Peggy Ratusz | thesofiamagazine

Women Making Music–Spotlight on Harpist, Jazz Pianist, Singer Melody Cooper

by Peggy Ratusz | May 4, 2021 | Asheville, Jazz, Musician, Women

Melody’s talking voice is rich and warm. As we commiserate on the day I interviewed her, we begin by talking about what’s on the docket for her upcoming weekend of playing harp at weddings in Tennessee. I am soothed by her calm and inviting persona. Funny, because she was born in Brooklyn and moved to Long Island when she was twelve. While we’re conversing I think about all the people I know from that area and most of them are not as calm and cool as Cooper.

“The short version of my story is that I moved out when I was seventeen,” and then she pauses and asks “How do I tell a short version of my life?” We laugh and I assure her that she can give me the long one.

“My family was lovely, but Long Island and I were not a good fit. I moved out when I was seventeen and in with my boyfriend at the time.” That boyfriend had marriage and kids in his future plans while Melody’s path was one of adventure, travel and music. So it was goodbye and so long as she headed
to Toronto to visit a friend named Marguerite.

Now, Marguerite is important to this story because she’s my connection to Melody Cooper. Marguerite and her husband Joe and I became good friends after they moved here from New York many years ago. I’ve been hearing about Melody Cooper for at least the past 10 years!

Car trouble was the reason a fateful trip with friends that was originally scheduled to end up in NOLA for Mardi Gras, ended up instead, in Key West Florida in 1972. As Melody stepped out of the broken-down van, she meets a woman named “Sunshine” whose spirit so captivates and aligns with Melody’s spirit that Sunshine offers up her newly vacated apartment and invites her to move into it! When the other friends move on, Melody stays on.

That pivotal time marked the beginning of what would end up being a 15 year run where Cooper migrated back and forth between her apartment in Florida and her apartment in New York before settling in Key West. And all the while, she immersed herself in a variety of music configurations. Where she found time to run a restaurant, I have no idea, but she did that too!

Formed in 1998 and still going,
Paradise Big Band out of Key West was the name of the orchestra Miss Melody sang and played piano for during that time. She was part of a chamber music ensemble called Bach to Bossa Nova, and an all-girl fronted Motown revue called The Fabulous Spectrelles that toured London and had a #1 record!

Trained in Classical piano from age
seven, the inspiration for learning about, singing and playing jazz music started with a radio station in NYC that played entire discographies of selected Jazz artists. “I fell in love with Jazz when I was 13. I had a transistor radio and in the middle of the night I listened to a radio program that played entire libraries of artists like John
Coltrane and Sarah Vaughn.”

“I was just so shy and quiet that it wasn’t until my mid-twenties, that I started singing. I was really interested in singing jazz, but for a long time I was playing Jazz piano and singing solo soprano opera!”

“Extreme shyness” is an affliction she overcomes out of pure desire and passion for playing and singing to live audiences. “I forced myself to take chances. Moving out on my own, traveling alone, solo gigs and pushing myself, eventually helped me get over my extreme shyness. I started thinking about what it would take to trust myself. I convinced myself that once I put my hands on an instrument or opened my mouth to sing, I wasn’t going to suck. That’s when the true magic and connection to the music happened.”

Most of her musical training comes from the tutelage of notable private instructors. “Instead of going through a university, studying from someone who has the book, I took private classes from the person who wrote the book.” She studied with Barry Harris, Alberto Socarras and Franko Richmond. For voice she learned directly from Emily Boyd-Lowe and Patricia Caceido.

She and her common law husband, Dan Simpson, met thirty-five years ago. “He’s a brilliant engineer, bassist, guitarist, composer and instrument builder.”

In the 70’s and 80’s Jazz, Latin, Motown and Funk dance bands were coming out of Key West. “Dan and I were in a band called Bill Blue and the Nervous Guys. But I started to feel overwhelmed about spending so much of my time in bars. So I began looking for other ways to make a living as a musician. I started teaching voice and I became the music director at a Unity Church in Key West.”

