I am ecstatic about last night's Females On Fire compilation CD 3 album launch ... so I'm writing a review on it, first hand.
The event has renewed my faith in the Los Angeles music scene, which I felt had been dying a slow death since 911. Ever since that time, I felt the L.A clubs were losing audiences, and the artists and bands in this town, losing faith in their ability to put on a good show, with less and less people supporting live music and opting for home video game/internet blogging instead (something I'm doing right now.. blogging J).
Last night, 9 female artists and 3 spoken word artists, plus their musicians (a total of 27 artists) rocked the house at THE MINT, on Pico Blvd in Los Angeles. It was truly a stellar night. Firstly, we SOLD out dinner seats in advance and only an hour into the show, the room was at capacity. A full house! (130 people, standing room only)
This is completely and utterly due to the diligence and team effort of the artists involved. Everyone made it a success because they all brought people – their fans and friends… who came to support the whole night. In L.A, it can be really hard to draw a crowd, but with combined efforts of all the girls, we DID IT!
Secondly, the artists were not only talented, more on that later, but very professional from beginning to end. They all came on time (early) and were ready, willing and able to ensure the schedule stayed on time (we even ran a little early!), that they didn't hog the stage, that they used the VIP lounge, they were courteous to all, including the Mint and their sound policies outside, and were just all a great COMMUNITY and TEAM together, supporting each other. All the artists stayed till the very end, and that's a feat in of itself as we started at 7pm and went till midnight.
Thirdly, People didn't want to leave. We passed the midnight hour and the crowd begged for more.
Fourthly, artists travelled from far and wide for this. In particular, Lori and Steve of Hide From Cleo from Michigan and Claire Wyndham, all the way from Australia!
The night was in aid of the launch of the new compilation CD (details at end), and in aid of CARE.org (CARE believe that the status of women in the developing world is the key to fighting and ending global poverty. With education, skills and basic resources, they can become catalysts for change. Women can help build a better world for all. Check out their website at http://www.care.org/). Warrior Girl Music is donating $1 of every CD sale to CARE.org and part of the proceeds from last night's door is also going to their charity.
THE ARTISTS
First up was Amanda Abizaid, who also graciously lent her P80 Yamaha keyboard for the night. Solo artist, she was a great first act as she set the stage for the rest of the night. She was soulful, accomplished and eclectic. Very talented lass. Robbie Kaye came .. as a duo. Two blondes on stage. Really easy going and full of flavor. Loved her too. Spoken word artist Antoinette Valente gave us a story about her rabbit with higher meaning. It was very honest and heartfelt. Thank you Antoinette for sharing such depth.
Michelle Mangione and band came on stage and took us to a whole new level of energy. Really great stage performer, Michelle rocked us with her great accessible songs. The night was really coming alive around 8pm and people were filling the room with all dinner seats taken. Claire Wyndham came on stage solo and completely wowed us. From Australia, she caught laryngitus, but you couldn't tell. She was awesome. I might say that our 2 soloists of the evening, Claire and Amanda, were able to grasp the whole audience with awe and quiet. That's quite a talent! I took the stage with musicians Shawn Cunnane and Andy Cat, and it was really fun performing on a night I also coordinated. I could feel the electricity on stage, and am grateful to feel it both ends, on and off stage last night. I'm still on such a high.
Laura Bradley and her band then took the stage. She is tall, graceful and beautiful and her songs are deep and beautiful too. Awesome. J.Walker, spoken word artist, and also co-host of the evening, gave us some time to change bands over with his riviting spoken word pieces. No ordinary poems, his flow matched an imprompu jam session on stage with Nicole (drummer from Michelle's band), Andy and Shawn (Gilli's band). What a hoot, and we were left in a frenzy!
Time for Holly Light: soulful, bluesy, rock, pop, country, folk, all in one little person… and her band were hot, including Cara from Little Sista (also a Females On Fire artist). It was now 10pm and the room was full, to capacity, with people starting to dance under the euphoria. Some of the gals including me jumped up for the chorus of Red, White and Blues bringing the house down. Flint came up next as our third spoken word artist. She has performed for us before, and tonight her talent shined again.
All the way from Michigan, Hide From Cleo, as a duo, hopped up and duelled acoustic guitars. Sensitive songs, with a great American "I feel good" vibe, their performance was a perfect wedge between 2 bands, and they were very powerful in their own right. Zoe Scott, her sister Victoria and their band ignited the stage for the last segment at 11pm. We were running early… how amazing! Zoe is from London and she has this great British retro pop sound that delivers strong with her cool voice. Perfect time slot for this band, as Zoe melted all the men, and I'm sure some women, in the room in her little black mini. They were great.
We all got on stage for a bit of a jam at the end, because at midnight people didn't want to go home. Finally I had to put an end to it all. "People,… don't you have anywhere to go on this Tuesday night at midnight? Don't you have real jobs tomorrow???" Jeez J he he. I grabbed Holly Light back up on stage to end it with a graceful, easy, cruisy song to end the night.
WHAT A NIGHT! The Mint crew were great with food, drinks, door. Thanks to Rob the sound man, Deana on the door, all of the Mint people were fabulous. The artists were fabulous. The audience was fabulous. It will go down in our memories as one of the best Warrior Girl Music Presents nights.
Thanks everyone,
gilli moon
More of Females On Fire at
www.femalesonfire.com.