pale beneath the blue

Road stories and more from singer/songwriter, pale beneath the blue.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Vote for Us

Cast your vote for Radio Crystal Blue's upcoming featured artist's. Radio Crystal Blue is run by Dan Herman, who books some shows at NYC legendary C-note and features artists from all over the country. Take a moment and vote for Pale Beneath the Blue--we're down near the bottem of the page in the EP section. Check it out: http://pub36.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=3071115404

Thanks. Oh, and you can vote once a day until the contest ends on 3/25.

Jayne Sachs Rocks

Hey, Patrice and I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who came out to the show at Canal Street Tavern last night. If you missed it, it was quite a show. Dayton songwriting veteran, Jayne Sachs was releasing her 4th CD--she and the band were awesome, pulling out songs they hadn't played or practiced in years as audience members yelled out their requests. Congrats to Jayne and the guys for a job well-done.

Check out Jayne's new disc at www.jaynesachs.com

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Barbara Manatee....

So, I did it. I'm SCUBA certified. Now Patrice and I can play shows underwater, well, I guess the keyboard isn't really good in water. Anyway, had a great time in Florida, got to visit some family and friends, meet lots of cool new folks, as well as see lots of cool things.

Day 1 was spent snorkeling with some very tired
Manatee--every once in a while they would come up for air and want a belly scratch--that was pretty cool. Then we saw this huge Tarpin which was at least as big as me. That was pretty freaky.
Day 2 we had to spend part of the day doing skills for our open water test. We headed to
Devils Den, a sink hole filled with gigantic catfish. Kinda creepy, but the water was so clear, it was like being in a clean fish tank.
Day 3 took us just down the road to
Blue Grotto. It was a weird underground cavern kind of thing. We had to finish up our skills test and then we could explore. James and I went over to this air bell. It's underneath a ledge about 30 feet down. We took out our regulators and had a nice conversation for a few minutes and then went down to 50 feet before we got bored and decided to head back up.
Day 4. Some folks decided to head back out to find Manatee so we got up early and went along. We only saw one and it was in the sanctuary sleeping. The bigger dive of the day was at Rainbow River where we saw lots of grass and some bubbling sand, normal river fish--bass, blue gill, trout. Some folks saw turtles and went into a cave, but I just saw a lot of underwater grass. That night we did a night dive into Catfish Hole off the boat dock at Crystal River at the hotel where we stayed. That was pretty cool. You couldn't see anything until you dropped into this hole and then it was crystal clear again. I guess that there were some big catfish but I didn't really look that hard. Still it was pretty cool.
Day 5. I couldn't sleep so I got up to go look for more Manatee, but I was too cold to actually put on my wetsuit. I saw a ton from the boat but I was tired and tired of being wet and just couldn't bring myself to do it. Wish I could have--all the swimming was great exercise for my leg and I'm back to not needing my crutches. I'm in much better shape now but don't know if I can keep it up in this cold Ohio weather.
The flight home proved to be quite interesting as well. I watched the sun set from 34,000 feet. At times just an eerie red glow below us, at others it was like a volcano had erupted in the sky. The beams of yellow, red and orange looked like hot, molten lava flowing out of the sky with the now darkened clouds resembling ash and soot. It was breathtaking. As it got darker, it also got clearer and the lights below were visible. It was really pretty but I realized something: We use a lot of electricity. My goodness. I can't imagine what it looks like at Christmas!

So, what have you guys been up to?
Rhonda

Thursday, February 10, 2005

February Movie Madness

The following are all the movies I can remember that I watched since the last edition:

The Little Mermaid--a Disney classic. This put them back on the map--have you seen that Prince Eric? He's quite a hottie.

American Pie II, unrated--I hate these brainless films. Funny in parts but not my thing.

Mystery Men--cult favorite--my favorite. All-star cast f/William H. Macy, Jeanine Garofalo, Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Paul Rubins, Greg Kinnear and more. If you hang around me much, most of my jokes stem from this movie. (It's the reason that there is no blue on the PBTB website.)

Napoleon Dynamite--I loved this movie, James hated it. Yes, it's dumb, but it's not cliche or filled with sex like the American Pie movies. It's great to see film makers taking chances.

Troy--I watched the first 10 minutes and fell asleep. James said that it was good, but I don't believe him.

Patriot Games--This was pretty good. It's nice to see an older film that the music doesn't totally drive you nuts when you watch it 15 years later. Harrison did a nice job.

City of God--this was by far the best movie I have seen in a while. It's very graphic, and it's in Portuguese, but it's so compelling that you don't even notice. I love the fact that foreign films don't have the same formula for screenplay writing that we do. Check it out.

What have you all been up to?
Rhonda

Monday, February 07, 2005

What Game?

Famous words uttered by our friend Tod Weidner yesterday at Gem City Records. I usually try to watch the Super Bowl, but our lack of cable made it impossible. Instead, we watched Patriot Games (which had nothing to do with New England--I just had never seen it.) Other star sightings: Joe Anderle and Craig Houston.

Patrice and I had a whirlwind weekend of shows--lots of zigzagging across Ohio to see all of you. We disovered a few things--pretzel bread (ummm), oreo/mocha frozen coffee thingy (the bomb!) and you can order food while you pump gas at Sheetz (who knew?)

We'd just like to thank all of you who came out, carried things, and made our shows worth playing--you ROCK! Ciao,
Rhonda

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Top 8 Reasons Being Disabled in the Music Business Can Be Good

So, you guys all know that I don’t really consider myself handicapped. But after being maimed by a car a couple of years ago, I’ve found that sometimes having some “physical issues” as a musician, sometimes has its advantages. I recently compiled a list of 8 good things about being a disabled musician. Here it goes:

8. You play a benefit show and actually get paid.
7. All the free Reiki
6. The press love you
5. Folks will stick around to watch because they wonder “what’s the gimpy girl going to do?”
4. Playing a show with your leg propped up on your keyboard and medical equipment attached to your body suddenly shoots you to legend status.
3. You never hear an industry person say, “Which girl on crutches were you?”
2. Pity sales
1. You are no longer responsible for loading and unloading the van!

Love,
Rhonda