9 or so months ago I met a bartender who was taking over the spot for another bartender (who was very pregnant). After our jam was over and we were loading out, she came out for a smoke and introduced herself to the rest of our jam band. When she got to me she told the guys “we can never be friends.” I should have known that was going to lead to some interesting times.
Seems she can sing and quite well (IMHO). Problem is she had only sung a few times and that was Karaoke, a very different beast from singing with a band. And though I repeatedly offered to get her on stage at our jams, it never came to pass. Fast forward (well, in this case time wasn’t fast) 8 months and she asked if we could get together and rehearse the one song we had agreed upon way back when. Sure… oh my band is rehearsing that night, so why don’t you join us? And she did! Though extremely nervous, she got through the song and did a pretty damn good job of it. We all applauded the effort, gave her a few suggestions to improve and talked her into giving it another try. WOW! Move along 5 days to our gig and yes, she was ready to sit on the one song. We moved it up from the third set to the second so some friends of ours (the band that played before us) could hear her sing and cheer her on. She was clearly nervous (sort of stiff as a board). But, as the music started, she settled into the song and nailed it. The wall started to crumble.
Now for a bit of background… the bartender (name removed to protect the innocent) turned singer for a night has a few brick and mortar walls built up around herself. I can relate (most of mine being relationship related). She is very aware of them which both helps and hinders. The one I was most concerned with was how she would deal with being in front of an audience (and to completely throw her dearly under the bus, it was at a recreational nudist resort, so picture that too). Based on the audience, I said just think you’re nude too. There is the famous suggestion to think your audience is naked which it was for the most part in this case. “I can’t do that!” Hmmm. So I introduced her as a very special guest. She humbly got up on stage, not sure when to start. I just told her to look at me and I would cue her. Once that happened, she fell into the zone and sang, looking up at the audience until we came close to the end of the song. I just looked at her, nodded my head when the final words needed to be sung and she went for it. Song over. You did it. You’re still standing and breathing. The audience loved it and I let them know it was her first time singing for an audience. She took it like a champ.
End of part 1 – Just get out there and do it. The sting of not doing it will be ten, a hundred times worse than actually doing it. And guess what? You just might like it. And regarding the opening paragraph and interesting times… interesting turned out, well, different.