Another GREAT Show at the “Hit Parade” at Suncoast Casino!

With Lorena Provincio, Gary Oldes, and Karen Murphy following the "Hit Parade Show"

Wanted to take a few moments to let everyone know about the GREAT show we saw last Thursday, with our dear friend Karen Murphy, at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino! If you don’t know already, every Thursday afternoon at 2:00pm the Suncoast Hotel and Casino in Summerlin hosts a FREE show for their Coast Club Members (and by the way, it’s FREE to become a Coast Club Member) in their 500-seat showroom called “The Hit Parade.”  It’s produced by Ed Mathews, co-founder of Desert Productions, who also produces many of the popular, and always sold-out, evening shows at the Suncoast (including The Las Vegas Tenors and Shades of Sinatra).  The weekly show, which got it’s start back in 2006, features some of the best acts and musicians found in Las Vegas.  Each week the regular co-hosts (Jay Robert Joseph and Terri Lynn Pershing) and the extremely talented band (Ned Mills, musical director/keyboards/vocals; Gary Oldes, drums/vocals; Jiggs Hemsley, sax/flute) bring the audience an entirely new show and a different featured guest entertainer.

Bobby Black

This past week, the guest entertainer was Bobby Black (of the Las Vegas Tenors) and the female co-host (filling in for an absent Terri Lynn) was Robin Berry-Vincent, one of the Las Vegas “Swing Sisters.”  Occasionally, they will also feature an up-and-coming artist to do a song or two, and this week the audience was fortunate to have classical singer Lorena Provincio share her beautiful voice.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to see Bobby Black perform, you are totally missing out.  He really is an incredible singer.  While I may not always agree with Bobby’s business decisions (particularly everything that happened with Mark Giovi…don’t even get me started on that one…), I have to admit that he is absolutely one of the best singers in Las Vegas right now.  He presented a full 25 minutes of non-stop entertainment, and the audience loved him.

In fact, as a whole, last Thursday’s show was quite possibly one of the best “Hit Parade” shows I’ve seen there (and we’ve seen, and actually performed in, a lot of them).  Jay and Robin worked great together (both of them are incredibly seasoned performers who know how to choose the right songs for their voices…an often underestimated talent) and the addition of Ned Mills as musical director/accompanist (together with Gary Oldes) has made a HUGE difference in the quality of the show in general.

You can pick up your FREE tickets for the weekly show at the Suncoast Box Office every Monday between noon and 8pm (although, I would suggest getting there early…the regulars start lining up by about 10:00am and tickets go QUICKLY!!). :)

To read more about talented co-host Robin Berry-Vincent, visit the “Swing Sisters” Website at www.swingsisterslasvegas.com/bios.php

To learn more about co-host Jay Robert Joseph (what a fantastic singer and performer!), visit his website at www.JayRobertJoesph.com

Visit the Las Vegas Tenors website to learn more about Bobby Black: www.LasVegasTenors.com

“An Evening Of Pops” – North Las Vegas Stake Center Choir and Orchestra

Went to a great concert on Saturday night! The North Las Vegas Stake Center Choir (under the direction of Bruce Green) and Orchestra (under the direction of Ray Brown) combined together this past weekend for “An Evening of Pops.”

North Las Vegas Stake Center Choir and Orchestra

I arrived at 6:30pm (for a 7pm show time) to an already packed house…not only was the chapel already filled to capacity, but so was the overflow area AND the cultural hall! There was so much excitement in the room, I could tell I was in for a great evening.

Honestly there were far too many wonderful moments in the program to name just a few.  Beautiful pieces sung by the choir like “Hushabye Mountain” from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (featuring talented soloist Terazza Van Orden) and a surprisingly moving rendition of “Home on the Range” arranged by Mark Hayes (truly stunning!), and several really fun songs like “The Sow Took The Measles” and the clever “One Minute Madigal” by Donald Moore.  The orchestra also had some particularly great moments, like their salute to the music of “Pirates of the Caribbean” (an obvious favorite of all the kids in the audience) and several beautiful selections from Carmen.  Not to be forgotten was also the wonderful performance of “The Typewriter” by the orchestra and Marianne Brown, written by Leroy Anderson (famous for many other brilliant and novel compositions like “The Syncopated Clock,” “Sandpaper Ballet,” and the popular “Sleigh Ride”)!

