Hi! Thanks for checking out my little corner of the MySpace world. I just became a musician 3 years ago. It feels strange but wonderful to say that. I'm currently in a band called The Knockouts. We do covers from the 50's to the present. I'm also the leader of an open mic/live band karaoke houseband called Lady and the Amp. I host and perform at a fun evening of music at The Underscore once a month. It gets even better, I just joined a 60's cover band called The Committed as their keyboard player. I get to sing cool rock songs, shred on the guitar as best I can, tickle the ivories a bit and even pound on the drums. I picked up a guitar for the first time at 10, learned to play basic things at 16 and started learning seriously 3 years ago. I kind of always sang but finally someone taught me to sing properly. Now Judas Priest and AC/DC songs don't scare me. I can wail! LOL I feel so lucky that I'm living out a childhood dream.
The chain of events that led to this was amazing. I was in the Broadway musical Jekyll and Hyde for one day and met Sebastian Bach. No, I wasn't fired, I won a walk-on roll at an auction. It was the best $4250.00 I ever spent! That was a pivotal and life changing experience. Sebastian and the cast and crew's kindness toward me was a catalyst for great things to come. I bought an electric guitar and took guitar and vocal lessons with some of the top names in the industry. I hooked up with some amazing people who supported, encouraged, guided and nurtured me and now I'm living a dream. I couldn't have done this without Sebastian, Al, Angus, Stevie, Dr. Dzik, Joe, Bob, Denise, Yovanni, Johnny Mac, The Studio, Rob, Gina, Andy, TSO and many many others. I am so grateful for all they've done for me and feel so honored to have them in my life. Some of them were/are my teachers. I've had the honor of sharing a stage with some of them and all of them are my friends.
I used to give rock concerts to my stuffed animals. Now you can find me at The Bitter End every few months performing on a stage where legends stood; Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin just to name a few.
The last Wednesday of every month I host and perform at an open mic/live band karaoke at a bar called The Underscore. I've had guest musicians in my house band who have been on arena stages all over the world! It's all very surreal to me that I'm actually doing all this but fortunately it's very real too. It's the most rewarding and fulfilling thing I've ever done in my life. It's impossible to describe how much joy it fills my heart and soul up with. Everytime I pick up a microphone to sing into it, everytime I play a lead that I worked so hard to learn and everytime I look out into a crowd and see the faces of people enjoying what I'm doing, it's an amazing and beautiful miracle.
Here are some quirky but true facts about me.
My close friend and N.Y. Times Best Selling Author of children's books, Judy Katschke, made me a character in 3 books that she wrote having to do with Rock and Roll.
I often giggle uncontrollably at the most random times. If I'm in one of my silly moods, I can look at something like a rubber band and get hysterical. As a result, one of my bands was called "Giggle Factor".
Two famous Danish authors, Dorthe Nors and Robert Zola Christensen are writing a realistic fiction book about Manhattan and Broadway. They saw my website about the day I was in Jekyll and Hyde and came to NY to interview me about it. I am going to be a featured character in their book and the best thing of all is that I made two wonderful friends!
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name: Jen
Birthday: May 29th
Birthplace: NYC
Current Location:
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Dark Brown
Height: Too short to reach the ziplock bags in the cabinet!
Right Handed or Left Handed: Right
Your Heritage: American
The Shoes You Wore Today: High Heeled Boots
Your Weakness: Profound Ticklishness
Your Fears: Death, the Dentist, Catastrophic Illness, Undomesticated Rodents, creepy crawlies
Your Perfect Pizza: Veggie or Eggplant Pizza from Emilio's
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: Ah, to many to mention but being a better musician is an important one.
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: LOL
Thoughts First Waking Up: What day is it and do I really not have to go to work?.
Your Best Physical Feature: None
Your Bedtime: I really loathe sleeping. I feel like I'm missing out on something but to answer the question, always after midnight
Your Most Missed Memory: Don't have one.
Pepsi or Coke: Soda is Poison!
MacDonalds or Burger King: See above Answer.
Single or Group Dates: Both is fine.
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Neither, I like Honest Tea.
Chocolate or Vanilla: Both
Cappuccino or Coffee: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...Cappuccino but coffee is ok too.
Do you Smoke: No
Do you Swear: Sometimes
Do you Sing: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
Do you Shower Daily: Yes, sometimes twice!
Have you Been in Love: Yes
Do you want to go to College: Been there, done that, have a Master's Degree to hang on my wall.
Do you belive in yourself: Not nearly as much as I should
Do you get Motion Sickness: Sometimes, especially on Disney's Soarin' Over California Ride, even though I love it.
Do you think you are Attractive: Not at all.
Are you a Health Freak: No, but I try to make healthy choices these days.
Do you get along with your Parents: They passed on when I was a child.
Do you like Thunderstorms: Yes, especially in the summer.
Do you play an Instrument: Yup, Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards and a little bit of Drums.
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: Yes, love those Cosmos and I'm acquiring a fondness for wine.
In the past month have you Smoked: No way./b
In the past month have you been on Drugs: Never
In the past month have you gone on a Date: No
In the past month have you gone to a Mall: Yes
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: Not even an individual Oreo.
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: Nope, don't like it.
In the past month have you been on Stage: I'm so happy to say YES to this!
In the past month have you been Dumped: No
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: Never have, never will.
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: No
Ever been Drunk: Yes
Ever been called a Tease: No, but I get teased a lot!
Ever been Beaten up: No
Ever Shoplifted: No
How do you want to Die: Peacefully in my sleep and when I'm very VERY Old!
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: I NEVER want to grow up!
What country would you most like to Visit: Australia (Especially now that I have some Australian friends!
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color: Blue
Favourite Hair Color: Dark
Short or Long Hair: Long and wavy or curly
Height: Tall
Weight: Big and Cuddly
Best Clothing Style: Anything as long as it looks good. Truthfully, all the above really doesn't matter a whole lot. He could have short salt and pepper hair or have no hair at all or be bone thin, as long as he is kind, sweet, fun to be with and I like the person I am when I'm with him, that's all that really matters. Lately I've been favoring big strapping drag queens...scary!
Number of Drugs I have taken: None
Number of CDs I own: Hundreds
Number of Piercings: Two in each ear and I want an eyebrow ring. Update, I wanted an eyebrow ring till I recently got stitches which hurt a lot. I'll pass on the pain.
Number of Tattoos: None, fake ones are fun.
Number of things in my Past I Regret: Too many things.
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!
