back when i was a wee college student and had just started studying physics, i joined a rock band in cincinnati, ohio. we called ourselves perelandra and played out pretty regularly for a couple years. i remember getting recognized a few times around town and felt incredibly flattered. i enjoyed the gig very much and i somewhat facetiously thought to myself, "am i going to be a rock star or an astrophysicist?" ;)
just this week, some video footage from a show we did in 1999 surfaced, and i watched with excited trepidation. wow did i have long hair, and a little hippy shimmy up on stage! some parts of this 45 minute set were a cringe-worthy to my ears, but overall i'm pleased to share it. i'm amazed that some songs i had completely forgotten about came flooding back to my head with complete lyrics.
this set was for a series of shows that required us to feature a cover of a TV show theme song - some of you will certainly appreciate the bit starting at 05:37. other highlights for me: a slow song called blue hotel at 13:00 and a song whose name i cant remember but might feature my favorite singing part and starts at 18:00. (UPDATE: that song is called sparkling eyes. and now i cant get the song starting at 06:30 out of my head!)
i didnt write songs back then, but i contributed to writing melodies, harmonies and lyrics. i tried at one point to play the keyboards in the band, but i hadnt yet figured out how to sing and play the piano at the same time. also, i was a poor college student with no money to buy myself a decent keyboard to use or practice on, so i just stuck to singing. i think some of the band members wanted me to be more of a flashy lead singer, but it just wasnt my style.
i remember a lot of rehearsals where i sat working out physics homework problems while they worked on technical details and song arrangements.
perelandra played live radio shows a couple times and the first one was right after a phish show in town. i have this uncontrollable arm-bending thing that happens sometimes when i sing and i'm not playing an instrument. i saw alanis morissette play live around the time i was in this band and noticed she did the same thing on stage.
after two years of playing gigs together (and even traveling to the fine state of indiana for a weekend show), the band answered my long-standing question for me....
i lived in chicago for two summers to work for SDSS. when i returned to cincinnati after the second summer, the band was no longer.... one band member stole the girlfriend of another band member and then married her! those silly boys and their drama! sheesh!
even though physics was the answer to my career questions as a 20 year old, i still get to sing songs about the stars and previous planets and i feel very lucky to be able to do so.
one of these days, i might even get around to recording my neil young cover song to share with y'all since i have finally figured out how to play and sing at the same time! :)
just this week, some video footage from a show we did in 1999 surfaced, and i watched with excited trepidation. wow did i have long hair, and a little hippy shimmy up on stage! some parts of this 45 minute set were a cringe-worthy to my ears, but overall i'm pleased to share it. i'm amazed that some songs i had completely forgotten about came flooding back to my head with complete lyrics.
this set was for a series of shows that required us to feature a cover of a TV show theme song - some of you will certainly appreciate the bit starting at 05:37. other highlights for me: a slow song called blue hotel at 13:00 and a song whose name i cant remember but might feature my favorite singing part and starts at 18:00. (UPDATE: that song is called sparkling eyes. and now i cant get the song starting at 06:30 out of my head!)
i didnt write songs back then, but i contributed to writing melodies, harmonies and lyrics. i tried at one point to play the keyboards in the band, but i hadnt yet figured out how to sing and play the piano at the same time. also, i was a poor college student with no money to buy myself a decent keyboard to use or practice on, so i just stuck to singing. i think some of the band members wanted me to be more of a flashy lead singer, but it just wasnt my style.
i remember a lot of rehearsals where i sat working out physics homework problems while they worked on technical details and song arrangements.
perelandra played live radio shows a couple times and the first one was right after a phish show in town. i have this uncontrollable arm-bending thing that happens sometimes when i sing and i'm not playing an instrument. i saw alanis morissette play live around the time i was in this band and noticed she did the same thing on stage.
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| playing live on the radio, circa 2000 |
after two years of playing gigs together (and even traveling to the fine state of indiana for a weekend show), the band answered my long-standing question for me....
i lived in chicago for two summers to work for SDSS. when i returned to cincinnati after the second summer, the band was no longer.... one band member stole the girlfriend of another band member and then married her! those silly boys and their drama! sheesh!
even though physics was the answer to my career questions as a 20 year old, i still get to sing songs about the stars and previous planets and i feel very lucky to be able to do so.
one of these days, i might even get around to recording my neil young cover song to share with y'all since i have finally figured out how to play and sing at the same time! :)
3 comments:
So much better than modern phone cam video, it must have been videotaped by an astronomer.
And my crush grows deeper and deeper
Hello Galactic Rockstarwatcher Amanda
You may also be a physicalyricist these days.
Waiting patiently for some new music performedby you from down under.
I enjoyed your performance with Perelandra!
PACS!
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