In addition, there were several great soloists throughout the evening worth mentioning…some truly high caliber performances! Ashley Green and her husband Sam Green thrilled the audience with Francesco Santori’s “Time To Say Goodbye” (made famous by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman) and Sandra Huntsman (whom you may know from her many performances and costume designs with Signature Productions at the Summerlin Library Theatre) did a terrific job singing Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz’s “Happy Working Song” from the film Enchanted.  And since no evening would be complete without the appearance of a children’s choir, there was also a very nice arrangement of “When You Believe” (with soloists Heidi Gebs and Steve Matthews) featuring several of the children from the Stake.

The choir and orchestra finished the evening with their tribute to the Jazz Standards by doing a great Anita Kerr arrangement of “String of Pearls” and closing with a rousing rendition of “When The Saints Go Marchin’ In” by the always AMAZING composer/arranger John Rutter.  What a FUN, FABULOUS evening!

By the way, I’d also like to mention that one other reason the evening was so FABULOUS, was the amazing job Dave Gunnell did as the sound engineer.  It is extremely difficult to properly mic a choir, particularly when there are so many soloists as well, but add to that the fact that this performance was taking place inside a chapel building, not a concert hall, and Mr. Gunnell is to be sincerely commended for his abilities!  Great job!

Janet Rogers (also known as "mom")

Wayne Rogers (also known as "daddy")

Oh, and I almost forgot the BEST part!  The true stars of the evening were of course my mom and dad who are part of this great choir! They have both sung with several other choirs throughout the years, including two other choirs here in Las Vegas, and I happen to know that this choir is their favorite to sing with…not just because the choir is so good, but also because of their incredible director, Mr. Bruce Green.  Not just a talented choir director…a truly NICE and CARING man.  That kind of thing goes a long, long way…

The next combined performance of the North Las Vegas Stake Choir & Orchestra, that is open to the public, will be their Holiday Concert, December 13 & 14.  It will be a FREE concert and will be held at the North Las Vegas Stake Center, located on Azure & Goldfield.  You can email Janet Rogers at YourHeritageHobby@gmail.com for specific concert times and other information.

Visit the Official Website of Leroy Anderson to read more about him and listen to some of his great compositions.

Click Here to read more about Sandra Hunstman, and her performing and costuming business.

Do You Believe In The Law of Attraction?

Karen Merstik, Lisa Smith, Gret Menzies - Our Business Lunch at Maggiano's

Last Tuesday, the girls of “Dangerous Curves” got together for lunch at Maggiano’s, at the Fashion Show Mall, to discuss our business plan for this next year.  First of all, what a great meal!  The chef at Maggiano’s is so amazing and he always creates this INCREDIBLE Gluten-Free version of their Chicken Parmesan and Pasta with Meat Sauce for me (he uses potato chips for the coating instead of bread crumbs).  I absolutely LOVE eating there!

Anyway, we talked through what we’ve accomplished so far since Gret joined the group and brainstormed a bunch of ideas about where we’d like to go in the future.  One of the possibilities we discussed was getting into the Symphony Gig scene.  Almost 2 years ago, when Kai was still part of the group, we were approached by someone from the Riverside Symphony Orchestra following one of our performances, asking if we had a symphony show and would we be interested in working with them.  At the time, however, we were not in a position to even consider it.  But, it has been in the back of our minds ever since…and now we feel like we are finally ready to start considering it seriously.  But where to begin? Putting together a symphony show is a HUGE deal and a lot of work…not to mention a lot of money.  How do we make the contacts…how do we know what exactly they are looking for?  A lot of questions…not sure where to find the answers yet…but we decide to put it out there in the Universe.

