You guys.
You and your enthusiasm, your encouragement and your insatiable urge to flatter…one of these days my head’s just going to inflate so much I’ll be needing my very own ozone layer. So please, for all of our sakes…stop now.
So for those of you who asked (thanks rn_buffoon) the gig went very nicely indeed. Particularly considering that I rocked up feeling so frighteningly fatigued that for a moment I doubted my ability to actually make it through. But…enough whingeing. As usual, the adrenalin kicked in and got me through – man, if only they could bottle that stuff. Oh hang on, they can. But sorry to say, I’m really not the ‘stab a needle into my heart’ kinda gal.
Anyway, back to the point: there was a very broad mix of people – a massive turnout, actually – artists, kiddies aged from 2 upwards, grandparents, parents, people who fit into all of the above categories and everything in between. Needless to say, I kept it clean, even substituting relatively cleanities like ‘making love’ to ‘getting friendly’ – those of you who’ve seen me perform Dole Queue Girl will know what I’m talking about. The rest of you: consider your curiosity piqued.
Had a great time, brought a few people onstage for a bit of a chat (including two of the CUTEST little kiddies ever, one of whom wore a tuxedo on his top half and jeans on his bottom) and then proceeded to make up a few songs based on my interview findings – including classics such as “It Ain’t Easy Painting Boxes” (apt, given the awards ceremony was for artwork which people had painted on City Council traffic signal boxes).
Then right at the end of the night, I unleashed Mrs Sorenson for her first ever public appearance (well, since she first came on-stage in a play I wrote years ago…but that’s a whole other story I’ll share another time) where she read a closing poem to all the artists. And Cath from Artforce, who organised the whole gig, has already requested a copy of said poem to put up on their website. Ah, Mrs S…I just love her. And yes, Huggies, I will post some video footage of the old bird online soon, I promise.
The highlight of my night though, was when I was off-stage and an adorable little girl in a polka-dotted dress and light brown big-tails, probably about the same age as Ella, came up and tugged at my shirt. She looked up at me with her enormous brown and hugely sincere eyes and whispered something.
“What was that?” I knelt down so I could hear her.
She spoke slowly, softly and deliberately:
“You’re a very nice singer.”
Now if that doesn’t rock the world, then the world just ain’t worth rockin.