Simpson and Cooper have been coming through Asheville for many years on their way to and from 150 acres that Simpson owns in Palestine, West Virginia. After some bad hurricanes they started rethinking living in Key West. “So we decided to build a cabin on the property. We actually hand built it with 2 other friends.” For a while, they split their time between the cabin in WV and their place in Key West while deciding when to move out of Florida entirely. “We had the high end trailer with a studio and an upper deck in Stock Island, FL and then this cabin in the middle of the woods in WV. We called it the Holiday Hillbilly package!”

The couple remains partners in a recording studio in Key West called Private Ear Recording and Sound. In its heyday, they ran the entire operation. It was the go-to studio in the area for singer songwriters and bands putting out CD’s, theaters that needed sound effects for books on tape and more.

As the internet age gave way to musicians building home studios and with the increasing cost of living and the increasing intensity of hurricanes and storms in the Keys, they felt like they were spinning wheels. Before she and Dan left Key West to settle here, she was working 4 or 5 jobs and swore she’d never put herself through that stress and fast pace again.

“We chose Asheville because I knew it was a destination place.” When it became obvious to her, in her mid-fifties, that hiring a piano player for weddings wasn’t as popular as hiring a harpist, she bought one and taught herself how to play it! Within 6 months she was playing weddings regularly and has been ever since.

Melody has become one of the premier harpist’s in WNC and has performed at all the significant wedding venues in the area. She’s written a catalog of original songs for popular and inspirational music. And if that wasn’t enough she is also an accomplished public speaker and yoga instructor!

From her website: “All of this background has given me a varied repertoire, and a love for all types of music, roots to modern.”

melodycooper.com

Peggy Ratusz is a vocalist, songwriter and vocal coach

[email protected]

reverbnation.com/peggyratusz

loveisaroselive.com

Peggy’s May performance dates:

Friday, May 14th, Catawba South Slope, 7pm-10pm

Sunday, May 16th, Southern
Appalachian Brewery, 3pm-5pm

Women Making Music Play it Forward

by Peggy Ratusz | Apr 2, 2021 | Asheville, Music, Musician, Vocal Coach

For some female musicians in our area the past year has been a challenge and for others, a godsend. For many this past year has been a mix of the two. Every phone call I’ve shared and every interview I’ve conducted for the past 8 or 9 months, the pandemic dominates the conversation. How could it not?

Covid-19 fatigue is a real thing. It’s a syndrome I feel and witness in others on a daily basis; even on days I don’t see anyone other than my husband and dog. I feel great relief after venting in my journal, whining each week on family zooms and posting my dismay on social media. Lock down loneliness, unemployment benefit woes, motivational teeter totters is real. Fortunately, my female musician friends lift me in real ways in real-time.

For instance, there’s Kate Kinney Barber, flutist and vocalist for Moody Blues tribute band, The Lost Chord. She and I share Covid political rants. But we pivot our conversation to calmer waters by sharing our positive anticipation of taking the stage once again!

If it weren’t for Aileen Pearlman, aka “Big Al,” I wouldn’t have much of a sense of humor. The weekly open mic nights we used to host together left a huge hole in our creative process. And yet, without her editing, designing and sharing pithy tik-tok type videos and our late night tipsy texts, that hole would be a chasm.

My next door neighbor, singer/songwriter, Mare Carmody and I can go days without seeing each other but it’s our driveway vodka tonic sing-alongs, coffees on the patio and checking in on one another before grocery store runs, that make my days feel less lonely.

Remember Christine OnTheScene? Every local musician’s promotor/supporter and live music godmother? She’s one of my besties and she happens to be among other things, an avid hiker. Without our buddy system Mother Nature sojourns, I would be a vitamin D deficient basket case.

I can’t say enough about the super-girl life saver friend I have in Paula Hanke. Partnering in music and comical crime despite the cancellation of all of our tour dates together, hasn’t dampened Paula’s goddess influenced path. And I reap the lovely benefits each and every day.