Jung-Ho Pak - Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra Conductor

Well, how much do you believe in the Law of Attraction?  Later that night, I get home from rehearsal with the guys (“Shades of Sinatra” has a gig we’re preparing for at the Gold Coast Casino at the end of October) and I find that I have a Gigmasters notification email.  It’s from someone named Jung-Ho Pak, the conductor/artistic director for the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, and he’s asking if I happen to have a symphony show prepared and if not, would I ever be interested in working with an orchestra.  Um…how weird is that?  So I email him back and let him that know that I am definitely interested, and that I also happen to have a female vocal-jazz trio if he’s interested in finding out more about that as well.  So we spend the next couple of days exchanging emails and talking on the phone…what a GREAT guy!  Seriously, one of the nicest people I have talked with in a long time.  Not sure where it will lead…we are discussing the possibility of me going there to sing with the orchestra for either a POPS Concert next summer, or possibly a Gershwin Show in a year or two.  As for “Dangerous Curves,” our biggest obstacle at this point is that we don’t have a lot of great video on us with Gret yet.  And in order to be considered by any of the larger symphonies, you need great video…or at least decent video.  So, for now, that’s one of the first things we need to get together.  In the meantime, we’ll keep getting more gigs here in town (trying to get some video from all of them), concentrate on finishing up our CD, and know that’s the type of gigs we are working toward in the near future.

As for me, I am really excited about the possibility of working with Jung-Ho.  He has a lot of great ideas and says he’s willing to sit down with me over the phone and talk through what would be involved in putting together my own symphony show…which is all new to me.  I know what to do here in Las Vegas…I already understand what the casinos and lounges here like (at least most of the time)…I know what Corporate shows need…but the symphony gigs are a whole different game.  Not sure yet where I fit into that…but I’m excited to learn!

To learn more about Jun-Ho Pak and the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, click on the following link: www.capesymphony.org/cape-symphony-orchestra-meet-the-conductor.asp

Bad Dress Rehearsal, Great Show!

Thursday's rehearsal at New Song Church...things were not going well.

Isn’t that the saying?

Well, we sure proved that one right.  To be totally honest, following Thursday’s rehearsal at the church, I was really worried whether or not we were going to be able to pull this show off at all (we were all forgetting lyrics like crazy, none of the talk spots had been rehearsed yet, I was personally having some voice problems, the song list was feeling VERY ballad-heavy, etc…).  But as it turned out, I worried for nothing… :)

In fact, the show ended up being a HUGE success on Friday night! Lyrics were tight, talk spots well-rehearsed, and the audience ended up LOVING all the ballads! And the church was extremely happy with the amount of people they had in attendance…between ticket sales, the several advanced copies of our CD that were purchased following the show, and additional donations that were made, we were able to raise a really good amount for the Alliance for Lupus Research! It was definitely a “feel-good” kind of evening…full of inspiration, tears and lots of heart-felt gratitude.  That’s what it’s all about!

THE GIRLS! Taken minutes before the show...

SOME SONGS FROM THE SHOW (not in order):

INSPIRATIONAL SONGS: How You Live, When You Believe, Jesus Take the Wheel, Children Will Listen, Grateful

BROADWAY SONGS: Come To Your Senses, I’m Not That Girl, I’m Not Afraid Of Anything, For Good

DANGEROUS CURVES TRIO SONGS: Natural Woman, Love Being Here With You, Cape Cod, Cloudburst, Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens, Is This Anyway To Fall In Love, Faithless Love, I’m A Woman, Moon River

OTHER SOLOS: I’ve Got The Music In Me, Out Here On My Own, By The Way

To find out more about Dangerous Curves, please visit our website by clicking here!

 

Our Church Gig and FUN 1st Birthday Party!

The Girls of "Dangerous Curves" Relaxing at the Birthday Party!

Bright and early Sunday morning, “Dangerous Curves” sang at the New Song Church in Anthem as a preview to our BIG event next Friday evening, October 10, 8pm (part of the “Second Friday Concert Series” the church sponsors each month).  To “advertise” our show, we performed an inspirational song (complete with solos and awesome 3-part harmony) called “How You Live” at both the 9:30am and 11:00am sessions.  It went very well, and definitely helped to boost ticket sales for our show (a full 60 – 90 minute show featuring the usual songs like “Is This Anyway To Fall In Love” and “Moon River,” plus several new songs from Broadway to the Cabaret world, and even premiering some songs off our soon-to-be released CD).  We are excited to announce that a portion of all proceeds will be donated to the Alliance for Lupus Research…a cause we believe in very strongly.  Anyway, tickets for Friday night’s show are only $10, so if you can make it we’d love to see you there!

After our performance, we all gathered back at Karen and Dennis’ house for their son’s 1st birthday party!  So much fun!!!  Karen did an excellent job planning everything (they had a professional face-painter for the kids and Elmo even made a personal appearance)!! It was so much fun to just spend some quality, relaxing time together…time with family and friends.  As my Grandpa always used to say, “And a good time was had by all!”

