media was focussing much more on my jingle singing than on my identity as a singer songwriter a few years ago. The song is about more than that, but that's the hook. It would make a great theme song for my TV show.
Back to "A Winter's Eve". After my set, Emilie played a fantastic set of songs from her new jazz holiday album, Winter Wonderland. Melanie capped off the solo sets with a few of her hits and a new song about her experiences writing and recording in Los Angeles.
Just when the audience thought they had already gotten their money's worth, entertained by three artists with their own styles and sounds, we all got up for the finale and gave them another show! For the winter's eve theme, we all had brought cover song ideas into our rehearsals. We did arrangements for wintery songs by U2, John Martyn, John Lennon, Bruce Cockburn, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and even Depeche Mode! We were backed by Creighton on drums, Thomas on piano and guitar, and Mel’s guitarist Mike Borkosky.
Afterwards, we all sold and signed lots of CDs and everyone told us to make a record together and do more shows. It was a grand success. Worth leaving the house for. Now that I'm a mom, that's mandatory!
Last weekend on Nov. 18, I went back to Hugh's Room and sang again, this time for a night of Canadian singer songwriters interpreting the songs of Tom Waits. I sang "The Briar And The Rose" from 1993's "The Black Rider", and "Picture In A Frame" from 1999's "Mule Variations".
For this event, Thomas Payne and I reinterpreted the songs and did them KR-style. I also sang backups on “Georgia Lee” for Gwen Swick and on “Time” for Lynn Miles. A man in the audience told me afterwards that when I took the stage, he thought, there’s “Marla!” (Helena Bonham Carter, in the film Fight Club). I used to be compared to her years ago when the film Room With A View first came out. This was the first time anyone has said I looked like her in a more recent film. I consider it a compliment. Even if she looked kooky at the Oscars last year. She’s a kook!
Two more recent little “projects”:
I was recently asked to sing on a cool thing. It’s a union karaoke CD - a CD of worker songs, power-to-the-people songs. A different artist does each track. There will be 2 versions of each song, one with and without the lead vocal so that people can sing along at rallies etc. I sang the song, “Bread And Roses”. Other artists were: Robert Priest, Jackie Richardson, Michael Danckert and more. We're a union household around here, so I was glad to be a part of this.
Lastly, I will tell you about one more recent professional experience. Perhaps you have heard about the musical, “We Will Rock You” written by Brian May of the band Queen.
A big production of the show is opening in Toronto this March. Friends of mine who know the musical world suggested that I audition, because the producers are reportedly looking for rock rather than musical theatre singers.
My friends said they thought I had the perfect voice to sing Queen. I decided, why not. I like Queen. I have sung some Queen in the symphony orchestra pop/rock concert series in which I still sometimes appear. I asked my agent to get me an audition time.
Last Wednesday was the big day.
I arrived early at the Mirvish Productions address that I had been given. My audition was on the 5th floor. The elevator was broken and I walked up. There was no one around but I followed the signs to what appeared be to the rehearsal hall/audition room. The door was closed. There were chairs in the narrow hallway outside this door.
I put down my things and mentally envisioned my audition. My agent had sent me the scenes to prepare for one lead character and one supporting lead, and two Queen songs from the show (one per character). I was also asked to prepare a pop rock song of my choice. I chose a Pat Benatar song (“Invincible”).
I was grateful to have my had my actor husband's help with the acting scenes. I spent a fair amount of time and money on this audition. Every waking moment I wasn’t looking after Miranda was spent preparing for it. I had gone out and bought the soundtrack, some sheet music and I also worked with a rehearsal pianist on the audition songs.
My agent had previously told me that they wanted to change my audition time from 11:05 am to 10:55 am. I had arrived early for that new time and yet, no one was there. Perhaps I’m first up today, I thought. Maybe I’ve gotten here before them.
Where was everyone?
I decided to go to one of the offices on that floor and just make sure. I asked a nice woman in the office to double check on the situation. She got on the phone to find out. At the same time, my cell phone rang.
The nice lady on her phone: “Oh, really, there are no auditions booked in the building today?”
(Simultaneously):
My agent calling me: “Don’t panic! The auditions are happening somewhere else and no one told us. They know it’s not your fault so just write this down and get there and they’ll see you right away.”
“This is great for my nerves,” I said, and the nice lady and my agent both laughed.