To all these women, the women I’ve interviewed, and those women I’ve only met on the internet, I extend a loud and true, thank you!

I got to wondering how are other soon-to-be-working-steadily-again professional musicians doing these days. After a year of shut down, how have mask wearing, hand sanitizing, live streaming, twisting, bending, and pivoting left them?

I reached out to a few of them to ask and received back, a cornucopia of answers.

Ashley Heath
facebook.com/ashleyheathandherheathens

Since the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve adapted by coming up with creative ways to keep my music thriving and my fan base engaged. I started a business called “Singing Grams.” These are singing telegrams where a person picks a song they’d like to dedicate to someone; it could be for a birthday, anniversary or just to set hey. Then I learn the song and call or video call the person and sing it to them! It’s a complete surprise to the person I’m calling and the responses have been awesome! It’s helped me reconnect with people I haven’t talked to in years!

I’ve been writing a ton of songs, gardening, painting, getting outside, and having FaceTime with my friends!

My band, Ashley Heath and Her Heathens will be recording in the fall and I’m looking forward to releasing my third album in 2022. Our full band shows are starting to come back as weather is getting nicer!

Here are my next performance dates April and beyond:

May 29th – Elevated Distillery Carolina Writers Series Highlands, NC, solo performance.

June 10th – Pine Summer Concert Series in Wilkesboro, NC for the town of Wilkesboro featuring Ashley Heath and Her Heathens.

July 23rd and 24th – IT’S FLOYD FEST near Floyd, Virginia! I am this year’s Artist on the Rise recipient and these very special performances will be with my full band – Ashley Heath and Her Heathens!

Linda Mitchell
lindamitchellblues.com/

The pandemic has been hard for me around music. I lost steady gigs and an important income stream. My motivation has dropped so low in part, because my gigs dried up. I have not been working with my music partner and in general I miss making music with all the people I used to, pre-pandemic.

A silver lining to the loss has been and is the jazz jam OUTDOORS, weather permitting, at One World West Brewing on Sundays. Some weeks I sit-in which brings me a needed sense of normalcy.

I have been coping by cooking a lot too; new cuisines, new recipes. Though I have “Covid Mind Days” where I lay on the couch and can’t remember what day it is, I combat it by walking a mile every day.

I mask up whenever I grocery shop and lately have dined at nearly empty restaurants.

The consequence of not getting sick is my stringent rule of wearing a mask! Yeah masks! Recently I was able to get both Covid shots. I live in hope for the health of my friends and family and very soon, returning to playing LIVE MUSIC again!

Whitney Moore
whitneymoore.com/

I’ve been hunkered down with my family since March of last year. We have high risk family members so we’ve stayed super isolated. The last gig I played was an outdoor event at the salvage station in October – and that was the first time I’d played since March! We’re in talks with the Salvage Station about another outdoor date this summer.

It was surreal to win “Best in Jazz” in a local 2020 poll, because I barely feel like I have a band anymore! We’ve managed to release a few remote recordings and music videos, but that’s about it.

For me, personally it’s been a well-timed hiatus because I gave birth to my second child in June. I’ve been soaking in the extended “babymoon” and extra time with my four year old. I’m grateful to have some voice over work to do from my home studio and our garden has never looked better!

Caromia
caromiamusic.com/

For me, what 2020 lacked in social interaction, live music and entertainment, it made up for in the opportunity for time alone at home to write and record. Almost a year after releasing my last solo effort, I’ll be sending a new one off into the internet ethers, for your listening pleasure. Keep a lookout in the coming months for Sunday Land, a beachy dreamscape collection born out of the early Covid time-warp.

Follow all these lovelies and support live local music as much as you can as the country and our state open up over the coming months! There is a lot of time and money needed to make up for the losses these musicians have had to endure. We play it forward to honor our family of fans!

