Sundown at SOVA: The Best Listeners and The Happiest Hours
On November 16, Tuesday @ 7:30 pm presents:
Tiffany Thompson, Jean Bayou w/ Ron Goad, Dan Groveman, and Arian Hardkor
By now, I most of you have received an email or two about the artist evening I host in Washington, DC at the lovely SOVA Espresso and Wine Bar. This has become a truly dynamic event, often surprising me despite the fact I host it. The time focuses on creating a space where friends can listen to music together, catch up on life and have a space to simply “be.”
Joining me this month is an eclectic mix of DC-VA-MD songwriters that I have come to know in a variety of ways.
Dan Groveman and I met through his brother, Judah, when they played Sundown at SOVA as the band ZELOS. Dan and I had the chance to talk about songwriting a few days ago, and I asked him if he would share some of his new content for us. So glad to have him come out.
Jean Bayou has been such an encouragement to me as I wade into the DC music making waters. She is the President of the Singer Songwriters Association of Washington, DC and a simply wonderful songwriter. I am so glad she is available to share her music with us.
And Adrian Hardkor brings it every time I see him perform. I simply love his voice and am so glad he could come to play for us. Please check out his music at www.facebook.com/AdrianHardkor?v=app_57675755167
When: November 16, Tuesday @ 7:30 pm
Where: SOVA on the NE side of Capitol Hill 1359 H Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 397-3080
Cover: No official cover charge, but please bring some cash to give a donation to the four artists playing music for you all night. I’m suggesting 5$.
Tiffany Thompson, Justin Trawick, Dulcie Taylor, and Jack Bond
w/ Spoken word artist Poet Larrie
The time has for Sundown at SOVA: a music series focused on creating an evening where friends can listen to music together, catch up on life and have a space to simply “be.” Check out this great promo video for the series, created by Patrick McNamara.
This month the show will be on Oct. 26, Tuesday night at 7:30 pm. I hope this earlier time and Tuesday evening will give you a nice relaxing place to enjoy music, see some friends and relax mid-week.
I’ll be joined by Justin Trawick, a wonderful Virginia songwriter who plays out more than any other musician I know and always brings great energy to the stage. As well as two established Maryland artists: Dulcie Taylor, an establish singer/songwriter whose clear, supple voice and lyrics that are powerfully direct and down-to-earth, and Jack Bond, a mind-blowing guitarists and colorful storytelling-songwriter.
When: Tuesday, 26 October 2010 7:30-10:30 pm
Where: SOVA Espresso and Wine Bar on the NE side of Capitol Hill 1359 H Street, NE Washington, DC 20002
Cover: No official cover charge, but please bring some cash to give a donation to the four artists playing music for you all night. I’m suggesting 5$.
When I woke up last Saturday, I knew I needed to be in a place—if only for an hour— that contained images and stories, was filled with people passing, and felt larger then this season in my life. Preferably a quiet place, but chaos would seem equally appropriate. I’m always surprised by how our minds work, because the first place that came to mind, the place I found myself at 1:45 pm on September 11, was a side sitting room at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. To get there, you have to traverse the parking mayhem of downtown, pass through the security guards, have a moment with Rembrandt and find a seat in a white, marble room that is simple and fresh, yet rooted in a building filled with beauty.
So there I sat, sitting in a marble square because I needed a space to write to you. Life has been very multifaceted lately. Friends have gotten married, nights have been sleepless, passions have been shifting, and I have been seeking clarity. Clarity has not come, but my desire for it has waned, replaced with an acceptance of this season and a passion to live it to the full.
Does all this seem rather esoteric?
Let me expose 2 concrete examples.
First … Like many artists, I constantly balance my passion for creating art/music with the necessity/security of having a stable career. These discreet spheres of life often seem mutually exclusive, different suitors competing for my affections. A situation complicated by the fact that I have a job that interests me and brims with possibility.
So in this coming season—which begins now and has an unidentifiable, yet not too distant, end—I will be working longer hours, fewer days a week, in order to have a weekly songwriting day. So many of my listeners have graciously enjoyed the same 4 song—15 minute—album for the past year, and I long for them to have new sonic waves and words in their ears. Thus, I am compelled to play fewer concerts this season, and write more, with the concrete goal of producing a new album by mid 2011.
