Musical Advice

A few years ago, I met Rachel Zylstra at a film conference at Calvin College. One night the men at the conference got together to go bowling, which left us ladies free to hit the town on our own. We were joined by another new friend, Donna. We all seemed to hit it off right away.

We talked for hours as old friends will do - except we were new friends... so the conversation was full of "get to know you" questions, interesting explanations, and many many new stories of our lives in our three home states, our families, our jobs, and our hopes for the future. We were interested, we were funny, and we were totally enjoying our girls' night.

At one point, a man at the next table stood up. He'd been sitting there for awhile, and was alone. He walked to our table and placed a note, scribbled on a napkin in the middle of the table. He muttered something like "Excuse me, sorry-to-bother-you..." and walked out.

The funny thing? The note wasn't for ONE of us - it was for ALL of us. He apologized for eavesdropping, but said our conversation was both enlightening and entertaining, and thanked us for the "company." He mentioned he was a nurse - and if we had any medical questions, we could always call him. He left us his number.

None of us kept the note... and certainly never contacted him, so we'll never know if he was just being sweet, or was a crazed lunatic.... All I have to say was that he was right - the conversation WAS both enlightening and entertaining... and I'm really glad I had the evening to get to know Rachel and Donna.

ANYWAY - all this to say, sometime after the conference, Rachel moved to NYC to begin her musical career. She's a remarkable pianist whose playing style reminds me of Tori Amos'. Her music is well-crafted, art-house fare... In her, I see an original. She's not following trend, and she's a sound-alike to no one I can think of. However, her songwriting style elicits a pinch of the Mercury (Freddie that is), as well as those clever singer/songwriters I love - like Jonatha Brooke, Jewel, Paula Cole... You know the stuff. Good, honest, fun...

Rachel is doing a new thing - which I applaud her for - A musical advice column - hosted on blogger... You can find her here. You owe it to yourselves to give her a listen. She's not only remarkably creative, but pretty insightful!

For example, to an unemployed woman who wants to know if it's okay that she tell others the truth of her current status as jobless/homeless and in need of a job, Rachel sings:

"You gotta take this full-on; honesty can be fun. Here’s your script:
“I’m unemployed - aka on the ready
to be your friend or colleague or your girlfriend going steady -
keeping real, keeping gracious with my peops and my folks as I camp out at their places
and I laugh at all their jokes.
Yeah boy, I’m homeless, living on a bum flux,
riding on a need wave – surfing for my own house.
In the steady meantime, I possess a width of time.
I’m overqualified; I can make your sentence rhyme –"

(KELLINCATTY's ASIDE: She sang "BUM FLUX!!!!" If I ever quit my band, I'm going to find a new one and name it BUM FLUX!)

Here she is on YOUTUBE: doling out fashion advice:

So fun. Check her out. Ask her a question - She'll tell you no lies.

And Rach? Can I produce your music videos?