Peggy Ratusz dates in April:

Saturday April 3rd – Mills River Brewing with Duane Simpson, 2pm-5pm

Friday April 9th – Isis Music Hall in-person ticketed and livestream concert with Love Bubble, 7pm

Friday April 23rd – Isis Music Hall in-person ticketed and livestream concert with Peggy Ratusz & Daddy LongLegs band, 7pm

Peggy Ratusz is a vocal coach, song interpreter, and songwriter.
For vocal coaching email her at [email protected]

facebook.com/peggy.ratusz

Women Making Music – Spotlight on Mary Kay Williams

by Peggy Ratusz | Mar 1, 2021 | Asheville, Music, Musician, Women

Mary Kay Williams is one motivated woman! She’s living her life so loud, that for many days after our interview, I was inspired to get some stuff done myself! Born and raised in the part of upstate New York “where they pronounce their ‘r’s’ ” she grew up in a house of technical engineers and science- minded family members in Rochester. She credits her mom, Maureen, and her side of the family for passing down the creative gene.

One of the longest interviews I’ve ever conducted, we discovered we have a few things in common. She warned me up front that she is fancifully erratic; preferring to jump around and joyfully succumb to her A.D.D. We both love to talk about ourselves, and boy did we do just that!

From our respective zoom call rooms, the first thing I noticed was her headwear; A darling black chapeau with gold buttons. Turns out, she made it using material that was originally meant for another item she decided to scrap and reconstruct. Not one to waste fabric, this college educated fashion illustrator repurposed herself a modern take on the kicky bucket hat! I knew I was in for an amusing sit-down!

A large chunk of her Mary Kay Arts business was formed to promote her artistry as a retail caricaturist. She manages a successful career within the festival, amusement park and cruise ship circuit. With a bubbly exuberant vivacious personality, it’s no wonder her lines are notoriously the longest.

But, all this happened in what she refers to as “the before times.” Like most of us, she’s shifted and pivoted and realigned strategies to find her virtual sweet spot, taking on custom orders and the like, making her way around the financial constraints the pandemic has caused.

Fortunately, her brain provides a ceaseless supply of ideas and keeps her bucket list continuously full. There’s a steady pen-stroke of items crossed out and accomplished on that list besides! Her zealous re-imagining, re-inventing and repurposing all things art, manifests through awareness and alignments with like-minded collaborators and colleagues. She has spearheaded consortiums with other artists and formed lasting partnerships.

“Here’s my list, in order of how much I love doing them: Singing! Lindy Hop Dancing! Art of all kinds! Writing! Acting! I’m the sort of person who is able to see patterns; I bubble around things. I’ve created a lifestyle and a path that is multifaceted to honor all my interests and talents. As it turns out, I attract and look for people who have attention deficit! I’ve met transplant surgeons who are piano virtuosos for instance. Multi-talented people are everywhere!”

Now that she’s matured into her late fifties, she feels this pull to harness and focus her “goddess powers” toward inspiring and guiding others. Creative people, people who don’t think they’re creative, are the people she aspires to attract and bring together for a creative workshop weekend event. She’s proven time and time again during her self-made cosmopolitan existence, that she can do whatever she sets her mind to!

As we swing around to the subject of music, I learn that she played Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz in 5th grade. She slayed the part and she slayed THE song! I discovered that the stops and starts with music were for her, deliberate and necessary. Still, she can’t believe there ever was a time in her adult life that she didn’t sing.

In her 30’s she began to pursue music in earnest. Her Uncle Billy is a Blues singer and after they performed together at a family reunion, he encouraged her to start going to Blues and Jazz jams around Rochester. The domino effect that committing to these weekly sit-ins realized was a female music group she and her late sister, Terry, formed called “Twisted Covers.” She also met a guitarist and singer whom she would perform with as a duo for two- plus years. She found great pleasure and was darn good at arranging harmonies and what a thrill it was to perform them at coffee houses and small café’s.