Second … Though I create music because I simply love it; I also create it for the future listener. It brings me such joy to know my friends sing along to “Till That Day Comes;” that they roll the windows down when “Ask Me Again” comes on; that they put “Love’s Set Aside” on their Fall 2010 mix CD. Thus, I plan on posting new song ideas on FaceBook, sending out new songs to my mailing list members, and hopefully getting people’s feedback on what they like, what they think is fresh and new, and what they don’t connect with at all.
So please engage these song ideas as they show up in emails and on Facebook. Please bring friends to shows as a way of starting conversations about life and love. Please let me know if you have a creative idea (venue, website, experience) that you think would add dimension, nuance, and vibrancy to this body of music, art and love that I am seeking to create.
Thanks for reading. Please respond.
Tiffany
Picture by Matt Mendelsohn (www.mattmendelsohn.com)
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A few months ago, I wrote about my encounter with the American Idol Experience in Disney World, and alluded to the idea that it made me “want something.” Well, the thing it made me “want” was to try out for the real American Idol.
Thus, on July 18 I flew to Chicago, IL and drove up to Milwaukee, WI with my parents
to share my voice with the infamously hard pre-screening judges of Season 10 of American Idol. My mom and I got in line at 6:00 am and waited for about 5 hours to register for the July 21 auditions. For the next day and a half my parents and I simply enjoyed Milwaukee, eating at wonderful restaurants, enjoying some WI cheese and singing my songs every time I got in the car to drive somewhere. On Wednesday morning, July 21, we woke up at 3:15 am and spent the next 10 hours waiting in line, participating crowd cheers for the TV show, and sitting in the Bradley Center auditorium.
My mom, who is an amazing writer, described the experience as follows: “American Idol has the unique element of offering the dream of a singing career and TV exposure to anyone, who is willing to enter the process. No cost involved. Just show up at one of the cities. In spite of how laborious the city auditions are, you have a sense that the 1stround audition could as easily go to you as one of the 10,000 + other hopeful singers. But as you wait 10 hours in the audition arena, stand in a long queue to tryout with 4 others before a first level judges or two, it is clear that each singer has 10-30 sec. for the instantaneous judgment of going to next round or heading home.”
When my 30—life changing—seconds came around 1:30 pm, I busted out a bit too low
(must have been the nerves) version of Duffy’s Mercy and stepped back as two other girls sang 30 seconds of some song. The judge called us all up and simply said, “You all have nice voices, but you are not what we are looking for in season 10 of American Idol.” Scissors cut my yellow wristband—which I had been wearing for 2 days—and I left through the the “non-winners” entrance.
Mom described that moment by saying: “Of course, we would have loved for ours to receive the ticket to further auditions. But we as we “headed home” we carried with us, the early American Idol mystic being revealed, the fun of anticipation, participation and an exit into reflections of “what might have been.” But greater yet, shared dreams and hopes of “what else will be in the future” that American Idol can’t begin to provide.”
Would I do it all over again? Not tomorrow! But for the experience, I think singers, who have dreams will find it worth it, even if they don’t end up before Randy and whoever else judges American Idol this year.
Though I do not have what American Idol is looking for, the words of encouragement I receive after every show I play is what keeps driving me to pursue, develop and create music. Thanks for all of your support over the years. And, if you have any friends that you think would enjoy this blog story or my music … please share this with them.
HD Video clips of the journey will be posted on my YouTube Chanel.
Have you seen the music video I shot last year with my brother, in which I dance, skip and sing my way from Northwest DC to the Lincoln Memorial? It garnered mixed reviews from friends and fans, but due to some serious YouTube marketing, the video has over 12,000 views. Good times!
But it’s about time to give you some fresh content, perhaps with fewer DC monuments in the background and a bit more artistic lighting, production, and location. 
Amazingly, I am blessed with a community of friends and artists that are making that possible.
Almost a year ago, a guy named Alex Houston—the director of the festival award-winning documentary “Swim Lessons: The Nick Irons Story”—came up to me a solo show at Fire Flies in Del Ray and said he really liked my stuff and that if I was ever interested in shooting a music video to let him know. Over the next few months, we discussed ideas, did some location scouting, worked through logistics, and talked with Amy Jones–a creative friend, artist manager, and music lover–about preparing for the shoot.
When the day came to shoot the first scenes, so many friends came together to help: Juliet helped secure the venue, Lacey did hair and makeup, Beki mastered the art of producer’s assistant, and Amy from booking the space to getting us finished on time made sure the evening went as soon as butter. 8 other friends came out to serve as extras in the video, sitting very still as I sang to a blasting and sped-up version of Till That Day Comes. Rather than describing the set and look of the shoot, I included a few pictures with this blog to give you a fell for what this part of the video will look like.