Visit the Dangerous Curves calendar page to find out more about Friday’s show and order tickets: www.DangerousCurvesLasVegas.com

To find out more about The Alliance For Lupus Research and how you can help, visit their website: www.LupusResearch.org

“Dangerous Curves” and “Wedding Rehearsal Dinner” Gigs!

Friday night, “Dangerous Curves” (Margaret “Gret” Menzies, Karen Merstik, Lisa Smith) appeared at the Stirling Club, Turnberry Place, as the guest entertainers for the SWAN (Successful Women Actively Networking) Business Mixer.  Very fun!  They had a great turn out and we had many people come up to us afterward and say how much they enjoyed our performance (plus, we made some great contacts for future gigs!).  On top of that, we were even able to get several pre-sale orders on our soon-to-be-released CD!!  Overall, a very successful appearance. And I know I’ve said it before, but I absolutely LOVE performing with Karen and Gret…aside from their amazing vocal talent, they are both such great performers…really fun to work with.

With Anna and Tim (the Bride and Groom) Following Our Performance

Following our performance though, Ron and I had to immediately pack up all the sound equipment and head out to Summerlin for another gig. It was for a wedding rehearsal dinner party, and Ron and I were hired to provide a one-hour show filled with music about love and relationships (the parents of the bride were the ones who hired us — they had seen Ron and I perform together at the Suncoast a few times, and got in touch with us through my site at Gigmasters).  It turned out great!  The bride and groom (Anna & Tim) were the sweetest, cutest couple, and everyone at the party was so nice!  We received a lot of complimets and even booked a possible Christmas Party gig from it!  I have such a blast every time I get to perform with Ron, and I am looking forward to doing MANY more gigs together!!  Some of the songs we performed last night include: It Had To Be You, You’re the Boss, Just the Way You Are, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, Baby It’s Cold Outside, Makin’ Whoopee, Get Me To the Church On Time, Fever, Endless Love, Unforgettable, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Together Wherever We Go, and more…  All in all, a tiring, but extremely prosperous evening!!

Are you a woman with her own business?  Visit the SWAN (Successful Women Actively Networking) Website

To hear audio clips and see photos of some of “Dangerous Curves” past gigs, visit the Dangerous Curves Website at www.DangerousCurvesLasVegas.com

To visit Lisa Smith’s GigMasters page and learn more about booking her and Ron, or Dangerous Curves, go to www.gigmasters.com/singer/LisaSmith/

Visit Lisa Smith’s performing website and see/hear video and audio clips: www.lovinjazzinvegas.com

Heritage Makers NEW Website and Templates!

Good morning everyone!

Just wanted to take a moment to announce the exciting news that Heritage Makers (online, digital scrapbooking & publishing company) has a brand new website and incredible new templates available!!

Heritage Makers NEW Website! (click on the image to check it out!)

As many of you know, Ron and I used to work full-time as founding consultants & directors with this great company.  Over the past several months, however, as I have become much more involved with my singing career again (my first LOVE….well, after Ron of course :) ), we have decided to take a huge step back, and now we do it strictly part-time…just for the FUN of it.  We have chosen to concentrate simply on helping people complete and publish their own storybooks, custom cards, posters and calendars (rather than on building a team) and have now become more “personal storybook coaches” to our clients and friends.  This is the part I always loved the most anyway…the “creative” part!  While it was nice to also “bring home a paycheck” occasionally, that’s never what it was really about for us….it’s always been about the AMAZING products and services this company has to offer, and the incredible Mission behind the company (strengthening homes and families with the heritage enriching power of Storybooking).

12x12 Individual Scrapbook Pages (click on the image to view ALL products available)

So, if you’ve never checked out Heritage Makers before (or if it’s just been a while since you last visited the site) click on one of the links below to check it out…you’ll be glad you did!

Visit the Heritage Makers Website www.MyKeepsakeBook.com

View NEW Templates Available for Premier Members: CLICK HERE

See How “Heritage Studio” Works: CLICK HERE

Got BOXES and BOXES of Photos and Need Them Scanned & Digitized? www.ScanningMadeSimple.com