The Barley’s Jazz Jam is where Mary Kay and I first met in early 2020. Her reputation for having all the right vocal chops preceded her, and boy did she not disappoint! With a full house on a chilly night, the warmth from her lighthearted and goofy demeanor brought us together in laughter and sway. As she seduced us with her pitch perfect ballad, the lushness of her voice made me and everyone present respond in kind with lauding applause and whistles. I took out my phone and set a reminder to contact her for an interview.

“For at least a decade now, my absolute number one love has been music.” So now, as the pandemic gives her new time (because she doesn’t lack energy, believe me!) she is making music the centerpiece. This feature, I dare say, is just what the Minstrel Doctor ordered!

Whether it’s singing or speaking or acting in front of an audience, Mary Kay is fearless and brilliant. “The feeling of singing, in and of itself, makes me yearn to do more of it.”

Though there’s not much out there in TV or computer land to evidence her creamy, ample and expressive song renderings, take it from me; she’ll be producing, arranging and recording at least an LP, just in time to release in the after times!

“I have a mission in life to blaze a trail and do everything! I can’t imagine that I was given this much talent if my purpose is not to use all that I was given.”

www.marykayarts.com

Peggy Ratusz is a vocalist, vocal coach, writer and booking manager

www.reverbnation.com/peggyratusz

www.loveisaroselive.com

Women Making Music– Spotlight on Nicole lund

by Peggy Ratusz | Feb 1, 2021 | Asheville, Music, Musician, Women

By Peggy Ratusz

My song-sister, Ellen Trnka was the person who helped me get started and who made my move to the area easier as I worked to make a name for myself around here some 17 years ago. Because of Ellen’s openness, I now pay it forward in her honor. Fielding calls from newly transplanted artists makes me happy and has become part of my reputation.

One such transplant who emailed me on my birthday in 2016 was Nicole lúnd. She’d just moved here from New York City & was researching Asheville’s blues music happenings. That email led to our working together on a holiday variety show & my helping her with a couple of bookings.

With an education in Music Industry Studies from Appalachian State, singer songwriter lÚnd (artist’s moniker), holds down a full time job while still managing to create and produce her own music. And now, she is about to release her highly anticipated and remarkable debut record “Right This Time.”

A logistics person in her day job, she handles distribution of anesthesia machines and ventilators for a medical device company. The demands of that position did not deter her from recording the album during this pandemic. Paramount in her decision to forge ahead was the fact that scheduling the players was easier, especially since they are all notable instrumentalists and singers, who normally would have had regular, robust touring schedules.

To discover where this energy and know-how began, I ask her about her background and childhood growing up in Charlotte, NC. “My father was an architect and artist and my mom worked from home keeping his books and tending to our needs.” With an older sister and younger brother, lúnd says she’s “proud to represent as ‘middle child’.”

“I sang along with Aretha Franklin, Etta James and Bonnie Raitt when I was young. I consider them my voice teachers.”

So at 9 years, she decided to audition for the Charlotte Children’s Choir and got in. From grades 6-12, she attended a magnet school for the arts where she majored in voice and photography.

With her father’s encouragement and support, she interned for and headed up the street team for Derek Truck’s band when she was a teen.

At 17 she moved to Boone, NC to attend Appalachian State majoring in the aforementioned Music Industry Studies. She spent 2 years in Atlanta “observing the music scene” and the next 10 dabbling in a variety of music-related activities in The Big Apple.

“I struggled with stage fright for a very long time. I still don’t feel 100% comfortable on stage. For one of my first college performances, I held my eyes closed throughout the performance. So it’s been a slow process for me.”

Getting into that college jazz ensemble made dealing with her fears a little easier; primarily because the director “saw something in me and gave me a chance. I just had to work to achieve my goals and he gave me the opportunity to do that work.”

