A Couple of Things

The Spouse called me this a.m. to announce that "Fortune Hunters won the award for best short @ SIFF. That is so superfantastic. Congratulations to Thom and Mike and all the cast 'n crew. Well deserved. Consider it a preview of your Oscar win after the short grows up and becomes a feature.

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The Child got a new hair cut this weekend. She has never been one for "doing" her hair and it's been more and more maddening. The line between obsession with one's looks and not caring a bit is very broad. I've been nudging her toward some comfortable place in the middle, a place that involves at least dragging a brush through the thatch once in a while.

But her new do suits her very well and more to the point, she absolutely loves it. And has been caught brushing her hair several times a day since Saturday. Huzzah!

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Friday night was the Spring Concert. The 7th grade was going to be dancing at the top of the program and I'd arranged with The Child that we were going to split as soon as they were done. (By the time your kid is in 7th grade you really don't need to see any more performances by little tiny cute things that aren't yours lisping their way through "Don't Worry, Be Happy").

Well, she called in the afternoon to say that The Principal had decided that some of the acts for the school talent show also needed to perform and asked The Child to be one of them. Crap.

Not only did I not want to stay through the entire show but I get very nervous when The Child performs solo. It's not that I'm ashamed of her. I admire her moxie. And she's not a bad singer. Oh, when she was wee she had more enthusiasm than tunefulness, but carrying a tune is something that can be learned and in her years of musical training she's made friends with pitch. And she stays on it 7 or 8 times out of 10. But it is still nerve-wracking as a mom because you want them to do well and you can't help but worry that they won't.

The talent piece began. 2 8th graders did an amazing dance-off: Irish step dancing versus tap. It was a little slice of Riverdance and it rocked. They coulda stopped the show right there. But no. Then another 8th grader, with a very nice voice sang an a capella number. Then a kid did mouth music. (OK, not a skill I see taking him places but then, I love the 80s).

A band of 7th graders took the stage, including The Princess, a girl in The Child's class for whom I bear no affection whatsoever. All I could think was that she was going to rock, being perfection embodied and all that, and the poor Child was going to have to follow her.

The bass started. Very fuzzy, but pretty good. Then the guitar came in. I don't know what he was playing, but it bore no relationship to the bass line. Then Princess started to sing "Driftaway". Badly. Really, really badly. No spirit, no facial expression (too cool for that), and absolutely no tune. Then a boy began to sing with her, also very badly. And then they started to rap. Which was a blessing, only because they didn't need to be tuneful. I sat there quietly, next to a teacher, with ears bleeding.

Then the teacher leaned over to me and said, "It's too bad this isn't being videotaped to be shown later...like when she brings home a boyfriend from college".

Yay! It wasn't just me. I leaned over and whispered, "Well, the good news is, I'm a lot less nervous about my own kid singing now". And the teacher laughed.

The band kept going, oblivious to their dreadfulness. How dreadful? If Tunefulness walked up to Princess and slapped her with a road map she still wouldn't have been able to locate the neighborhood of the pitch. Nails on a chalkboard have a more soothing effect.

They finished, raggedly, to polite (and I think, relieved) applause.

Then The Child got up. She did this little number from, what else?, "High School Musical":

She wasn't half bad. She was singing along to the CD which, because it had the vocal track,was being played softly. So softly even The Child had trouble hearing it. (Yes, I told her weeks ago to use the karaoke disk that she has). So there were a few places that went a little flat. But mostly, she got it right. Not to mention that she looked adorable and even managed some expression. It was really dark and my flash stinks so this is the best I could do photo-wise, but then, I think it's kinda arty looking.

Anyway, she left the stage to much more spirited applause and came right up to me with a "Let's get outta here". On the way to the car I complimented her performance and then she said, "Well, I know I was better than Princess. And Mom, when I sing in the talent show, I think I should use the karaoke disk".

Brilliant idea! Why didn't I think of that?