Shit. Down five flights in heels. To a dance studio in the east end, a stone’s throw from where I live.
Classic “hurry up and wait.” They seemed in no rush to whisk me in, but I took the opportunity to check out the waiting room and get the vibe of the audition.
The other girls there were clearly 10-15 years younger than me, and auditioning for the same 2 roles as me. I decided that gave me the advantage of maturity and experience (whatever gets you through the audition…)
It was impossible not to overhear the singing behind the door. Three other girls went in before me. I noticed that each girl had big, strong musical theatre singing voices. The advice of one of my peers rang through my mind… “Just do your thing, nobody sings like you…” Besides, I said to myself, I’m a rock and pop singer! And that’s what they’re looking for!
At last, my turn.
I had been hoping to sing for the producers or the music director as well as the casting director, but just the casting director, the pianist and an assistant were in the room. So much for preparing Pat Benatar’s “Invincible”. They just wanted to hear songs from the show. I sang the first of the two Queen songs, a power ballad called, “No One But You (Only The Good Die Young”).
At the end, the casting director said, “you have a great voice but it’s not what we’re looking for. We’re looking for rock singers.”
I had heard the singers auditioning before me and I had listened to the original cast soundtrack. They all sounded like theatre singers to me. I said, “you know I’m a rock and pop singer, and not a musical theatre singer, right?”
“We want singers with a bigger brassier sound”, she said. “You didn’t sing that song like a rock song.”
I said, “I thought it was a power ballad.”
(Is it just me, or aren’t “bigger and brassier” words to describe theatre singing, not rock singing?)
“Let me sing the other song for you,” I said. (Queen’s “Somebody To Love”) I think I may have also said, “I’m Kathryn Rose!” meaning, “I can sing anything!”, but anyway…
“Go ahead,” she said.
It’s a crazy and fun song to sing. It’s a vocal workout. I went for it. After the high note at the end of the bridge she stopped me and asked me to hit that part a few more times. She and the pianist started shaking their heads and saying I was switching from my chest to my head voice. I didn’t think I was, actually.
She said she thought I was a great singer and she’d think of me for something else. That was the end of my audition. I’ll guess have to break out my Pat Benatar some other time.
I have since talked to a few people in the biz and my impressions have been confirmed. They agree that this is a case of “loud” being confused with “rock.” Even a friend who is a musical theatre star said, “The only singer I know who could pull this off is Kathryn Rose!”
Insert joke here about renaming the show “We Will (Not Necessarily) Rock You”…
***
Back to reality. I got baby Miranda a library card and took her swimming for the first time this week. Both much more fun than musical theatre auditions!
Next up: I’m getting ready for my appearance at “Sharron’s Party – Night of 100 Stars, Minus 90” on Dec. 4, which will be great fun, and this year we're having David's family here for the holidays at our house. I'm as excited as a little (Jewish) girl on Christmas eve! Planning how I'm going to deck the halls etc.
There. That’s my new entry. Hope you liked it.
xo KR
Photos:
-My triple bill with Emilie-Claire Barlow and Melanie Doane, on Nov. 7, Hugh's Room, Toronto. Doesn't it sort of look like Mel and Em are holding hands? They're not, though we are all very fond of one another.
-How fabulous is Sharron's postcard for her Party!?
Comments about this entry:
On December 5th I have my final exam for Essential Grammar for Editors. It's intense stuff. I have already started studying so that I can get my sweet brainy self to Sharron's Party on December 4th. Can't wait to see you there!- Marla (November 27th, 2006)
Perhaps I'm showing my ignorance, but I'd think they'd be looking for good singers above everything. Good singers can sing anything, no? Those Queenies don't know what they're missing! For what it's worth, I'm not a fan at all of musical theatre. Too stagey for me. Good luck with the show on the 4th. Rock out with your apparently non-big and non-brassy self.
- Jennifer (jennifer_davidow@yahoo.com) (November 28th, 2006)
Beautiful picture of the 3 of you singing! And I loved the story of the midnight shopping excursion. When I get really tired, I tend to "hit a wall" as my fiance likes to call it. Typically I deny this "wall" and go about my to-do list as if I'm a normal functioning human being. Usually I find out that I'm not. Kudos to you for pushing through!
- Megan F (December 12th, 2006)
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