The ripple effect these leadership roles created, manifested partner and mentorships with notable players and songwriters; namely guitarist Paul Olson from the band Scrapomatic. Scrapomatic’s lead singer is Tedeschi-Trucks Band’s lead backing vocalist, Mike Mattison. Along with Mark Rivers, also a TTB backing vocalist, both appear on several tracks on Nicole’s upcoming release.

She met and became friends with Atlanta based and acclaimed drummer Yonrico Scott, (Royal Southern Brotherhood, Earl Klugh, Derek Trucks Band) who mentored her until his sad and untimely death just over a year ago.

I took notes while listening to the tracks she emailed me ahead of our interview, and I wrote down the words: “mood album.” It was cool that she referred to them in the interview without my prompting, as a collection of ‘moods.’ Her lyrics are sparse and yet full of meaning. The melodies, style and rhythm come together effectively to tell a story between the lines. Listeners will identify; they’ll fill in the spaces with their own reflections.

The easy rolling rock-feel title track, “Right This Time” evokes Tedeschi but its lÚnd’s honey drenched phrasing that makes it her own. “Here I am babe, here for the taking. Don’t let me down; be the man I need now; arms wide open. But please, don’t let me be wrong ‘bout you… I wanna be right this time.”

The straight 8’s feel of, “Don’t You Leave Me” has a thumping Amy Winehouse throwback sound as the backing vocals take it an octave higher on the hook. Nicole’s vocal trills are a thrill. It’s a beckoning-ultimatum-song. It’s a “hey get back here, we’re not done yet” vibe that empowers as it pleads.

“Not Comin Home” is a haunting finger-picking dirge that confirms the end of a relationship that even after a long period, had not developed enough to make her want to stay or even explain. “I’m not comin’ home. No use lookin’ I’m out of sight, too far for you to fly. When the day breaks I’ll be gone. And you never thought I’d be the one to move on.”

I was honored to hear these tracks before the mixing and mastering process. If they sound this good now, we’re all in for a gratifying listening experience when they all drop later this year.

Each track is treated with a unique and refined melody; well-placed harmonies, and certainly musicianship of the highest quality.

With clarity and reflection, and toward the end of our interview, lÚnd articulates: “I’ve been such an active observer that it’s taken me a while to come into my own.”

Right This Time is produced by Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell (Susan Tedeschi, Colonel Bruce Hampton, The Wood Brothers); Engineered by Jim Georgeson and Dowell Gandy from Echo Mountain Studio. The extraordinary players include local teacher and sessions guitarist, Brandon Townsend; guitarist Dave Yoke (Susan Tedeschi, Dr. John, Scrapomatic); on bass is Brandon Boone (Tedeschi-Trucks Band); and New Orleans-based drummer, Isaac Eady. Along with Mike Mattison and Mark Rivers from Tedeschi Trucks band, Gabe Dixon rounds out her backing vocalists.

I enthusiastically recommend you to follow lÚnd on Instagram: instagram.com/lund.music/

And to visit her newly minted website: lund-music.com

Peggy Ratusz is a vocal coach, song interpreter, and songwriter. For vocal coaching email her at [email protected]

reverbnation.com/peggyratusz

Women Making Music – 2020, the year for Music Therapy

by Peggy Ratusz | Nov 30, 2020 | Asheville, Music, Musician, Women

Writing this feature during the most fantastical year of my existence has been especially therapeutic.

Musicians and music teachers were suddenly thrust into the world of Zoom, JamKazam, YouTube & Facebook Live. They didn’t even have time to kick and scream about it at first; they just figured it out!

In mid-March I didn’t have to look far to find several daring darlings of songs strings and other things, keeping their chops and spirits up by diving head first into the live video streaming pool. So in April and May I wrote about the local mavens of motivation and innovation I was discovering day in and day out on social media. From all over the country, I saw and still see groups of women in the entertainment field, giving advice and free tutorials; blogging and sharing how to do what they’re doing!