Every time I have the chance to play a show or do a creative project like this focused around my music, I am so thankful. Thanks for the gift of singing, songs, and ideas. Thankful for friends, artists, supporters, and fans who help the music take on new forms in new spaces.
Sundown at SOVA: The Best Listeners and The Happiest Hours
Presents: Tiffany Thompson, Bryan Dawley, Steph Modder and Kurtis Parks
I’ve been working with SOVA Espresso and Wine Bar to start a new music series focused on creating an evening that will get your weekend started early and right. So every 2nd Thursday of the month, May 13 and June 10 to start, I’m hosting a show composed of four area artists in a venue designed for you and your friends to come hang out and drink tea in the coffee shop (open till 9 pm) or enjoy a cocktail, beer or other tasty drink in the bar (open till 12 am). If you have not been to SOVA before, I’m pretty sure you are going to love it. The music will be chill, but the spirit festive. And to top it all off … SOVA’s gona extend their happy hour deals until 9 pm. So we’ll for sure be starting the music by 8:00 … and hope ya’ll come join us.
This Thursday night is our first Sundown at SOVA and it would be great to have you spread the word to your friends. Here is the info you can cut and paste onto your different social websites.
What: Sundown at SOVA: The Best Listeners and The Happiest Hours
Presenting music from Tiffany Thompson, Bryan Dawley, Steph Modder and Kurtis Parks
When: Thursday, May 13 8:00- 11:30 pm (Thats this Thursday Night!!)
Where: SOVA on the NE side of Capitol Hill 1359 H Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 397-3080
Why: Start the weekend early with an evening filled with music, friends, and chillin, and a late night happy hour that goes till 9 pm.
Cover: No official cover charge, but please bring some cash to give a donation to the four artists playing music for you all night. I’m suggesting 5$.
PS. I’ll be playing first at 8 pm and then again at around 9:45 pm.
Sometimes you have to try something and fail to know that you actually wanted it. That’s what happen to me this past week at the American Idol Experience in Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park.
It all started about a month ago when my mom suggested that I participate in the American Idol Experience during our family’s vacation trip to Orlando, FL. I was skeptical at first, but after watching the online explanations, it seemed like a great way to get a feel for the nature of “pop performances.”
On Friday morning we got to the park for the first round of auditions, and I did about 15 seconds of the National Anthem for a Disney Producer, and she said “I can tell you have a bigger voice there … so have fun today.” I was given a number and told to walk back to the next round of auditions.
In the American Idol Experience Studio, I listened to songs on an iPod and choose to sing “Breaking Free” from High School Musical and “Ain’t No Sunshine” for the Executive Producer. He said that Breaking Free really showed off my voice and that Ain’t No Sunshine was too coffee-shop. Then he gave me a yellow tag that said “Vote for Me” and passed me onto the next round.
Then it was time to get ready for the show, and to be honest I really botched the run through. For some reason, the stage, the lights, the lack of an instrument or other performers really made me feel different. But, when the 500 people where in their seats and I sang the song for real, I won that first round and had to wait till the end of the day (it was about noon at this point) to continue on. 
As I walked around the park with my family, two little girls came up and ask for my autograph … it was pretty sweet. They had me sign their little books as “Your American Idol.”
Later, 6 others and myself gathered back at the American Idol green room to “Live the Dream” for about an hour until the Grand Finale show happened. There were 3 teens there between 14-16 and two people over 30 and myself. When 7pm came around, we all walked out onto the stage and saw that there were about 1200 people there to hear us sing.
I was 4th in line and when I came out on the stage the MC guy asked me a few things about living in Russia, which was fun. I did my song as best I could and then listened to the judges. They liked it, but encouraged more connection with the song. It’s funny … now it is hard to remember what they said to me. I should ask my mom.
In the end, another girl and I were in the top 2, and she walked away with the ticket. But, I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to trying out again at some point.
Here are a few lessons learned I learned from my day in the American Idol Experience:
- Song choice is essential. The girl who won sang “No One” by Alicia Keys, which was fun and also really hooky. My song was fun, but not as pop. So keep in mind the audience, but also, just choose great songs that work for YOU.
- Also, I saw what a different experience it is to sing on a big stage without a mic stand and instrument. I hardly knew what to do with my body, where to walk, ect. I hope to create a few more opportunities to explore that over the coming months.
- I think I was trying to hard. If I tried out again … I would have more fun with it.