Summer found some artists/performers accepting a scant few gig opportunities for the chance to generate income by playing on an outdoor stage in front of a limited audience. As summer heated up, so did the demand for acts needing to, having to and wanting to play for the larger audiences phase 2 of opening the state would allow. Some expressed trepidation in sharing their in-person live performance dates on websites, event invites and email blasts for fear of judgment. Some forged ahead incorporating their own strict personal distancing guidelines, limiting mingling time with fans. Some acts formed Covid bubbles that now include band mates, in addition to mate-mates.

Our June issue’s featured female and I spent an hour on the phone commiserating about the changes going on in our lives. I found myself having to shift the conversation back to her and her incredibly creative music endeavors several times and not the pandemic, like how the pandemic was affecting us, or how we were coping and not coping with the pandemic!

By August and September issues, I focused in part, on a small wave of career musicians who began to reinvent themselves; courageously stepping outside the music pool to create something new on dry land to survive; putting their music on the backburner and becoming trailblazers in this hopefully temporary new normal.

October found me finally meeting over the phone at least, a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and teacher I’ve admired and followed online and had wanted to interview for over a year. The selfless endeavors I learned she and her daughter undertake and initiate for young musicians, put hope back in my heart that day, it put a smile back on my face for at least the next week.

One of the youngest female music artists I’ve interviewed was featured last month. This humble and articulate ingénue feels all the feels. Her music is realistic and fantasy, structured and loose, fearless and fearful. She’s a wall flower AND the life of the party. Who can’t relate to all of that; especially these days?

So like the rest of you, I’ve taken each month as its come, doing my utmost to keep myself sane. I took up “adult coloring” (G-rated) before the pandemic. Just since March I’ve colored over 100 pieces – mostly birds and safari animals. I received a Keanu Reeves coloring book from a girlfriend for my birthday. I’m saving that one to delve into on a snowy day.

But also and through it all, I’ve tuned in, tapped in and turned myself on to a smattering of live streaming concerts; virtually supporting artists through their online tip jars. I co-produced a successful socially distant fundraising concert for a dear friend and female musician who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Everywhere I turn, I see local charities and venue owners establishing pioneering ways to reach the public safely in order to stay viable, solvent and open.

No matter how you’re feeling over the outcome of the election, no matter how empathic you are toward those who have and those who are suffering; if you are mourning the loss of a loved one or your income, if you cry even harder now when you see an SPCA or St. Jude Children’s hospital commercial, if you’re a front-line worker or a gig worker in and out of your own solvency, or a parent juggling and struggling to keep it all together: remember there are ways to tamp down the anxiety by tuning into live music; the easiest being live streaming platforms and sponsored live streaming ticketed concerts.

While the energy of big crowds sharing those mighty pulsations that in-person live music experiences bring, we absolutely have viable interim outlets. Local women are still making music; local people are still making music. Support them, I implore you. Follow them on social media. Drop them a line of encouragement on their Instagram accounts and Facebook timelines and contribute to their virtual tip jar; tune into those live stream concerts when you can. Supporting local live music is medicine for the soul; make no bout-a-doubt it!

Remember, my feature, Women Making Music is archived on thesofiamagazine.com. I cordially invite you to visit the website and acquaint yourself with the plethora of savvy professional female musicians I’ve written about over the past year. The November and December 2020 hard copy issues can be found in kiosks around town. There’s a list
of where they are located on the webpage.

Peggy Ratusz, writer, singer, vocal coach, coloring book artist

reverbnation.com/peggyratusz

loveisaroselive.com

paypal.com/paypalme/peggyratusz

Sunday, December 13th, Isis Restaurant & Music Hall – Love Bubble Christmas with Peggy Ratusz, Hank Bones & Paula Hanke, 8pm.

Sunday, December 20th, A Silver Linings Christmas live stream solo concert with Peggy Ratusz from her living room, 5pm – Facebook Live: facebook.com/peggy.ratusz

Peggy Ratusz is a vocal coach, song interpreter, and songwriter.
For vocal coaching email her at
[email protected]

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